seasons in the sun.

Resort, as all you good readers know by now, has become an increasingly significant season for retailers: It isn't

just about vacation clothes; it's about forecasting what's to come for spring/summer and beyond. Which is why houses like Chanel and Dior are now grabbing the most attention for their resort lines and-instead of just scheduling cloistered studio showings with a model or two, as they usually did in the past-mounting glittery presentations with people like Mischa Barton and Axl Rose in attendance.

Vera Wang and Carolina Herrera are two Americans who believe in making exquisite clothes that have the hand, the finesse, the detail, the craft one sees in Milan and Paris couture ateliers-pricey, sure, but good investments! And both Vera and Carolina were in their glory at the resortwear showcases in June.

Like Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga or Olivier Theyskens at Rochas, Vera Wang works incredibly hard. For weeks before a show she can be found toiling in her studio till the early dawn. Every single look is thought through and rethought, worked and reworked, with a painstaking care that must drive her workroom crafts_people and assistants to the edge.

Promptly at 11:00 a.m. on a hot, muggy Manhattan day, Vera presented 28 choice looks from her new collection of some 300 pieces (her biggest yet). Vera Wang resort 2007 was based around a subtle, almost smoky palette of grays, blues, whites, ivory, and khaki.

prima donna assoluta

The program notes handed out to each audience member told us that the look was all about the dancer's life. Wang cited the Ballets Russes, Bejart, Degas, Delibes, Debussy, Diaghilev, and even Martha Graham . . . but there were no corps de ballet cliches, no dying swans, no candy-colored tutus.