Over the last few weeks, Nicky Zimmermann has been spending time in Mykonos, where from June 16 to 17 she celebrated the opening of her namesake brand’s boutique and days later captured her Twisted Romance cruise collection in the Greek island’s picturesque laneways.
“It was nice to have the connection between the store opening party and the collection, and there’s always a pirate bar in Greece somewhere,” she said, hinting at her collection’s overarching inspiration of melding nostalgia and fantasy into a lineup filled with romantic femininity, dramatic silhouettes and maritime nods.
“I remember those pirate films that I would watch when I was a kid. They had incredible posters, the handsome pirate and the beautiful, gorgeous, sexy woman who would somehow become tangled in the story,” she said of her classic pirate movie and “Treasure Island” novel inspirations. “It was wanting to create that feeling of nostalgia, while bringing in an element that I could really relate to, which is the New Romantics.”
The inspirations served Zimmermann well, as seen through her balance of playful, diaphanous gowns in hand-done watercolor “treasure map” print or white figure-hugging frocks with billowing sleeves. Despite the fantastical inspirations, nothing was too literal, further seen through breezy nautical striped or night shirt dresses; sharp “Rebellion Pirate” military jackets, and ruched corset tops atop frayed flutter blouses. Resort proved to be a strong play between the brand’s highly romantic codes with the grounded, such as structured, button-adorned jeans and wrapped balloon tops in denim, utilitarian drawstring layers and slouchy buckled boots.
“There’s been very much a collaboration between my Paris atelier and the Sydney atelier, so I’ve got the two teams really working together. A lot of the denim, outerwear, suiting and drill pieces in this collection we’re working with the Paris team on and building it together with our very romantic, classic Zimmermann feel. It’s a nice combination, and is personally how I like to dress,” Zimmermann said.
The designer said she travels to her new Paris headquarters every seven or so weeks and has been working with her teams there to continue building out Zimmermann’s jewelry, handbags and footwear. As seen throughout the cruise collection, her accessories continued to amplify the adventurous spirit while pushing forward reality-driven modernity.