Alexander Wang Resort 2016 Collection

Is anonymity the new status? Alexander Wang pondered that question as he readied his resort collection. “I think about the street, and what does it mean for us today,” Wang said after a Wednesday morning presentation. “Before it was a place of anonymity. Now, it’s such a platform, it’s where everyone is looking. It’s so viral that the idea of being anonymous almost feels like it’s this new attraction.”

That Wang can identify such a cultural shift, articulate it and incorporate elements into his work without the clothes turning ponderous is part of what makes him such an interesting designer. For resort he extracted the overt branding from label patches by showing them tone-on-tone and exploded his firm’s scanner code into bold, unidentifiable graphics. These became decorative elements in a lineup that infused tough-girl attitude with a shot of pretty.

Cases in point: the leather bustier dress with riveted belt over a scanner T-shirt; eyelet pieces in which metal grommets replaced the traditional broderie anglaise; a cropped “milkmaid top” rendered in leather over motocross pants. It all worked in a utilitarian vibe into which Wang incorporated “tool kit” pockets and pouches into the clothes and accessories, while adding a distinctive cropped silhouette to his lineup of jeans.

The results were edgy with charm and anything but anonymous.