It's A Gift to Be Simple

Each September fashion magazines philosophize on the look of the fall season in somewhat highfalutin editorials. This year the style manifestoes all say austerity is in -- we wouldn't have guessed.

"What ties fall's looks together is a fresh aesthetic that's equal parts romantic and acsetic: Styles are streamlined, softly constructed, largely unadorned." -- Vogue

"((A)) fall icon is the monastic dress -- long, chaste and as spare as a monk's humble quarters." -- W

"A definite outline of what looks 'Right' -- wearable, rational, elegant -- has become discernable. The strength of fashion now is in its almost total plainness and simplicity." -- Harper's Bazaar