No night and day in Jacobs' 2001 spring/summer collection

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Fashion designer Marc Jacobs plays it both ways -- pretty and bold -- in his spring/summer 2001 collection.

The new line unveiled this week is full of what he calls "feminine fancies": flounced skirts, gathered tops, pins that soften the neckline of a T-shirt, even petticoats. Colors range from happy primaries to soft pastels.

But there's an edge, and it's black, used with a bold hand.

"You know, the edge of black lying on pale pink, or a petal pink pump with a black jagged outline, or something like that," Jacobs explained, "so there's a graphic, you know -- the sort of shock against pink or black against color."

Jacobs said he likes clothing to have a "slight, flirtatious quality," and a feminine one.

"Some of the skirts are still tailored, but they have a flounce at the bottom, where some of the tops are quite large, but there's some gathering and fullness," he said. "(T)hey're sort of an edgy version of pretty."

The collection includes some basic prints, too.

"There's a shell print and a fan print and they're ... very graphic, very simple. They're not watery-colory or soft ; they're very bold."

Jacobs said he's putting items together in two different ways -- one straightforward, mixing color and accessories, and the other more eclectic.

For example, Jacobs matches "a decorated jacket with just a pair of what we call jeans; they're not jeans at all, but a fabric that has a more casual feel to it."

Jacobs uses fine fabrics made of natural fibers -- silks, wools and cottons. Then he treats them to give each an individual texture.

"We're doing a lot of milliner's veiling over taffeta and things like that, and again, that's all crunched up and rouched up and then flattened so it creates this sort of 3-D fabric," he said.

These taffetas aren't just for evening, either.

"It's a day or evening thing," he said. "We're playing this sort of balancing act here where sometimes an evening skirt looks really good with a cotton T- shirt, and then other times an evening top looks great with a pair of jeans. And then, there's of course the option of wearing the evening skirt with the evening top, and it becomes an evening dress."

"I don't really think of evening and day. I think of this collection as being day for evening, evening for day."

Shirt tales for spring/summer 2000
April 3, 2000
Jacobs in a mod mood for fall 2000
February 10, 2000
Jacobs keeps it simple: Jeans and T-shirt
September 16, 1999
Smocking and scallops -- Marc Jacobs for spring
February 9, 1999

7th on Sixth

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