Resort collections: the fanciest of clothes for the finest summer pursuits, and by summer we mean the second summer of the season; a post-Christmas long-haul jaunt. Lounging on a yacht off St Barts, drinking cocktails in Mexico or kicking around the Thai islands. Who cares if your plan involves nothing more than a weekend in Brighton – there’s still no better way to plan your dream holiday wardrobe than by picking your favourite pieces from the resort collections.

At Proenza Schouler there was still a taste of the surf-inspired demi-couture that prevailed last season, softened with pleats and less planate than it had been – could this be a foreshadowing of a lighter feel for spring 2014? An interesting in structure and shape remained, with off the shoulder drops and relaxed Eighties slouchiness in tandem with all the appliqué up-tightness of le beau monde dressing for dinner.

Marc Jacobs meanwhile continued that pyjama theme from autumn, albeit looosely, in separates worn, well, separately – long-line tunics (short enough to basically be sweaters) and bum-skimming vests. The sleepwear feel endured in stripes (and the odd lino print matching blouse and trousers), thick and banded or deconstructed and in glitter, traditionally nautical in resort collection but modern-feeling and fresh for their extra width in this instance.

Erdem's resortwear was quite the departure from his autumn collection so, given that these ranges often denote what might be coming next from any given designer, we can expect a return to lighter and more floral form for spring. Tunics were flat cut and digitally printed; the palette was somewhere between primary and pastel, with yellow that was neither primrose nor painful on the eyes and a cornflower blue that felt in no way sappy.

At Burberry, broderie anglaise was genteel and traditionally cut into pencil skirts and light summery trenches (but of course), as youthful as the heart-printed autumn collection but less obviously 'trendy', and all the more trans-seasonal for that, while Band of Outsiders presented a modern type of resortwear: essentially a hipster city wardrobe for those tricky in-between months.

All eyes were on Balenciaga's resort offering this year, Alexander Wang's first pre-collection for the label. These used to be the arena in which Nicholas Ghesquière commercialised some of the trickier pieces from his mainline, but Wang's autumn capsule had wearability in spades, so resort was not so much about accessibility as it was identity. For this, he dove into the archives in Spain and pulled out familiar Balenciaga shapes: rounded, stiff shoulders; A-line lampshade tunics, and all created in knowingly severe monochrome, at once Wang's own signature as well as that of his new employer.

Click the gallery to whizz through the best of resort so far.