Michael Kors is moving overseas by opening 25 collection stores in Europe, starting with one in Milan. To which we say, whaa, Michael Kors, lover of jetsetting advertisements and perpetual tans, doesn't have any collection stores in Europe? Are we the only one's who just assumed he did? Anyway, this first space in Milan is taking over the Viktor and Rolf store (Viktor & Rolf just sold stake to Deisel) and opens on September 23rd. Another twist in the story is that Kors is opening a Palm Beach boutique shortly thereafter and Kors himself acknowledged that the venture is a head-scratcher to most people, "A lot of people look at me and say, ‘You don’t have a store in Palm Beach?’ So much of our clientele spends a good part of the winter season there. It’s really our first resort store. I have always loved designing resort and things that have a resort mentality, and Palm Beach is one of the few places left on earth where a jeweled $800 bikini is a basic.”. We don't watch Project Runway but we've always loved Kor's articulate and humorous sound bites. Of his Chicago store opening he said, “I am a camel hair and gray flannel kind of guy and Chicago is a camel and gray flannel kind of town.". Which basically makes us love him. Below, some spring and fall offerings from the designer.


Click here to see the Michael Kors Fall 08 collection

This week we brought you 2009 trend reports on bows, velvet, and fringe and today we're breaking into print. Florals were the much talked about trend this season and it's only natural that they should stick around for Fall 08. Wintery florals were used in a variety of ways; they were magpie in one example and romantic in the next. There was not on way in which they were used but one uniform quality each variation consulted. That is, they were more complex and rich than the florals we saw for Spring. Like many trends the possibilities of what on can do with a floral print are endless. Florals also played into a few other major trends for Fall 08, namely, luxe and layering. The florals were luxe when paired with fur and given a high-shine finish, as with Michael Kors and Sari Gueron. They were also, overall, layered with color and texture (in both luxe and non-luxe instances), as we saw from Peter Som and Diane Von Furstenburg. Thanks to the range of ways in which floral was represented this Fall 08, this big-time Spring 08 trend still feels quite in bloom.

If you're shoe budget allows for purchases just barely north of a hundred dollars, Michael by Michael Kors is just the ticket. We only just realized this, to be honest, after buying a pair in San Francisco. Steve Madden heels (not that we'd ever wear them) hover in the same price point so instead of buying knock offs, you can pretty much have the real thing for the same price. The Michael by Michael Kors range sticks to fashion-forward styles that are slightly more conservative than what you'd get from the Kors line (as they should be). This translates to a boatload of day-appropriate heels and sandals that, although they might not be your prized Dior platforms (or whatnot), still contribute to a well-rounded wardrobe. You know, pick up a few pairs and you won't have to worry about wearing your favorites into the ground. Plain and simple. Below are our picks from the current season and, to be honest, they have us thinking we might need another pair.

Whoever said fashion had a conscious must have been reading the post-Inconvenient Truth press release from A/W 07. For A/W 08, however, the act has been dropped and fur, the most sinful of fashion's fabrics, has taken over Manhattan. It's abundance signals a sense of luxury taking the mood for A/W 08 and we suspect this pill won't be an easy one to swallow for those who favor conscious garments to glamorous ones.