The Shining

There's nothing to fear about spring's heavy metals, although a little bit goes a long way

The future's so bright, better pull out those shades. You'll need them to shield your eyes from the glint and glare of silver, gold and bronze emanating from sidewalks as you witness spring's parade of precious metal.

Be a fashion 'Star' New faces are needed to grace the Star-Bulletin Style pages throughout the year, so we are launching a model search for male, female, young and not-so who want to be discovered. Those without agency affiliation, living on Oahu, can submit a head shot and full-body shot true to your current appearance by e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com by April 6. Or send photos by snail mail to Model Search, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813. Photos will not be returned. Include the following information: height, dress or shirt size, availability and phone number. Those selected will be invited to a casting call where the local designers behind Fighting Eel will also be seeking a female model for the company's Spring 2008 catalog. The Fighting Eel winner will receive a photo shoot with Rona Bennett and be featured in this paper and the Fighting Eel Web site, as well as receive a five-piece Fighting Eel wardrobe valued at up to $750. We'll be watching for you!

Beyond the obvious jeweled touches of wide silver cuff bracelets and metallic details on handbags, high-tech inspirations abound in head-to-toe apparel. A quick tour of retail racks will turn up dresses embracing finishes reminiscent of brushed aluminum to those just shy of Mylar's mirrorlike sheen, plus jackets and skirts with the sheen of metallic threads interspersed with matte versions of the same color. Even leather is not immune to shimmery, iridescent finishes.

Any subtlety you'll find in clothing disappears in accessories that look as if they'd be at home aboard the space shuttle or inside your refrigerator, whether you're looking at reflective silver handbags or footwear with gold or bronze stiletto heels contrasting with Lucite soles and PVC or patent straps.

New designs seem to owe their clean-lined, slick looks to all that is streamlined: automobiles, flat-panel televisions, that Mac laptop and sleek hand-held digital gadgetry.

No doubt the politics of global warming at the forefront of national consciousness also has been an influence. We might well need reflective clothing to keep the sun from scorching us by forcing those rays to bounce back to their source.

You will, however, need to keep your enthusiasm in check. It's OK to pick up all the peripherals, but try to wear it one piece at a time, or risk looking like the Tinman from "The Wizard of Oz," C3PO from "Star Wars" or someone simply waiting to be beamed up beyond the stratosphere.

It's no surprise that a concurrent trend is an abundance of chunky wood and stone jewelry. That comforting touch of nature is necessary to remind us that even as we become more interconnected and wired to our iPods and iMacs, we are still humans, not machines.