This season designers infused shiny brights into their collections. With the doom and gloom, the bright, happy, optimistic solid shades give a spark of refreshed energy, said Emil de John, fashion professor at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, who attended several shows this week. Here are some of his thoughts:

"Oscar de la Renta was quite beautiful and as usual, the gowns were the highlight of the show. Oscar did very interesting things with sleeves. He did lamb mutton sleeves and added slits to them for a very contemporary, modern look. Another thing I thought he did was interesting was add fur collars to beautiful shirts. It worked. The gowns were beautiful. They were filled with yards of fabric. My favorite was a red gown made from silk organza and embroidered with fern leaves on the skirt. It was breathtaking..."

"Anna Sui was was ultra elaborate. She used lots of silk and velvet with tons of beading. It was costume beautiful with an Elizabethan feeling. She showed puffed sleeves too. But the color in this collection came with rich, beautiful prints..."

"Milly by Michelle Smith was adorable. It was typical Milly. There were lots of cropped jackets and three-quarter length sleeves.  The highlight was the flirty little jackets and the shades of chocolate brown and lilac were rich."

What do you think of the bright pop of color for fall?