Fashion Week Spotlight: Kate Spade Gets Cheeky For Spring

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Kate Spade has always celebrated prep's most cheerful side, but for spring 2013—the kick off of the brand's 20th anniversary—the brand doing pretty preppy polish with a wink and a nod.

There are about a million bows, and not just where they belong: Look for them in cheeky prints and accessories and as large-scale embellishments to classic garments, like the khaki trench. Retro, comic book-style telephones and sunglasses pepper the collection, too, for a tongue-in-cheek accessories line. The result is preppy with a sense of humor. "The preppy piece will always be a basic for the collection, but I think there's definitely more femininity, there's the sense of wit and whimsey in there. It's opening up our horizons a little bit. We're getting a little edgier," creative director Deborah Lloyd told us.

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Images via Getty

We wondered if this was possibly the influence of the brand's famously be-spectacled stylist, Brad Goreski. "Bow ties and glasses? Potentially," he admitted to us.

He also gave us some great styling tips for taking the collection home with you. "I think there are lots of eye-catching pieces that are very easy to incorporate into things you already have. Whether it's the plexiglass necklace with the big colored gem stones, it's as easy as putting it with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, or a great blazer if you're going to work." Check it all out in the gallery above.
· Exuberance Is the Word for Brad Goreski and Kate Spade Partnership [Racked]
· Garance Dore Gets Sketchy for Kate Spade [Racked]
· All Fashion Week coverage [Racked]