Fashion Me Fabulous

The Dresses Every season needs an essential dress you can't live without. This season, we're loving Adrianna Papell's purple knit dress (Nordstrom $118). The adorable cap sleeves and removable belt add extra interest, but the dress is still simple enough to work for multiple situations and layering experiments. While becca questions the wearability of a sweater dress, I'm beyond smitten with this buckle wrap dress (Victoria's Secret $88). It's a heavy enough knit to soften bumps rather than create them, and that collar looks so inviting. The pop of teal would be perfect in a season of brown, plum, and orange. Anthropologie's ditzy dot shirt dress ($128) is our favorite fall essential. It has a great print in beautiful seasonal colors, a red lining that peaks out when the sleeves are rolled up, and a removable ribbon belt. The Blazers Summer is all about the dress, but blazers are fall's key wardrobe element. A velvet blazer is perfect for everythin...

I was actually more thrilled by the opening of the Emmys (video below) this year than I was by the red carpet. After all it started with Glee and quickly got better. (Jorge Garcia! Betty White! Tina Fey! Joel McHale! Tim Gunn! All doing a musical number!!!) Jael Paris and I both picked purple dresses as our choices for best dressed. We also both picked controversial dresses. Jael picked Christina Hendricks lilac dress. She loved the feather details, the color and the fit. The best/worst dressed lists are mostly hating it, still going on about putting a big girl in a big dress. I'm with Jael. It was incredible. My favorite dress of the night was Emily Deschanel 's. I'm a sucker for purple and ruffles. I also like Emily's 'Zooey' bangs, which most of the fashion round-ups thought were too matchy with the fringe style of her dress. I disagree. I love it! And I love what a bold choice she made. (I also love that she presented an award with Nathan Fillion). Hendri...

For summer, I spent two weeks picking out the essential summer wardrobe and styling 22 different outfits to illustrate it. It was certainly both one of my hardest posts to write and my most rewarding (shh! Don't tell me otherwise), but I can't muster it again for fall. Just thinking of paring down dresses has me in knots. But maybe I don't need to narrow the selection. Maybe I can pack the post with our fall favs (in all their available colors) along with the hottest trends of the season. More for you to play with, really. Untitled by lemonmuffin featuring a red handbag "Play with?" you ask. Yes. You see, I'm not making 22 sets this season. You are. Using Polyvore's new mini-editor, you're going to be able to make as many outfits as you like with our pretend closet. And the more you make, the better your chances of winning $1000. That's right. $1000. This mini-editor is new, and Polyvore is holding a contest for those using it. If Fashion Me Fab...

Last night, Project Runway Season 8 saw its first group challenge. Two teams of six designers and no designated leaders sounds more like a social experiment than a fashion design challenge. It ended more like an episode of Real World, only the wrong person got kicked out of the house. The Challenge: Create a six piece collection for fall 2010 using one fall trend concept and one fall textile trend. (They were given lists to choose from.) The Teams Team Luxe consisted of Michael Costello, Gretchen, Christopher, Andy, Ivy Picks and A.J. They chose menswear as their concept and camel as their textile. Team Military and Lace obviously chose military as their concept and lace as their textile. It consisted of April, Mondo, Michael D, Valerie, Casanova and Peach. Each team developed very different strategies. Gretchen took the clear lead of Team Luxe . Instead of each of them creating a look, they (meaning Gretchen who once or twice pretended to consider comments from the others) came up wit...

Shop: Naomilingerie Why We Love It: I'm not a fan of overt, vampy, super sexy lingerie. I prefer soft, feminine, delicate, pretty underthings. The handmade lingerie, soft accessories and sweet sleep masks in this shop all fit my requirements for lovely lingerie. In fact, Naomi started making lingerie because she couldn't find any she liked. Price Range: $5 - $70 More Info: Visit Naomi's blog for more info about her and her lingerie. Favorite Items: Silk Satin Cat Sleep Mask $18 ; Striped Cotton Camisole $55 ; Gingham Cotton Gauze Sleep Boxer $35 ; Antique Kimono Sleep Mask $22 ; White Dots and Leaver Lace Sleep Boxer $35 (pictured).

Daddy Likey is keeping tabs on this disturbing (and unhygienic) pantless trend. Audi tackles which reactions she doesn't want to her outfits on Fashion For Nerds . Jezebel breaks down post-break-up hair cuts . Canadian model Coco Rocha is one of our favorite models for many reasons, and her blog is a delightful look inside what can be an ugly industry. Be your own Project Runway judge and sound off on the 32 mannequins dressed by NYC designers . Hair isn't the only thing that's changed since the 1920s. The Daily Mail looks at how diet has contributed to changing body shapes .

