Of Kors I Love You

Janie Bryant may be the most influential person in fashion right now.

Who the heck is Janie Bryant, you ask? She's the costume designer for AMC's original show Mad Men, which I'm hoping desperately will return with new episodes soon because I'm totally hooked. Besides being terrifically well-written and -performed, the look of the show is absolutely stunning -- it's set in New York in 1960 and the clothes make me wish for a time machine, or barring that, my own personal vintage-clothes sourcer. The late 50's into early 60's is one of my favorite periods in fashion, so I'm in Fashionista Heaven watching the meticulously assembled wardrobe on this show.

This look is getting a lot more play lately, it seems as though I'm not the only one addicted to the show. Michael Kors has been watching, too, judging from his runway show last week. Now, we all know I'm a big fan of Michael Kors. I don't care that he's a little too tanned or that he never seems to diverge from his jeans-black-t-shirt-and-black-blazer ensemble. Kors knows his stuff, and if you listen to what he has to say on "Project Runway" that's evident. (Yes, I have been watching, and no, I haven't posted about it because while it's a fun reality show ostensibly about fashion, it's not really a show about fashion. I will say, the producers managed to give us a crop of contestants this year that made it more about fashion than it ever has been, due to their relative lack of intrapersonal sturm und drang, and for that reason I think this has been the best season so far. But if you must know -- yes, I am thrilled to bits that Chris might get to go to Fashion Week, because my hands-down, favorite line of all the seasons of this show so far has been that lovely man saying, "If you don't understand the situation by now, you are refusing to learn." That is some deep wisdom, kids. I think I need a t-shirt with that printed on it.)

Ant any rate, in honor of Valentine's Day, I bring you a bad title pun and some clothes that made my heart beat faster with love & longing...

Seriously, what more could you want in a sweater?

Great suit, easily splittable for separates. Imagine that jacket over some nice narrow jeans and a cute pair of flats. Perfect.

Style Spy's default, never-fail personal silhouette: easy skirt with movement, neat fitted top. No one looks bad in this. I wish I could find a good picture of the back of this sweater -- it's cut lower than expected and has a great little self-tie detail.

I think this is my favorite skirt silhouette right now -- a fitted skirt with a flare or trumpet at the bottom. It gives you the sexiness of a pencil skirt, but the fullness at the bottom balances out the hips, which is much kinder for most of us. And I know fur is so very politically incorrect, but I do love the plush look of that stole around the tweed of the jacket. I am all about texture...

Just gorgeous. 'Nuff said.

I am complètement fou for the fedora. I have a little black fedora. I am wearing it today. Again, I love that all of these pieces are such great useful separates, and pull together to create such a wonderfully balanced shape.

Kors' color palette usually runs mostly to neutrals, and more & more I think that's a real shame, because when he does use color he's a wizard at it. (His Spring 2008 show was positively mouth-watering.) I'm not a big fan of gray, but the silver of the fur and the skirt against the lilac of that sweater makes me giddy. So beautiful.

That loud pounding you hear is the Want Monster beating on my door.

There were lots of men's look in this show and while some of them were a teeny bit too literal, I do love this classic, put-together thing.

Mmmmmm, sparkly. Style Spy loves the sparkly.

Again, the fur with the tweed, the amazing shape, the all-out luxe-ness of this just makes me crazy. (Of course, you could tar and feather Liya Kebede and roll her down the runwway in a garbage can and she'd still be gorgeous. She just kills me.)

So how about you guys? Are you ready to throw a little Shirley Bassey on the ol' turntable? Or does it leave you cold? Tell me what you think!

Photos: Style.com