FASHION Retailers keep styles simple and safe

Manufacturers in every price level offer tried-and-true trends.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
It's going to be exceedingly difficult to be a fashion victim this season.
There just aren't any traps waiting to be sprung, no style grenades to be lobbed, no smoking garment guns.
We all need a little safety dance -- one full of frilly romance, darkly warm colors, familiar silhouettes, haberdashery tailoring, Victorian evening looks. There's just nothing tricky about it.
Retailers know that after the year's traumas, no woman is in the mood for challenging in-yo'-face fashion. Designers know it, too. That's why at the top of the hip pyramid, old tried-and-true trends were sent down the catwalk last February: bellbottoms, patchwork, bohemian blouses, shirtwaist dresses, pleated skirts. Rarely has Seventh Avenue been so resolutely un-freaky.
From runway to reality
In the past eight months, clothing manufacturers of every price level have had time to work those themes from runway to reality.
And because those themes are so approachable in a Sex-and-the-City-ultra-femme way, many of them have survived the journey intact.
For example, there's nothing bigger -- nay, more iconic -- than the bohemian blouse, with styles now belled, tiered, ruched and festooned with ribbons in a sort of defiant girlishness. The same goes for the modestly hemmed dresses trimmed with embroidery, ruffles, flouncey ties with a lace insert here and there.
Even the temptress of eveningwear has had her siren muffled with vaguely Victorian styling and beading ... and all swathed in no-nonsense black.
Being conservative
And there are conservative-looking '70s silhouettes seen in natty suits (pantsuits have gentle ankle flares) and usually bathed in a woodsy shades of brown, rust, camel, charcoal and olive. For the less dressy, there are boxy-looking jackets over flat-front trousers.
Denim is still embroidered, bell-bottomed and slung low on the hips. Newer are the denim prairie skirts and maxiskirts worn with knit tops and lace-up granny boots. The gotta-run-to-the-store-be-right-back outfit? Athletic-striped jogging warm-ups. No kidding.