Spring has sprung–if not in the weather than at least in the world of style. GOOD Morning Wilton asked the team at Signature Style to give everyone a look at what the spring forecast is in fashion, accessories and home furnishings. They’re good sources for the inside track on this–when they’re not satisfying the call for great gifts and goods, they’re out hunting for what the next trend around the bend will be.
A prime spring fashion trend, according to Ann Nash, one of Signature Style’s owners, is the cross-body bag style. “We are also seeing lots of bucket purses, even reversible styles,” like the ones she’s pictured holding in the main image of this article. Another key style thing to remember? “In the fall, there was a lot more embellishments and studding, in the spring the styles are a lot more understated and simple,” Nash reports.
As for color trends, she said they’re seeing lots of mint green and navy as a base color, which the style mavens say can be spiced up with an accessorizing pop of hot pink, turquoise and any shade of green, especially mint and emerald. “There are a lot of great scarves in those combinations.”
There’s also a down-the-road trend they say to be on the lookout for. “Yellow and purple is a combination that will be coming down the pike eventually. You’ll be seeing it more and more, just like the turquoise and orange combination we’ve had for so long.”
One other apparel must-have for spring, according to Signature Style is an easy-wear dress–“Look for easy fabrics that launder well, there’s a lot of that, it will be everywhere,” Nash said.
While tunics will still be popular, Nash said that some newer styles are tending to look ‘more boho, more hippie.’ Interestingly, they’re also spotting a lot of 1950s-esque dresses–more fitted on top and with fuller skirts, that is perhaps a nod to where we left off from “Mad Men.” Signature Style carries a lot of jewelry and accessories that they suggest will match well with all of those trends, included beaded necklaces, bright colored baubles and chunky bracelets and necklaces.
Similarly, the style that’s really on trend, according to Nash, is big gold jewelry. “We’re seeing tons of chunky gold bracelets and necklaces.”
There are trends in housewares and gifts as well. Nash says that “easy entertaining” is the buzz word to think about. There are more things like paper placemats, which is a perfect gift for someone who has everything. “It just livens up a table.” What’s more, Nash says that younger brides are getting less traditional and formal. “We can’t get them to do linen placemats or napkins. Nobody wants to iron them.”
The store does have the inside track on what works for hostess gifts, housewarmings and the like. “People are giving a lot of wine accessories as gifts, especially in casual styles. Wine totes, wine coolers, wine buckets are still in for drinks,” Nash said.
Another area that is booming for gifts is dog and pet goods. The store offers pet beds–fully personalized, of course–as well as themed dog toy buckets and stylish chew toys (like the monkey fist knot ropes, shown above) in colors to match any decor.
“The reason we got in to the dog business was all our friends whose nests were about to empty were adding new dogs. We found people needing a dog present like a new baby present, and they didn’t feel the stores were giving them the same equivalent of a dog present,” Nash said with a laugh. “We sell those dog toy buckets constantly for people on their second round of dogs, especially as a gift.”
She also encourages people to think ‘beach, beach, beach.’ Look around the store and there are home accessories with sea motifs and things adorned with labels like ‘sunscreen,’ ‘flip flops,’ and ‘sunglasses.’ “The economy is a little better, and people are starting to renovate and do more with second homes at the beach.” There are bound to be needs for hostess gifts in that area with the approach of summer.
Along those lines, Nash said that a big seller is “anything indoor/outdoor. This poof (right) is covered in an indoor/outdoor fabric. You can use them inside in the winter, outdoor in the summer, and you can just hose ’em off.”
When picking a gift or something for your own home, Nash says to think “casual-but-nice-decorating” and “clean lines.” She said that stripes are the coming trend–not as much chevron but more straight lines–and grey is a huge color in decorating now.
One surprising area that Signature Style is seeing grey is in baby gifts. “everybody is picking grey to personalize baby gifts with.” She speaks from experience, as it’s interesting to note–Nash and her business partner, Mary Logan, sell and personalize about 25 baby gifts a week. As a result, the duo are not just privvy to changing fashion trends, but they also see a new trend in baby names: “The names have shifted to Cora, Marion, names of my grandmother’s generation. Cora is by far the biggest name we do, maybe because of ‘Downton Abbey.’”