THE SPRING SOCIAL SEASON HAS always been like a stepsister to the bettcr-turned-out tall season. Fall has the fuller dance card, the livelier wardrobe, the luckier lot. Spring, meanwhile-left with little to do beyond rodeos and luncheons-sports a kind of look that says, “Why bother?”
No wonder Spring quit competing with Fall. (Don’t even ask how Summer figures in.)
But then along comes a string of invitations that has nothing to do with rodeos and luncheons, big-ticket invitations that seem to have found themselves in the wrong season. Stanley Korshak celebrating its 10th anniversary in store. Nordstrom making its long-awaited debut in store. DIFFA hosting its annual auction beneath a tent outside Neiman Marcus NorthPark.
Suddenly, Spring had a legitimate reason to dress up. (Fail, of course, would never dress up to hit the malls, but that’s beside the point.)
As we wandered around Nordstrom and glimpsed the well-dressed, sipping champagne as they tried on shoes, we considered the relative merits of what is clearly the biggest fashion trend of the season. Not the shimmery, shiny fabrics everyone is wearing. Not the suit-as-suitable-for-black tie we saw on many a woman at Korshak. The biggest fashion trend for spring? The department store/specialty shop as backdrop.
OK, so none of these fashion outings matched the 1990 opening of Barneys New York, when guests were taken by helicopter from the store to a seated dinner on the 50-yard line of the Cotton Bowl. But we all know how big beginnings can sometimes take unfashionable turns.
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