LONDON, Nov 13, 2001/ --- British designer Luella Bartley has signed on to create an exclusive clothing collection for UK retailer New Look. The line, with Bartley's name on the label, will hit 20 of the group's largest stores next spring.

Observers speculate that Bartley's creations for New Look will draw from her spring 2002 collection, whose '70s hippie pieces debuted in New York's Bryant Park on September 9. The London native showed sheer baby doll dresses with cowboy boots and Apache style headdresses, while ribbon-adorned off-the-shoulder blouses were paired with ruffled cotton minis.

Other girlish looks in the collection included tiny denim shorts and frilly French knickers.

Apparently New Look is into flirty fashion, as company CEO Stephen Sunnucks said, "Luella's handwriting is very similar to ours." He continued, "We are about great fashion at great prices, but we want our products to be more of the moment and Luella will help us get there."

Sunnucks described the prices for Luella's clothes as "competitive," but conceded that they would be a bit more costly than New Look's standard items.

The alliance between Bartley and New Look has been at least a year in the making. New Look sponsored her catwalk show in Milan last March, and she is already a consultant for the high street chain.

After a rough year, the discount clothing chain started showing signs of improvement in recent months, reporting a rise in sales last July. Hopefully, teaming up with young talent like twentysomething Bartley will help New Look boost its fashion quotient - and hence sales -- as Sunnucks, who joined the company in June last year, tries to revitalize the struggling chain.