After seeing the sweaters in the pre-fall 2012 collections, I’m ready to go all Bill Cosby and wear them every day with brightly colored jeans. Sweater styles ranged from 70′s geometric, to 80′s preppy, to 90′s grunge – there was literally something for everyone. Literally.

Photos: style.com

Salmon was all over the pre-fall 2012 collections, sometimes heightening into hot pink and often fading into a pale peach. When I was 15 I was invited to a wedding and my mom loaned me her 1960′s shantung shift with matching oriental collar jacket. It was fantastic, and the hottest guy at the wedding asked me to dance to “Lady in Red”. It’s salmon you idiot, not red!

Photos: style.com

Thakoon

Nothing is quite as elegant as a matching coat and dress set; it can make cold weather a little more fun, it can make whatever task you have to do a little more fun. A few of these were found in the Pre-Fall 2012 collections and these are my favorites.

Philosophy

Doo.Ri

Photos: Style.com

BCBG Max Azria

The Flapper, the jazz age, art deco, the roaring ’20′s, whatever you want to call it – it’s still here to stay, as clearly seen in the Pre-Fall 2012 collections, though maybe not as omnipresent as in Spring 2012.  I still love it, no matter what the ever-entertaining Cathy Horyn says, she’s not my mom. Although I do prefer it without fringe, I am generally not a fan of fringe, and there are plenty of looks from that era that leave that appendage out, thank goodness. This trend comes on the heels of 2011′s charming “Midnight in Paris“ and just before the new 2012 version of “The Great Gatsby“ so this look may not be going away anytime soon. Cathy.

BCBG Max Azria

Philosophy

Rachel Roy

Rachel Roy

Diane von Furstenberg

Alberta Ferretti

Alberta Ferretti

Sportmax

Sportmax

Emporio Armani

Photos: Style.com

My blogger (and personal) friend Sarah (of the oh-so-inspiring Wolf of Insignificance) batted around the idea of a top 5 at the end of year and agreed it would be based on things new to us, regardless of the year these discoveries were actually introduced. In general, I don’t trust new things; I like things a little tried out and aged. You’ll find my top five to be (for the most part) not new at all, but things I came to appreciate this year that weren’t on my radar in previous years.

Number One: Brendan Coyle

Photo: PBS.org

2011 was the year of watching BBC programming for me and no one was more ubiquitous than the stoic Mr. Brendan Coyle. It all started at the beginning of the year with Downton Abbey with Brendan Coyle stealing the show as the estate’s new valet, Mr. Bates. My next sighting of him was in a bit part in the brilliant 2007 series Inspector George Gently (the show which deserves a post of it’s own, I know). Can you believe I never saw Lark Rise to Candleford until this year? It’s true, and Brendan Coyle again topped the ensemble cast as young Laura Timmins’ father, Robert Timmins. Lastly and most recently I was introduced to the 2004 BBC drama North and South – and there he was again. I don’t even have a favorite among these, they’re all so good, and that’s earned him my number one spot.

Number 2: Cooking Vegan

Photo: Amazon.com

I consider myself rather omnivorous (you know, social-like), but a dear vegan family member motivated me to try my hand at vegan cooking so that she would… eat. In that quest, this book has been my Bible. I found it at Barnes & Noble on sale for $9.99 and it’s so chock full of recipes, you’re bound to find something to like no matter how picky you may be. I turned the vegetarian meals into vegan meals by substituting any cheese in the recipes with Trader Joes Soy-Sation 3 Cheese Blend. Bam – vegan.

Number 3: Vodka

So I’ve lost 16 pounds since August of this year and I definitely do not credit that to vegan cooking as I find many vegan meals to be high in calories and high in carbohydrates. I’ve made a lot of little changes, but a huge one was in my drinking. First I quit drinking during the week for about a month. Soon after that I discovered Vodka – only 64 calories! And having just one drink a night helps to. Here’s to 64 calories!

Number 4: New Designer Giulietta

Photo: nymag.com

So this is my one truly “new” discovery in this post, as Giulietta’s first show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week was the Spring 2012 show this September. The Giulietta line is the creation of Sofia Sizzi, age 33, who hails from Italy, but is now a denizen of downtown NYC. Her work is much inspired by 1960′s Italian cinema, and being a vegetarian she’s produced vegan footwear along with it. I am really not a vegan, it just keeps coming up.

Number 5: Vintage Designer Vuokko

How did I not know about Vuokko before this year? Ridiculous I know. After looking up everything I could find on her, I had trouble remembering what I first saw to alert me to her presence. I can’t remember, but it’s probably safe to credit the phenomenal Susanna Lau of Style Bubble, and now Vuokko is an indelible part of my schema. Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi was born in Finland in 1930. She designed printed fabrics for Marimekko from 1953 – 1960, and in 1964 started her own label Vuokko Oy. Her designs are ageless and continue to inspire new generations (burst of applause!).

Click here to check out Sarah’s top 5 discoveries at The Wolf of Insignificance.

