TREND I-SPY

Italian Vogue July 2008 If you only bought one item this season I hope it was a pair of over-the-knee boots! Isabel Marant F09 I loved this look a couple of years ago when Kate Moss wore them in a casual, every day way with skinny jeans and a tuxedo jacket. Isabel Marant styled them in a similar way for this season. Check out this video on how to wear over-the-knee boots from Elle UK , fun! Elle UK Fall 09 Kate Moss, Fall 07 American Vogue October 09

As I mentioned recently, the current fascination amongst certain runway designers and celebrities with racy lingerie looks often brings to mind Helmut Newton 's style of photography. If only he were still alive, what a moment he'd be having. Unfortunately he died in a macabre accident when his car hit a wall in the driveway of Chateau Marmont which had for several years served as his L.A. residence. It has been speculated that Newton suffered a heart attack in the moments before the collision. Newton favorite Nadja Auermann appeared in many of his portraits including these photos taken for American Vogue in 1994. Newton was born in Berlin in 1920. The 1972 movie Cabaret based on a novel written by British author Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin evokes the air of danger and desperation prevalent during the years of the Weimar Republic as Hitler rose to power and Jews were increasingly discriminated against. Seemingly the spirit of smoke-filled, pre-WW2 German night-clu

Leighton Meester in GQ Nov 09 Leighton Meester wore the iconic YSL black leather corset in a photo shoot for GQ this month demonstrating why she's the magazine's Obsession of the Year .

Ysl F09 Corsetry of the sort Helmut Newton used to favor in his photography, was featured on several Paris runways for Fall 09 and is in stores now. Stefano Pilati showed a strong collection that fully utilized the air of sophisticated eroticism only supple black leather can engender. This included a zippered body suit first shown alone and then styled with a sober pinstripe pencil-skirted suit. To me it looks even sexier peaking out from underneath the jacket than it does when fully revealed. Here is the inimitable Kate Moss wearing a similar outfit in an ad for YSL fragrance Parisienne. Karl Lagerfeld shot a fashion editorial story for Harpers Bazaar this month featuring a similarly styled outfit from his collection for Fendi. Ooh, la la! Harpers Bazaar, November 09 Lady GaGa in January 2010

If you want to get the look without showing too much skin, try this Proenza Schouler t-shirt bustier dress from Net-a-Porter .

While Lady GaGa pushes each trend to the extreme, Gwen Stefani can often be relied upon to bring it into reality. Both celebrities were out Saturday night at a party to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Gwen rocked the red carpet in one of the corsets from Dolce & Gabbana's S10 collection. Instead of the lacy ra-ra skirt shown on the runway, Gwen contrasted the elaborate piece with sober-yet-sophisticated pants and strappy sandals.

American Vogue January 2010 Dolce & Gabbana S2010 As you might have guessed, I'm more than a little obsessed by intimate apparel at the moment. Luckily, many r-t-w designers feel the same way for Spring 2010 so there's lots of fashion to discuss. Great show from Dolce & Gabbana who celebrated the female form with many lingerie-inspired styles including shapely corseted looks that work to create a curvy hourglass figure. Just imagine that Vivienne Westwood was designing the precursor to that look over 20 years ago! While many of the other well-known designers had jumped onto the band-wagon of the Grunge movement (flannel shirts! flowery vintage dresses!) on models with super-skinny boyish bodies (the waifs) Vivienne was showing a modernized version of the hourglass silhouette with a variety of structured corsets in luxury materials like velvet and lace, often with gold metallic decoration or even romantic portraits. Red Velvet Corset 1987, Corset with photographic print

Just received the December issue of Harpers Bazaar and one of my favorite pages is devoted to Lady GaGa, who clearly influenced those designers infatuated with lingerie, leather and lace during the Spring 2010 runway collections.

