Zimmermann cruise 2023: High tide homeward-bound

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 10, 2022

Some designers take their cruise collections half around the world for shows. Nicky Zimmermann located hers in the bay where her dad used to take her sailing.

 
Entitled High Tide and unveiled Friday morning, Zimmermann cruise 2023 referenced the designer's youth in Botany Bay, which lovers of history will recall was the site of the first landing of a European in Australia by Captain Cook back in April 1770.
 
Including some beautiful prints of 17th-century explorer's maps, the collection was infused with the sheer joy of travel.  Playing with one of her signature fabrics – guipure lace – in several beautiful dresses that again incorporated maps of the globe, in a marvelous finale.

Her cast marching inside a set with huge taut sails in a cunning meeting of poolside chic, cocktail cool and regal finery.  All finished with gold buttons, medallions and chokers with anchor insignia, and worn with silk twill anoraks; navy-trimmed lightweight wrap knits; or tube skirts in shades of lemonade and lilac.

 
“Funnily enough I grew up sailing on a small boat with my Dad on weekends and holidays in Botany Bay in Sydney, which wasn’t particularly glamorous, and certainly not that relaxing! I think I prefer our take on a sunny holiday on the sea!”  said Nicky in her program, in a playful tease in a season where global brands dash from Capri and Monaco to Seville and Lisbon for their cruise shows.
 
Mini and maxi sailboat prints cut into windcheaters, summer parkas and fab party frocks.  Above all, one had to love the uber-flattering heart-shaped décolletage dresses in dense florals.
 
“We worked with our artists to create jaunty sailboat prints, world maps and classic 50’s ikat florals. The mix of both liquid and sharp papery fabrics creates movement in our silhouettes, with some of the key looks opening up, almost like you’re walking through a breeze,” added the designer.

 
Good to see the house harnessing local talent. Zimmermann entrusted the show's creative direction to Michelle Jank, who two decades ago staged a particularly memorable signature show in Sydney, ironically a homage to Cook’s arrival, with crinolines made of dishcloths showing the explorer’s landing.
 
Along with the Sydney educated DJ and sound architect Mimi Xu, whose trance beach-club sunset mix set a suitably insouciant mood. Credit also to directors Gracie Otto and Simon Ozolins whose decision to show the cast in semi-slow motion heightened the video’s dreamlike quality.
 
All told, a thoroughly charming collection and video clip that extended Zimmermann’s range, clientele and commercial clout. Only one small quibble; the brand’s impressive success makes it unlikely that Nicky will ever be entrusted with a major-league European brand. It would be marvelous to witness what she could do if she ever got her creative hands on to a top-ranked Paris or Milan marque, would it not?