In recent seasons, designing has become an increasingly personal project for Erin Fetherston. In keeping with that development, her garden party-themed Spring collection was partly inspired by the lush Barbados location where she was married earlier this summer. Fetherston created a handful of dresses for the ceremony and celebration and reinterpreted several of those special pieces for her new lineup, including a strapless white pleated organza number with allover flounces that she called the "cutting the cake" dress. Similar flirty styles were shown in a range of vibrant wildflower hues like poppy and zinnia. Fetherston played up the botanical motif with a thigh-grazing shift (that appeared to be two pieces but was in fact one) embellished with petal-shaped plastic paillettes, as well as a flowing maxi dress with a puddling skirt cut from floral appliquéd guipure lace. If Fetherston s current dress-only approach to her Erin line seems limiting at times, it s paying off. She happily reported, "This month, I ve had more street sightings of real girls in my clothes than ever—and I ve been doing this for nine years now."
