Ulla Johnson often photographs her pre-season collection look books in far-flung destinations, but for resort, she brought it closer to home.
“The collection is always very personal for me, but this season, in some ways more than ever as we ended up shooting kind of in my backyard in Montauk,” she said during a preview, pointing out a skatepark backdrop where her kids frequent, as well as several Hamptons beaches. “It felt very intimate, which is important in everything that I do.”
The varied location also spoke to her collection’s overall message.
“I really decided instead of feeling constrained by the sort of complexity of the season, which touches every occasion and season really from take-away resort travel — either real or aspirational; the holidays, which I love dressing up for, and then all through spring. In a way, it allows for so much creativity because you get to dream on every possible occasion,” she said of her rich collection.
In that vein, she played to multiple dichotomies, such as revealing and concealing with beautiful frilled Chantilly lace and point d’esprit frocks contrasted against sleeker, structured leather layers or “shadows and light” via a great black and white geometric fil coupe oversize shirt and pant.
Further graphicness came through a mix of botanical and “animalesque” patterns on fluid matching sets, feminine dresses and even swimwear. Sculptural, scallop-edge details and ‘70s playful stripes came through the brand’s growing assortment of knitwear, and new takes on denim balanced the play between masculinity and femininity.
Ulla Johnson Resort 2025 Ready-to-Wear Preview
Courtesy of Ulla Johnson
There was also a great black leather dress covered in tiered fringes that ebbed and flowed across the dress, displaying the collection’s emphasis on movement.
“As much as we’ve been delving more and more into evening, which has become an increasingly important category for us, ease needs to sit at the very heart of how the woman feels,” Johnson said.
The idea continued into an uptick of intricate embroideries, fringes and embellishments, as on a stellar, swishy fluid tank and midi skirt covered in 10 different types of hand-embroidered gilded sequins, and delicately hand-embroidered daytime, vibrant floral poplin frocks.
“Our stores have given us a lot of opportunity to experiment with a lot of accessories and other parts of the collection,” Johnson said of the rich, textural collection, which extended into accessories a la luxuriously crafted but “won’t-break-the-bank” artisanal handbags and footwear — an untouched creative space she wants to continue to occupy.