The London swimwear label looks to Marrakech for a collection designed around winter sun travel.
Inspired by the vibrant spirit of Morocco, Heidi Klein’s Resort 2027 collection is designed around the idea of travel, taking you from poolside to lunch and into warm evenings. The collection draws on the colour, light and creative energy of Marrakech, with further references to Asilah, Meknes, Essaouira and Legzira. Founders Heidi Gosman and Penny Klein describe the collection as a way of capturing the sensory romance of Marrakech, drawing on the terracotta of the city walls, the vivid shock of Majorelle blue and the soft, bleached tones of the desert sand. Further references range from the blue and white medina of Asilah and the imperial architecture of Meknes to the Atlantic port of Essaouira and the red rock arches of Legzira beach.
Sun-baked yellows, burnt oranges, rich chocolate browns and vivid blues, alongside fluid linen, silk and lightweight resort wear that can be layered over Heidi Klein’s signature swimwear. Drawing on the geometric patterns of Moroccan Zellij tilework, the collection features delicate custom embroidery and tactile fabric textures in place of literal tile prints. For a winter sun wardrobe, standout pieces include vibrant swim silhouettes, breezy kaftans and kimonos, linen maxi dresses and elegant evening pieces, creating a complete holiday wardrobe that goes beyond the beach.
Swimwear remains, of course, at the heart of the collection, with vibrant swim silhouettes cut in the season’s desert and ocean tones. Fit has been central to Heidi Klein from the start, and the suits are built with invisible underwires, side-boning and subtle ruching, in premium fabrics chosen to withstand chlorine, salt water and years of being packed into suitcases. Over the swimwear go breezy kaftans and kimonos, light enough to throw on between the pool and the terrace and easy to fold into a carry-on. Linen maxi dresses take over for lunch, while elegant evening pieces in silk complete a holiday wardrobe that goes well beyond the beach.
The structure reflects how the founders now approach design. They see the lines between beachwear, daywear and eveningwear as having largely blurred, and each new piece is tested against a simple question: whether it can be worn to the beach, straight on to lunch and then restyled with jewellery for drinks later.
The collection also takes inspiration from Morocco’s longstanding relationship with fashion and creativity, from Talitha Getty’s bohemian glamour, captured on a Marrakech rooftop in 1969 in a white kaftan, to Yves Saint Laurent’s enduring connection with the city. Saint Laurent first visited Marrakech in 1966 and, with Pierre Bergé, later bought and restored the Jardin Majorelle, the garden created by the painter Jacques Majorelle, whose name has been attached to that particular shade of blue ever since.
Resort 2027 continues the brand’s series of destination-led collections, following Resort 2026, a homage to the Greek islands with asymmetrical evening dresses and signature Heidi Klein patterns and hardware, and Spring/Summer 2024, inspired by the coastal landscapes of South Africa. Past projects also include a limited edition summer capsule with Temperley London.
Winter sun has been part of the story since the beginning, which makes the timing of this collection feel right. Gosman and Klein founded the brand in 2002 after noticing that women travelling outside the traditional summer season had very limited access to luxury swimwear and resortwear. At the time, more and more British travellers were leaving the winter behind for destinations such as the Maldives, and the founders knew from their own trips how hard it was to find good resortwear out of season.
Founded in 2002 by Heidi Gosman and Penny Klein, Heidi Klein was created to offer luxury swimwear and resortwear to women travelling outside the traditional summer season. According to the founders, the brand launched as British travellers were increasingly escaping the winter for destinations such as the Maldives, at a time when luxury resortwear was almost impossible to find out of season. The brand opened its first boutique in Notting Hill with a curated selection of third-party labels, launching its own Heidi Klein line in 2004. Its earliest designs included mix-and-match swimwear sets tailored to individual body shapes and sizes, establishing fit as the brand’s defining focus. Early customers included Kate Moss and Elle Macpherson, according to the founders, with coverage in Vogue and The Times following soon after. Today, women who first shopped at the Notting Hill boutique in their twenties return with their teenage daughters.
Heidi Klein customers now look for pieces that pack lighter and work from beach club to dinner, alongside greater transparency on fabric sourcing, production and sustainability. The brand’s boutiques feature private changing rooms with solid doors, warm lighting, robes and in-store stylists offering fitting and styling advice, and a pop-up at Bicester Village followed in 2024. Future plans include pop-ups within five-star hotels in destinations including Barbados, St Lucia and the Hamptons, as well as partnerships with luxury travel companies offering personalised wardrobe curation and home fittings ahead of departure. Tailored resort separates, luxury knitwear and lightweight layers are identified by the founders as the next areas of growth, alongside textile innovation and more intentional capsule collections.
