Flipping through the March issue of Vogue (all 606 pages of it) is a fabulous fantasy escape. Not only because the sun is making me want to throw off layers of wool in favor of sleeveless dresses and a pair of sunnies for a drive to the beach with the top down, but also because everything is just so pretty. In her letter from the editor, Anna Wintour says: “This is a buoyant spring when designers of all stripes and persuasions have awoken to the optimism-inducing joys of color and print, and you’ll see that there is barely a story in this issue that doesn’t beam with the message of Dress Positively.”

It’s true. Every designer across the board, represented in advertising and editorial alike, has turned out some interpretation of ladylike dresses, pretty coats, and fun separates in candy-hued pastels and prints. There are lots of flowers and lace. But Prada’s collection for Spring 2012 is by far my favorite: a paean to hot rod cars and hot girls, complete with tail-fin stilettos with red lights and flame-emblazoned leather pencil skirts, and everything from sexy hot pants, floaty skirts and boxy jackets rendered in a gloriously girly mixture of bright colors and pastels, textures and patterns.

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