Top 5 trends for summer

There are plenty of seasons in the fashion world where I'm not über-excited about the trends I'm seeing.

This is not one of those seasons.

In fact, narrowing my list of favorite trends for the summer down to 5 was difficult for me. Honorable mentions go to lace, digital-imaging prints, and colored jeans. Here are my top five most exciting trends of the summer (in no particular order):

[All photos redirect to full outfit posts.]

01. Neon

 

 

Absolutely anyone who hasn't been hiding under a rock this past year will have noticed that neons are everywhere right now, and not in an icky late-'80s-early-'90s-throwback way either. These colors pop. They're fresh and saturated, and seem to glow from the inside. I, for one, simply cannon get enough.

02. Pastels

 

 

 

Pastes are everything neon is not. Where neon glows, pastels stay primly opaque. Where neon is loud, pastels are soft and understated. And yet both these color trends have emerged with equal popularity in the same season. You know what? I think, we can have our cake and eat it too! I wouldn't mix the pallets (at least, I haven't seen it done successfully yet), but both color groups look great color blocked among themselves as well as paired with neutrals or with pretty black and white patterns like stripes and chevron. 

03. High/low hems

At the moment, this heather gray number from Stylemint is the only high/low hem I have in my closet. But I'm definitely enthusiastic about the trend, and I want more. I first came across the style when I thrifted a high/low hem dress for my first prom, way back when I was 14 years old. Between that one and this one, there haven't been any (because they used to be harder to find), but, I've been in love all the while. I'm also a big fan of shirts and blouses with a high/low hem. There's just something so blatantly intention about the architecture of these pieces, and I'm smitten.  

04. Open backs

 

 

Open backs are by no means a new, cutting-edge trend, but they are big right now. As such, this obsessor just couldn't not include them on the list. I love everything about an open back: I love how it's a surprise (a bit playful, a bit whimsical), I love how it's sexy (in a coy way, not an overt way), and I love how it's just a little detail that can make a simple dress so much more special. I also love showing off the mole on my back. It's one of those features that I think is so pretty but doesn't get enough "air time." Do you have a feature like that?

05. Rose gold

Speaking of OBSESSED, this girl is Capital-O, Capital-B-S-E-S-S-E-D with rose gold. It's pretty amazing to me that I could live for nearly 24 years and not be aware of or even imagine this metal, and then it knocks on my door and says, "Here I am! The prettiest metal your eyes have ever beheld!" I've acquired a few rose gold pieces since falling in love with it earlier this year, and I love to pair them with silver and yellow-gold pieces. (Mixed metallics can be so pretty.) Right now, I'm so infatuated with rose gold that, if I picked out a wedding ring today I would probably pick rose gold, even though something so trendy would clearly date me for all eternity, rather than being the timeless piece a wedding ring should be. 

However, I'm not sure it's entirely possible to pick a truly timeless ring. After all, have you noticed that all women of my mother's generation (who married in the '70s or '80s) have yellow-gold bands and high-set diamonds, while women who married in the '90s or '00s have platinum or white-gold bands and lower set stones? It's funny how that happens, how trends influence even the pieces that are meant to last a lifetime and beyond. 

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