Give Me the Blues, Please

Blazer (Zara - old, similar here and here), Blouse (H&M, similar here), Jeans (J.Crew, similar here), Heels (Nine West, similar here), Necklace (Dogeared), Bracelet (Nadri), Ring (Blanca Monros Gomez via Of a Kind) 

Apparently the thing to do this Spring is get the blues. And not the Muddy Waters kind, or the compulsory, overly styled hair emo kind either. But rather, the kind that requires a lot less angst, slightly more money, and more often than not, garners feelings opposite of those associated with the two former incarnations.

Which is to say that this season, we should most definitely swathe ourselves in a multitude of delicately azure'd hues, and do so for the solely indulgent purpose of it feeling so deliciously good. Have you noticed this? There is something about beholding a blue that lives anywhere on the spectrum of Icy to Cerulean that is undeniably pleasing—easy on the eyes as it were. And it feels even better when you put it on your body. 

At least this is what designers were telling us with their Spring/Summer 2014 collections. We saw nearly every kind of blue on the runways last September, but a particular emphasis was placed on, or rather, a particular attention was paid to, those of the Periwinkle and Soft Sky family, as seen in collections like Kenzo, Alexander Wang, Rebecca Taylor, Delpozo, and of course the breathtakingly dreamy Burberry Prorsum collection (just to name a bunch).

Sure, pastels for Spring is anything but earth shattering, but I find this season's particular incarnation—an infatuation with all of the complexity and beauty that blue has to offer us—to be novel in the sense that, contrary to their popular idiomatic and musical trappings, blues are in fact quite the effective mood elevator. And couldn't we all use some substance-free pick-me-ups from time to time?

Half Tuck

Blazer (Bebe - this mofo is from high school, similar here), Shirt (J.Crew, similar here), Shorts (Minimarket via Urban Outfitters - super old, similar here), Shoes (ShoeMint, similar here), Necklace (Dogeared), Watch (Fakety-fake-fake $20 at BP. here), Handcuff Bracelet (Asos - old, similar here)

In the same way that people can become boring over time, the more time you spend with them (no matter how much you love them), so too can pieces of clothing—those that have been with you for some time and have lost that alluring luster of novelty purchases are so often imbued with after that glorious initial buy.

Obviously this is not always the case; more often than not, the more time you spend with someone/thing, the better they get, and the more you grow to love that person/thing (these leather shorts are a great example of that). This is what we tell ourselves anyway. BUT PEOPLE CAN BE BORING AND SO CAN SHIRTS.

That's where the half tuck comes in—here to save our beloved and classic, but maybe-in-need-of-a-little-resuscitating button-downs; the Fall '13 runway shows taught us all about it. It's a new twist on just plain ol' tucking your shirt in (GAWD, weren't you just beyond sickeningly frustrated by the stifling staleness of tucking your shirt in like a regular person?!), and while it may seem like a dismissible detail, and a silly thing to focus on, it can really perk up your average poplin shirt, and make YOU look a whole lot more interesting and not boring. (Just kidding, you could never be boring...just your shirts.)

Photos © Rose Garrett

Potato, Poh-tah-toh: The Return of the Lucite Heel

Left: Deena & Ozzy Clear-Heeled Sandal here, Right: Stuart Weitzman Theone Patent Leather Lucite Heel Sandal here

It seems that last year's Spring trend of lucite footwear and perspex accessories and accents has held up and carried into this year's fray of Spring trends. It's been poking its head out here and there (the raved-about Charlotte Olympia Pandora clutch is probably one of the sources of this trend's NOT eye-roll-inducing slight resurgence) but it looks slightly different than before (as it should).

I for one went crazy for it last year, when everyone else did (I still die for those 3.1 Phillip Lims—HELLO CINDERELLA) but after a while, once the plastic pandaemonium started to filter down to the masses, and appear across the full spectrum of designer to not-designer brands, I got a little sick of seeing it. I love him, but Jeffrey Campbell made me so sick of clear-heeled everythings that the trend became utterly intolerable for me to stand any longer, not to mention he rendered it impossible for me not to associate the trend with strippers once more. (The Fashion Week designers last year did such an astonishing job of dispelling the pole-dancing associations with see-through footwear and replacing them with a new and entirely chic re-imagined image, that the light-up, strawberry scented origins from whence the look came seemed a far-off memory. But alas, JC's over-studded, hyper-platformed aesthetic eventually swung the pendulum back to Stripperville.) And then, I forgot about it.

Fast-forward to now, when I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon it again this season, and beyond that, not even the slightest bit annoyed. (I'm sure that's exactly the kind of reaction designers are hoping to induce with their wares: merely not-annoyed.) But the truth is, its decidedly more sheepish sequel this Spring has softened my hardened heart for the see-through trend, and has sweetened its way back onto my wantlist for Spring. I find the blush+lucite combination these two steppers are sporting to be rather pretty, and even prettier at about 1/5 of the price of those Stuart Weitzmans.