Other bloggers with top 5′s from 2011:

ObsessZine

Oscar de la Renta

Can you believe pre-fall is an entire season onto itself? Ridiculousness. I love it. Here are my black and white picks of pre-fall 2012. Not to say it’s a “trend” but more just seeing what I want to see in the plethora of fashion options there are to be had today. Black and white is there every year, but whatever, it’s what I like, and here are my faves.

Chanel

Jason Wu

Temperley London

BCBG Max Azria

Giulietta

Kelly Wearstler

Michael Kors

Diane von Furstenberg

 Photos: style.com

Photo: Phil Oh/streetpeeper.com

“I don’t cry over fashion shows like I cry over genocide… I think fashion is fun,” Michelle Harper told German fashion bloggers Two For Fashion. Above is my absolute all time favorite photo of Michelle Harper, on the street in Paris, wearing a Yazbukey hat. I’ve always been fascinated by women who wear hats, partly because, despite how much I like clothes, I have no desire to wear hats. I’m especially fascinated by a woman who wears hats well – that’s an entirely different category altogether, and no one wears them better than Michelle Harper. Of course her killer style goes way beyond a good chapeau.

Michelle Harper is a philanthropist, a socialite, co-founder of cosmetics holding company CB LLC, and a muse to designer Victor Souza. Included in her mix of styles are a bevy of vintage items, accessories by Yazbukey, Piers Atkinson and Heather Huey, gowns by Zac Posen and Victor Souza, and stand out pieces by Gareth Pugh and Cushnie et Ochs. She balances her statement pieces with more classic elements like Louboutin heels and a Birkin bag.

One of the things I like the best about Michelle is that (unlike most in the Hollywood scene) she appears perfectly comfortable wearing even signature pieces more than once, just re-mixing and thus reinterpreting them. One of her style philosophies is stated sweetly on her tumblr: “Because nothing inspiring is flawless or perfect. It’s in the failures, the experiments, and the unique that I find the greatest joy.”

Photo: kasukimimi.com

Photo: bossip.com

Photo: style.com

Photo: Contactmusic.com

Photo: Candice Lake

Photo: All the Pretty Birds

Photo: All the Pretty Birds

Photo: Guest of a Guest

Photo: Contactmusic.com

Photo: Clemens Kois

Photo: Tal Shpantzer

Photo: Luxuryobsessed.com

Vintage Olivier Goldsmith Sunglasses

Photo: Phil Oh/streetpeeper.com

Photo: Craig Arend

Photo: Manhattansociety.com

Photo: Susan Tabak

Photo: New York Social Diary

Photo: Coco Perez

Photo: Noel Sutherland

Photo: Scallywag & Vagabond

Photo: Coco Perez

Photo: Avenue Insider

Photo: Mimi Crawford

Photo: New York Social Diary

Photo: Style Rumor

Photo: Style Tao

Photo: Tal Shpantzer

Photo: Atisha Paulson/ Papermag.com

Photo: themarthablog.com

Photo: guestofaguest.com

Photo: Natalie Joos/termsofendearment.com

Photo: Noel Sutherland/susantabak.com

Photo: Noel Sutherland/susantabak.com

Here is my favorite from my new batch of tees. A total tribute to what I eat as part of my balanced nutritious breakfast every morning, even if it’s a whopping 112 calories. 112 calories??? Really bananas? That’s fine, I love you anyway, and I want to wear you on my chest in a graphic avant-garde way, with an ivory fake-fur jacket and black riding pants.

All the Bright Moves Heels available at Modcloth.

Why wear one color when you can wear two? Or more? That’s the basic idea with color blocking.

Some of the best ways to wear color blocked shoes, is to pair them with other solid color pieces like bright jeans and neutral sweaters or a bright shift dress and black tights. You can also wear them with the typical New York winter all black ensemble, adding more color blocked accessories, with different color combinations of course.

Color blocking in general had it’s heyday in the 1960′s, and many of those designers were inspired by Bauhaus era.

The Joanna shoe in red suede by Dolce Vita available at Karmaloop.

Aigle Equibelle wellies available at JCrew.

Ophelia LTD Platform Boot by Jeffrey Campbell made exclusively for Free People.

Asos Patchi Cylindrical Heel Platform High Shoe available at Asos.

Orange Diamante Detail Sandals available at River Island.

Casadie Suede Fold Over Boot available at Farfetch.

The Zinger Shoe in Red and Blue Suede by Jeffrey Campbell available at Karmaloop.

Dune Hotty Colour Block Platform available at Karmaloop.

Walk Me by Boutique 9 available at Lori’s Shoes.

On-Your-Toes Flats in Turquoise available at Anthropologie.

Alberta Ferretti

Daisey Buchanan showed up all over the Spring/Summer 2012 runways – everywhere you looked. Some designers entire shows were inspired by this flapper craze. I love that this trend – which we’ve seen bits of for a few years – is now in full bloom. It features such an elegant dress length, but as Millie Dillmount points out in Thoroughly Modern Millie, you do need a flat chest for your beads to hang right!

Jill Stuart

Ralph Lauren

Imitation of Christ

Tory Burch

Marc Jacobs

Gucci

Photos: www.nymag.com