Fashion Know It All: Prints

How to wear the season’s full-length floral, animal, and fruit prints


Dear FKIA,
How do I pull off spring's prints without looking like I've stepped out of my grandmother's scarf box?

Rest assured, this season's full-length floral, animal, and fruit prints are the opposite of demure, channeling a '70s European headiness that makes one dream of long, champagne-fueled interludes on velveteen banquettes at Regine's. In other words, you can't check this trend off the list by recycling a sweet knee-length standby from the back of your closet. Today's versions serve up a heavy helping of gravitas in their baroque boldness and eccentric sophistication. They also give a new lease to that tired staple, the knee-length dress, thanks to the dramatic, floor-sweeping hemlines that are a huge fashion statement for both day and night.

The other great thing about the plethora of prints is how bracingly they offset the monochromatic utilitarian clothes that are also necessary for spring. Whether it's the thigh-revealing fruit prints at Stella McCartney or the muted peonies at Chanel, these looks will make you pop like a fleshy Georgia O'Keeffe flower in a room of Barnett Newmans.

The same goes for Consuelo Castiglioni at Marni's offbeat floral pantsuits, which might appeal to a younger girl, and Marc Jacobs' art deco– and art nouveau–inspired prints for Louis Vuitton. They're such sultry takes on that era's fascination with nature and the Far East that the same woman who wears Céline by day will covet these for night.

The only thing missing here is a turban and a cigarette holder, but since no one wears fashion literally these days, you may opt for some oversize jewelry to complement the look. With restraint the byword in the collections for spring, you're going to feel compelled to get a little wild somewhere. Let yourself bloom.

—Submitted by Desiré, Charlotte, NC

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