Inspiration: Day-glo a go-go

(VIEW A SLIDESHOW OF NEON LOOKS}

Despite our long-standing love affair with black, this season we have been given the Day-Glo green light to flirt with fluorescents. Designers such as Alexander McQueen, Donna Karan and Giles Deacon incorporated these high-powered pigments, with industrial-strength names like safety orange and acid green, into their Spring 2009 ready-to-wear collections. The result? An invigorating wave of optimism in today’s sea of economic sobriety. The fashion industry hasn’t fully rocked down to Electric Avenue since the early 1980s, when high-wattage hues offered a distraction from the Madonna-inspired must-haves (lace! leggings! Lycra!) of that decade. But it was during the 1930s that brights first burst onto the scene, thanks to designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s hot-pink, avant-garde creations. Inspired by a similarly hued Cartier diamond, this brilliant colour (dubbed “shocking pink”) continues to be widely referenced in the fashion and beauty worlds, as seen in the shocking-pink cheeks that turned up on the Blugirl runway this season. In the 1940s, Day-Glo really lit up the scene when the U.S. military used newly developed glow-in-the-dark paint on airplanes to protect pilots from friendly fire at night.

Later that same decade, neon swimsuits hit the market, making a lifeguard’s job a trip to the beach—and blending in among bathers virtually impossible. In the 1960s art arena, led by pop-art star Andy Warhol, artists experimented with neon in the form of acid-coloured silkscreens, resulting in provocative pieces like Warhol’s Big Electric Chair, Marilyn and Cow Wallpaper. By the 1980s, the New York underground was “the scene,” and graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse was next to God. Known for his fluorescent clothing designs and Day-Glo graffiti prints, Sprouse embraced the punk/pop-art movement and, along with famous musician friends like Debbie Harry, brought it to the mainstream. Marc Jacobs paid homage to the late Sprouse with Louis Vuitton’s Spring ’09 neon, graffiti-tagged monogram collection. “It represented to me the idea of taking something iconic and venerable, something respected and old, and making it new again by defacing it,” says Jacobs. Other spring collections that trip the bright light fantastic include Marni’s hot sport-inspired hues, Doo.Ri’s shocking-pink pieces and Armand Basi One’s slick brights. Over in accessory land, Tom Binns’ fluoro-accented costume jewellery and Giuseppe Zanotti Design’s high-beam heels indicate that electric extras work day or night. Or, for that matter, year-round—designers such as Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors showed a lineup of neon knockouts for fall. It’s official—Day-Glo shows no sign of fading.

(VIEW A SLIDESHOW OF NEON LOOKS}