We had a little thing in my family when I was younger that when someone was wrong, he/she had to repeat this sentence three times in rapid succession, “You were right and I was wrong.”

Now, I’m not willing to completely concede on the face paint front by any means, but I do have to admit that Drew Barrymore may have been on to a trend (albeit one I’m not necessarily into) with her painted cheeks and forehead at Bonnaroo.

This spread from a story in the newest issue of V Magazine (shot by Willy Vanderperre) shows Iris sporting the darker, edgier version, in comparision to Drew’s hippie fairy.

Regardless of my feelings on the matter, it seems that I may have to accept this as a trend for a bit longer than expected. But then again, it might just grow on me, in which case I’ll totally do the “You were right…” speech, even if you all can’t hear me.

I’ve been trying to catch up on the men’s shows before Paris hits and it’s always interesting to scroll through everything at once.

I’m clicking through the boring suits with contrast lapels and short shorts that won’t work on any guy who hasn’t been to the gym every day for the past month and I’m noticing what might be the oddest trend ever: Socks.

My inner fashion demon, the ones from way back, like second grade, have always told me that socks and sandals are the biggest, most absolute NO ever.

But now, post-hours on men.Style.com, I learn that Stefano Pilati thinks they’re OK, Dean and Dan think they’re grand and even Consuelo Castiglioni over at Marni channeled “Grandpa with his pants down” when she decided that loafers paired with knee-highs and boxer shorts make an acceptable outfit.

And now my fashion compass is all sorts of off.

—KYLE HAYES

After seeing the Richard Avedon fashion photography exhibit at the International Center for Photography, our love of fifties glamour is revived. We especially love the circle skirts that give volume to the models’ slim frames.

The fifties have certainly never disappeared from the fashion spotlight but what’s being accentuated of late, however, is the hips - going back to the Balenciaga S/S 08 runway or Galliano’s Lisa Fonssagrives-inpsired couture with its armor-like hip plates.

But it seems that the shoulders had to take their turn first.

Now that we’re all more than a little sick of that Balmain jacket, the hips taking center stage, quite literally in some cases.

Sasha and Carine brought the look to the beach and the past two nights, Beyoncé sang and danced in a gold Thierry Mugler leotard with padded hips at Madison Square Garden.

Seeing as this is an area of the body that often causes loads of female insecurity, do tell us, would you ever try out this look?

—AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

It’s been a long time coming, but we of the weak eyes are finally getting our due.

It started on the runway: Natasha Poly looked sexy with her chignon and frames walking Michael Kors for Fall 08, and then Charles Anastase accented his sweet but sexy Spring 09 collection with black glasses.

Now they’ve gained real momentum. Terry Richardson (whose big frames we love) hilariously chronicled Lily Donaldson’s visit to the eye doctor (a process that ends in the always uncomfortable eye drops that we are all too familiar with) for US Vogue and the new Dolce & Gabbana and D&G ads include shots of bespectacled models.

Apart from advertisements for their actual glasses collections, this is the first we can remember them being used so very prominently in fashion advertisements. And boy, did pictures of Justin in those black frames at the CFDAs get our hearts pumping.

There are some serious fashion idols that rocked frames (Yves Saint Laurent and Iris Apfel come to mind) but now glasses have become a versatile accessory, and even our friends with 20/20 are joining in.

Those of us who suffered through elementary, middle and high school embarrassment eventually coming to self-acceptance and love of our glasses, felt a little bitter at first towards those who just threw on the frames now that it was cool. But ultimately, we feel rather proud that glasses are being embraced.

—AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

As of today, the fashion crowd in NYC has a new go-to dining establishment, The Standard Grill at Andre Balazs’ recently opened Standard Hotel, just under fashion’s other favorite new spot, the High Line.

Fashion publicists, designers, stylists, and editors have been flocking to the restaurant’s previews the past couple of weeks and we got our taste on Friday (at a table next to Pat Field!)

Random side note for those of you who watched this season of Make Me a Supermodel, Mountaha is totally waiting tables there.

We expect that many an industry event will be held at the spot and we can’t wait. And of course we’d be remiss if we didn’t give you guys a couple of our amateur critic recommendations: the “million dollar” chicken with smashed potatoes, the haricots verts salad (with a cinnamon twist), and pretty much anything on the dessert menu - though we were partial to the chocolate milkshake and Snickerdoodles combo.

