Posted: 9/14/07 Section: Diversions

Tommy Hilfiger 2008 spring/summer collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007.

NEW YORK - It's going to be a bright and sunny spring, judging by the rainbow of colors previewed at New York Fashion Week.

Forget the war, forget the mortgage crisis, it's not fashion's role to tackle the weighty issues on people's minds, said Michael Kors, who presented one of the most upbeat shows of the week, with models in sherbet-colored stripes bopping up and down the runway to "Xanadu."

In fact, fashion can provide a welcome distraction, one that, luckily enough, can also get shoppers in the mood to buy.

"You open the newspaper every day and it isn't necessarily filled with a lot of happy news. There's the war, worries about the economy, the election - the list goes on and on. My reaction is that, when times are dour, you go the opposite with fashion, particularly with warm-weather fashion," Kors said. "The only way to switch your mood is to put on something that's delicious. Color becomes the instant mood elevator."

It wasn't just Kors' collection that overflowed with bright colors, it was most of them. Only a handful of designers, most notably Donna Karan and Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa, went in the complete opposite direction using serene, tranquil palettes. Still, though, there was little or no black, usually a staple for both.

Costa said his inspiration began with vintage lingerie items from the 1920s and '30s, and moved on to the work of an artist in the Netherlands, and the Hutterites who live in an insular community in Montana.

"I don't do things because there's a trend," Costa said. "It's just a process that I work through."

This Fashion Week was about escapism, often quite literally. Trend analyst Tom Julian, of ad agency McCann-Erickson, noted that many designers cited exotic locales, from Biarritz in southwest France to St. Tropez to the Italian Riviera as the starting point for their look.

"For the past two spring seasons, many of the collections have been eco," he said, referring to the natural, muted colors that have dominated. "This week we saw many designers put together opposite color stories, light blues with dark raspberries, banana yellow against rich browns - but at the same time we have seen shades of lilacs to seashells."

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