Spring 2010 may well rate a “10” for the first time in ages because, regardless of your sources for fashion insight, your eyesight is all it may take to agree.  I always take the time to research and read, and study and scrutinize the fashion offerings each season.  Just what is the pulse of the season?  Who’ll wear the new trends?  Each season is a wonder, a pulse of social conscience as measured by the designer community.

Designers are seen living in a rarified bubble, but nearly all of their customers are not.  Globally, haute couture customers number in the low two hundreds.  The rest of us scrape by on prêt-a-porter, or Ross Dress for Less.  It’s actually a designer’s job to take our pulse and transport us to a happy place in order to keep our interest in fashion alive.  I’ve liked previous seasons’ output, but the attitude has not been so ebullient, so brisk, bright, and blue.

You can see spring’s vigorous energy with Giorgio Armani’s atypical, painterly prints.  Known for elegance and effortlessness, he’s taken a youthful, colorful approach, clearly amused with playfully short hemlines.  For day, his color palette veers toward a classic blend of blue and teal.  But Armani loves a party and got effusive with fuchsia and royal blue.  Fellow Italian, Donatella Versace drank from the same fountain of youth, and got caught up in her own vivid version of thigh-skimming party clothes in vivid pastels and geometric prints. These designs show the designers at their confident best, and that says something about their own pulse, let alone their would-be customers.

The season’s exuberance is also in evidence at BCBG with more body conscious designs featuring short hemlines and bright abstract floral patterns.  Ruched silks and tulle in fitted silhouettes describe one type of offering as a counterpoint to an at-ease selection of Tee shirt dresses.

Marc Jacobs is the younger generation’s designer darling, and it’s no
wonder. With his hands on three collections including Louis Vuitton, his well-regarded eponymous collection, and his Marc by Marc Jacobs line, he’s a designer in demand.  Jacobs threw caution to the wind with classically tailored jackets featuring pinched shoulders, a throwback style to a postwar era, but updated with orange and hot pink neon.  The tribal trend, huge this season, is also something generally credited back to Jacobs, who introduced it previously in his designs for Vuitton.  It’s no wonder his spring collection colors remind me of heat and light.  The guy is on fire.

The popular Nanette Lepore was also inspired by flashing neon lights, and brought her hues to printed lighthearted dresses, and striped knits.  Milly, of similar repute, usually does bright prints in retro styling with a modern sensibility.  But the collection took a refreshingly dark turn.  I don’t always get excited about black, but having a base black piece to wear amid all that pattern and color may be just what the doctor orders to keep that pulse in check.

The runway is an exciting place to trendspot.  Devotees dedicated to their favorite designers enjoy this immeasurably because they get to experience the designer’s pure point-of-view.  By the time the retailers place their orders, stock their stores, and place the designer’s creations out to sell, that pure viewpoint becomes that of the retailer.  It no longer is one in the same.  As a consumer, when reviewing this season’s tantalizing offerings, you need to be more loyal to your own sense of style than you are to a designer or to a retailer.  If you don’t like the trend, sit it out.  If it’s not flattering on you, skip it.  If the color is bolder than you are, just say no. If a trend highlights your age because it’s just too advanced for you, either tone it down, or walk on by.  But after several slumbering seasons, if your wardrobe needs a pick-you up, just interpret a trend or two that can work for you and claim it as your own.  It’s amazing what it can do for your wardrobe, but even more for your attitude.

Just try on something you love and take your pulse.