Style Fix

If you read back, you’ll see that I’ve been tentatively discussing Spring trends- I’ve mentioned sports-influenced pieces once or twice, and short retro dresses, and that metallic-futuristic thing that was everywhere.

Style.com- online home of Vogue and W and therefore the electronic equivalent of a fashion bible- has come out with their top Spring trends and they’re clearly readers of this site over there because they agree with me.

Style.com’s top Spring 2007 trends;

Get Sporty
(click the pictures to see more)
More than just a stripe down the side of some trousers, this season. Sporty fabrics entered high fashion for Spring, with hoodies over chiffon at Vera Wang, sweatshirt-dresses at Gaultier, Reyes, and Zero Maria Cornejo, and nylon drawstring-necks at MaxMara.

The New Romantics
Though I sometimes object to the term “romantic”- it seems to cover anything involving lace, usually- this season it really seems to apply. Rodarte’s silk blossom-covered gown, below, was among the more dramatic examples, but sheer high-necked blouses at Ralph Lauren and nearly-monochromatic flower-bedecked dresses at Burberry Prorsum and 3.1 Phillip Lim were equally feminine, soft, Spring-y, and, well, romantic.

Pinup Girls
It’s de rigeur, in Spring fashion, to do something a little retro, a little more feminine, to harken back to a more innocent time, as it were. It was a vaguely 40’s pinup girl treading the runways this year, with satin short shorts, turbans (yes, turbans) and cinched waists appearing for Prada, Carolina Herrera, Chanel, and Zac Posen (the latter did a high-necked cafe au lait satin-trimmed gown that I would trade several years of my life for.)

So Eighties
I was born in the Eighties, so obviously I approve of the decade, as a whole. However, it’s rarely pinpointed as a big fashion inspiration. There’s a fine line between fun and tacky, when it comes to Eighties-influenced fashion. Luckily, most designers tiptoed right along that line and came up with some truly retro yet truly new designs, like the Herve Leger-esque bandage dresses from newcomer Christopher Kane (lots and lots of buzz around him), and the fluorescent slit-to-there gowns at Ungaro.

Space Odyssey
Then again, some designers shunned the past in favor of the future. Hussein Chalayan’s morphing mechanical frocks, while maybe not suited for everyday wear, were the most daring example of the space-age idea. Balenciaga did metallic leggings, Marc Jacobs did irridescence, but all imagined the future as a clean-lined, black-white-and-silver place.

Trapeze Artists
“The bubble has burst” proclaims Style.com. The new silhouette is the trapeze, a swingier, little-girlier take on the bubble skirt of seasons past. Some did it on coats and jackets, like Unique and Marni, some in babydoll dresses, such as Ferragamo and Fendi (where two trends- space-age and trapeze cuts- were combined in a minidress), and still others imagined a more ladylike, two-piece look, seen at Oscar de la Renta.

Spring 2007 RTW, Spring 2007 Fashion, Style.com, Runway Fashion, Oscar de la Renta, Fendi, Ferragamo, Givenchy, Maison Martin Margiela, Balenciaga, Marc Jacobs, Hussein Chalayan, Betsey Johnson, Christopher Kane, Ungaro, Prada, Carolina Herrera, Chanel, Zac Posen, Burberry Prorsum, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Ralph Lauren, Rodarte