SPRING & SUMMER FASHION : TOGS
Four seasons exist only in the minds of fashion designers.
Here in the land of perpetual sunshine, spring seems to last all year, which means many clothes can be worn from March through October. Invest wisely in this spring’s fashions, and your wardrobe will carry you through summer and fall.
“What we design for the West Coast is different from what we do for our customers in the East. They’re not the same clothes,” says Anna Calamia, a New York fashion designer. “You have a different life style. You can live in these things eight months out of the year.”
For her West Coast collections, Calamia will use only very lightweight wools, and she can work with brighter colors whether it’s winter or summer. New Yorkers only wear brights in summer, she says, preferring black and dark hues for colder months.
Those who select clothes made of lightweight fabrics in dark or bright colors can stretch their wardrobes over several seasons, according to style consultant Kate Jackson, owner of the Studio in Corona del Mar.
“It’s the lighter pastels that don’t take you as far. Dark cottons and washable silks can take you year-round,” Jackson says.
For women, there’s a spectrum of spring styles from which to choose those essentials and luxuries that will complete their perennial wardrobes.
They can venture into the ethnic look, with its bright batik prints and sheer fabrics that tie or wrap around the body, or the classical nautical theme with its smart navy blazers and striped skirts and dresses.
No matter what the style, clothes now have more relaxed silhouettes. Jackets hang loosely from less padded shoulders, chiffon skirts flow like liquid about the legs.
“Everything’s a little looser,” says Iris Tons, co-owner of Mi Place, a clothing boutique in Fullerton and Laguna Niguel. “Jackets are soft and flowing instead of constructed.”
Mi Place carries a long turquoise jacket designed by Calamia with elastic pull-on pants made of striped silk and a turquoise tank top. It’s an unconstricted ensemble that moves with ease.
“There’s a whole softening up of clothing,” says Calamia. “We’re returning to pretty, flat sandals and easy, flowing fabrics such as silks, chiffon and lame. We’ve gotten a lot less structured in the ‘90s.”
If a woman buys just one garment this season, Jackson recommends that she choose one of the softer jackets.
“A white jacket goes from one end of the spectrum of the wardrobe to the other,” she says.
For a fresh look, pair the jacket with a sheer skirt instead of the traditional tailored slacks, suggests Sandy Magill Duckworth, southwest district manager for Mondi clothing boutiques with stores in Fashion Island, Newport Beach, and MainPlace, Santa Ana.
Mondi carries a white pleated chiffon skirt for $230 that looks best with what Duckworth calls “a hard piece”--Mondi’s long white jacket for $260, or lightweight tunic sweaters that come in red, navy or yellow with white nautical stripes for $260.
Nautical wear has returned this spring bigger than ever, and it can sail into fall if one doesn’t go overboard with the brass buttons, badges and royal insignias.
“The nautical look is really big, especially in Orange County,” says Duckworth. “It’s blown out the door.”
Ethnic styles can also adapt to autumn, thanks to their warm, spicy colors.
“We call it the trade route,” says Robert Rosenthal, fashion director for Bullock’s in Atlanta. “The look is dominated by no single country. It’s a global trend, with more of an eastern influence.”
Designers have imported warm bright colors, sheer printed skirts, harem pants, bolero jackets, printed cottons, decorative tassels and trims.
They’ve made the versatile sarong skirt in a variety of prints and fabrics, to be worn bare-legged with a silk tank top and bronze sandals in summer, or dressed up with nylons, heels and a long-sleeved blouse in fall.
“It’s a staple of a woman’s wardrobe,” Jackson says.
Men’s fashions have also felt the ethnic influence. Their clothes have taken on brighter, warmer colors this spring. Shades of olive, curry and mustard have spiced up everything from trousers to pocket squares.
“We’re getting away from black and gray,” says Rick Lough, sales representative for Alex Sebastian in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa.
Lough calls olive the primary “transition color.” He recommends an olive-toned sports coat with a glen plaid as a first step into the new look.
“You can wear it with all the black, and you can start getting into the earth colors,” he says.
You don’t have to be Indiana Jones to wear some of the new offerings, but it helps if you’re adventurous. For the fashion-forward man, there’s a pair of mustard-colored, triple-pleated linen trousers by Mondo, available for $150 at Amici in Fashion Island.
“Men shouldn’t be scared of clothes like these,” says Mario Dominique, owner of Amici. “They work well with whites, blacks and navys--colors most men already have in their closets.”
