Playboy's Spring & Summer Fashion Forecast

Spring is just about here, summer is a few calendar leaves away and long, warm days are in the offing. Energy, which is normally associated with heat and light, has been in short supply--but now who needs it? It's time to take it slow, and get the feel of whatever you come up against. Languor and sensuality are the order of the day. And when you apply that to fashion, it means several things. First of all, that you'll be digging the touch of natural fabric, be it silk, linen, cotton or leather. Also, that you'll be savoring the body-clinging ease of wrap jackets, fitted shirts, short tops and knits. The aesthetic of '74 recalls the architectural dictum that "Less is more"; and in this case, less busyness and boldness means that more skin will be showing (precisely how much is a matter of orgones, time zones and individual preference, of course). Colors, in keeping with these hazy, lazy days, are going to be soft, earthy and generally muted, with occasional bright accents. Careless flamboyance is out; it's no longer cool to be uncool. We're not, however, moving backward to some rigid classicism out of the frozen past but toward a new emphasis on subtlety--with a silent "b."