NEW YORK, Sep 16, 2006/ FW/ --- Inspired by French screen sirens Catherine Deneuve and Bridgette Bardot, Cynthia Steffe delighted her audience with a 1960s inspired collection that is sweet yet sleek with an added Parisian flair.

As her press notes said, ‘Imagine Catherine and Bridgette frolicking in St. Tropez, turning heads in sweet little frocks, flaunting their legs in boyish shorts,’ Cynthia Steffe sent cute mini dresses that reach just above the knee, trumpet skirts that softly curved around the hips and sleeveless empire dresses that are lightly sheered for a very fluid look.

Combining solids and prints that are graphical and stylized in bright hues of celadon, marigold and watermelon, it’s a subtly exuberant collection that is girlishly innocent, reminiscent of a bygone era of understated elegance when going to the beach also meant dressing up while trying to dress down.

Spring jackets came with baby collars or simply collarless, and day jackets followed the same thread. Trousers are slim fitting, be it Capri or traditional length. And for added femininity, thin belts that are sometimes worn double gave the collection a structured feel, balancing the soft fluidity of cotton gauze, voile and chiffon.

Giving a nod to the ‘eyelet’ craze that has swept Bryant Park this season, Cynthia Steffe used them more as embellishments, putting them on collars and as straps of frocks.

Shorts are boyish and Cracker Jack inspired with the 5-buttons arranged neatly on the pockets.

Keeping hair and make up with the theme, hair was worn in a chignon, done in a casual knot and teased just a bit, as though one had tied it up herself after a windswept day at the beach.

Cynthia Steffe

Cynthia Steffe

Cynthia Steffe

Cynthia Steffe