A silken touch of luxury. $58 at J. Crew.

Whooh!  The weather has turned crisp out there; I might even have to turn on the heat at some point.  In honor of our gorgeous fall weather, here’s a feature on scarves.  They’ve been in style all summer, but frankly, given some of the summer weather we had, there was no way I was putting anything around my neck that hadn’t just come out of the freezer.  Now?  They’re the perfect accessory.

The “new” thing, of course, seems to be snoods and infinity scarves (if you can bring yourself to call an item of clothing as old-fashioned as a snood “new” without snickering), but they for the most part look more warm and less pretty, so I’ll leave those for later in the season.  (Snoods?  Really?  Does anyone else feel like they might have to don a corset and several petticoats to wear one?)  I myself have christened the fall season by picking up the lovely at top, a long ombre scarf in soft, slightly crinkled sandwashed silk.  It’s worth noting that the scarf is available in different colors in stores than it is online; I fixed my orange craving by picking it up on Fifth Avenue in a gorgeous hue starting at peach and deepening to a dark burnt orange.  Could it be more fall?

The stores are full of scarves in ombre, tie-die, and perfect fall prints.  After the jump, a few of my favorites!

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Pair this with hard-core ankle boots, and... Get in my way. I dare you.

One of the (relatively) new kids on the block, Alexander Wang.  Wang, who won the CDFA/Vogue Fashion Fund award last year, put out his first full collection of women’s wear in 2007 and has been roaring through the fashion scene since.  His line so far?  These are clothes for the tough girl.  Wang himself has been quoted as saying that he designs for the “model, off-duty.”  Okay, I have to admit that strikes me as a bit much — it reminds me of some of the things I like least about high-end fashion — but it’s hard to argue with the clothes themselves.  They are hot — or alternatively cool, depending on which piece you pick.

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Lady Gaga at the 2009 MTV VMAs

Look, I’ll say it: fashion and entertainment has long been in need of a Lady Gaga character.

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This one isn’t flashy.  It’s just exquisitely tasteful. It’s Carolina Herrera, after all.  Click through and take a close look at the gorgeous combination of sequins and embroidery — the flattering crossed seaming at the waist.  Perfection.

Just enough hardware for this fall -- from Boutique 9.

Let’s hear it for fall!  The weather has definitively turned, and the fall fashion offerings are reaching dangerous levels of irresistibility.  I mentioned a few months ago the arrival of grey and purple everywhere you looked.  The stores are still bursting with grey and plum, with the result that I am feeling the burning desire to buy grey and … burnt orange.  What can I say? I have a little perverse streak.  Thankfully, J. Crew is encouraging me to get my fix with a slew of jackets in warm coppers and sweaters and tops in peachier hues.

Amazingly enough, all this time on enforced hiatus from online shopping has actually let me give some thought to updating my wardrobe for fall.  Not that I don’t usually make some updates, but the process usually resembles a blackbird piling up shiny objects rather than the organized approach of a methodical mind.  So, here are the basic items I’m looking to buy this season.  read more »

MAC's Nightfall

Here’s why.  Upon hearing that my computer was going to be gone until OCTOBER (grrrr), he went out yesterday morning while I was still groggily attempting to turn over onto my back and brought me back an iced caramel macchiato and the fall fashion issues of In Style, Harper’s Bazaar, and Elle.  Is it any wonder I love this boy?  Having spent all day yesterday getting my fashion fix at long last in despite of my inability to access the internet, I am now feeling much better about my fate, if still mildly annoyed about having to wait two more weeks to catch up on online fashion week coverage. I was somewhat disturbed to find myself looking at a picture of Susan Boyle and thinking “ooh, I like those shoes!” (hey, they were Giuseppe Zanotti!) but a few moments of hilarity courtesy of Uncle Karl pretending to be Coco Chanel in Harper’s Bazaar made all well. (See today’s thought of the day for a representative sample.)

I am now in full swing fall mode, starting with an urgent need to Goth it up with some of the dramatic, hard-edged nail polish colors to go with this fall’s style warrior theme. Even though recessionary caution is still very much with us, a few new nail polishes always seem like a reasonable indulgence when the less-reasonable Hermes bag is taunting me from afar. read more »

Brace yourself, ladies, it’s here! In a celebration of fashion presumably intended to give the flagging industry a boost in the current economy, Vogue and CDFA are sponsoring a full out fashion extravaganza tonight featuring events at hundred of stores throughout the city. Frankly, there are so many stores participating here and across the country that you hardly need a guide – just wander into your favorite fashionable boutique or department store starting around 7 and there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself with a glass of champagne or shaking hands with a designer. I’ve personally gotten invites to events at Mackage (free one-on-one style consultations with Philip Bloch and in-store blow-outs), eryn brinié (performance by singer Kate Earl), Trina Turk (champagne, plus the designer herself at the LA boutique), Theory (a special installation of their FW 09 looks plus cocktails from Belvedere vodka), plus half a dozen department stores, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!  Even if you’re not really looking to shop, it’d be a shame to miss what promises to be a heck of an event.  If you’re looking for more guidance, here’s the official website, and the NYT’s article of yesterday.

Can’t wait!  Hope you all have the chance to get out and enjoy it tonight!

I know, I posted on my opinion of the continuing leggings trend only a couple of weeks ago, but a recent pass through the stores exposed me to fresh horrors that I just had to share.  I know that leggings are still in fashion.  I know that they’re going to be in stores.  I had hoped, though, that the out-and-out leggings (as opposed to skinny pants) would be confined to the juniors department and unobtrusive corners of the t-shirt and hosiery sections.  I was thus unprepared to enter the Theory section of Bloomingdale’s and see this:

Dear God.

Since I know this is a super-blurry cell phone pic, let me narrate.  They’re leggings.  They’re woolly.  And they’re fuschia.

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Whoo!  Welcome to September, everyone.  I’m sure we have more of the dog days of summer ahead, but for today, the cool breezes coming in through my window feel fantastic, and have me all ready to break out my cutest fall jackets.

Thankfully, it being September, the fashion gods are all conspiring to indulge my mental shift in seasons to the fullest.  In an act of perfect timing,  the folks at Mackage have opened a pop up store in the Meatpacking District to showcase their gorgeous jackets and coats for the next month.  Located at 829 Washington Street (between Little West 12th and Gansevoort), this, their first ever free-standing retail location, is a prequel to their first permanent store, scheduled to open in Paris in November.  Luckily for New Yorkers, although the temporary store will be gone at the end of September, there’s still hope for a permanent Manhattan location down the line.  In WWD, Mackage designer Elisa Dahan said “This is definitely an area we have been interested in for a while.  New York for me is the number one place where I would like to have a retail location.  We really wanted to give it a try.  We love the Meatpacking District.  Now that the High Line is open, the Meatpacking District is back on the map and we definitely wanted to be a part of it.”

So seize the day and stop by the store to check out Mackage’s fall line.  What could be more stylish for an autumn stroll along the High Line?  The store will be open through the end of September and then will be disappearing, so don’t miss it!

The, uh, "classic" leather mini?

Okay, it’s $600, and I suspect there’s an age limit on having an excuse to buy a leather miniskirt, but this is without a doubt the classiest hot little biker skirt I’ve ever seen.  I love the studded beltsl  If I thought I could get away with wearing it on a regular basis?  Maybe I should ask the boy…