"I was inspired by color this season," Yigal Azrouël said in his studio. That's putting it mildly. Technicolor barely describes his acid-bright Resort collectsion, which bounced from tangerine to hot pink, grass to azure, often in electric concert. A high-slit long dress in a texturized jacquard resembling lizard skin revealed its pink lining as a model tromped along. And Technicolor, in a quite literal sense, is the appropriate reference here. Azrouël was influenced by film, specifically The Fall, a 2006 fantasy by the Indian director Tarsem Singh, which charts a fabulous journey through a mythical neverland and does so without being overly concerned with the niceties of straightforward storytelling. Neither is Azrouël. What this collectsion lacked in point A to point B linearity, it made up for in pop-hued verve, relieved by a cooler moment or two, like the designer's marinière-striped dress in cream and navy. And while loose layers and maxi skirts threatened to float aloft, they were anchored by Azrouël's two-pronged belts. "It's all about the belt this season," he confided.
