SIMPLY SPRING

Louis Dell’Olio’s elegant ode L to Chanel for Anne Klein & Co. (far left) dresses slender navy crepe for dinner with buttons of gold and a white silk faille collar and cuffs. To order from the Anne Klein collection at The Gazebo. Stanley Korshak. Neiman Marcus. Left: the dramatic appeal of summer white: the “Marilyn” dress in silk georgette, also by Louis DeLl’Olio for Anne Klein & Co.. to order at Tootsies in Houston and Neiman Marcus statewide.

Headlining the seasonal appeal is a soft-touch, easy-docs-it approach 1o dressing for romantic evenings: simple pieces and more of the sheer fabrics, matallics, and elegant scarf effects that get us through the day. Romeo Gigli’s go-for-baroque alternative to modern summer style: the tubed and lied skirt, cropped T, and softened cardigan in ripened-in-the-sun shades of cotton. From the collection at Stanley Korshak.

Ralph Lauren softens the tailoring of a summer tuxedo for a woman to stand out in for more than one season. From the collection at The Ralph Lauren Polo Shop and Neiman Marcus. Antique mirror from the collection at Orion Antique Importers Inc.

When he was a boy, Isaac Mizrahi’s mother liked lounging in the kind of men’s pajamas that looked good in Hollywood, even in black and white. This spring, Mizrahi pushed (he palette into brilliant jewel-tone primaries and designed pajama shapes from memory in melt-in-your-mouth silks and hammered satin. This page: the floor-length robe, sleeveless cardigan vest, and slit-front, long-sleeved column from the Mizrahi collection, available at The Gazebo and Neiman Marcus. Antique mirror from the collection at Orion Antique Importers Inc.

Center: a softly draped silk sarong topped by a structured jacket: fresh, individualistic, new. Part of Ronaldus Shamask’s hip, ethnic attitude this spring for day-into-evening dressing. From the collection available at The Gazebo, Stanley Korshak, and Neiman Marcus. Antique mirror from the collection at Orion Antique Importers Inc.

Right: from Michael Kors’s standout group of summer while sportswear; a scene-stealing trench coat in the tradition of Old Hollywood. In rubberized silk, to pull on over trousers and a tank, a jumpsuit, or city-shorts. Applause, applause. From the Kors collection at The Gazebo, Stanley Korshak, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

From Donna Karen’s chic, contemporary vision for spring: (this page) the silk crepe jacket, gently sculpted at the waist, shown here over ephemeral silk-georgette pants to draw a glance on soft, summer nights, but equally attention-getting over trousers or a tea-length skirt for day. Both pieces in Karan’s femme-flattering “powder” pink. Antique chair from the collection at Orion Antique Importers Inc.

Right: breathtaking fabrication continues as signature and pivot point in Geoffrey Beene’s individualistic design scheme for spring. Dipping into his pot of gold, he sculpts a space-age sweetheart bodice of pailettes onto paper-sheer mylar silk over a Byzantine gold floral empire dress. From the Collection at Neiman Marcus, Stanley