Local Color : Actress Sydney Walsh in Shades of a California Garden

The fashion palette for spring is vibrant with paint-box brights, high-voltage fluorescents and shades that recall the flowers of Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. Actress Sydney Walsh, who models the colorful assortment here, rarely wears anything but a monochromatic uniform in her role as Officer Mo DeMott on the ABC hit “Hooperman.” Walsh says she is passionate about fashion, but she takes in stride the wardrobe limitations of her role. “Wearing a uniform is a lot like an actors’ exercise where you play a scene with your face hidden by a mask. Everything becomes focused on your performance,” says the 26-year-old actress, who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In her private life, Walsh wears a lot of black “because it’s easy,” but she welcomes the season’s infusion of color. Floral hues keyed recent collections in Paris and Rome, but these color choices are more reminiscent of poppies and wildflowers from Southern California’s own gardens.

Photographed by Stephen Clark; hair by Keoni/Cloutier; makeup by Carol Shaw/Cloutier; styling by Beth Bickson/Celestine-Cloutier.