Milly By Michelle Smith Spring 2013: A Surrealistic Sporty New Direction

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We've always loved Milly By Michelle Smith's classic aesthetic. The brand's lady-like, vintage influenced designs project a strong sense of style. Michelle tends to create her garments in bold paintbox hues, sometimes incorporating color blocking or statement making prints. Her designs have tended to be either professional enough for an office or dressy enough for a party—while still managing to project a really cool vibe.

So we were floored when we watched Milly's Spring 2013 collection come down the runway. Many of the styles have a strong athletic wear component, with an Eighties surrealist twist. Along with a few traditional prints, the collection includes track jackets, stretch dresses and athletic pants in bold whites, neons and silver python embossed lamé-like leather. Trims include mesh and a lot of very bold zippers. This athletic theme continued to the show's front row, where women flocked to meet Olympic gold medalists Conor Dwyer and Ryan Lochte. As for us, some of our favorite pieces in the collection were the less sporty ones: black skirts, tops and dresses with architectural ruffle-like folds.

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Milly fans tend to be young society types and professional women, but with this collection, Michelle may attract even younger fans into the fold. The college-aged fashion students seated near us were gleefully gushing about the collection.

Michelle ended the show as she always does, with her young daughter, Milly Minis' fit model Sophia, running onto the runway and jumping into her arms. Sophia is growing up very quickly, and her legs are obviously on their way to being model-like long, so we're not sure there will be many more Fashion Weeks where Michelle will be strong enough to lift her. We hope she's got at least a few more in her, however, because Michelle and Sophia obviously both love doing it, and we love watching them.
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