thoughts on style

Answer: The use of paper as art in this week's Chanel couture show in Paris.

It was not quite the ancient art of origami, and although just as beautiful, it was not a work by the brilliant Yulia Brodskaya. It was the collaborative efforts of Karl Lagerfeld and Japanese hairdresser Kamo that produced one of the most creative, brilliant and blindingly beautiful Chanel shows since I can remember. According to a review of the show on Style.com, "Key to the show's success was the involvement of Kamo, a Japanese hairdresser and Lagerfeld discovery whose team scored and scissored out—while sitting on the floor of a Chanel backroom—the incredible constructs of paper roses, camellias, leaf fronds, and feathers that adorned each girl."

Not only did I love the use of paper in the show, I loved the use of several shades of white. It is not often to see a designer use shades of ivory, eggshell, and very bright whites in the same collection. Lagerfeld was not only able to pull this off through his use of minimalist, architectural looks (much like the paper itself), but also because he made it less predictable than white on white on white by mixing the shades, and adding details using contrasting materials. This added a touch of the unexpected, a touch of the new, a touch of true style.

View the complete collection at style.com .

Maybe it's New York - the grey buildings, the grey sidewalks, the grey mood of the laid-off bankers, the grey winter weather (especially the disgusting slush all over ground after it snowed today), but maybe it's the fashion world's reaction to all of this. Either way, grey is making a comeback.

Marni, Herve Leger,Yves Saint Laurent, Robert Rodriguez and many more designers are showing grey this season. Some pair it with metallics, or neon brights, or pastels, and others prefer a more monochrome palette. Although I would not go overboard and wear head-to-toe grey, I tend to like this color because I think everyone can find a shade that looks great with their skin tone. Another reason I am for this trend is because grey accessories are like black or brown accessories - literally the neutral of the neutrals, and can be paired with a variety of outfits. I suggest buying a grey clutch and a grey layering piece, such as a lace camisole, that can be mixed with some vivid colors which will blend nicely.

Whether one buys into the trend or not, is it a sign of the times when a dull, muddled, neither-here-nor-there color becomes trendy? It doesn't matter to me, as long as Marc Jacobs, Consuelo Castiglioni and the rest of the design world can make it look chic for us.

Shop the look three ways - casual grey for day, dressy-glamorous for evening, and dressy-modern for evening.

While browsing online over the weekend, I noticed something incongruent with the gloom and doom of the economy that has been splashed all over the news lately: new Christian Louboutins are sold out on net-a-porter, saks.com, and other sites. Who buys $600 shoes when thousands of Americans are being laid off? The answer is, smart people with style. The logic behind big-ticket buying during the recession is LONGEVITY - the idea that buying an item of extreme high quality that is going to last (i.e., Louboutins) is smarter than buying a $50 pair of shoes that might last for a few nights out dancing and then fail you. And I am not alone in this seemingly illogical theory: an article in the Washington Post on Monday pointed out that "even as shops vie for customers by offering massive markdowns, shoppers are still lining up to pay top dollar for coveted goods" (article: No sale? No problem for goods prized by consumers).

Thus, I've made my recession wish list - the top items I would buy during a recession. They are all timeless and meant to last, and some are even investment pieces. No trends, no cheap fixes, no risky bets. See the photos above for my choices. I recommend buying a classic Burberry trench coat, a Longchamp tote bag, Christian Louboutin black pumps, a 100% cashmere scarf, Hunter Wellington boots, a Theory black sheath dress (the classic LBD), and finally (if you dare), a Cartier watch. This is if you are willing to save up, and then splurge on pieces that will carry you through the recession in style, on through the rest of your life, and perhaps one day will be inherited by a very lucky grandchild.

What's on your recession wish list? Your comments are appreciated!!!

For all of us whose eyes were not on Obama during his inauguration into the presidency today, surely our eyes were on Michelle Obama, in her sequined, bejeweled Isabel Todelo dress and tonal green leather gloves and Jimmy Choos. According to Cathy Horyn of the New York Times, “Ms. Toledo…said the coat and dress were made of Swiss wool lace, backed with netting for warmth and lined in French silk. “I wanted to pick a very optimistic color, that had sunshine,” she said.” (www.nytimes.com, About the Dress). Though I adored Ms. Obama’s dress, the color palette, and her accessories, I thought the jacket was a little much - a little stiff, but it could have been all the beading/sequins. In my personal opinion, a little less could have meant a little more today. That said, she still looked stunning to me.

We have at least four years ahead of us as a nation (and a world) to observe, compliment and sometimes critique the style of the first lady, but what does it all matter to America, with so many more important issues to deal with? Well according to Women’s Wear Daily, a lot. WWD stated today that “For better or worse, style has always impacted the presidency, never more so than now, an age of instant, 24/7 media coverage. Each gesture, each inflection, each lean Hartmarx suit impart meaning." (WWD, The Obama Momentum: Smarts, Style Create A New Kind of Power). And already, we’ve seen Michelle Obama in a range of styles and designers, every which one chronicled in countless news reports, blogs and even fashion magazines. She proudly wore an ensemble by mass market purveyor J.Crew to her appearance on Jay Leno, wore an extremely chic camel and black Narciso Rodriguez number to inauguration events on 1/19, and is a big fan of Chicago designer Maria Pinto.

To put it briefly, Michelle Obama’s style has hit Washington like a coup d’etat. Let’s just hope Barack can do the same.

Anyone worth their Louboutins should at least know the story behind the red soles (rumor has it that old CL had once been adoring the red nailpolish on a model, so he proceeded to paint the soles of his shoes with it, and voila, the rest is history). That said, in order to truly appreciate style and fashion and the entire universe that surrounds it, I find it necessary dig deeper into this vast black hole of the fabulous. So I started collecting style & fashion books. As a semi-closeted intellectual, I pride myself on my overfilled, about-to-fall-through-the-floor-and-down-to-the-apartment-below-me bookshelf. Scattered amongst works like Dante’s Divine Comedy, Valley of the Dolls, and 1000 Places to See Before You Die are the scattered few style books I’ve collected: Eccentric Glamour, Style A to Zoe, The Fashion Dictionary, In Vogue, Chanel, & Kate Spade’s trio: Manners, Occasions, & Style. Through these books I’ve expanded my knowledge and come to be a more discerning, educated shopper, and so much more. The only problem I find is that style books tend to come in coffee table book form, and why I don’t know. This has prevented me (more than once) from taking a book like In Vogue (weighing at least 20 pounds) on the subway, or Starbucks, or the beach, or anywhere worth reading for that matter. And this is why fashion books are so full of photos - without them what is the point? How enjoyable can it be to lug around a 20 pound brick? So I stick to the small ones for reading, and let the big ones collect dust on my bookshelf…or coffee table. And why not? A coffee table book is just another accessory, as far as accessories go. Just make sure you find the time to read it…at some point.

Let's face it: we've already gone over whose dresses were fabulous and whose were hideous. Now it's time to take a look at the bijoux and the accessories, the true cherries on top of the sundae. Whether they were Fred Leighton or one-of-a-kind pieces designed especially for the one wearing it, the biggest pieces for this year's Golden Globes were large drop earrings, cuff bracelets and statement necklaces. My favorites had a pop of color, such as Kate Beckinsale's ruby red earrings and Eva Mendes' turquoise necklace.