Top 10 Fashion Trends for Spring

27 February 2006 by Lisa Anselmo    440  
Top 10 Fashion Trends for Spring
Well fashion fans, I braved yet another sweltering visit to the Prêt à Porter Paris® expo during yet another globally warmed Parisian September, to bring you the trends for spring. Visitors to this year’s exhibition were handed Prêt à Porter Paris® paper fans in hopes of preventing the fainting spells that plagued last year’s show (true!). I needed it for sure, as I was dizzy from the flood of fashions that spilled out over the three floors of the massive Porte de Versailles exhibit hall. So much diversity! The explosion of color! So many patterns, layers, fabrics, styles, accessories all vying for my attention. I exhausted myself trying to glean trends from such variety. The exhibition defined the trends as “Princess,” “Ethnic,” and “Primatif,” though “Excess” perhaps best describes Spring ’06. But don’t panic, your self-appointed Fashion Maven is here to guide you through yet another Paris season and prevent embarrassing fashionfauxpasis. Are the threads bare? Are the duds, well, duds? You can count on me to give you the straight skinny.     MORE, MORE, MORE   Every designer seems to have upped the ante from last year in an attempt to outdo each other. The trends aren’t necessarily new—more evolution than revolution—but redone, done up, overdone. If last year was about the little shorty jacket, this year it’s the little shorty jacket with cutouts and a huge butterfly appliqué on the back. Multi-tiered skirts last season, multi-tiered and multi-patterned this season. Cowboy boots and Moroccan beaded slippers ’05 became cowboy boots with Moroccan beaded trim for ’06 (LOVED them). There’s more of everything—more metallics on purses, hats and shoes. More studs and rhinestones on jeans, jackets and jewels. More trim and decoration than even last season. More uneven hems, more deconstructed garments, more of everything you saw last year. More, more, more. How do you like it?     STILL ‘70S AFTER ALL THESE YEARS   What can I say, it’s a trend that won’t move on. Think of it this way, if you invested in this look last spring (or the spring before, for that matter) you’ve saved yourself some euros. Yes, the Cher ‘73 look lives on, the wedge and platform still reign and the little espadrille is back for a record fourth straight season. The suede, the appliqué, the crochet—again. But this season, there’s a new episode in the ‘70s rerun: The Stepford Wives. Long ladylike calico skirts, ruffled shirts, floppy brimmed hats—perfect for a stroll down the grocery aisles. If the designers continue this love affair with the 1970s, we’ll be in tube socks and leisure suits by fall.     BAG LADY CHIC   For some designers le look is le sak (le potato sak, that is). Shapeless smocks and jumpers cut from ample cotton and linen weaves, some with large prints and patterns à la suburban hausfrau; oddball concoctions (i.e. half jacket, half shawl) loosely thrown together from what looks like excess garment parts. Frankenstein fashions. Puffy pants, oversized shirts, all-in-one garments with layering built in—and not a belt in sight. I know some of you full-figured ladies are thrilled at the idea of this trend, but before you run to the stores, visualize this: the cleaning lady character from the Carol Burnett Show. No, no Burnett.     PRINT IT!   Don’t put it on your walls—wear it. Everything from famous faces to bucolic scenes is turning up on shirts, pants, dresses, hosiery…even purses. Photoprints made famous by Huk-a-Poo® in the (here we go again) 1970s, are back and bolder than ever. But if pictures are not your style, you may prefer abstract paintings on your frocks this spring—impressionistic, dynamic designs splashed here and there and everywhere. Arty or farty?     JINGLE, JANGLE, JINGLE   No, not spurs (although cowboy boots are still in). Fringe is big this season. Fringe and tassels. And chains. Actually, pretty much anything that hangs, clangs, flips, flops, twists or twirls is très français. It’s part of the whole Bedouin and gypsy thing that’s hot now. Look for tassels on shoes and purses. Fringe on jackets—and purses. Chains on belts, jackets and yes, purses. A stylish parisienne will go all out, top to bottom. For you stateside Sallys, stick to one item. You don’t want to whip someone on the street as you walk by.     BARBIE BALLERINA   What else do you call tulle skirts, fuzzy ballet slippers, bubblegum pink tops. And no, this was not meant for your 5-year-old daughter. The Prêt à Porter Paris® peeps called this look “Princess” and assigned it color hues of purple, yellow, pink, aqua and violet. Pearly, swirly, girly, sugary confection fashion. Doll yourself up this spring.     HEMMING & HAWING   Hem? What hem? Skirts are unfinished and uneven. Forget the basic asymmetric hem of last season; we’re talking about ragged, freeform, destroyed. They can’t make up their minds—it’s up, down and up again—all on one skirt. Fashion will simply not color in the lines. They’re not even bothering to SEW the hems anymore: Cut and rolled, burned and melted, scrapped, snipped, torn. Absolute hemarchy! At its best, the effect is fluttery and dreamy. At its worst, a little bit Bjorky. A word of warning to les petites femmes, opt to walk the straight and narrow.      EXCESS-ORIES   It’s in the Bag: Big or small, structured or slouchy, purses are making a daring statement this season. Designers are really exploiting new techniques and materials to create true works of art that can turn even the plainest dress into an ensemble to remember. There is no limit to color, shape, texture, finishing or trimming. They have buckles, beads, bows, studs, chains and rhinestones. Sure there’s leather and fabric, but also vinyl, Mylar, fur, neoprene, rubber—I even saw a purse shaped like the Chrysler building. Super freak or super…
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By Lisa Anselmo