California Apparel News

Fashions ranged from frilly to tomboy at the Directives West buying office’s fashion shows Oct. 8 at the California Market Center, but the unifying themes of bright pops of color and an airy feel kept the catwalk cohesive. As previously reported by California Apparel News, Sandy Richman of Directives West and Barbra Night of Trends West, publisher of the Trends West Retail Notebook, opened the runway show with the announcement that they would be combining their efforts to help manufacturers, designers and retailers stay on top of the trends.

Buyers packed the CMC’s fashion theater for the Directives West runway shows, which featured girls’, juniors’ and missy apparel. Dresses, a major theme for the past couple of seasons, will return for Spring 2008 across all demographics. Influenced by vintage styles, trapeze dresses, maxi-length gowns, spare shifts and nipped-in shirt dresses all had a major presence on the runway. Bold colors, prints and plaids livened up the classic shapes.

Menswear-inspired pieces ranged from vests, trousers and woven shirts tailored to feminine curves and sports jock pieces given a girly makeover. Trousers were showcased in a variety of incarnations from high-waist and paper bag–waist styles to tailored low-rise silhouettes in suiting, linen and denim.

Skinny jeans in white, black and candy colors will continue trending through Spring. Leggings will also continue to be popular with updated touches such as lace and side-ties. Dresses and tops for Spring will continue to be paired with these super-fitted bottoms, and hemlines on tops dropped while those on dresses were raised to accommodate the trend.

Prints, from stripes and plaids to geometric graphics, were a major focus on everything from T-shirts to short shorts and missy outerwear. Color, including pink, melon, kelly green, red and neon yellow, popped up as accents.

—Erin Barajas