Mara Hoffman Spring 2013: Mara, muumuu mama

*For Spring 2013, Mara Hoffman took the world party to Hawaii. (photo by Kwai Chan / Meniscus Magazine)*

In an alternate universe, where Western hegemony is a bad board game, and cultural exchange happens not through conquest and plunder, but at fetes, bars, bazaars and TED conferences, the world is a Mara Hoffman runway.

Design-wise, the hippie nomad speaks more languages than a UN tour guide, finding her cheerful, breezy vibe wheresoever the sun doth shine. And unlike some larger, perhaps more cynical labels, known to spice an otherwise blah collection with a dash of colonial exotica (cough, Ralph Lauren, cough cough), Hoffman’s embrace of the tribal and tropical feels organic.

For Spring 2013, Hoffman takes the world party to Hawaii. Models sauntered out rocking fascinators made of palm fronds and birds of paradise, with croton leaves for bracelets. The color palette is a slack-key ditty for the eyes: dreamy coral, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, magenta, poppy, and volcanic stone. (Don Ho, is that you in that muumuu?)

Floaty chiffon caftans feature blocks of color embroidered in intricate cording, or prints referencing medicine wheels and Aztec shields. The gorgeous shield motif runs throughout several pieces, mashing up color against white, sand or muted stone. Kaleidoscopic prints amp up fitted bustiers, shorts and pencil skirts; looser T-shirts, dresses and midi skirts are cropped or open at the waist or back. Pants are slack, jackets ample.

Like the lava-formed beaches it evokes, this collection makes sure that everything flows – the detail on the fabric, the fabric on the body, your thoughts to a fruity frozen cocktail. Aloha indeed.

Photo Gallery: Mara Hoffman Spring 2013
all photos by Kwai Chan / Meniscus Magazine