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NEW YORK - Fashion cleans up next spring, with lean, polished looks prevailing over the revealing styles favored by the Paris Hilton and Britney Spears set, designers say.
New York's semi-annual Fashion Week kicked off yesterday with shows by Nautica, which showed sporty menswear, and BCBGMAXAZRIA, which showed dresses in delicate layers of silk in muted tones of ivory, taupe and lilac.
More than 100,000 people are expected to attend Fashion Week before it ends next Wednesday.
For women sick of seeing skimpy, baby-doll clothes meant for teens, this is their moment.
"It's a clean-up campaign," said David A. Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group trend forecasters.
New styles will be "not as flashy and not as vulgar as we've seen in the recent past - fewer clothes for Britney and Paris Hilton, more for grown-up women," he said.
Designer Carmen Marc Valvo concurred. "It's going to be very polished," he said, "cleaner, more put together and a little more refined."
Designer Tracy Reese said silhouettes will get leaner. "Things will get closer to the body," she said.
That's a relief to fans such as Lynn Henschel Klein of Park Ridge, New Jersey, a big customer of designer Ralph Lauren.
"I didn't like the tent," she said, referring to this year's revival of the voluminous dress. "I work hard to look this good, and I don't want to hide it."
Of special note this week is a celebration of Lauren, one of America's most successful designers, marking his 40th anniversary. He will present his collection in Central Park, followed by an exclusive black-tie dinner.
BIG BUCKS, HIGH STAKES
To kick off Fashion Week, the lights atop the Empire State Building glowed orange, purple and red on Tuesday. "The bright color combination of red, orange and purple connoted spring and fashion colors," said a Fashion Week spokeswoman.
As for the color favored by fashionistas worldwide, she added: "Black wasn't an option."
In a first for the New York public, Fashion Week tickets are being sold to certain American Express card holders, at $100 a pop.
Fashion Week has grown so big that designers need to do something different to stand out from the crowd, experts say.
Shows run from A to Z - from Abaete - maker of luxury goods as well as Payless shoes - and Turkish-born Atil Kutoglu to Britain's VPL by Victoria Bartlett and rising star Zac Posen.
Scott Sternberg, who started his line Band of Outsiders in 2004, planned to use a boat in the Hudson River to present his fresh take on the classic Sperry Top-Sider boat shoe.
And what's new that can be done with the preppy boat shoe?
"Grosgrain, like a cotton faille (woven fabric)," Sternberg said.
This year, the calendar is especially crowded with highlights including celebrity shows by rocker Gwen Stefani and hotel heiress Nicky Hilton as well as proven powerhouses Nicole Miller, Vera Wang, Diane von Furstenberg and Carolina Herrera.
Four shows an hour will not be uncommon, with more than 260 shows scheduled so far.
Despite fashion shows proliferating around the world, fans still flock to New York.
"You want to do business in the fashion industry in America, you come here," said Fern Mallis of IMG Fashion, which runs Fashion Week.
"Paris is very much a think tank, Italy is a design or manufacturing center, and New York is the center of practical and wearable clothing."
- REUTERS
