J'adore le Printemps!

Spring is not yet in the air (unless this dreary drizzle qualifies as April showers), but then again Los Angeles has never been the sort of place to exultantly announce that The Spring 2010 Collections Are Here! Shed your overcoat! Huzzah! In L.A., you can basically only tell it’s le printemps when your friends in the Midwest or the Northeast stop complaining about the weather on their incessant Facebook updates.

If the window displays we’ve seen on a recent trip through Beverly Hills and WeHo are indicative of the first season of the new decade, the sentiments are thus: Color is king, the future is bright, the recession an afterthought. Here are some of our favorite specimens.

Neiman Marcus

"A" for originality, thanks to multimedia artist Nick Cave’s manic, multicolored “soundsuits,” in honor of his current exhibition at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. The mannequins point and gesture in opposite directions—none of them knows the true direction of the decade's fashion, perhaps, but all of them know it's not going to be a bore. 

Neiman Marcus, 9700 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills. (310) 550-5900. www.neimanmarcus.com

Maxfield

After disemboweling a Christmas tree and erecting a dripping candelabra in its place for their holiday display, Maxfield is cozying up to nature. Not sure what a flock of Canada geese has to do with the genius of Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, but we'll go with it. 

Maxfield, 8825 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, (310) 274-8800. (Can't seem to find their Web site, not surprised if the boutique's rarified ethos forbids e-commerce.)