LONDON — Australian label Alémais is doubling down on destination storytelling, showing its latest resort collection in the Spanish island of Menorca on Wednesday.
Building on the momentum of its Marrakech outing last year, as well as on-screen visibility from hit shows like “White Lotus” and “Beef,” the Menorca experience aims to reinforce the brand’s global ambitions and its vision of resort as a way of life, not just a category, according to founder and creative director Lesleigh Jermanus.
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“It took an enormous amount of people, logistics, operations, hands and hearts to pull something like Marrakech off, and for whatever reason, the energy, the traction, the response we had from that show, it was enormous,” Jermanus recalled.
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That response meant real business. Alémais is now stocked in more than 600 retailers in 55 countries, with wholesale still the backbone of the company and international accounts driving growth.
“We thought, well, we can’t stop there, we’ve got to keep going, we’ve got to try and sort of keep looking forward,” Jermanus said. Menorca, she added, was chosen “really based on intuition.”
“The whole time we were in Spain, it rained, it rained almost every day, except maybe these two days, once when we found the artist and once when we found the location [in Menorca], and I felt like it was a kind of divine intervention, and I felt like it was all meant to be,” she continued.
If Marrakech was about introducing Alémais’ world to a select group of international guests, Menorca is about deepening that bond and widening the wardrobe.
“Everyone’s response from the show last year is they love the feeling of connection with each other…conversations by the pool, or walking through the streets in Marrakech, and I loved the feeling and energy that was created. So we decided to do that again,” Jermanus said.
This time, guests will fly into Menorca for a loosely choreographed three-day escape with island discovery, poolside activities and dinner at Humo, the restaurant of local chef Gabriel Gonzalez Andrade.
The show itself will take place on Isla del Rey, or Illa del Rei, a small island off Menorca, following a ferry loop around the harbor. After a show at sunset, it will be followed by dinner, a performance by a local musician with a “hauntingly sort of beautiful, hopeful, optimistic voice,” promised Jermanus.
Inspiration-wise, the Menorca resort collection taps into the romance of temporary escape with feminine silhouettes that are “closer to the body,” as well as a play between masculine and feminine energy filtered through the rocky, arid landscapes and “mesmerizing waters” of the Balearics, Jermanus said.
“It’s this very romantic idea for a moment in time, where you’re just out of touch, and you’re out of sight, and you get to have this free time of being exactly who you are, or going into this imaginary world of someone who you’re not,” she added.
On the product side, the Menorca collection is aimed at pushing Alémais beyond the traditional definition of “holiday clothes” and deeper into what Jermanus called a new resort language. The show will also feature a collaboration with the Mallorca-based artist Sophie Wahlquist.
“We’ve got such a strong visual and really loyal customers. They now come to us for these commercial classics. For us, we’re trying to expand our wardrobe, having those pieces that are multifunctional and versatile,” she said.
For Jermanus, resort is more than a category; it’s a state of mind. “You take that everywhere with you. Classically, you’d think of a swimsuit and a pareo, but now it’s not that. You can still wear that to the beach, then out to dinner,” she added.
Faced with the struggles in the traditional wholesale framework, especially in the U.S., Jermanus said Alémais has grown from a traditional department-store-heavy distribution into a network where independent boutiques trade “as successfully as the department stores.”
“Our compound growth rate has been steady and equal for the past five years. It gives us a lot of confidence, but I always try, and sort of remain true to raw experimentation, and you’ve got to keep the community really inspired by something new,” she said.