A beautiful print in restrained colors. From Theory.

Every year, when summer rolls around, I get excited over the weather, the food, and the fashion.  What looks better after a long, hard winter than easy clothes in cheery pastels?   The fact is, however, those airy summer colors and I?  Well, we don’t get along all that well.  (Can we say washed out?)  The great thing about the psychotic quantity of lead time fashion gives the actual seasons is that by the time the first actual day of summer arrives, the stores are putting out their second wave of clothing.  The fall clothing isn’t quite here yet, but now on offer are summer cuts in slightly deeper, fall-slanted hues.  Perfect.

This season, the stores are full of soft greys and purples, in flowing summer-weight fabrics that will be perfect for long August evenings by the water.  Here are some of my favorites.

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Also in black, white, and oceanic!

Today we’re up to stage three of Betsy’s spring wardrobe update.  The next item Betsy asked for is coverups to go over dresses.  I’m sure you’re all familiar with the problem.  Yes, the summer months are coming and it’s going to get hot.  Unfortunately, plenty of offices seem to be air conditioned to a temperature suitable only to penguins or particularly hot-blooded men in suits. (They measured the temperature in my boss’s office at one of my former jobs and it registered at, no joke, 53 degrees Fahrenheit.  This is not, in my opinion, “room temperature.”)  This leaves most women and many men with the choice between either freezing in your office or sweltering once you step outside, particularly if your commute involves an AC-less subway platform or a car that’s been baking in the sun for eight hours.  Throw in the occasional movie theater and, if you’re lucky, cool evenings at the beach, and having a cute cover-up for your warm-weather dresses is a definite must.

For an office like Betsy’s, cardigans or blazers and other casual jackets are the easiest way to go. Yes, pashminas are great, but if you’re at the office, getting stuff out of drawers, attending meetings, and generally going about your business, wraps just aren’t practical.  Today we’ll focus on cardigans — they’re easy to roll and stuff in a biggish handbag, and in the right color, can be hugely versatile.

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I’ve been running wild with the flowy and the flouncy lately, but really, I love the other side of things just as much — tailored, elegant, ladylike.  Just in time for Easter, the stores are full of body-conscious sheaths and tailored dresses in dainty prints and Easter egg pastels.  I admittedly won’t be going to mass this Sunday, but I’m still feeling the pull of a look that’s a little more refined. You might never wear these dresses to the beach, but they dinner with the parents at the Central Park Boathouse restaurant.  Here are some of my picks for the holiday weekend and spring’s more reserved moments. I don’t promise that these are all completely appropriate for church, but I guarantee they’re perfect for Easter brunch.

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A perky print in spring green and grey from BCBG Max Azria

You didn’t really think I was done with spring fashion, did you?  I didn’t think so.  Now that we’re getting flashes of actual warm weather (I saw 60 the other day!), my itch has moved on from just shedding my down jacket to something way better: ditching my pants.

I know, I know, that sounds bad.  Jokes about the collective Femmeiniste anti-pants sentiment aside (we seriously alarmed one of my cousin’s friends who Lily and AJ had not yet met last year by declaring one of our gatherings to be a “pants-free brunch” over e-mail), there’s no better part of warm weather than the opportunity to ditch my jeans and cords and put on a skirt or a dress.

Bold prints are on-trend for the season, and there’s a whole collection of great spring/summer dresses that are an easy way to brighten up your wardrobe.  Here are some favorites.

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