LillaP T-Shirt

It’s been a long and rugged winter for most of us…cold, snowy, rainy ( even in “sunny” California where I live! Add a bit of an economic pinch.  But it’s a New Year…a new decade…a new Spring. So get ready to revivify, revitalize, start anew and celebrate a refreshed YOU…treat yourself to some of the great and totally flattering spring 2010 fashion looks that,  like the budding spring flowers, await your picking!

Nallie & Millie Asian Print Shirt

Get ready for a brand new fashion lingo…where words like utilitarian, practical, user-friendly, functional, clean, and sturdy have become the new CHIC!  We American women have asserted our fashion independence before. We chose what truly worked for our bodies and our lives.

Khaki Top & Skirt

The options for Spring 2010 are super and abundant!  Many are truly born in the U.S.A….the birthplace of the kind of sportswear and snappy separates we live in…workman-like stuff!

Start with that fashion invasion of MILITARY  looks… the color KHAKI (and a bit of olive drab)…jackets and dresses…trench-y jackets and trench dresses…cargo pants…clothes that are cross-influenced by all the SAFARI LOOKS.

Tribal Jacket & Capri Pants

Speaking of….JACKETS…don’t face Spring without one! There is an infinite variety…from the military/safari…to aviator…to anoraks…to tailored blazers. There are closer-to-the-body & belted numbers…fitted jackets with a hint of peplum…collarless cardigans (think Coco). All can be worn with matching skirts…contrasting skirts…with jeans…and newly…topping the fluffiest dressy evening outfits. You’ve heard the fashion motto “TOUGH & TENDER” before…never has it been more IN.  Gutsy combinations of a floaty chiffon top with jeans, a tulle  and lace evening number in palest pink topped with a tough khaki military jacket. Takes courage? You bet but…worth a shot!

Komarov Top & Jeans

No, the world of COLOR is not all khaki (which you can soften with white or any of the sorbet pastels from pink to lavender). Spring is also WHITE and more WHITE…pure or combined with black. Like grass sprouting in the spring…so does clean white!

Luna Luz Dress

For hot looks…there is RED  from  cerise to pimento. And last but not least….we’re singing the BLUES, fashion-wise only. All the BLUES, from palest to sky… to washed denim blue…to vibrant royal. And we also know you will never give up  having  a new LBD  in your wardrobe.

Flowers bloom in spring and summer…and so do PRINTS… a myriad of prints whether they stem from the florist or the zoo …from far-flung tribes or graphic artists. True florals , blurred florals….every species of spotted  cat, often slightly abstracted…African-inspired tribal and Ikat prints, looking almost tie-dyed. Graphics like stripes, checks, dots and inkblots. What’s really NEW is to combine unmatched prints in  one dress…in one outfit…combos of

Beluva Jacket

stripes & dots…two different floral motifs, or florals and stripes.  Imagine combining a striped jacket with a cat spotted skirt…a flower print blouse with a graphic print skirt…trendy ideas not meant for the fashion timid!

Apropos SKIRTS…the pencil is the established stable…in any variety of fabrics…prints…summer leather…straight and simple or slim and wrapped.

A spring must is the SHIRT… in refreshing white…in prints. Pure or embellished with softening details.

Planet Top & Pants

Beluva Pleated Shirt Jacket

There’s a word of MICRO-PLEATED fashions…blouses, tops, jackets…some draped, twisted, tied…all so chic and at the same time kind to all figures and so flatteringly feminine!  There is new respect for craftsmanship and this pleating. draping, whirling and “whoosing” is part of it!

Can-t live without a DRESS?  The BEST is yet to come. The new chemises /shifts are a bit looser, have more volume, are less clutching! Great shirt dresses sporting those military details….dresses softened with draping…often asymetric …or  with wrapping… and embellished with details like fluting  or soft ruffles … even apliquéd flowers ,braids  and embroideries.

Kamorov Dress

Live in PANTS?  The new trousers are a bit roomier and have pleat-fronts. New for Spring 2010…the SOFT PANT…fluid, easy, flattering…many with drawstring waistbands!  The kind of pant that’s perfect for late day as well! And then there are URBAN SHORTS…well-tailored and knee-length (YOU decide whether you are the right age…have the right body and courage to wear those in town).  The short short belongs to country weekend.

CJ Jeans by Cookie Johnson

Denim, of course, for the best-fitting jeans ever. Wear them with a striped chambray shirt (some of us are old enough to remember that fabric), or a gingham one for a clean, new look.

If you’re ready for some new T’s…the best are striped ones…as worn by gondoliers in Venice…be sailors everywhere..the “bateau” T that Coco Chanel first flaunted on the boardwalk of Deauville.

Late day…EVENING…big night out…lots  of the best looks are not floor sweepers, but are short, at-the-knee…or mid-calf…tea-length.  Yes, the one-shoulder is still COLD…lots of asymmetric necklines and one-shoulder draping…discreet cut-outs here and there, nothing overtly sexy.  Mostly evening/cocktail dresses are flowing in silks, charmeuses, chiffons, laces.  We don’t advocate transparency a la LADY GAGA…but rather transparent layers of chiffon, tulle, lace…lined or worn over camisoles or slips. And yes, we sparkle at night…with a dusting of sequins…or all-out glitzy glamour.

Carmen Marc Valvo

What’s up with accessories?  BELTS are back…waist-cinchers…and double-wrap belts in leather or canvass. BAGS dangle from long shoulder straps.  Or great pouch bags in leather, fabrics, prints. And bright clutches to liven up whites or neutrals.

Go BOLD with JEWELRY!  Go for the gold…or silver…rougher the better…mixed with chunky stones or pearls. Piled at the neckline…or over-sized arm candy…a stack of cuffs…mixed metals and mixed stones.

DodiRocks Necklace

Be BOLD this Spring!  It’s the start of a NEW DECADE!  Be HOPEFUL!  Have fun with fashion. Make yourself happy. You deserve it! Enjoy!

Edie Locke is the former Editor in Chief of Mademoiselle Magazine and current Chair of Fashion Group International Los Angeles Foundation. She lives in Los Angeles.

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