2012 Spring Fashion | Ralph Lauren Highlights | 1920s Inspired Fashion

With a strong inspiration from fashion of the 1920s along with a muted color palette that was all white, light, and soft pastel colors, some spring posies, shimmering silk fabrics, and airy feathered wraps, the Ralph Lauren Spring 2012 hit a high note on the style scale.
The spring fashion collection presented by Ralph Lauren really looks like spring. I say this because I thought that the Michael Kors runway collection for spring 2012 looked more like fall than spring. Both Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors are among the very few top American designers who actually offer a petite line of clothing, and so I always like to take a look at both of their collections to see what their fashion emphasis is for each season.

When Ralph Lauren's models walked the runway at his Spring 2012 Fashion Show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, 1920s flapper style emerged as a key element of the collection. Fashion during the 1920s meant straight shift dresses, and the voluptuous figure was definitely out of fashion. In fact, some women even went to the extreme of binding their breasts so that their figures could be more boyish and better fit the fashion of the day.

Despite the boyish ideal silhouette that marked 1920s fashion, there was also a lot of feminine frou-frou to balance the look. Fringed skirts, silk fabrics, elaborate beading on dresses, and sexy, curved heels on shoes were some of the touches that prevented the 1920s woman from looking like a boy. During the 1920s dresses often featured dropped waists, and every flapper wore a cloche hat, and Ralph Lauren has referenced these features of 1920s style for spring 2012 too.