Blast from the Past

Fashion is like a cycle of life. Like the law of Karma, what goes around comes around and what goes up must come down. If in the last season trend, we saw the 80's made its glorious comeback sans the Jennifer Beals's "Flashdance"-inspired off-shoulder cropped sweater top, then expect the 60's and the 70's to roam the runway floor for Spring and the upcoming sizzling Summer months.

Here and there, designers are reviving the hip spirit of the late sixties and seventies by bringing back the short silhouettes and psychedelic floral prints of the hippies. Add the return of iconic fashion house of the period Biba to the fashion scene and voila, the fashion world gets groovy again.

To celebrate the return of the Flower Power era, UK's Miss Selfridge, one of British notable High Street retailer is absorbing the powerful aura and channels it into its latest Spring/Summer 2007 collection. With floral print as the main design element, bright and fun colors were mixed to create a ready-to-wear collection that reflects the 60's and 70's where the cool hippies and The Beatles ruled.

With two new trends created for the season, Festival Chic and Rock Circus, each trends represent two different stories. The Festival Chic trend focuses on the relaxed festival feel, playing with key shapes of boyfriend washed denim jeans, pretty floral prints and checked shirts, crochet camisoles and tunics in empire lines as well as the hues of ecru, khaki, bright green and paprika orange to name a few.

For Rock Circus, the feel is rock chic but with a little twist. The key to the trend is prints. Lots of prints that will help to lift and capture the tone of this trend. Edgy outfits are given particular attention with metallic embellishments and appliqué detailing. Smock tops, skinny jeans, Rock Chic T-shirts and tailored waistcoats and jackets are the key shapes of for the trend while black, white and berry are the color palette of the season for Rock Circus.

Another added bonus to both Miss Selfridge loyal fans and vintage fashion lovers is Miss Selfridge is proud to bring back vintage pieces called Biba Lives Vintage. Covering styles as early as the 1930's to the ultra-glamorous 80's (think of Madonna during her "Virgin" days or Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"), the collection is sourced from all over the world and available in limited quantities and sizes.

Belted shift dress from the 1950's in golden and orange with floral prints, light blue and white stripe sleeveless dress with white collar and belt detail from the 1960's (featured inset, left) and 1940's tan court shoes with bow details in genuine leather to name a few, were the sought-after items. It is not surprising to say that most of the vintage pieces received tremendous response and have been sold out.

So, if you wish to relive the heydays of The Who or The Rolling Stones, then visit the nearest Miss Selfridge outlet today to view the extensive collection. While The Rock Circus and Festival Chic collection are available in Miss Selfridge's stores worldwide, please note that the Biba Live Vintage collection is exclusively available in UK since Miss Selfridge does not deliver items to international addresses. Should you be interested in the vintage pieces, you may inquire the nearest store on how to obtain them.

*Photos courtesy of Miss Selfridge.

Miss Selfridge - F46/47/48, One Utama Shopping Center, Bandar Utama Damansara, 47800 Petaling Jaya; G1-31, Ground Floor, Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway, 43150 Selangor; G071-072, Ground Floor, Mid Valley Megamall, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.