I adore fall. It's my favorite season. I love school supplies, apple pie, cider mills, fall colors, jacket weather and pumpkin spice lattes. I also love this almost-fall time of year. It's still warm enough to wear a breezy dress all day, and the nights get just chilly enough for a cozy sweater. Plus, its full of the anticipation for the amazing fall months to come. This outfit is perfect for this in between time of year. The dress is lightweight and easily layered. The shoes have a hidden heel but are sturdy enough for outside walks. The sweater will carry you through winter. The light scarf is perfect as a wrap at dusk before it's cool enough for the sweater, and the bag looks like it can fit a half peck of apples or a pumpkin no problem. The whole look costs $135.50 and comes entirely from Old Navy. $150 Challenge: Fall Is In the Air by Fashion becca Fabulous featuring wedge heel Old Navy Womens Ruffle-Neck Chambray Dresses , $30 Old Navy Womens Cable-Knit Boyfriend Ca...

A week without a wallet is not a pretty thing. Cards settled to the bottom of my purse. Change ran loose. Bills, shoved in the cell phone pocket, had to be removed entirely in order to see the denomination. Reigning in that chaos was a good step to making me feel whole after the purse nabbing . Clockwise: chain accent wallet, New York & Company $11.86 bird accordion wallet, Urban Outfitters $18 purple grommet and stud wallet, Target $12.99 red leather wallet, DSW $24.95 Clockwise: paint splatter kiss lock wallet, Wet Seal $10.50 koi fish bifold wallet, Lori's Shoes $24 apple organizer wallet, Target $9.99 elephant tri-fold wallet, Mod Cloth $17.99 teal stud kiss lock wallet, Target $9.99

I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin about the year she spent trying to make herself happier. Just before starting the book, I watched Eat, Pray, Love , which has a similar goal with a more drastic approach. Ever since seeing Julie & Julia , my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking has been calling me to try the same thing. (I'm ignoring it. I may instead tackle one recipe a year.) All of these projects have me contemplating 2011. What could I do with a year? One year projects don't have to be life changing or expensive (like traveling the world and buying expensive ingredients for cooking). I've read about several fashion-related projects that actually took a very frugal approach to the one-year challenge. A shopaholic vowed not to buy a since piece of new clothing for a year (which I did last year without meaning to because I was unemployed. Everything I did buy was with a gift card except my Alexander McQueen for Target jacket.) La...

Upcylcing is a wonderful thing. Whether it's lockets made of watch gears or Victorian lace reworked as fingerless gloves, we frequently feature Etsy shops with an upcycling bent. But you know what's not upcycling? Frankenstein's monster. Stolen parts sewn together in tattered hackery hoping that lightening will strike to drum up sales bring it to life is in no way upcycling. All I can think it that this is a low-end attempt to be Rodarte , but Frankenstein's monster of a dress is a "designer" price of $340. That has to cut into Igor's pay.

Last time I was at the mall, I bolted into The Limited to get a closer look at this faux two-piece dress . The updated 30s look is appealing from a distance, but what the photo doesn't capture is the texture. The top looks and feels like silk, and the bottom is a lush tweed. Insert drooling and wanting sounds. The label says dry clean only, so I'm hesitant to wear it to work. Although, I do need a new dress to wear to weddings. But at $89.90, I may have to hold out hope that they'll have it in my size when it goes on sale.

Bagged: Jael Paris had her purse stolen and has been working to replace everything inside. She wonders what you keep in your bag . An essential in her purse is her Mary Kay Night Cream . Speaking of purses, do you love or loathe Vera Bradley bags ? Schooled: We love back to school time. (We don't even go to school anymore, we just geek out over all the new school supplies!) Go back to school in style with this look for under $150 . Also nab a cute book bag to stash all your stuff . Make any school look, even uniforms, your own with accessorizes from our Etsy Shop of the Week, Folk . Outed: becca talks to (unfairly in our opinion) e liminated Project Runway designer, McKell Maddox . This week, the designers were challenged (best challenge ever!) to c reate looks for Philip Treacy hats , which of course meant one of them was out.

This week Heidi appeared on the runway followed by a stream of models wearing the most fabulous hats, which were created by none other than Philip Treacy. My experience with Philip Treacy's hats began through his work with Alexander McQueen resulting in a love-at-first-site kind of connection. Even though I've been sick and foggy-headed all week (so much so that I've been dreading this post), my brain perked up when I saw those hats parading across the runway. Sadly, we don't have a cast of young McQueens so the designs didn't live up to the majesty of the hats. However, I have to give season 8 credit for coming up with much better challenges! The contestants were allowed to choose hats, but had to take the model that went with it. Surprisingly, all of the designers stayed loyal to their models, even Peach who has a model with an attitude. The hats were placed in clear boxes in the designer's lounge to be observed while designing. (Thank you for not letting the ...