I was reading over my last post and was thinking that I would get around to this MUCH sooner than October, but I'll still share what I saw at market - but for spring 2011 this time...

Returned from NY a few weeks ago and did lots of early spring buying (this is Jan-Feb usually), so its a good indicator of what's upcoming for next year. I don't typically like to say what colors are coming in style, since I believe everyone should stick to, in general, the colors that work on them and not worry so much about what color everyone perceives is fashionable right now. For example, although purples are big for fall right now, if you put on a purple flowing tea-length dress with shoulder pads, you are not stylish just because its purple. Ouch, that is a painful visual, although there is one particular teacher at my kids school who might be offended if she realized I was silently tilting my head her direction...

I digress. For spring, in all honesty there was lots of color. Specifically brights, so that was fun. Enough on that for now - redheads keep wearing that really great shade of green that looks awesome and you and looks like puke on the rest of us.

Milly and Trina Turk, in their usual style, showed bold prints. Even with the economy freak-out in the last year or two when people seemed to wear drab colors (to match their mood? are you kidding me?), these two stayed true to form and did what they do best. Flatter women with gorgeous cuts and feminine prints. Some prices did come down - that was refreshing.

There were still lots of one-shoulder styles out there, so apparantly we're not over it yet. Personally, we'll see. I think I still like it.

True Religion jeans were amazing, offering a mini skirt with flower crystal buttons - Joe's jeans were classic with updated fades and details - 7 jeans had awesome detail. Such as the white on white crystal pocketed jeans.

Expect straight leg jeans that you can roll (NOT hem) into capris to be around next spring. Also, white jeans were going strong (I'm thrilled personally, I have a love affair with white jeans). The skinny was apparantly on the way out, but here in the midwest we've not seen the peak yet I'm convinced, but vendors are moving on to the flare. It was fun.

I picked up 4 new lines, which is a LOT in my small retail world! I'll be better about blogging, but we have Deux Lux coming (darling little evening bags), Odd Molly (love love), Darling (just that), and Rebecca Beeson (great soft tees, think step up from michael stars).

More soon! Have a great weekend!
SL

Okay, so I'm new at this whole blogging thing, and I've really never followed anyone's blog or know what they are about, but I thought I would throw out some ideas as they hit me. Wait, maybe that's all a blog is anyway....

For my first post, I will share a question I get asked often by customers here at susan lynn's.

"Can i mix my gold and silver jewelry?"

Well, this might seem to be a no-brainer "of course" type of answer, but I'd be fooling myself if I really believed that fully. I'd like to rephrase the question to: "can it be done tastefully" and then I will answer without hesitation, "yes of course."

But ladies, please do make an effort to pull it all together. For example, a gold/silver combo watch is a great way to do this, or perhaps a necklace that is mixed gold/silvers so your wedding ring ties in with your earrings, ties in with your bracelet, etc.

I'm kind of old-school about things like this, and in a perfect world I'd have the jewels match (down to the hardware on the purse and any embellishment, including zippers, on clothing). Do I mix personally? Yes, but I personally have a watch that pops both tones. If my watch was solid silver, I'd think twice about wearing gold jewelry head to toe. That's just me.

Diamond studs can be considered a neutral. Even if they are based in silver (white gold, platinum, what have you), don't hesitate to wear these with anything. Even (especially?) swimwear. Love it.

Its a wise investment to have a gold and a silver evening bag, as well as a pair of gold flat shoes, silver flats, gold heels, silver heels, you get the point. (this is where your local boutique comes in handy - get it...!? HA)

Well anyway, if nothing else- if you have a predominantly gold or silver purse, do wear complimentary shoes. Train of thought a little old-fashioned? Totally. WWJD? (What Would Jackie Do?) Keep it classy.

I'll sign out now, tell your friends about the blog so I am motivated to keep posting! I would love questions... if I don't know, I'll find out. Next time I'll write about what we saw at market for fall and holiday 2010 :)

Susan