Now we just need for the beer garden to open so we can pretend to work off our sinful eating with a wicked game of Ping Pong.

We’ve avoided Twilight madness (though has anyone else noticed that one of the girls from the movie is in the Terry Richardson-shot ads for Belvedere Vodka?), but we’ve started to notice an influx of actual fangs in fashion.

Models, both male and female, rock pointy front teeth in Karen Walker’s newest lookbook and they’re underneath all the red lipstick in Wildfox’s lookbook. We’ve noticed vampire-themed editorials full of fangs ranging from Vogue Italia to Cosmo, too. And Alison Mosshart wears a particularly violent pair in The Kills’ Black Balloon video.

They managed to miss the runways this season, but are they something you’d actually wear?

Lace has popped up in a few different ways this season, but it’s at its best, and most interesting, when used in panel form.

It’s come in extremes - the black and very fine sheer lace dress from Preen isn’t for everyone, but the girl who wears it is the guaranteed center of attention. Stella McCartney’s version is a little bit sweeter. She cut strips out of her black, evening nightgown-dress and filled the holes with classic lace. And Christian Lacroix carved little lace windows in each side of his otherwise conservative black dress making Siri Tollerod’s waist look even smaller.

Pretty much anyone could wear a version of this trend - but it’s one that won’t translate well with poor quality fabrics which could inhibit its trickling down. Though you could always cut holes in your favorite dress and sew in your own strips of lace. Or not.

Hypothesis: Fall 09 is mostly a season of repeats.

Proof:

1. Balmainia.

2. The entire decade of the 80’s turning up… everywhere.

3. Marni loving Prada perhaps a bit too much.

4. Jean-Charles Castelbajac sending his models onto the runway from a giant mouth a la Viktor & Rolf Spring 08.

5. Jeremy Scott giving out his Longchamp bag to Beth Ditto and Kanye West to tote around at the Fall 09 shows like it’s really Spring 06.

And so on.

Conclusion: Discuss!

Way back in Fall 07, Miu Miu became the ringleader of the circus-y trend with their Harlequin collection, which reverberated across the fashion board, all the way from Topshop to Phillip Lim.

This season, the circus look was full-on at Erin Fetherston, Manish Arora and Diesel, making a certain pop princess look especially prescient.

—CARSON GRIFFITH—

Those Balmain shoulders, the sharp eighties silhouette Christophe Decarnin so successfully reinvented last season, popped up on almost every runway, from Behnaz to Topshop, from Herve to Pringle. But a few designers weren’t satisfied with mere shoulder pads and actually ballooned their silks into real life leg-of-mutton sleeves.

Roksanda Ilincic’s silver, almost angular sleeves added an edge to her glamourous pastel shifts while Dolce & Gabbana’s worked in the opposite direction. Their rounded shoulders gave linear dresses womanly curves.

Julien Macdonald’s steroid sleeves are a bit less dramatic but maintain the bubbly upper arm that skinnies at the elbow - because a sleeve of Dolce’s proportions on Macdonald’s already 80’s-loving, zippered, bedazzled mini might be a bit much.

Curiously, amid knee-high boots, neon, cut-outs, and body-con dresses, some designers were thinking of present packaging for their Fall 09 designs.

Behnaz Sarafpour, Badgley Mischka, J Mendel and even Christopher Kane worked ribbons into a few of their looks - A touch that seems rather girly for a season that also saw three pairs of actual pants from Marchesa, no?

The New York Fall 09 runways saw a curious mishmash of trends - More “downtown” ideas like neon, cut-outs, and what could only be referred to as hooker boots, alongside more “uptown” looks like fur, cascading ribbons, and peplums.

Behnaz Sarafpour, Chris Benz and J Mendel all worked in that last one, which makes us wonder, was Pretty Woman on everybody’s inspiration board this summer?

The next logical step after the last year’s stripper platforms?

New York Fashion Week may have been sparse with retro hair and makeup looks, but that didn’t stop designers from having some serious nail nostalgia.

Ruffian, Thakoon, ThreeAsfour and FORM all went retro for their runway manicures, taking inspiration from a look featured in a 1936 issue of Vogue. The original look consisted of a coral nail bed and bare moon, but nail artists for CND updated the old idea using blacks, whites and reds for a look that was both classically mod and slightly futuristic.

But more importantly, would you wear it?

