Fashion Forward
The Anniston Star
By Samantha Thompson Smith; McClatchy Newspapers
September 9, 2007

NEW YORK -

The sport of fashion watching has become so much a part of New York this time of year, even the Empire State Building is in on it.

Fern Mallis, senior vice president of IMG Fashion, joked that the organizers wanted to light the building in ever-chic black, but realized the futility of it.

"No one would see it," she said.

Instead, they went with orange, purple and red.

It's a fitting gesture. Fashion Week, which officially started Wednesday, is expected to be bigger and brighter than normal.

This season, more bloggers are expected among the record number of fashion journalists - mostly magazine and daily newspaper editors around the world - giving their critiques of collections and insight into the surreal scene of Fashion Week. Alison Levy, a spokeswoman for IMG Fashion, said about 3,500 journalists have registered to cover the shows, which will run through Sept. 12.

What will be on the runways for spring? Merrill Greene, creative director for Stylesight, which tracks style trends, says collections will be less about heaviness and more about lightening up. That means less fussy layering and more cleaned-up, feminine tailoring.

"This is the just the beginning of that direction," she says. "This spring we'll see a changing of materials. They'll be firmer and crisper."

Greene says we'll see more focus on the waist and a return to shape and design after several seasons of volume. She's also expecting to see lighter tones that have to do with sky, sun and sand.

She says the change is a response to designers living in an "anxious and chaotic world."

"People are looking to lighten up," she says. "There's a new perspective in the world."