Fashion

It's the little things that count this spring. The unusual buttons on an otherwise classic jacket. The high-heeled shoes with updated platform sole that transform last year's little suit with new height. The use of gingham, plaid or unexpected color to add an element of fun to basic shapes.In these cautious times, great seasonal changes don't make sense. It's a rare company that can afford to take a chance on clever new styles consumers might not be ready to try this spring. And, of course, there are even fewer customers who're willing, or able, to part with any of their limited funds for experimental fashions.

Julie Cheng made a glove from red yarn that mimics the intricate system of veins in the human arm. The blood-colored thread begins at the middle finger and is connected to the thumb by the web of tissue across the palm, and then runs down the biceps to the elbow. It looks as though her model's skin had been turned inside out, an effect that is both disquieting and oddly mesmerizing. Cheng, who will show four fashions in her "Accupressurist" collection Saturday night as part of the Maryland Institute College of Art's experimental fashion show, is fascinated by the human body's internal systems.

With a new mayor at the city's helm, everyone is supposed to be paying attention to her speeches, not her suits, and looking at her actions, not her accessories. But it's safe to say that Baltimore is interested in everything about Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, from her policy down to her platform pumps. It's just the way it is. The city was all a-twitter about Mayor Martin O'Malley's muscle shirts. People are still talking about William Donald Schaefer's aquarium swim in old-time bathing trunks.

eBay Inc. may be the biggest online clothing seller, but it's still known for selling other people's castoffs. Now it wants shoppers to think of it when looking for trendy duds like hipster jeans and red ballerina flats. EBay will launch a new fashion microsite Monday. It's the latest in a series of changes that will sometimes have it acting more like an outlet mall or "private sale" Web site. EBay is working with major fashion brands and retailers such as Hugo Boss and Lord & Taylor to act as sellers.

If ever there was a season to revel in, it's autumn. In September and October, when the days grow shorter and the temperature dips, people start reaching for wool and corduroy and velvet — all the deeply tactile ways to celebrate the season. They mothball the shorts, sundresses and sandals, and wrap themselves in sweaters, scarves and jackets. But why should they stop there? These days, it's more than possible to bring the house in on the change of seasons, too. The home fashion world is warming to the idea that people want to update their furnishings — at least a little bit — to reflect what's going on with the calendar, particularly when it comes to fall.

The dirty gray snowdrifts have all but melted. Crocuses are starting to sprout anywhere they can. And across Baltimore, clothing shops and boutiques are trading in their winter blacks and grays and filling their displays with colors, patterns and metallics. Spring, and its fashion, is on its way. "Everyone is looking for a bright spot," says Melissa Kirby, co-owner of Shine Collective in Woodberry. And that's why she and many other area retailers are stocking at least some of their shelves with fashions inspired by the spring runway shows.

Ever wonder why hemlines rise and fall, necklines shift from high to low, backs are exposed one season then covered the next? It is quite amazing when you think about it, that every designer seems to shift design lines at precisely the same time. It's almost as though they had a meeting and talked it over.If you ask a designer how they all manage to make a change simultaneously, he or she will just say the time seemed right.There really is no mystery involved. In the industry, it's called the shifting erogenous zone of fashion.

You've seen them, mother, daughter and granddaughter out for a day of shops and lunch. They have clothes in common. With some allowances for size and proportion, chances are they're wearing similar outfits -- shorts, jeans or stretchy pants, an easy top and comfortable shoes with some zip.It's a fairly new picture for the women of the family.Fashion today has relaxed the conventions which bound generations of women to "dressing their age." Grandmothers show their knees and wear strappy sandals, mothers shop funky boutiques and sis wears sophisticated black to her seventh birthday party.

Mount Vernon's West Read Street has a bit of a small-town feel. On one block, there's a pizza place, a tailor, a little antique shop. But look again. There's a taste of the exotic there, too. Katwalk, a funky boutique in a converted rowhouse, has been bringing a slice of European and New York runways to the small but up-and-coming retail and business strip for more than five years. Now, just as the area around West Read Street is growing and changing, the fashion-forward clothing store is becoming an old kid on the block.

NEW YORK -- Don't hate fashion designer Matt Nye because he's beautiful, or because he's the companion of media maverick Jann Wenner, or because he's traveled through Europe in five-star style with former boss Ralph Lauren. "Yes, good looks, youth, a level of notoriety, can open doors. For whatever reason people may be curious about me," says Nye, 34, while lounging in his Upper West Side studio. "What you choose to do with those opportunities once they're created is up to you. In the end, it's your work that's going to speak louder than who you're with or what you look like."