Fashion works in funny ways. In a less-than-sunny time for the economy, the color of sunshine radiates from every magazine and store.
“Almost every designer showed a yellow dress,” said Nina Garcia, Elle magazine fashion director and “Project Runway” judge. “It was a very optimistic season.”
In Chicago recently for an Anne Klein fashion show at Macy’s State Street, Garcia cited one simple explanation for the preponderance of yellow: “The designers shop from the same textile resources.”
Another is that fashion sometimes serves as medicine for whatever ails us. Yellow’s message is this, Garcia said: “Let’s stay positive.”
Yellow comes with its own negatives, though. We often hear about how unflattering it is next to many faces.
“It looks better on a darker skin tone,” Garcia said. And true to her prescription, most of the models who sported yellow in the Anne Klein fashion show had darker skin.
If you’re fair but not into fake tanning, moving yellow lower on the body or to accessories can avoid the skin-tone clash. Or choose a muted shade.
“The hottest way to wear it is either very bold with maybe a colorblock shoe,” Garcia said, “or you really play it safe and wear one piece with nude accessories.”
If yellow is a no-go for you, the other two primary colors look right for spring too, added Garcia, who signed copies of her new book, “The Little Black Book of Style” (Collins, $19.95), after the show.
Garcia, a native of Colombia, wore a yellow Gucci dress to a recent event, she said. But to Macy’s she stuck with a New Yorker’s black palette, in a Giambattista Valli jacket with an Anne Klein cashmere tank and a Lanvin necklace. (Statement necklaces also are on-trend for spring, she said.) Sky-high black Givenchy shoes elevated her petite frame.
By contrast, Garcia’s fair-skinned colleague, Erin Loop, fashion merchandising director for Elle magazine, emceed the Anne Klein fashion show in a yellow Anne Klein sleeveless tie-front blouse ($89) tucked into seersucker pants and white patent pointy-toe heels. She looked rosy, not sallow. Which just goes to show that even yellow’s rules have gray area.
The key just might be a comment that Loop made when a model walked the runway in a yellow dress.
“If you’re going to wear a color like this,” Loop said, “wear it with confidence.”
– – –
Be an original
Nina Garcia, who signed copies of her new book, “The Little Black Book of Style” (Collins, $19.95) at Macy’s State Street recently, offered the following as five key trends for spring:
1. Floral prints
2. Gladiator sandals, flat or high.
3. The oversized clutch.
4. Color.
5. Originality.
“There’s this whole thing of designers being inspired by art,” Garcia said. “Be inspired by being original. This is the time when you can get creative. Paint your jeans. Dolce & Gabbana showed all of these beautiful hand-painted dresses. If you can do your own thing, this is the season to do it.”
– – –
For a sunny disposition
One audience member at the Macy’s fashion show asked Nina Garcia what to buy for spring if you have only $100 to spend. “I’d say spend it on accessories,” Garcia answered.
