I had the opportunity to travel to New York last week to attend the Apparel and Accessory Market show. This is another look at Spring & Summer 2012. It was so exciting to be back in the city. The first thing I did when I arrived was drop my bags to my hotel room and take a cab to the Soho area.

Saturday in Soho, on a beautiful, warmer than usual, sunny day in January was what you can imagine—friends, shopping, and couples enjoying a late lunch while taking the in the city.

I walked the streets and my objective was to check out what people were wearing. New York street fashion is so different from any other city. Really anything goes, but what New York fashionista’s do best is to combine fashion and function better than anyone. The main standouts were boots; everyone was wearing boots—tall boots, short booties, combat boots and even your occasional wedges (which was a sure way to spot the tourist from the locals).

Walking the streets I stopped at many local vendors and saw one common theme: jewelry. Mostly bracelets in every color you could think of, and cute charms ranging from cupcakes, anchors, peace signs, and hearts to everything in between, for personalizing your bracelet. The total for this super cute look, $10! Of course I grabbed one and made it my own, as you can see in the gallery below.

The next day, I attended the Apparel & Accessory Market show, where there was one common theme, “High & Low.” This means playing with proportions—skirts with high fronts and longer backs, shirts with short backs and longer fronts. No matter how you shake it, Spring/Summer 2012 is all about showing some skin.

Color was also a huge trend—royal and electric blue being the prominent colors, along with pinks, corals and bright green. Skirts are back in a big way. Don’t pack up your Maxi dresses just yet because this is still a big look for spring. Because most of these styles are not available until February, you can imagine how hard it was to see all of these adorable looks and not be able to buy them.

I did do a little shopping on 5th Avenue. I snagged the most amazing skirt for only $22.80 at Forever 21! This was my treat to myself, and a little preview for you all on some of the looks that I am talking about. Some of these styles may look different than what you are used to, but embrace them! This is what I love about fashion, it is always changing and it is never finished. It continues to evolve, grow and get better—kind of like us as people.

Fashionably Yours,

Melissa