What a powerful statement. It was spoken by Barbara Bush in the 1990 commencement address she gave at Wellesley College.

To many people, Mrs. Bush was an extension of her husband as First Lady. To me, she was a woman of substance. Her wit and her honest, spot-on comments and observations were so refreshing.

Out of one commencement address you can get words to live by for your lifetime.

“…believe in something larger than yourself…”

“Whether you are talking about education, career, or service, you are talking about life and life must have joy. It’s supposed to be fun.”

“…cherish your human connections, your relationships with family and friends. At the end of your life , you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent…”

I think we can all say that Barbara Bush died with no regrets. She was a great woman.

Nordstrom-THE Mother Ship for fashion.  It is always enjoyable to go to Nordstrom to see what’s new for the season.

Recently I was invited to a spring workshop. It was called “Laid Back Luxe”. This category appealed to me and I signed up for the workshop. As usual, Nordstrom did not disappoint. It was a terrific session with Jennifer Weiner who is the Styling Sales Manager at the Paramus store. Jennifer talked about this trend and showed us some really great looking merchandise which is on the floor now. She had merchandise that covered a variety of price points. There is something for everyone. This category encompasses soft dressing. Everything moves fluidly.

The pants are  fabulous. There are wide leg pants with paperbag waists. There is a wide leg pant with side slits all the way up each leg.  The looks carry over from designer labels to Nordstom’s own labels.

There is a crinkled skirt in a saffron color with a wrap asymmetric front that was really good.

Sweaters and tops in this theme are loosely knit and loose fitting. The colors are soft and spicy. Lots of natural and blush and, of course, black.

Floral dresses in beautiful dark prints are also part of this mix. Personally I love all the bohemian looks. Brings me back to the first time that look was huge in the 60’s.

There was also a printed Kimono in the items selected to show for this theme. This is one of my favorite looks.

Here are a couple of photos. The floor at Nordstrom looks really fresh.  Stop by your local Mother Ship. If you need to, see a personal stylist to help you pull together a few looks.

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The most exciting thing for Spring this year are all the shapes and varieties of  style in every category of apparel. I think that the biggest trend is in tops, specifically sleeves.

SLEEVES. The cold shoulder came on like crazy in 2016. Actually, the cold shoulder goes back to 1992 when Donna Karan released her “cold shoulder” dress which was a long sleeved jersey dress with the cut out shoulder. It has been in and out of the spotlight over the years, but in 2016 it started coming on strong again. This year it is on fire as is a lot of sleeve treatments. And why wouldn’t it be a best seller? Just about everyone has a good shoulder to show off. You can get cold shoulder tops and dresses in a wide variety of fabrications. There are bell sleeves, ruffled sleeves, ruffled bell sleeves, ruffled shoulders, peak-a-boo 3/4 sleeves (this encompasses slit sleeves as well as a variety of cut outs). It really adds a lot of fun and style to how you put yourself together.

HEMLINES. We can continue to enjoy asymmetric hems this season. Shark bite hems are seen on lots of tops, dresses and skirts. I think that the most popular is the high-low hemline. This gives you a great look coming and going into a room. There is interest added into the asymmetry on skirts by adding a cascading ruffle down the side, or high slits.

In dresses, the big statement is a floral print. There are soft pastel prints which cover the pinks, lavenders, mints and peach. The pastels are a beautiful story if you are happy being in pastels. In this category you will also see gingham checks in pinks and blues as well as navy. Then there are the Bohemian darker floral prints which bring you to a more free spirited, sensual period of dressing. There are many beautiful spice colors that fit in this category (think Morocco, think breeze-catching dresses).

Dots and Stripes.  Lots and lots of both patterns this season. In some cases the dots, stripes and florals are combined into patchwork  prints. Stripes are never out. Most visible are color and white, or color and black. Somehow stripes always look fresh.

Another look for the season is the lingerie inspired kimono. Soft fabrications of chiffon and crepe de chine in beautiful prints are a very good look over solid dresses (great if you are not crazy about showing upper arms) as well as a “jacket” over a tank or tee with pants or a skirt. Take one of these kimonos, belted or unbelted, and pair it with a high slit palazzo pant or an asymmetric skirt and you could be going out to a wedding or an important dinner.

If I had to recommend one update to your wardrobe this spring I would say that the Trifecta would be a cold shoulder top, with a bell sleeve and a high-low hem.

As I always say,  enjoy getting dressed!!