'Tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes. - William Wordsworth.

The weather here continues to deteriorate at a rather concerning rate; what began as a slightly wet and windy week has ended with rapidly declining temperatures and a brief flurry of snow.  While this sparked some initial excitement and served to enhance our already blossoming festive spirit, it soon became very apparent just how inconvenient a prolonged period of snow and biting cold would be and we all returned, rather speedily, to our previous stance of bemoaning the bad weather and longing wistfully for those all-too-distant summer months.

The sad fact of the matter is that we are only just entering the early stages of what I predict to be a rather long and miserable winter - one which I imagine will necessitate a variety of ingenious methods to ensure emotional survival!  One of my most successful winter coping mechanisms, aside from the frequent utilisation of woolly scarves, thick socks and cosy evenings spent by an open fire, involves fantasising about that elusive moment where one can cast their winter coat to one side and begin immersing themselves in the exciting new clothes of the moment.

This technique is already being heavily employed as an antidote to the depression which would be otherwise inevitable when faced with months of 'sensible' dressing - a rather dreary prospect, lessened considerably by the inspiring trends which seem to be emerging for Spring 2010 (I still can't quite get used to writing that, is 2009 really almost over?!)  For a self-confessed pattern junkie, the most eagerly anticipated of these trends is the wonderful amount of floral patterning which is currently sweeping across runway shows and will undoubtedly be popping up in high street stores everywhere in the springtime.

Left - Chanel,  Centre - DKNY,  Right - Christian Dior

Left - DKNY,  Centre - Marni,  Right - Dolce & Gabbana.

Left - DKNY,  Centre - Richard Chai,  Right - Adam.

I quite simply cannot get enough of floral patterns at any time of year - a quick glance into my wardrobe over here reveals at least five items featuring some sort of pretty, petal-inspired motif, without even considering the vast amount of clothes that I have left in England - and I particularly feel that putting emphasis on the use of florals in the Spring is utterly wonderful.  What better way could there possibly be to emerge from the bleak monotony of winter than with these bright, beautiful patterns, symbolic of new life and all that the springtime encompasses?

Photos - Elle.com