Trend: String Fever

There are two sides to every story, and that was precisely the case with spring’s fringe craze. The motif was served up Annie Oakley–style at Hermès, but designers also worked the glam factor with an undercurrent of Twenties chic. Two of the season’s most elegant examples: Alexander McQueen and Jil Sander, whose fringed affairs exuded gorgeous, steamy control. Either way, there are many splendid strings for cowboy chicks and flapper types alike.