FASHIONS Playful styles had plenty of runway

Embroidered and printed fabrics and hand-painted designs appeared.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Rainbow colors, printed chiffons, lots of swingy skirts and a playful attitude from designers both here and abroad made for one of the strongest spring seasons in recent memory.
Last spring's bohemian baby added more color to that off-the-shoulder top, as well as a new blouson silhouette, hot colors, and the identical Day-Glo satin zip-front dresses in 13 colors that opened Marc Jacobs' Louis Vuitton show in Paris. Together they spelled out the joyful mood of the season. There were also plenty of pastels, with pink and lavender leading the way.
This is a season that will be remembered for an abundance of embroidered and printed fabrics. Hand-painted designs, as well as the polka-dots and cherry prints seen on Donna Karan's runways and elsewhere, felt new and fresh.
Alexander McQueen showed his first prints -- ever -- in Paris for spring, and John Galliano's chiffon print dress with pom-pom straps harked back to the innocence of the '50s, another spring trend. More '50s influences: circle skirts from Luca Luca and Eisenhower-style jackets at Marc Jacobs.
A sporty theme ran through many of the collections. Neoprene fabrics were reconfigured into printed tops and skimpy dresses by Nicolas Ghesquire, and there were more drawstring pants on the runways than at a yoga retreat. At this point, consider cargos -- in cotton, silk, satin and brocade -- a staple. If pants weren't long, they were cropped at the knee, like the blue suede lace- ups by Luca Luca.
This is the season that showed a little leg, or a lot. Hemlines rose to heights that boggled the mind in Milan, but were more modest here at home. Pencil skirts, or those that swing this way and that, were all over the runways.
Light and lively. That was the message for spring, and that adds up to a sentiment we can live with.