Thanks to a popular saying, most people in New York expect April showers. Almost as predictable: confusion about how to dress in the transitional weeks of spring, when the temperature can go from cool to warm, sometimes in a single day.
Style on the streets for the past few weeks has been all over the place. People in winter coats were standing next to people in shorts. The most telling sign of spring might have been that, with many outfits, there was an umbrella.
But there were other clothing signs that signaled the arrival of warmer days. Beige and white became more ubiquitous shades than gray and black. Bare shoulders shared the street with many oversized blazers.
Most people seemed to follow few or no rules when dressing, except to accept the unpredictability of the season. As one passerby in SoHo put it: “It’ll be nice for two weeks and then the summer heat will kill us.”