Many designers drew inspiration from Art Nouveau for their Spring 2008 collections, including Prada, Alexander McQueen, and T-Bags—with brilliant results. We'll take advantage of this opportunity to present a mini refresher course in art history:

From Wikipedia: Art Nouveau (French for 'new art') is an international style of art, architecture and design that peaked in popularity at the turn of the 20th century (1890―1905) and is characterized by highly-stylized, flowing, curvilinear designs often incorporating floral and other plant-inspired motifs.

Above left: The work of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), especially as a poster artist, came to symbolize the full flowering of the style and the era.

Above right: Forever 21 adopts Art Nouveau's intricate forms in this beautiful sleeveless woven tunic with a floral crochet top and a waist tie sash ($22.80).

Are you inspired or tired of all the art-world influences in fashion for Spring?