When I was a little girl vacationing at my parents’ tiny cottage every summer on Brigantine beach in South Jersey, I was often jealous that my mother dressed my tiny, restless sister (four years younger than me) in the most brightly colored bathing suits she could find. She stretched those beacon one-piece tank suits over her teensy body, and then let her go, happily roaming the shoreline. My mother, perched in a beach chair on a mid-beach dune, ping-ponged her jumbo Jackie O-type sunglasses back and forth, back and forth, continually targeting the glowing little rambler bouncing in the shallow surf, chasing seagulls. I always wondered why she got the brightest bathing suits over me… UNTIL I had a wandering child of my own. You could spot any child a mile away in a neon bathing suit.
I had forgotten about this until I was pondering my topic for this month’s fashion blog: NEONS. The colors are everywhere this year, with so many designers, so many retailers. Bold is IN. Bright is beautiful. Stand-out is sensational. And this year you’re noticing neons back with a vengeance, from dress racks to athletes’ feet.
While renting a beach house with my friends this summer, one of our guests named Joel–a very fashionable dresser–appeared one morning, ready for a run, with a neon yellow-green performance tee. I complimented him instantly for his sense of style, and surprisingly, he answered, “I didn’t wear it to be fashionable. I wore it to be SAFE.”
Duality. Utility. Form meets fashion. Isn’t that how many of our sportswear trends are developing these days? Shirts that work. Jackets that move. And now we have colors that captivate and catapult us out of harm’s way.
So if you’re looking for that “something new” to show this year–to athletes, to fashionistas, to corporate Joes and construction Charlies–flash them a neon. Explain the trend. The marvelous visibility. The “can’t-miss-you” memorability. Even if they don’t buy it, you’re showing your fashion–and safety–expertise and that you know the trends as well as the wearables that work.
And believe it or not, I, now 54 years old, will be buying matching T-shirts to commemorate my lil’ sister’s 50th birthday this week. Neon, of course!
Great selling and standing out!
Mary Ellen Nichols, MAS