More gorgeous lingerie looks from Dior, this time from Galliano's Spring 2010 Collection

Prada S09 For her S09 Collection , Miucca Prada used a disheveled styling device to create a sexual frisson. Below is an excerpt from Sarah Mower's review of the show for Style.com "There is no one who can turn up the thermostat of subversive sexual provocation quite as high as Mrs(sic)Prada. Her girls, their skin glistening as if on a fevered summer's night, might have been passing through on their way to or from lovers' assignations, their clothes disarranged in various states of falling-off or looking as if they might do so at any moment..... There was something fabulously Italian about all this shameless reveling in femininity. The fifties overtones, with the high chignons, the ruched bras, and swishing rear action in the below-knee pencil skirts, managed to channel the heyday of Cinecittà without cliché. Best of all, this is a collection destined to look even better on a woman with a real body than it does on a teen model. And that, Mrs. Prada surely knows, really

American Vogue October 09 According to The UK's Daily Mail pointy bras are making a come-back. Now we've established that designers like Dior, Prada, Marc Jacobs and Jean-Paul Gaultier are all looking back to previous "pointy bra" decades such as the '80s and '50s it makes sense doesn't it? Blogger Joanna Douglas points out (oops, sorry, couldn't help it) that Katy Perry, Lady GaGa and Mad Men have all helped to drive this trend. Shown here, from American Vogue's October 09 issue, Karlie Kloss photographed by Arthur Elgort at The Ritz in Paris. She is wearing a pointy satin bra and silk-tulle skirt embroidered with rhinestones from the Dior F09 Couture Collection. Creative director, Grace Coddington styled the ensemble in the same state of chic déshabillé designer John Galliano used for the show. Another designer who showed an interest in the pointy bra made popular in the '50s was Louise Goldin who incorporated the design into a modern sil

Proving that innerwear-as-outerwear is no new concept to Marc Jacobs, a young Naomi Campbell wears a bra-bustier from his eponymous collection in a May 1987 issue of iconic New York fashion magazine, Taxi. What goes around, comes around!

JPG Suit and Bustier 1990, Blonde Ambition Tour 1990 Sketches of Suit and Bustier by Jean Paul Gaultier 1990 There's a chance that Marc Jacob's Spring 2010 show is also a nod to fashions of the late '80s/early '90s and to Jean Paul Gaultier's iconic cone-cupped bustier. Custom-made for Madonna, she wore it with a pinstriped men's tailored suit during her Blond Ambition tour of 1990. Gaultier himself resurrected the look in HIS 2010 show. There's a striking juxtaposition between the retro-looking satin corsetry and sharply tailored sportswear. He also created a denim version. Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2010

Marc Jacobs S10 Marc Jacobs is another designer with a fascination for emphasizing classic women's underthings. He styled his models with old-fashioned, satiny underwear over the clothes in Spring 08, a theme he repeated with gusto for Spring 10. Marc Jacobs S08 Unless your name is Lady GaGa (who sported the look at the Ace Awards this month) you're probably not planning on wearing this look but let's revel in the fact that there is a current celebrity who does. Marc Jacobs S10, Lady GaGa November 09 Runway shows aim to create a mood for the season and send messages about a designer's influences and future direction. Visible panty lines allude to freedom of expression, power and strength (Superman anybody?), and applaudable eccentricity (can't you just see the ladies of Grey Gardens prancing around the house with knickers on their heads?). Vivienne Westwood 1982 It's not the first time a designer has shown this "

Italian Vogue July 2008 Love her or not, there's no escaping the fact that Naomi Campbell is as gorgeous in her late 30s as she was at 21. This shot by Steven Meisel was for Italian Vogue's historic black edition. I love the vintage inspired high-waisted panties.

Galliano turns things inside out at Dior , Couture F09 I hate pantyhose, even the name is a turn-off so instead of spending the winter wearing jeans and trousers I'm considering the option of stockings and garters . The Couture collection for Fall 09 from Dior provided lots of inspiration. John Galliano underscored the growing importance in fashion of alluring foundation garments with half-dressed models wearing girdles, garters and other sexy lingerie pieces meant to emphasize womanly curves. When I watch Mad Men's Joan Holloway undulate around around the office I always think that her sex appeal is based more on imagining what lies beneath the body-con dresses and tight-fit sweater sets. Now the challenge is to find '50s/60s-inspired undergarments at less-than Agent Provocateur prices. Try www.orchardcorset.com for authentic corsetry. Also, Fantasy World at 192 7th Ave South has a vast range of stockings amongst the more fetishistic garb. Even the sandals at Dior gave