Alémais shows Resort 2027 on a Menorcan island with a gallery

May 29. Alémais filed its Resort 2027 show from Menorca, specifically Illa del Rei, a small island in Mahón harbor that houses a Hauser & Wirth gallery outpost. The Australian house, founded by Lesleigh Jarmanus, doesn't typically stage shows on Mediterranean islands. This one had reason: the collection pulled directly from Catalan architecture, the kind with rounded arches and whitewashed stone, and the island gave the pieces their proper backdrop.

The lineup leaned into summer structure. Jarmanus worked with Swedish painter Sophie Wahlquist on a hand-painted print that ran across several looks. The print wasn't decorative filler. It showed up on a draped dress, a wide-leg trouser, a shirt that read more like a canvas than a garment. Wahlquist's work tends toward abstraction with a color palette that sits between earthy and electric. Here it landed somewhere in the middle, tertiary tones that didn't fight the architecture.

The setting matters because Alémais isn't a house with heritage in the Mediterranean. It's Sydney-based, known for resort pieces that move between Australia and Europe without leaning too hard on either. Staging in Menorca was a specific geographic claim, not a vague resort backdrop. The island's architecture informed the silhouettes: high waists, open backs, fabric that moved like it was built for stone courtyards and midday heat.

Hauser & Wirth's Illa del Rei space opened in 2021 as a seasonal gallery, summer programming only. It's small, former naval hospital buildings converted into white-cube rooms. The gallery didn't host the show as an official collaboration, but the proximity shaped the tone. A fashion show next to a contemporary art space reads differently than a fashion show on a beach. Quieter, more deliberate.

Jarmanus told Wallpaper the collection was about "honoring the craft and history of a place while staying true to what Alémais is." That's the line most designers give when they stage away from home. What makes it hold here is the Wahlquist collab and the architectural specificity. The pieces weren't generic resort separates tagged to a location. They were built for this exact light, this exact stone.

The show was invitation-only, about sixty guests, mostly press and buyers who flew in for the day. No livestream. The collection ships to retail in November, which is standard for resort but reads late for a May show. By the time it lands, the Menorca reference will be six months cold. The pieces will have to work without the island.