Style: What spring will bring

Fashion designers present their collections six months ahead of a season, allowing ample time for trends to blossom. For spring, local boutique owners and buyers call it like they see it, giving us a sneak peek at what will be cool for ladies and gentlemen once the weather warms up.

Hippie, hippie chic

“Long, flowy dresses were a hit last summer, and we’ll see them through spring,” says Bonnie Collins, owner of Aria. “With the hot Baton Rouge weather, an oh-so-chic long dress is both adorable and comfortable for our area.” So as not to conjure Woodstock circa 1969, the casual look works best when it’s more luxe Bohemian, less barefoot flower child. “Hippie chic! I love it!” says Lindsay Hodges, owner of Hemline. “We’ll be seeing long hemlines, bright florals, and jumpsuits.”

All kinds of adornment

Like spring clothing, shoes and accessories are similarly ruffled, flowered and tie-dyed. “Feminine touches such as bows and pearls are still adorning accessories,” says Collins. Imelda’s owner Sally Fowler says shoes are getting the feminine and hippie treatment, too, but the styles don’t stop there. Fowler says gladiator sandals are still around for spring—though she doesn’t foresee throngs of high-heeled, to-the-knee versions—as well as natural materials like stones and cork, citrus colors and candy shop brights. Something for every taste.

Pretty in punk

The mood for spring is equal parts romantic and dark. Lauren Bailey Pollard, owner of Angelique & Victoria’s, looks forward to “soft, feminine dresses paired with edgier, dark-colored jackets.” An exposed zipper or light wash, distressed denim offsets the ultra-feminine palette of blushes and lilacs. “The winter season was so structural—hard lines and geometrics,” Hodges says. “The spring collections will be more flirty and feminine, and you’ll start to see earthy organics and haute couture collide.”

Super natural

Beyond environmental benefits, men’s clothing touts the sartorial benefits of going green, proving organic clothing may be more than a fleeting trend. Mark Warner, partner at Style Lab for Men, says one of the biggest trends for all fashion lines is a move toward organic cotton. “Instead of an entirely organic line, brands are introducing organic pieces,” he says. “A lot of lightweight fabrics, such as slub cotton, are very soft and breathe better.” James Osborn, sales manager at McLavy Ltd., says manufacturers are exploring alternative natural resources, particularly lightweight and durable bamboo.

Pucker up

On a summer Thursday on Capitol Hill, senators suit up in puckered seersucker. Now, younger men are embracing the crisp seersucker suit. “It used to be just older men, the legislators, but now it’s all ages,” says Ed Bernstein at Cohn Turner. He says blue-and-white is the bestseller, and the store even outfits grooms for summer weddings. The re-emergence of the classic coincides with the 100th anniversary of Haspel, the New Orleans-based company known for its seersucker suits. Today, the old-fashioned style looks anything but.

Rubber sole

The value of comfort cannot be overestimated when it comes to footwear. Osborn and Bernstein extol the comfort-soled driving shoe for spring. “We’re seeing a lot of really sharp driving shoes and penny loafers that you can wear with linen pants, shorts, and even dress slacks,” Osborn says. Warner says the look at Style Lab is “low-to-the-ground shoes, nothing too bulky.” With the aforementioned seersucker suit, Osborn and Bernstein agree, you can’t go wrong with a white or off-white buck shoe.