(St)ripe for pickin'

When I saw nautical stripes on Spring 2010 runways, I thought "no way". I associate nautical stripes or sailor stripes with a slightly grown up audience. Besides, aren't they usually a part of resort collections from all and sundry, typically emerging in stores around december? However, these runway images from Rebecca Taylor changed my mind about these crisp, clean and classic wardrobe staples. Inspired by these two looks, I set about to create budget versions of the same.

What is new about the nautical stripes, is not the stripe or the silhoutte itself, but the pairing with soft, feminine skirts and girly accessories. The key to pulling off this look is keeping it simple. Here are my versions of the two looks.

For the casual look, I love the soft tee in a classic blue & white, paired with the smock waist skirt from Old Navy. I added the denim wedges, which are casual yet chic and pull together the fun and flirty look. Shoulder bags are back and so very appropriate in this girly look. In lieu of the flower pin in the runway look, I chose this songbird pendant necklace from Forever 21.

For the chic but sophisticated look, I love this faux wrap skirt from J.C. Penney in charcoal with a red and white stripe striped sweater. I chose cobalt as the accent color in this simple peep toe platform from Target. I have to admit, the hardest thing to find for this look was a floral printed clutch. But I found several lovely ones on etsy.com, my favorite handmade goodies site. The soft, punchy floral print of the clutch keeps this look from being too sophisticated. I added a simple yet sweet multistrand necklace that picks up the gold and blue tones of the clutch print. I love the floral espadrille in the runway shot. There were several super- cute from Roxy and Kensie girl at zappos.com, Macy's and piperlime.com but they were all fairly expensive and would have cost me most of my $100 allowance.

Add one of these classic, stripe tops to your wardrobe now and wear it for the rest of the year. Whether a flirty skirt or denim shorts or even your white jeans for high summer and with darker jeans and boots in the fall/winter this trend is bound to become your favorite for this season.