Judging from the recent award shows in Hollywood, red carpet style is finally evolving thanks to risk-takers like Emma Stone. At the SAG awards she wore Dior’s chic take on the tuxedo. A few weeks earlier at the Golden Globes she showed up in a Lanvin jumpsuit complete with a jeweled bustier. So who will really take the plunge at the Oscars and wear Dior’s haute couture catsuit? Call Cher.
Would You Rather…Dr. Scholl’s or Birkenstocks?

It took awhile for me to finally succumb to the Birkenstock trend last summer (I bought two pairs). Now Marc Jacobs is selling velvet-lined Dr. Scholls. What is it with the current fashion craze for ugly orthopedic shoes? Maybe designers are finally getting smart and targeting consumers in the demographic that actually spends money: Boomers (with failing knees and unhappy feet).
Effortless Effort: What is Style?
While browsing through photos of the pre-fall collections the other day, several looks from Michael Kors jumped out at me. They looked so familiar and for a moment I couldn’t place them. Then it me: something in the slouchy chic of Kors’ classic pea coat and bright red tuxedo pants or the simplicity of a black suit instantly recalled the crisp, clean, all-American style of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. But more than just the clothes themselves, it was the attitude in these images that reminded me of the late style icon. The writer Dani Shapiro wrote a blog post recently about this kind of attitude as it relates to writing and creativity and, well, life. Shapiro quoted Buddhist thought when she identified this attitude as the effortless effort, this idea of serendipity or risk or an openness to life’s possibilities. It’s a definition you could apply to style too, particularly this brand of seemingly effortless style.