Sarah Staudinger was sitting in a lush greenhouse in Los Angeles for the Zoom review of her resort collection. The backdrop was actually a 1920s greenhouse, connected to her home, that she’s spent the last year restoring and converting into her personal ceramics studio.
“I’ve been working out of here over the last six months to a year. It has become my favorite place and such a source of inspiration, especially for the resort collection,” she said.
It’s been rainy in L.A. for most of those months said Staudinger, not a fan of the overcast May gray and June gloom weather as it’s known locally. But her disposition changed while working in the wildflower-filled, outdoors-meets-indoors space.
“It’s brought a new sense of optimism,” she said of the location, which became the central point of her resort inspirations with its calming palette (grounding wood, cloudy gray and raindrop blue); serene, easy mood and floral-tinged femininity. “It’s an area where I can play and be creative.”
The collection opened with a plush gray sweater over a statement gray paillette skirt, emulating glistening raindrops on the greenhouse’s glass windows. The look displayed the collection’s new approach to both day and evening dressing with irreverence, rather than matching sets, she said.
The same could be said for pretty light blue pailette dresses and midi skirts, worn with the brand’s matching wool Sanza coat or a classic white tank and structured ballet flats. Draped jersey dresses with her signature Moon buckle hardware, matched to the collection’s grounded shoes and woody brown-hued raffia handbags had the same natural ease.
Other nods to the greenhouse came through beautiful floral jacquard brocade “Antoinette” coats, worn as a dress or more casually with new swimwear and a button-up shirt; apron and tablecloth inspired ‘40s-tinged gingham styles (a pencil skirt, leisure coat or shrunken lady jackets and cropped trousers), and the cascading, painterly “Walk in the Park” Victorian print on a dress and fluid skirt.
The assortment was nicely rounded out with ample mix-and-match, dress up-or-down staples spanning from sheer occasion looks to polished basics and knits (both cashmere and alpaca). She continued to nail the idea with plenty of new footwear, including heeled mules and grosgrain-trimmed flats, and handbags, like holiday-minded clutches or large leather carryall bags — perfect for transporting craft supplies to and from the greenhouse.