The Port Summer 06 Modern Eden collection

Cape Town, August 2005 Modern Eden is a destination that has to find you. There are no brochures, visas or landing strips. Often dismissed as the lonely fantasy of travelers, myth enshrouds it, and only those that have wandered its beaches can swear it exists. Modern Eden is an escape, latitudes from the mundane, immune to maps, charts, compasses and schedules. For those that know, this utopia is the perfect summer playground; a place to be endlessly explored and on which time seems both eternal and fleeting.

Port’s Summer 06 collection takes its influence from early 20th century sophisticates who would escape the city heat for the season; each seeking the perfect hideaway, where cares are bleached away by sub-tropical sunshine and romance shimmers like a heat haze. Craig brings the look up-to-date with modern cuts and tailoring to create a very 21st century vision of leisure.

The collection is steeped in a relaxed and carefree style: tailored silks, cotton, washed-out denim and muted summer colours relax formal jackets and trousers. Colour, such as in matching shirts and ties, is also used to make formal wear more suited for the yacht deck than the boardroom. Sateen shirts, warm stripes and patterns of colour bring an air of at-ease luxury. Pure sun-soaking white and colour-contrasting silver and grey are used to offset and frame colour. The summer escapism is completed with playful swimwear such as Y-styled shorts.

Accessories are essential for entry to Modern Eden; Craig has experimented with seal rings, aquamarine and topaz while also using innovative fabrics such as stingray skin to finish belts and buckles.

So pack your traveling trunk, rip summer out of the diary, and take the slow boat to Port’s Modern Eden.