Where Country Club Meets CBGB's In Posen's Match Point (Fashion Wire Daily)

New York - Picture this: Youre a "poor little rich girl" being dragged to a tropical country club, maybe in Egypt or Bali, by your doting, but obviously clueless parents. All you really want to do is listen to secondhand Bow Wow Wow records (youre into vinyl now, because iPods lack personality), but a part of you loves the idea of parading around the beach in head-to-toe citron yellow leopard print (jacket, pin-up style bathing suit and pencil skirt) by Zac Posen, because no one gets life as a posh punk better than he does.

This is the scenario imagined by Posen for his Resort 2008 collection, which he showed in his Tribeca studio this week for editors and buyers, converting his showroom into a country club oasis complete with astroturf tennis court and wooden boardwalk all enclosed in a green and white striped tent.

The notion of "posh punk" may seem like an oxymoron, but Posen doesnt harbor illusions about his customers being anything other than privileged - they just happen to also have a rebellious, downtown streak (like Posen, who was raised in New York by a painter father, Stephen, and his mother, Susan, a lawyer, who now runs Posens company).

Posen designs clothes that seem out of another era of tailoring, with their unabashed celebration of the female body and an exploration of how far color and material can be pushed in a single collection. The scale of Posens offerings, one item more intricate and technical than the next, is mind-boggling. ("Are you the new YSL?" asked Stephanie Solomon, fashion director of Bloomingdales, as Posen whisked by with an armful of looks for the models to try on for her.)

Posen doesnt believe in the current formula of modernity in fashion, that pared down choices or minimalist design somehow necessarily equals something more contemporary.

"Theres something modern about creating diversity," said Posen.

But theres a practical reason for the bursting-at-the-seams Resort collection as well, having to do with the needs of retailers. The clothes sit on the floor for six months, he explained, so you have offer a wide selection. Posen said they were seeing a 90% sell-through rate. So the more he can offer, all the better for sales.

With financial backing by Sean "Diddy" Combs, Posen is able to create elaborate intarsia knits like the exploding sunburst versions cut into flared tennis dresses for this collection, or knit metallic thread into what looked like thick chains, for a halter-necked mini-dress. Multicolored copper jacquard gets draped into a sculptured sleeve jacket with matching pencil skirt, or a swirling gown gathered around the body like a conch shell.

"We wanted it to look like electrical wiring," said Posen of the ensembles, impressively patterned in Posens atelier directly from his draping.

Then he added a characteristic twist to the backstory. "Shes like a washed up mermaid who just made love to a Rasta and wakes up on shore."

For a lower price point, Posen also added multicolored cotton tunic-like dresses that retail for under $1000 (the Bow Wow Wow looks). Then there was the nautical passage, with navy suede strips edging the hems of skirts and tennis skirt dresses with large to small scale pleats.

Like many designers before him, Posen also had his own interpretation of "Le Smoking," the late Yves Saint Laurents most famous creation, all the more timely this week against the backdrop of the designers death. Posens version, in soft white silk with slinky pajama-like bottoms, was the most grown-up and sophisticated look in the collection, perhaps a sign of a move by Posen into more mature territory.

Though Resort wont hit stores for several more months, his busy studio is hard at work creating his fall collection, sourcing fabrics and coming up with inventive ways to combine, say, lurex and netting. Mums the word, but heres a hint: Space travel is definitely on Posens brain.

Who knows, exotic country clubs may soon be setting up shop on the Moon, so Posen needs to be ready.