NEW YORK — Tiring of gypsy skirts and other dressed-down looks, women this spring should be more inclined to throw on a dress or other polished pieces.
Influential retailers who attended New York Fashion Week based that assessment on the more refined feminine looks on the runways.
Joan Kaner, senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus, said she would welcome the change. “It’s time to clean up everybody’s act,” she said.
“Generally, everyone seems to be more upbeat about dressing up,” Kaner said. “We’ve been through several seasons that have been such a mixed big — most of which revolved around bad taste.It’s nice to see good taste on the runway.”
The “sleek and clean” models on Carlos Miele’s runway were a hit with Kaner, as well as the styles at Michael Kors’ show.
Asked if she anticipated that women would get more dressed up, she said. “I certainly hope so. They can’t have the excuse that there aren’t any pretty clothes out there. There are lots of pretty clothes out there.”
Bergdorf Goodman is banking on an “incredibly successful spring season” because of the more sophisticated and pulled-together looks shown by designers, said Robert Burke, senior vice president of fashion. “We’re seeing the bohemian look come to an end.”
Stores will be replacing all those sparkly skirts with interesting dresses, great jackets and interesting suiting, he said.
Burke praised Ralph Lauren for a “fabulous job” designing his spring collection and described Francisco Costa’s collection as “outstanding — the best show of the week.” Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera earned high marks from him for lightening up their collections in terms of fabrics and more fluid silhouettes. Burke also liked how young designers Peter Som, Derek Lam and Zac Posen evolved.
“Some people said there was a lot of sameness,” Burke said. “That may be true in terms of color palettes, but when you look at the actual silhouettes, they are very sophisticated and much more pulled together.”
Kal Ruttenstein, senior vice president of fashion direction for Bloomingdale’s, said he expects the dress to be the standout for spring. “There is no question that the dress was the one item in every line and the most important item of the season.”
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Lauren’s shirtdresses, Costa’s lightweight white dresses for Calvin Klein, Zac Posen’s simplified late-day dresses, Donna Karan’s bicolored jersey dresses and Marc Jacobs’ jumpers were top-of-mind for Ruttenstein.
Aside from taking a few fashion cues from designers, many women will see dresses as the easy way out, he said. “A lot of people are going to wear dresses because they are tired of pulling themselves together. They’re tired of gypsy skirts, and they’re tired of premium denim. They want an alternative way of dressing, but they don’t want to put a lot of thought into it. The dress is the obvious choice.”
Lavelle Olexa, senior vice president of fashion merchandising at Lord & Taylor, said a broad base of customers should respond well to the more refined looks that were shown on the runway. She said she noticed signs of a shift from ultra-casual to more refined by looking at some show attendees who wore “a pretty little dress or a beautiful shoe.”
“You get to a point where you are too casual,” Olexa said. “For some people, it’s easier to be more dressed up. That is a little more defined. We swung so far in one direction that it is only natural that the pendulum would swing back — perhaps not to total rules and regulations, but to a pretty look that is less sexy and not so costume-y.”