Peter Jensen's rather lovely resort collection

By Alex Fury, 18:30 Wed 17 Jun 2009

Charlotte Mann's monochrome set

Diane Arbus is hardly commonplace inspirational fodder for a fashion collection - then again, 'commonplace' is never a word that could be applied to Peter Jensen or his creative routes. For this, his first resort collection, Jensen looked to Diane Arbus prints but interpreted them in his own whimsical way. Thus, rather than exploring the dark subtext or emotional undertones of her subjects, Jensen presents Diane Arbus by way of Disney, or even Ralph Lauren, with peppy, preppy separates untinged by the raw emotional charge behind Arbus' work. And rightly so: this is, after all, Jensen's pre-Spring collection - a relatively new conceit popularised in America as 'cruise' or 'Resort' wear that has since caught on like wildfire with fashion consumers and retailers eager for new products, and designers eager to bolster their bottom line. In Jensen's quirky but sensible hands, the Diane Arbus theme was explored with a vaguely sixties slant, with print shifts, denim shorts and sequin-strewn cardigans in pastel peppermint, lapis blue and candyfloss-pinks straight from Coney Island - imagined shades her those black-and-white portraits, perhaps? Monochrome got a workout in ruffle-fronted frocks with peter-pan collars, and swimsuits and simple dresses and shirts splashed with Jensen's signature rabbit as oversized placement or repeat print. Presented against a cardboard room constructed from sketches by the artist Charlotte Mann, the collection was, admittedly, Arbus-light at best. Nevertheless, although conceptually lightweight, its pep coupled with distinct retail pop reflects Jensen's ever-increasing weight in London fashion.