Local stores bloom into spring fashion with the latest trends

As trends circulate around campus, local Syracuse boutiques and stores are taking note of what is "in."

Syracuse has just begun to get a taste of the mild, cool weather of spring, and already The North Face jackets are coming off and the Uggs are being put away. The tights, however, are without a doubt here to stay.

Fashion is about finding something new and different and putting it out there, or as Rebecca Saxon, a Some Girls Boutique clerk, puts it, "adding your own edge."

As a self-proclaimed fashion snob, Saxon, a sophomore fine arts major at Syracuse University, thinks it is important for people to find their own styles. She doesn't believe fashion is about wearing only the trends or head-to-toe designer gear.

But the trends she sees on campus disprove that.

At Some Girls, headbands are a hot commodity and are their fastest selling item, Saxon said. She thinks the hit TV show "Gossip Girl" has brought them back into style. Floral prints and spring dresses are also popular, usually during the spring and summer months.

Some Girls is currently offering promotions and holding sales, as well as hosting sorority parties, an exclusive event for sororities to earn money toward philanthropy efforts, to attract customers. They put a great deal of emphasis on their storefront window because the store usually gets busy once they change their mannequins, Saxon said.

Similarly, Rhododendron is seeing more customers purchase spring dresses. The store clerk at Rhododendron, Micaela Robertson, an undeclared sophomore, said customers are focusing their attention on the dresses as opposed to the pashminas that "sold like fire" in the winter.

As spring advances, Robertson expects to see a lot of the recycled trends, such as tunics, leggings, big sunglasses and chunky jewelry.

"No one likes the tight stuff, it's more of the loose-y, flow-y stuff - that's what we're selling," Robertson said.

Fashion on the SU campus, she said, tends to be uniform and there is a general stereotype that can be used to describe the typical Syracuse girl. But that doesn't keep many girls from going to Rhododendron to look for the next cutting-edge item.

In an effort to attract customers, Rhododendron tries to pair popular items with atypical or trendy items that usually wouldn't complement one another in order to find the perfect balance between classic and contemporary.

Tawny Williams, a senior retail management major, said it is still too early to tell what will happen during this "transitioning period." But she admits that American Apparel, which was a hot commodity in the fall, is showing no signs of slowing down at J. Michael Shoes.

Williams said people tend to pick up on a lot of the same fashions. Familiar spring trends that Williams has seen on campus include leggings, fringe and American Apparel tees. She expects J. Michael's new spring merchandise will attract more customers, especially after the influx of the trendy sandals.

hakebede@syr.edu