Lately, walking out of your dorm building hasn’t been such a chore. The sun is out and the grass is a bit greener. You’ve already broken out your new sunglasses and have even ventured to the Cafeteria once or twice in a pair of flip flops.

With temperatures becoming more mild, spring is drawing near. Everyone is longing for the days when they can hang up the winter coat and do their homework out on the quad. However, what would the new spring season be without the new spring trends students are dying to showcase? Fashion Week’s spring shows were a success with a few key trends to keep your eye on as you travel around campus.

It’s just about that time to rid your wardrobe of the dreary colors winter seems to bring out of your closet. This season, fashion is going tropical. Bold colors and floral prints are the staples all the fashion authorities are promoting. This season, being bold is the best fashion statement anyone can make. Designers Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen have revolutionized the idea of color blocks, with fearless dresses featuring knock-out colors in bright blues, reds, greens, and golden yellows. They’ve also gotten inspiration from animal and Japanese prints, embellishing dresses and skirts with zebra and leopard patterns, three dimensional floral cut-outs, as well as chunky beads and sequins.

This season, nothing is off-limits. Elite designers are encouraging the most off-the-wall fashion displays, but whether or not you are courageous enough to model them yourselves is up to you. If you want to shine along with the weather outside, you should be going metallic. On the runway this season, metallic paint was splattered on the designs as if they were a canvas, creating a blindingly beautiful look with unconventional shapes, stripes and designs.

The new take on larger-than-life accessories will add the impressive touch to any ensemble you throw together. Thick belts, bulky bangles, oversized brooches, and elaborate necklaces can personalize anything. Whether worn against more subdued pieces or against the busiest patterns, oversized jewelry works. It’s a simple way to play up anything worn during the season, but the look it creates will be more intense than imagined.

Fashion this season seems to have become an art project– testing creative boundaries to see what works. Mixing and matching different prints, particularly plaid and checkered shirts for spring, have made picnic perfect looks that would catch the eye of passersby along the quad or the hikers of Sleeping Giant Mountain.

For a student’s shopping convenience, favorite stores such as Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe have studied the spring trends to spin off looks of their own. The floral, flowy blouses, boldly striped sundresses, and animal print tunics are some noticeable pieces that have stood out in their collections. They are much more affordable than certain designer duds.

“I would definitely wear all of these looks,” freshman Danielle Cascerceri said. “The thing with these different styles is they are all so similar, even though the brands range from Marc Jacobs to Forever 21. I’m definitely an advocate of saving money and finding great bargains, so I love that the same styles Marc Jacobs uses in his line are sold in Forever 21.”

Stacey Farrell, also a freshman, agreed with Cascerceri. “I would wear the casual sundresses to a picnic or maybe even to class. The flowy tops would look really cute with jeans on a night out,” she said.

Quinnipiac students, however, may have their own ways of standing out against the crowd, wearing their own spring essentials for everyone to see. When asked about the trends they were ready to show off in a few weeks, Farrell said, “I’m really looking forward to sundresses and updating my wardrobe in general.”

Cascerceri noted that students are already experimenting with spring fashion fads

“One spring trend I’ve definitely noticed picking up is the flannel shirt look,” she said. “People are pairing the flannel with tights, jeans and other things. It’s definitely interesting to see what people pair standard styles with, so I enjoy style watching. It’s hard with our weather up here – it’s pretty popular to see the Ugg boots, the North Face jacket and a random shirt and jeans. Once it gets warmer, I think the students will be able to become more creative with their outfits.”

Perhaps the arrival of spring will encourage students to abandon their tried and true Northface/Ugg look and embrace the warmer looks of winter’s successor. With stripes and shine, color and cool jewels, spring is here and it is more daring than ever.