Fashionable trappings Navigate spring’s trends with ease

It was a dark and stormy morning as we headed to Bunker’s Harbor, a tiny gem of a cove near Schoodic Point. Models, a photographer and a reporter piled into a van packed with clothes for our annual spring fashion shoot, encouraged by the forecast – partly sunny, temperatures in the high 40s. When we turned onto Route 1 east, it started to snow.

Welcome to spring in Maine.

It’s hard to dress for the season when it’s 38 degrees when you leave the house in the morning and 65 and sunny at lunchtime. But it can be done. The lobstermen in Bunker’s Harbor had it down to a science. The trick, they say, is layers. A Carhartt jacket over a flannel shirt and a long-sleeved thermal top work wonders on the water.

This isn’t exactly what Suze Yalof Schwartz, executive fashion director at Glamour magazine, had in mind for women this spring, but she did agree layers are key. Rather than canvas and flannel, she suggests light summer suede, a textured white sweater paired with white pants, or a cardigan from your wardrobe over one of this season’s filmy chiffon dresses.

“That’s how you can incorporate suede,” Schwartz said by phone from New York. “Throw on your tan suede jacket and a pair of heels and bam, you’re a fashion plate. Or you can wear a floral summer dress and you can put a little cardigan on top.”

In New York, suede is showing up everywhere in pants, skirts and bags. Here, you’ll find it in fringed, Western-style handbags or light, supple shirts. Regardless of how you choose to wear it, Schwartz says tan is the way to go.

If you don’t want to wear suede in the springtime, don’t fret. This season’s trends offer something for almost everyone. White is, well, white-hot, but so are bright colors, while the tailored urban safari look focuses on neutrals such as khaki and olive. For the business set, Schwartz says skip the jacket and focus, instead, on pants and a vest with “a cool top underneath.”

The “hippie look” has returned, with bohemian peasant tops, embroidery and beading. Prairie styles such as corsets, eyelet and three-tiered ruffled skirts are part of a look Schwartz describes as “Laura Ingalls comes to Manhattan.”

“There’s a turn to femininity and a little bit of a bohemian mix,” Robert Rutkauskas, vice president and fashion director at Filene’s, said by phone from Boston.

As if that weren’t romantic enough, soft, pretty dresses in floral chiffon are crowding the racks in Bangor, as are small-print floral tops and skirts. But there’s still room for bright, bold prints in tropical and Asian-inspired styles. Which brings us back to color.

“I like the idea of color,” Rutkauskas said. “It just makes everybody feel good, like seeing the sun in a flower garden. When you walk into the stores and see the color, it’s compelling.”

It can also be a bit daunting for those of us who wear black all the time. If the thought of incorporating orange, raspberry, apricot or strawberry shades into your look makes you feel like a fruit salad, Schwartz suggests easing into color by adding one piece at a time to your existing wardrobe.

“Start slowly,” she said. “Throw a little colored camisole under a black suit.”

Or pair it with khakis. Schwartz’s favorite way to wear color is monochromatically – a bright top with a pastel skirt in the same shade can be just as romantic as a frilly floral dress.

“A lot of men love color,” Schwartz said. “They don’t want to see women in head-to-toe black.”

Schwartz said it’s important not to go head-to-toe with any of the season’s trends, except for the white-on-white look. A fringed suede blazer is cool, but not if you add suede pants and a suede handbag. Ditto for the prairie look. The way to avoid a fashion disaster is to work with what you have and add (or subtract) accordingly.

“Put on a pair of chinos and put on a white eyelet top with them,” Schwartz said. “Take pieces from a trend and incorporate them into your existing wardrobe. Mix it up in a way that works for you.”

The Bangor Daily News would like to thank Bill Kearns at Filene’s, Laura McDowell at TJ Maxx corporate office, the staff at Wet Seal, Margaret Churchill at Gap for their assistance with our photo shoot. The NEWS would also like to thank the residents of Bunker’s Harbor for their gracious hospitality, including Annabelle Chipman, Bill Osgood, Fred Temple, Dana Rice Jr., Dana Rice Sr., Jocko Temple, Fred Rice, Vance Bluschke, Ben Moss, and Avery, Jedd, Landan and Stephanie Scott. Special thanks to our models, Bridgit Cayer, Jenny Bragdon and Jessica Andresen.