Luckily there were a few rays of sun on Tuesday morning in London, for the cheerful holiday prospects of Tata Naka’s Pool Side would have been frankly unbearable in one of those grim September days us Londoners are so used to. The whole presentation was actually a micro-holiday, or at least a still life of one, with chaise longues, a palm landscape backdrop and a fake swimming pool hinting at some fabulous Copacabana or Maldives resort.

Strawberry cocktail in hand, the models walked up and down the ‘runway’, sporting the hair of Imelda Marcos, the colours of Carmen Miranda and naïf faces inspired by Frida Kahlo’s paintings. A full-on mix of superwomen in an explosion of colours.

Much in the spirit of Antoni & Alison’s colourful dresses and Jasper Conran’s country trip, the mood was joyful. Exuberant flower prints embellished pineapple dresses. Rainbow sandals and loafers transmitted a sense of ease. 1960s socialites and first ladies, posing for glamorous portraits by their luxurious pools.

And yet, the very fakeness of the location, the scary eyes of the women portrayed en abyme on the cocktail dresses and the too perfect vintage hairdos had an unsettling quality that brought back to memory the swimming pools of David Hockney, the 1967 A Bigger Splash in its crude flatness. Yellow, blue, pink, palm trees: the same ingredients as Tata Naka’s collection. California mon amour.

Photos Isa Jakob