We’re cool to gas guzzlers, warming to a blaze of red, and sweating through Bikram Yoga. The winds of change may shift, but our trend forecast ensures that you’ll weather the storm in style
RESTAURATEUR SHAWN MCCLAIN
Welcoming a new spring in his step
A couple of seasons ago, Shawn McClain was directing the kitchen at Evanston’s Trio, where his inventive, Asian-accented cuisine had won him a loyal following and a four-star rating from the Tribune’s Phil Vettel. (The 34-year-old chef also was selected as Cosmopolitan magazine’s bachelor of the month, but that’s another story.) Springing forward to last summer, we find him opening a new restaurant, Spring, in the old North Avenue Bathhouse in Wicker Park. The relaxing, Zen-inspired setting helps keep the chef calm in the face of Vettel’s enthusiastic three-star review, the throng of customers applauding his seafood-oriented fare and, last month, recognition as Esquire magazine’s 2001 chef of the year for the nation.
–William Rice
Hot: Purple and pink china
Not: The all-white table
Hot: Anything Frida Kahlo especially peasant blouses (and defined eyebrows)
Not: Sweater sets (and over-tweezing)
Hot: environmentally conscious cars
Not: SUVs and big sedans
Hot: Spring restaurant with its touch of Zen
Not: D’Vine and Echo (Echo folded this year) (This item as published has been corrected in this text.)
Hot: Prescription eyeglasses
Not: Lasik eye surgery
Hot: the refined Biker boot
Not: Chunky shoes for men
Hot: Macaroni and cheese
Not: Exotic lasagnas
Hot: Getting a cell phone
Not: Constantly using your cell phone
Hot: Invitations via e-mail
Not: Hard-copy invites
Hot: Hawaii vacations
Not: tropical vacations abroad
Hot: Black with brown
Not: Black with black
Hot: Learning Farsi
Not: Learning french
Hot: Real or Fake pearls
Not: Fake diamonds
Hot: The mailbag for men
Not: heavy backpacks
Hot: the Caipirinha in a highball glass, muddle 1 lime, cut into 8 to 10 pieces, with 1 1/2 ounces cachaca. Add 1 teaspoon brown sugar, fill glass with crushed ice and serve
Not: Cosmopolitans
Hot: Beauty klatches
Not: Facing a facelift alone
Hot: Tiny lounges with dance floors squeeze into Slick’s Lounge, Chicago
Not: Cavernous dance clubs
Hot: Frothy chandeliers in a spare setting
Not: Track Lighting
Hot: Hotel bars such as the Peninsula in Chicago
Not: off-the-street bars
Hot: Rethinking what you really need
Not: Showing off what you’ve got
Hot: Big, colorful watches
Not: Hard-edged watches
Hot: Chunky barware
More Top Picks Best Kids Microscopes For Beginners
Not: Expensive crystal
Hot: American artisanal cheeses
Hand-crafted cheeses like Capriole Farms Indiana goat cheeses and prairie hill cheese brick and muenster from Wisconsin
Not: Mass-produced brie
Hot: Old-fashioned Spode “Woodland” china
Not: Platinum or band china
Hot: cooking classes
Check out the new Calphalon Culinary Center, Chicago
Not: “Emeril Live”
Hot: neo-hippie bohemian fashion
Not: ladies-who-lunch looks
Hot: The Hermes Birkin bag
Not: flashy baguette handbags
Hot: Spanish wine and casual food
Not: Champagne and formal French dining
Hot: American deejays groove to No. 1-rated Chicagoan Derrick Carter
Not: European deejays
Hot: Ankle boots for women
Not: Over-the knee boots
Hot: gourmet food to go
Not: slaving over a hot stove
Hot: Boutique hotels and B&B’s
Not: Ultra-luxurious European chateaux
Hot: Black-tie parties with eligible singles
Not: organized singles parties like “fastdating”
Hot:: colorful stripes for men
Not: TONE ON TONE
Hot: Open-face sandwiches
Not: thick, doughy wraps with gloppy filings
Hot: Mary J Blige and Jill Scott
Not: Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child
Hot: Latin, soul, Indian and other ethnic beats
Not: dance music driven by electronic beats
Hot: shearling coats
Not: fur for men
Hot: Puma Sports Gear
Not: designer sports gear
Hot: Playing Board games can you spell Scrabble?
Not: Watching “friends” with friends
Hot: respect for the individual
Not: Snobbery
Hot: white for spring
Not: camouflage
Hot: mid-century french design works by designers such as Serge Mouille and Jean Prouve are giving chic elegance to interiors and bringing in record prices at auction.
Hot: contemporary designer furniture
Not: ornate period furniture
Hot: knitting
Not: needlepoint
Really hot: Bikram yoga (practiced in a room at 100-plus degrees)
Not: exercising with ankle weights
Hot: Staff lunches
More Top Picks Best Wheelchairs Ramps For Vans
Not: office cliques
Hot: Anything by Balenciaga or Marc by Marc Jacobs
Hot: Rooms painted in Chinese lacquer red
Not: All white or beige
Hot: capes
Not: pashminas
Hot: Microplaner for shredding
Not: Old-fashioned box grater
Hot: Chunky turquoise
Not: whispy, barely there jewelry
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Christian Lacroix “Follement” pink dinner plate, $55, at Christofle, Chicago. Puma travel bag, $60, at Barneys New York, Chicago. Scrabble board game, $14.99, at FAO Schwarz; Chanel mini-coat dress, $2,310, at Chanel, Chicago. John Hutton’s hemp sail club chair and ottoman, available to the trade at Holly Hunt Chicago, Merchandise Mart. Martin Senour Chinese lacquer red paint, $41 a gallon, at Sappano’s, Chicago. Benjamin Moore latex pearl finish paint in Million Dollar Red, No. 2003-10 (closely approximates the Chinese lacquer look), $10.99 a quart, at select Ace Hardware stores. Natural oval turquoise necklace, $190, at Silver on Oak, Chicago. Michael Kors wool cape, $1,795, at Marshall Field’s. Microplane grater, $16, at Williams-Sonoma.