Our obsession with talking to people about Built by Wendy has become pathological. It's not the brand, specifically, it's more the conceptual vantage point we've been mulling over. It started a few weekends back when, on our way to Opening Ceremony, we stopped in the store, to which we had never been. We perused the racks, it was more expensive than we remembered. Three hundred dollars for a cotton bomber or a cotton poplin dress? Curious. Well, we can say for sure that what you have there is a firmly placed contemporary price point but what makes the defining tricky is when you look at the clothing quality and the basic premise on which the company was first built. Built by Wendy always cost just a little bit less than contemporary which was its essential draw. The point was "Hey check out these clothes that look kind of like they're from A.P.C. but cost a little bit less. They look homespun which means, if you really wanted to, you could make them yourself." Now, really, Built by Wendy is not able to put 'cost effective' on its resume. So, can the clothing hold its own? Well, sure. It's just not very much fun is all. We don't blame anyone, we know it's hard to make money as a designer and finance a business in this economy, we just miss the old days when it felt like Wendy was building those frocks so that we didn't have to spend three hundred dollars on them.

A classic Fall staple, reinvented by Celine. This four thousand dollar biker jacket is, depending on your perspective, a must-have for Fall. If your budget doesn't warrant such spending, there are always options. But let's talk about the Celine version for a second, shall we? Celine, the French fashion house owned by LVMH, is now headed by Ivana Omazic. Omazic has on her resume stints with Miu Miu, Jil Sander, and Prada which is probably why this brand keeps popping up on our radar. The jacket, with its wide lapel and scrunch-worthy sleeves, is modern enough to separate itself from the classic vintage versions without leaving 'classic' out of the equation entirely. In fact, this piece is something we're sure the owner would wear for seasons to come. So, if there ever were a time to spend such money, and we know the recession doesn't help matters, now would be it. No matter which leather bomber you opt for (some gals forego black all together) the trick, we think, is investing in one you know you'll wear for seasons to come. Staples like these deserve a bit of extra attention.