Business Style: April

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Must Haves For Spring

By Jeanne Winnick Brennan and Carol McCain

The good news this spring is that dresses are back. Whether it’s print, polkadot, white or denim – you can relax and ease your wardrobe into the new season with some favorite colors but in new shapes and styles. Women will be irresistible in a variety of versions of the classic, feminine dress, and the fresh appeal of the styles will give your wardrobe a great transitional look going into summer. Look into backless, sleeveless, or halter tops with a jacket. Dresses in rich colors and prints are very big.
    At Blush Boutique, 1406 28th St., owner Valerie Mamone-Werder, a former sales executive for pharmaceutical and medical products, has a wide variety of dresses from many of her exclusive lines: Milly, Nanette Lepore, Anna Sui and Alice + Olivia. The store outfitted the cast and crew of News 10’s Sacramento & Co to showcase spring style for Prosper.
    Although a casual look continues strong and probably always will in laid-back California, Mamone-Werder remembers her days of more formal business dressing and offers a professional discount of 15 percent on her dress suits for women who want to be more stylish than standard.
    “The dress is a staple piece for spring and as simple as you want,” says Mamone-Werder. “Dresses, fitted or loose, matched with cotton, lacy romantic coats as the coverup of choice, were all very big on the runways last fall. And geometric prints with colors of turquoise, green and brown will continue to be popular.”

White Shirt Allure
Pages and pages of spring catalogs are all showing great white shirts, and their freshness makes us want to add a couple to our wardrobe. For men, it’s hard not to like the dress shirt with its crisp whiteness when paired with a navy regimental-striped tie or flying solo with great jeans. It’s just plain delicious. For women, there are dozens of styles, the best of which seem to feature shirts that are closer fitting and sport three-quarter-length sleeves.
    At Serendipity Boutique, 5362 H St., owner Barbara Lym, a former advertising executive who traveled extensively around the country trying out various boutiques in her free time, knows how to interpret Sacramento’s style with today’s trends. She has snapped up some great whites for men and women, including a corset shirt by BCBG and dress shirts for guys by Theory, James Perse and Steven Alan.
    “We’re carrying some great labels in clothing for guys this spring that are fashionable and very comfortable,” says Lym. “We know guys want variety in their casual and more-dressed styles, but they definitely want that feeling of comfort.”

Denim
For men and women, denim is still big in capris, walking shorts, designer jeans, jackets, shirts, skirts and shift dresses. Dress it up, dress it down, it all works. There is denim for everyone, and look for the newest denim in white — for men and women — as well as in very dark blue, not stonewashed, not faded, but true denim. 
    Owner of DV8 Boutique Michael Ashfar once traveled the world as an airline pilot for US Airways, and when he wasn’t flying, he was shopping. Lucky for Sacramento residents, Ashfar is still globetrotting and bringing new labels and emerging designers’ styles for men and women to his shop at 2612 J St. He has an exclusive to sell Hugo Boss menswear, and he offers labels like Parasuco, Roar, Ben Sherman and Backer.
    With an eye for international fashion, Ashfar is entering into a partnership with seven other boutiques from Europe to showcase new designers.
“I want to bring the best labels to Sacramento, so people know they can find top designers here rather than traveling elsewhere to purchase their favorite clothes,” says Afshar. “This spring, we’ll have lots of linen and cotton wear, as well as denim, and we’ve got some great clothes coming in from Dex of Canada.”

Tall Shoe Salute
Tall shoes for women command attention this spring. Michael Kors has them, Pravda has them, Neiman’s and Blush Boutique have them, but do you? Platform shoes are hot. They can be evening sandals or loafers for the office. They can be espadrilles or they can be basic black to go with your bubble or pencil-pleated skirt and white shirt. Give them a try; they are a must with the new dresses. 

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