San Francisco Fashion Week '07: Kirribilla

The three designers behind the Kirribilla label turned to Hawaii for their inspiration. But not the Hawaii we know today. Instead they looked to old-time Hawaii, when things were simpler. Their entire Spring/Summer 2008 collection consisted of cotton dresses in three forms: beach dresses, day dresses and cocktail dresses shown primarily in solid colors.

Faye Davison Rexing, Phoebe Davison and Amanda Thomas created beach dresses that were short and tended toward baby-doll looks. The day dresses were knee-length and had feminine details such as petal sleeves, hibiscus leaves or a ruffled sarong skirt. The cocktail dresses were dominated by pencil skirts.

Ruffles populated every dress category. There were ruffles at the waist, on pocket tops and at the yoke of a collar. They diagonally crossed a skirt or were draped around the neckline.

While barely a print was to be seen, except for one hibiscus print, the colors were vivid with royal blue, salmon, coral, palm green and lavender. —Deborah Belgum