Fancy Footwork
Not every pair of fashionable gams will be encased in Fogal fishnets or Chanel double-C stockings this fall – but that doesn’t mean they’ll be seen in last year’s skirt-over-pants look, either. Leggings are in vogue again, but this time, the Lycra-laden pants are being paired with shirtdresses, pencil skirts, and to-the-knee jackets – not Bill Cosby sweaters. Barbara Bui (pictured), Callaghan, Azzedine Alaïa, and Samsonite have all revived the suburban-mom staple. There’s just one footnote to this throwback trend: Don’t think it means you can pull those stirrups out of storage.
KRISTINA RICHARDS
Camp Followers
Bowling alleys and doctors’ offices provided designers with inspiration for two of fall’s favorite bags, so perhaps it’s no surprise the spark for this season’s third “It” purse would come from the campground. The duffel bag – more at home on the pages of Lands’ End than in Harper’s Bazaar – has been scaled down and dressed up by Louis Vuitton ($470), Mussio & DeGroot (pictured, $350), and Moschino ($435). Just the thing to update last year’s sleeping-bag coat.
K.R.
Saturday Nike Fever
Nike’s formula of swoosh-plus-limited-
edition-equals-cult-object has scored once again: The Air Woven is the latest must-have of the streetwise sneaker set. Two weeks after its U.S. debut, the coveted kick has already sold out. alife (178 Orchard Street; 646-654-0628), the only place in New York to get the hand-woven slip-ons, moved all eighteen pairs over a weekend; one patron is rumored to have sold his pair on eBay for $1,300. Sneaker freaks can try tracking down the $220 shoes in the U.K. or Japan, where the remaining 1,082 pairs were sent. And while Nike is mum on whether the Air Woven will be released in a larger edition, alife has optimistically set up a wait list.
JOEL FERREE
Ring of Authenticity
Design geeks everywhere know the Ericofon, the funky Swedish phone introduced in 1954, for its unique Clockwork Orange profile and Auric Goldfinger aesthetic. But originals are hard to come by – and impractical. (Nearly all have dials.) If you seek both form and function, however, Banana Republic has a compromise: Modern push-button electronics in vintage Ericofon shells, a fresh stash of which has been unearthed. (BR’s version is admittedly pricey at $195; on the collector market, dial Ericofons go for about $75 and touch-tone versions are about $150.) Sadly, the new ones come in only white; if you want colors – the original came in orange, aqua, and chrome, among many others – you’ll have to start trolling on eBay.
CHRISTOPHER BONANOS