Gouge also said she’s noticed that this year it’s not all long, tiered dresses but shorter shift-style silhouettes and separates.
Reining in the fabric is also hitting menswear.
“Trimmer fits are more important now, almost — almost — to the point if a guy can’t button it, he’s more comfortable having it not flopping all over the place [when it’s open],” Smith said.
Smith added, too, that it’s these kinds of details that shift a little each year, with the attention this time more on the pocket squares than on the bowties (although these are still big) and, just as the others pointed out, “greens are heavy […] and it’s a really pretty green,” he said. That softer sage color.
And the patterns? A patchwork madras will do you no harm, he said, but the bolder graphic prints of recent years… not as big.
“What it has to get down to is where the younger crowd has discovered it and they think it’s not been around before,” he chuckled. “It’s cyclical.”
Menswear at Spring Steeplechase can lean toward a soft, spring palette or toward bold and bright. Lionel Smith Ltd. on Aiken’s Laurens Street stocks both.
Beyond Bijoux’s Ard noted a generational shift, too.
“Younger people are getting bolder with their hat choices,” she said.
“Pretty dress, lots of jewelry. I mean, it’s like a costume party. It’s Aiken’s holiday,” she continued. “We’re pulling out all the stops, and we’re getting as dressed as we can because we can’t do it another day; there’s nowhere else to do this.”
Ard’s advice for the first-time Steeplechase goer?
“I always tell people, if you’re uncomfortable, don’t do it. But… if you’d really like to try it, just go ahead and do it because you’re not going to regret it, and you’re going to get there and wish that your hat was bigger. You’re going to get there and you’re going to look around and you’re going to be like, ‘Wow, I wish my hat was bigger and my dress was brighter.’ For sure.”