Rake Appeal { Fashion

The spring collections usually lend levity to our wardrobe, but this year, that’s not necessarily the case. Many of the season’s prettiest party dresses and tissue tops are coming fully loaded with all manner of heavy metal hardware. Surely you noticed such chains, charms, pendants, and toggles stitched onto last season’s winter things. Now the gossamer fabrics of spring—the chiffon, the linen, the silk—must also bear this burden of alloy. We were wondering how the featherweights might hold up, until, at one of the Twin Cities’ most exclusive boutiques, we spotted a light cotton neckline drooping with bullet casings.

This metal fetish is not so surprising, of course. We’ve had years of frothy gauze, ribbons, ruffles, and lace. Gold, nickel, and bronze seem only

a natural progression. But if trend reports are to be believed, the fashion capitals are growing tired of such fripperies, and design houses will be circling back to nineties-style minimalism shortly. A few designers are applying pleats and bandaging to shirts and dresses, offering angular contrast to all the curlicue finishes we’ve grown accustomed to. Pantsuits aren’t far behind.

Yet there’s no shortage of femininity in the spring fashions. Openwork crochet; skirts and dresses in layered mesh; frayed edges; elaborate, almost Elizabethan collars; and floppy, over-sized bows play the season’s other central characters. Vibrant colors inspire a bounce in our step as we slog through winter’s lingering slush in the strappy wedge heels we simply can’t wait to wear. The indication is that rich hues have drained from the palette as of late, in favor of so-called “naturals” and “organics.” However,

if you insist on contrasting with your muddied, Minnesota-in-March surroundings, as we do, then you’ll favor apple greens, intense yellows, and azures as well as flamboyant, African-style florals

and kimono-inspired acetates.

These are the insurgents against white, buff, and nude.

For most of us upper Midwesterners, occasions that would compel us to slip into that Monique Lhuillier daffodil dress (pictured at left) are rare. Still, there’s good reason why Lhuillier, the Beverly Hills designer whose creations for autumn 2006 caused a modest ripple at New York’s Fashion Week last month, chose to open her second-ever boutique at Fiftieth and France. The two-year-old shop is known for its wedding gowns. But the perennially single will admire her long, bias-cut dresses, done up in an array of cheerful colors and botanical prints.

There are other places to fortify your optimism for Twin Cities fashion; they include Alfred’s Grand Petit Magasin, the Bergdorf Goodman-inspired department store in Edina; the downtown Minneapolis Neiman Marcus (of course); stalwart clothiers Grethen House, in Edina, and Bumbershute, in Wayzata; and some of the new boutiques that have been popping up like crocuses around the metropolitan area: Stephanie’s in Highland Park; Ivy in Uptown;

and Ensemble in Linden Hills,

to name a few.

For the beaus, designers have been thinking Rio de Janeiro, rolled-up trousers, and Panama hats. Of course, most area gents will ignore such impressions, adhering to a Twin Citizen’s night-on-the-town uniform:

a vertically striped dress shirt, often left untucked over distressed jeans or fresh black denim. Note how this favorite look can be updated with simple, bold strokes—and we’re not talking straight up-and-down strokes, mind you. The Italian label Etro, for example, offers adventurous alternatives to such inveterate preppiness with classic-cut shirts in easy floral prints. No pansies here! These shirts lend their wearers a look of sophisticated courage.

—Christy DeSmith