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Fresh Prints
Navigate summer style with watercolor florals, beyond-bright stripes and arty, abstract patterns
Step on board in Kate Spade’s striped “Jillian” dress ($355, Neiman Marcus, 5300 Wisconsin Ave. NW; 202-966-9700), with drop earrings ($88, rachelleceline.com), yellow enamel bangles ($10 for 6, Charming Charlie, 100 American Way, National Harbor, MD; 240-273-0353) and Cole Haan’s “Air Lainey” patent wedge pumps ($198, Cole Haan, 5320 Western Ave., Chevy Chase; 301-654-9122).
For designers, these disparate hot-month fantasies seemed to merge into one trend: the triumphant arrival of a fleet of prints. This bouquet of flirty florals, African batiks and plucky stripes cruised onto everything from cropped jackets to cool cocktail dresses. “This season, prints just popped,” says Alicia McCaslin of Alexandria’s Hysteria (125 S. Fairfax St.; 703-548-1615), who filled her boutique’s racks with vivid party frocks by Jodi Arnold), airy, wood-blocked tunics from Roberta Freymann and striped jersey minis by Minnie Mortimer. “After such a gray winter — both with the weather and the economy — people are scarfing up big, bright patterned pieces. They’re instant mood-boosters.”
