>>  Berets... black tights... a touch of red here and there...  Looks like Thakoon's taken Audrey Hepburn as his muse.  There's just a couple of outfits that stand out in the collection, but one of them especially excites me -- it involves a jumper.  I have been on the look-out for a good jumper for a while now... I even stooped to looking at private school uniforms (you know, from French Toast and the like) -- too bad I'm not a girl's size 6X anymore.  In any case, I would kill for that lovely piece on the left there.

While the clothes only sparked here and there, the shoes... they shone.  Literally.  The maestro Manolo Blahnik himself whipped up some patent leather confections for the wearing.  And the booties, it looks like they're back for another round as well.  I am ecstatic about this fact because, well, I'm booties' number one fan.

For the rest of Thakoon, the X marks the spot. 

>>  I have been in love with these Chloe wedges ever since I saw them on the spring runway.  I've been watching out for them ever since, and they're finally available for pre-order at Bergdorf.  Yes, they look slightly ridiculous to try and wear all day, and no, I don't have $670 to drop on them.  But I prefer the black to the pewter anyway.

>> I feel like I can't look anywhere lately without a skull staring back at me -- and I don't know whether to love it, or hate it.  I've always loved the bit of rock chic a skull can give the most feminine flowy florally dress, but with the whole Thomas Wylde craze, I feel like skulls have the potential to relive the boho skirt debacle of summer last.  So when looking at Alexandre Herchcovitch's latest, I'm not sure what to think.  I like the skull belts, and I feel some outfit inspiration here: a girly florally dress with some punk chic thrown in. 

But I've had to let this collection sit, age in my mind.  I've found it works that way a lot with me and fashion.  When I first look at a collection (this one for example), I usually hate it.  Especially the ones that bring some element of new -- some way of putting clothes together that I have never seen or thought about before.  And I, like most people, hate change.  But if I let the collections ripen in the back of my mind, I can go back and look at them later and find something in them that I didn't see before.  And that's something that I find really exciting.  These collections that I hate at first are the ones that usually inspire me the most in the end (except for the few that just really do suck all around).  Take Comme des Garcon's spring collection.  I don't think I came across many people who liked it -- all the layering and draping of tartans and plaids.  I was torn about it, too.  But if you look at all the new collections for next fall, what is all over the place?  Plaid.  Tartan.  And that is what I am talking about -- chew on these things that you automatically want to hate for a bit.  You never know what you might get out of it.