Got Silk?: Flirty frocks at Lucy Barnes.

Really, what’s not to love about Lucy Barnes’s clothes? They’re feminine and flirty and make a girl feel very pretty—and they also happen to be very in-style this season. Now that Barnes’s diffusion line, Zelie, will hang along with her couture pieces in her new meatpacking-district store (320 West 14th Street; 212-255-9148), they’re less expensive, too.

Barnes describes Zelie as “sexy, easy beach clothes you can wash in the sink.” (Fans lovingly refer to the line as “beginner Barnes.”) There are hippie-chic skirts, fun embroidered tees, stretch-denim strapless dresses, and—my favorite—a very Audrey Hepburn tulle dance skirt (too pretty to be washed in any sink!). Prices for the Zelie collection, which will also be carried at Anthropologie stores, range from $30 to $150. The Scottish designer isn’t neglecting the high end, either. Those taking advanced Barnes (items in the couture collection are priced from $100 to $1,000) will find this season’s asymmetrical silk skirts, satin-lined lace tops, and silk halters irresistible. Which is exactly how many of us feel when wearing Lucy’s lovely designs.

Related:

• Archive: “Shop Talk”
• Articles by Rima Suqi
• Table of Contents: Mar 8, 2004 issue of New York | Subscribe!