DEAR READER:

We here at Couture often give our viewpoints on fashion and trends as part of our ongoing reporting duties, but this time around we want you dear reader, to tell us what you think about certain fashion and trends. Share with us your favorite shoe style and tell us why?

LOOKS OF THE WEEK

We here at Couture love fashion, as you already know, but we especially love great fashion presentation. Another of our fashion favorites, due to her consistent ability to effortlessly pull off a ‘rocker chic’ aesthetic, is Janelle G. She rocks empire waist frocks, a plethora of skinny jeans, drapey strapless tops and enviable leather cut out sky high heels. Ms. Janelle, we love the way you rock it!

KAWAKUBO + VUITTON, HOORAY!

Maverick designer Rei Kawakubo, of Comme des Garcons, that sought-after label of coolness, has signed on to design a line of evening bags for the luxury label Louis Vuitton. As we all know, Marc Jacobs , the designer for Louis Vuitton, has a wonderful eye for picking the right guest designer and/or artist to design handbags for the company. Just think of the Murikami handbags and pop-up concept shops, or the Stephen Sprouse grafitti logo handbags from a few years ago.

But getting Rei was a true coo, after all, the designer herself eschews labeled bags and only carries a plain black tote for a night out on the town. Known for her avant garde style, one can only anticipate the cutting edge designs that she will produce for Vuitton. My style bets are on lots of LBBs (little black bags), some futuristic materials and interesting shapes. Um, note to all, get on the waiting list. If these bags sell like the previous guest collections, they will be sold out before they ever hit a store.

WEEKLY BABBLE -­ PROJECT RUNWAY

There was another episode of Runway last night, which means we’ve got another rundown of it for you here. We also are priviledged to have another opinion of the episode. John Fanok, Brand Designer here at Zappos, gives us his thoughts.

The challenge: Get inspired by New York City at night, and design something that reflects that. Flashback to Season 2 episode: get inspired by New York City during the day challenge…

The winner:
SS: Kenley was channeling Mad Men/early ‘60s style (clearly, her personal style) among other trends. Her winning design, a printed bubble-shaped mini dress with long sleeves, impressed the judges with its shape and abstract print. Prints are a major trend for fall 2008, congratulations Kenley.

JF: What’s with that balloon on her hip? Looks like a goiter, ew! I don’t agree with the winning decision but what do I know? I thought Leanne made a great comeback and learned to edit, edit ,edit. Leanne captured the essence of the NYC photograph that inspired the design.

The loser:
SS: You know, Emily’s dress really wasn’t that bad – basic black asymmetrical dress with a T-shaped orange and yellow ruffle up the front – but it was boring in comparison with the others. Other designers like Stella’s metallic vest and skinny gray jeans and Korto’s all black pantsuit were equally boring due to their monochromatic color scheme and all too familiar fashion shapes, but were better executed. Every episode someone must be auf’d, so the judges had to say Auf Wiedersehen to Emily. Come on, when Nina gives you the condescending smile, you know you’re a goner.

JF: Loser and rightfully so. She may have captured the image in the photo, but it was poorly executed. Keith skated by and he had better watch out. His piece was innovative but the model looked like she was wearing a paper bag, she had no curves.

Dear readers do you have any predictions for who will last ‘til the end? I think Suede will go far, but I wish he would stop talking about himself in third person. John thinks Kelli and Blayne will make the top three, too. We welcome your opinions, so write back and let us know.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE...WITH CLOTHING LINES

The Hills has much more going on than the catfights and fabulous outfits. But it does have to do with fabulous outfits, actually.

Heidi Montag, villainness of The Hills, is taking a needle out of costar Lauren Conrad’s sewing box. She has just reportedly signed a deal to design her own line of clothing. This fast spreading affliction seens to be de rigueur for the “I think I can design because I am hot right now” young Hollywood set. First Nicky Hilton, then her sister Paris, followed by Mandy Moore, Amanda Bynes and Lauren Conrad, but the list goes on. Just how many clothes can a fashionable girl/woman wear? It is a Hollywood punishable offense to repeat an outfit!

This deal for Heidi follows on an earlier one where she will be the face of the spring/summer 2008 campaign for the store Anchor Blue along with designing seasonal pieces for them. We wonder what her pieces will look like; we actually like some of Conrad’s past pieces.