prints

It's a New Year, which means it's the perfect time to shed those fashion inhibitions and start experimenting with things you didn't get to in 2012. First up is prints. 2012 fed us many printed trends, including one of the biggest: printed bottoms. The good news about prints is that there are infinite types and colors, so your options are never limited. You can dabble with everything from florals to animal prints to tribal to abstract to stripes, as well as categories like tops, pants, jackets, bags, and shoes. But remember that the goal here is to step outside your comfort zone and start incorporating pieces you might not have before. So step inside (with an open mind) to see and shop 15 amazingly printed pieces your closet is dying to receive.

Don't believe a single poster can make a difference? Meet Rebecca Peragine, an artist, mother, and the founder of Children Inspire Design. Peragine started the line of wall art, cards, and stationary with the goal of teaching global responsibility to kids at a young age. Children Inspire Design creations — which have attracted the attention of major retailers like Land of Nod and Sprout — are made with recycled papers, scraps, and Earth-friendly inks, making each piece a stylish and thoughtful addition to your kid's room.

But Peragine has taken it one step further with her new Compassion Map ($40). Buy the limited-edition poster (shown with Peragine here), and 100 percent of the purchase price goes to Future Fortified: each poster gives a month's worth of nutrients to 20 children in Kenya. Now that's a poster with purpose! Keep clicking to check out the Compassion Map and more of Children Inspire Design's eco-conscious and globally minded goods.

According to the likes of Jordana Brewster, Kate Bosworth, and Jessica Alba, all your warm weather styling needs is a bold Summer print boost. Be it a vibrant butterfly print, a Los Angeles-cool palm-tree print, or a loud magenta-hued exotic floral print, the brighter the pattern, the more we're convinced that our breezy wares still have a lot of life left in them. With Stella McCartney, Carven, and Peter Pilotto leading a colorful pack of designs for both the current season and right into the next, we're honing in on how these starlets are letting their own print obsessions take form. Miranda Kerr's mix-and-matched fare, Karolina Kurkova's literal tropical photo print denim, and Olivia Palermo's sweet scalloped flower-power shorts all add to this Summer's best printed practices. Click through for seven days — and seven ways — to wear and shop the trend now.

The Star Wars saga returns to big screens today with the release of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace 3D. Undoubtedly lightsaber battles and space travels will look breathtaking in 3D, but we're also excited about the nostalgia of seeing the movies again in theaters. To celebrate Star Wars' big day, we're looking to take a piece of the films home with us. Check out our favorite Empire-inspired prints and posters in the gallery.

When all is said and done, 2011 was a great year for trends — we saw scores of stylish looks hitting the runways, from ladylike, feminine hemlines to bold brights, funky allover prints, and hypersexual boudoir and fetish ensembles. In order to give 2011's trends a proper highlight, we're looking back on five of our absolute favorites. Here's to 2012 — and many more fabulous trends!

Bold, print-filled Spring 2011 runways gave us the go ahead to mix, match, and layer to our fashionable hearts' content, and we're loving the possibilities. Case in point: the eclectic-cool Regina Feoktistova, swathed in vibrant prints on the pages of Harper’s Bazaar Russia. Mixing up your prints at home can be more laborious, but we're breaking it down. In general, look for main pieces with prints and textures in complementary color families; then add in the accessories to drive the point home in brighter, bolder palettes. The bottom line — don't fear it. To get you started, we've outfitted five looks with perfectly mixed prints. Click through to shop!

Looking to dress up your nursery or child's walls with new prints? Graduate from personalized name prints to full phrases. You can envelope your little love with extra cheer and happiness by decorating with posters that celebrate all things amorous — and your family's favorite lyrics. Get decor inspiration by these sweet, singsongy posters.