The season of grey has finally lifted, and that’s not just in terms of Vancouver’s usual cloudy weather. On the fashion front, winter and early spring’s coolly depressing charcoals and silvers are giving way to a summer of happy, retina-searing new colours, and leading the charge is French Connection, whose recent event at its Robson Street flagship store was all about eye candy.

Blazing in canary yellow through to flaming orange and Caribbean turquoise, the trendsetting Brit label’s parade of dresses gave clear notice that fashion is becoming playful again. Pointing out a swingy halter dress in emerald green, marketing and press coordinator Janine Furtado encouraged women to take the leap and add a vibrant dress to their wardrobe.

“You can dress this up or down,” she said at the show-and-shopping event on May 15. “Put it with a higher heel, and it can be your party dress. Put it with white sandals, and it can be your summer-afternoon dress.”

The retro-influenced silhouettes were often as whimsical as the colours. The trapeze is one of the strongest shapes from the company better known as FCUK, but it doesn’t always have to billow: one orange-silk version looked ’50s-flirty with a matching tie that can be fastened either around the waist or at Empire height; substitute a thick, black cinch belt and you’ve got instant ’80s chic.

Colours have also found their way into a range of gutsy new prints, from kitschy florals to Neapolitan stripes and oversized abstracts. They emblazon trapeze-cut tops and tunics, and look hip over a pair of tights or straight-leg jeans.

For those who think brights are best reserved for Kool-Aid and Jolly Ranchers, there were subtler offerings on view. One that looks good with just about every skin tone is sky blue, as seen on a shorter satin dress with multiple tiered ruffles. The style also comes in silver, which Furtado says is “this year’s new black”.

Other must-have pieces this summer are French Connection’s gladiator sandals, ruffled miniskirts, and high-waisted shorts.

Thanks to bursts of colour and preppy plaids, men are also seeing an about-face on the style front. “Guys can have a lot more fun with clothes this season,” Furtado explained. “They’re going in more of a European fashion direction.”

Menswear highlights included a lemon-hued, short-sleeved dress shirt, adding pop to a white prep-school cardigan and the summer’s new shorts; tapered and tailored, they’re a world away from the last few years’ baggy boarder wear. This isn’t about channelling a straight-outta-the-’80s frat boy. Think instead of the ironic collegiate style of indie-music It Boys Vampire Weekend.

Layering is still a big trend: one T-shirt in a Never Mind the Bollocks neon pink was paired with a pink-and-green preppy plaid shirt, rolled at the short sleeves.

Other important pieces were argyle vests, and T-shirts paired with blazers. Footwear also played with prep, from perforated tennis shoes to the return of the—wait for it—classic boat shoe.

In all, there were enough strong looks to earn the label as much attention as its controversial “fcuk this” and “mile high fcuk” T-shirts did a few years back—although they probably won’t cause quite as many double takes.