—MEGAN MCINTYRE

[IMAGES FROM CND]

Of all the trends that popped up last week during New York Fashion Week (so much more on that later), the one that took us by surprise most was the use of fur by designers who’d never designed with animal skins in the past.

First, we saw it at Ohne Titel, then at Alexander Wang and Thakoon (whose shows were actually sponsored by Saga Furs), and then finally at Marchesa (left).

We’re not really sure what this means - has fur become more acceptable? Is it a backlash against “restrained” times? - but consider this: Fall 09 was the first time in ages that PETA didn’t protest at the Tents.

In fact, the PETA presence was much less this time around, which makes us wonder, has fur won the battle?

A while back, Rick Owens started releasing a series of fur monsters - first the bunny clutch made of mink ($700), closely followed by The Monster ($850).

And now? Marc’s released a skull face watch, which we find a little too scary-looking for ordinary life (and $200).

So what’s with designers obsessing over busted faces? (Remember that Kidrobot made a mean bunny, too.)

Relatedly, Britt thinks the Marc watch must have been inspired by Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

But for us, this just means we really think Tim Burton should take this trend and run film.

Last Week, Refinery29 documented the Mickey Mouse craze that’s sweeping hipsters and non-hipsters everywhere, including some people in our office (we pinky swore).

Then this past Saturday, Mickey and Minnie showed up - in person! - on a red carpet in Beijing for the Vogue Icon Celebration Event, arms linked with Du Juan. The toons wore Vivienne Tam.

Next logical step: Britney in Mouseketeer ears for a major spread.

Vogue Nippon, are you listening?

Everybody’s trying to break into accessories these days.

First, the news was that See by Chloe, Proenza, Hussein Chayalan and Ohne Titel would all be breaking into shoes (and since then, Proenza’s quietly started giving out bags to their friends, which everyone hopes will actually make it to stores.)

Then, Marc announced he’d be expanding into a full line of swimwear for Marc by Marc, while Brian Reyes announced he’d be launching a line of lingerie (ok - swimwear and lingerie are not exactly accessories, but they do fall into that small things/cheaper things category).

Not too long after, Prada announced plans to design costume jewelry, and Yigal said he’d make the shoes from his Spring 09 runway for the stores.

And now? 7 For All Mankind is launching their own shoe range for Spring, retailing between $150 to $350, which may seem too close to their denim price range, but is probably a bit less than most 7 customers usually spend on their shoes.

Clearly, companies are hoping their shoppers will still be out there looking for cute things to acquire, but they know it’ll be with a much smaller budget, so they’re trying to make more things at lower price points so everybody can still get their buzz. Because as Elle MacPherson put it today, her lingerie line is doing better than ever because “when a woman can’t afford a dress in the luxury echelons, she may opt instead to part with £20 on underwear that makes her feel good.”

But the question for all these other high-end brands persists -

On Halloween, the Times reported that Goodwill is trying to change its image into more of a consignment shop rather than a place of “charity” by hosting fashion shows online, and promoting good deals on the blog DC Goodwill Fashionista.

And now, the Wall Street Journal says consignment shops as a whole are doing incredibly well right now, with about 66% of resale and thrift stores watching their sales climb, and about 85% reporting an increase in new customers. Meanwhile, more and mroe high-end stores are trying to figure out their place in the current economic climate and we’re witnessing more sales than ever, even at the good shops.

Which kind of makes this new Goodwill perfectly positioned for this new predilection towards good clothes that’s cheaper just because it’s been worn. Though we wonder about the supply of clothes there possibly dwindling for the people that shop there out of necessity rather than trends - and yes, what about all those hipsters who love to brag over their $2 Goodwill tees? Will they react to the trend by taking their dollars elsewhere?

So many questions.

Maybe it’s because I’ve just returned from a long weekend in the country, or maybe it’s because I’m particularly eagle-eyed when it comes to hair, but did anyone else notice last night’s prime time hair switch?

First, I watched Blair Waldorf help save a young girl from 1 Oak sporting a side braid more reminiscent of Lauren Conrad’s cool-California girl style than her usual UES stiff. And that was funny and fine.

But then I noticed Lauren Conrad sporting a black headband (and was that a bow on it? Tilted to the side?) more reminiscent of Blair Waldorf’s uppity signature look, which always makes me think of Shannon Doherty in Heathers.

An intentional Monday night hair swap? Or an East Coast / West Coast hip-hair rivalry?

You know we doubt it’s either, but it’s just so fun to say shit like that.