We knew resort season last year was too fabulous for its own good. Karl Lagerfeld strapped guns to models' feet and sent them around a pool in Miami with the help of synchronized swimmers. John Galliano came to New York to show his cruise collection for Christian Dior, attended by Jennifer Lopez and the far-more-relevant-at-the-time Christina Aguilera. Diane Von Furstenberg jetted off to Florence for a garden resort spectacular. But this year, the economy will have none of it. Christian Dior has canceled its runway resort show. Gucci, which has shown past cruise collections in New York and Rome, will only stage a presentation at the New York flagship on June 15 and 16.

But this year's cruise-show season, which runs from May through the summer, won't go on without sunlight. Karl Lagerfeld's show for Chanel is scheduled to go on as planned in Venice on May 14 at the Excelsior Resort’s Lido Beach, making it the only full-scale runway show for cruise by a big European house this season. If he wants to leave our appetites for resort completely satiated, he should get a gondolier outfit and pull up to the show in a boat he rows himself. We Photoshopped that so you can see how fabulous it is.

See? (His new muse, Baptise Giabiconi, is along for the ride, of course.)

Resort Season Becoming Scaled-Back Affair [WWD]