A LOOK AHEAD

PRETTY IS AS PRETTY DOES

5 Big Trends for Spring 2004
We’ve got a sneak peek for you of what’s coming for spring from American designers. It’s good news: Let’s call the season simply pretty or, as Patrick Robinson, the new designer at Perry Ellis, put it, “charming.”

After viewing more than 50 collections, I concur, you’ll look charming and feminine in these clothes.

Joy, femininity and color, color, color were in the air. Several designers made comebacks to the big time. In addition to Robinson, Daryl K, CD Green and Maurice Malone staged shows. More emerging designers popped up like Michael & Hushi and Marie Claudinette Jean (Wyclef Jean’s wife). Stephen Sprouse is doing a new collection for Diesel—graffiti painted T-shirts, jeans and the coolest wool winter hats comprising bold bands of color.

So, the number one trend for spring will be, color:

1. Color Me Bad – Or Good
Designers took to heart the art deco era designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s bold move to use vibrant colors in clothes. She coined the term “shocking pink,” which survives today.

Ralph Lauren’s shocking pink gown and purple pants suit blazed. Carolina Herrera and Tracy Reese prettied up dresses in optimistic hues of yellow, red or orange often combined with white.
But soft alternatives to the shock shades abounded too. Look for pretty lilac, rose, antique yellow or powder blue at Perry Ellis,Marc Jacobs and Badgley Mischka.

2. Arts Decoratifs
In plain English—art deco. Think of the period from the 1920’s to ‘40’s. Designers like Kimora Lee Simmons for Baby Phat, Diane Von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs and Zac Posen interpreted it in fabulously modern ways for spring. Feminine dressmaker touches in floaty dresses I included, beading, dropped-waists, draped bodices, bare backs and uneven hemlines. Simmons and Zac Posen contrasted colors of satin in pieced-work characteristic of the era. And remember the beaded shimmy dresses of the 1920’s flappers? All part of the art deco moment in fashion.

Self-tanners, more popular than ever, are bound to get even bigger next spring/summer. A tan was a popular part of the well-to-do style scene back then.

3. Street Meets Chic
With all the welcome attention to elegant couture details like ruching and ruffles, designers couldn’t just act like street fashion doesn’t exist as a strong influence on style. So smarties married the two. Pairing old-school-style basketball jerseys with tailored jackets, Marc Jacobs melded the two in his secondary line, Marc by Marc Jacobs. A gray sweatshirt dress with a graceful drape was Daryl K’s answer to the street or chic question; Ralph Lauren weighed in with a fabulous stream of white charmeuse in a dress with black racing stripes down the side.. And Proenza Schouler’s yellow, hooded coat covered in sequins will have downtown street cats and Park Avenue pussycats alike purring.

4. Playing Dress-Up
It was all about the dress: backless dress, shirtwaist dress, sheath dresses, fit-and-flare dress, baby -doll dress, handkerchief hem dress. Though there were a few minis hanging on from last season, most dresses brushed the knee—above or below—and, speaking of low, necklines were pretty down to there. Plenty of décolletage will be on show next spring. But what makes these dresses resolutely feminine are the drapey or diaphanous fabrics used by Luca Luca, Carolina Herrera, Esteban Cortazar and Tracy Reese. Chiffons and satins were plentiful.

5. The Shining
Day blurs into evening. You can now shine morning, noon and night. And why not? Put the spotlight on you.
When designers like Proenza Schouler weren’t covering dresses and coats with sequins, they were using them for a little embellishment—say, on the bodice of a dress. A parade of satin dresses from Luca Luca and a gold coat from Marc Jacobs sum up the versatility of shine for spring. Shining on looks from Peter Som, Tracy Reese and Diane Von Furstenberg