55 Secret Street goes on and on and on and on about Tom Ford picking Erykah Badu as the face of his next fragrance .

Stiletto Jungle names the best ways to combat the dreaded VPL.

Bag Snob loves the effortless chic of YSL Muse.

BagBliss doesn’t want you to miss the DecadesTwo Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada sale on HauteLook!

Beauty Snob Rebirths with Shu Uemura eye shadow.

Coquette spots the techy side of fashion at Hussein Chalayan’s Paris Fall 2008 Fashion Show.

Love Pierre Hardy shoes? Get your fix at the Gap advises Fashiontribes.

KRiSTOPHER gets tagged to play Q&A.

Looking for Ombre! A trend Second City Style is loving for spring!

Shrimpton Couture shows us that Ferragamo was ahead of his time!

Stylehive gets an exclusive interview with Project Runway’s fierce designer, Christian Siriano.

I’ve always found that the FCUK (French Connection) thing was a cute play on the eff bomb. So every now and again, I’ll stop by the site to see what’s doing. I’ve been behind on doing that but was reminded by this ad in Nylon Magazine (there’s also an unrelated Alexander McQueen cheerleading thing that I’ll talk about next week). But I dig the direction of this season’s ads. I think I dig it specifically because the designs have been ratcheted up a notch. What that means is structurally, all of a sudden, the French Connection stuff look like what you would have coming out of the new hip cool designer of the week, except they’ve been around much longer than that guy/gal. And while it is retail and not straight from “designer A”, the Spring line is definitely worth a second or third look.

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While many may proclaim millinery a dead art, some would argue that it is not dead, just in suspended animation for all to see. Our take: hats are classic and will never, ever go away. Tell milliners Leah C and Stephen Jones that hats are dead, they’ll scoff and turn their nose up at you. Who could blame them? Wearing a stylish hat for Spring can change add a whole new dimension to a daily outfit. There’s a mystique behind a short brim hat, style in a floppy hat, and certain degree of cool in a beret. Don’t write it off until you try it.

Check out our interview with milliner LeahC.

I went to see an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum awhile back (maybe 3 to 4 years ago) called the impressionist in Winter. It consisted of several paintings from famous impressionists with winter landscapes. It made me wonder what their work would look like if they created Spring landscapes. Truth be told they’ve done Spring artwork, but Tod’s has a artwork for the Spring named (I assume) after my favorite impressionist, Matisse. It seems appropo that the designer’s Spring artwork happens to look beautiful on the feet take a look:

This is definitely a personal recommendation. The tortoise shell links separate this from being the average high-end lux sandal. It’s artwork.

While one wonders what would cause Newsday to print such filth (tongue is firmly in cheek folks), one can’t help but agree ever so slightly with the Long Island paper on one fashion trend. The sandals with socks phenomenon has taken a hold of the industry like you wouldn’t believe, just take a look at Betsy Johnson’s most recent show and you’ll understand that this momentum cannot be stopped.

What’s the motivation for the whole socks with sandals and heels crowd? Is it the kitschiness of it? Is it the fact that one’s feet can stay warm even though the weather is cold or is it fashion for fashion’s sake? Who knows? But let’s looks just a little bit deeper.

For the most part it is not socks with sandals in the truest sense of the word. To look at something like that what is really meant is opaque tights and stockings with the 3 to 4 inch heels with multiple straps (either a criss cross pattern) or a patent leather look strap look. The Newsday article points to celebrities like Julianne Moore and Jessica Alba. We saw the same trend at the aforementioned Betsy Johnson show, but it was also present at Anna Sui, Rei Kawakubo and John Galliano.

Will the trend last? It’s a trend silly, or course it won’t, but for the moment, it looks gorgeous.

(photo: Newsday)