We totally agree with designer-to-the stars Mary Norton: “Some days only a fiercely beautiful pair of shoes and handbag will do.”  Chic celebs agree too: such as Teri Hatcher, Carrie Underwood, Katherine Heigl, Queen Latifah,  Jennifer Lopez and Miley Cyrus. They’ve all carried Mary Norton handbags and clutches and stepped into her thing-of-beauty shoes. Now we can too, through the new Mary Norton online boutique.

Some of you may know Mary from her wildly successful handbag company, Moo Roo (named for her daughters Micah and Reilly), which she started in 1998 after having a dream about making handbags out of flowers.

 From there, she went on to be named a rising star in 2004 by Fashion Group International, Inc. and the Accessories Council. In 2006 Mary re-launched her luxury accessory collection under her own name and opened two boutiques in her hometown of Charleston, S.C.,  and Melrose Place in Los Angeles.

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We love ruffles. And by that we mean we love grownup-girl ruffles, where an extravagance of fabric folds back and forth on itself, soft layers of shape and shadow, flattering the skin that peeks out beneath.

We also have an irrational love for shoes. And so imagine our personal nirvana when ruffles started showing up on shoes - tweaking the silhouette, flirting with the ankle like you wouldn’t believe.  Here’s Phillip Lim,  (top, left) drawing the eye down toward a vertical cascade of ruffles on the foot in his Spring ‘09 collection. Emma Cook (top, right) ruffles everything from shoulder to sole; Vivienne Westwood (above, left) climbs to the shin as well. And then there’s the red-heeled master himself, Christian Louboutin,  (above, right) doing the trend all strappy and swirly in python.

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We absolutely adore Project Runway’s torturous insistence on throwing kinks into the machinery just when the designers are about to die from creative exhaustion. Starting to despise one another? Even better: It ups the tears-and-snippy-comments-per-square-inch ratio.

But hello, if you are a finalist and you don’t expect last-minute anguish, you don’t come prepared with three ideas crib-noted on your hand just for emergencies, and you don’t automatically assume that when it’s bad, it’s going to get worse - Grow up! Watch more TV!

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Target’s got a winning fashion trifecta lined up for the month.

Fashionistas looking for a budget-friendly fashion fix can score with designer Anya Hindmarch’s new handbag collection, Sigerson Morrison’s footwear collection and the new Jonathan Saunders clothing collection, all launching in mid-October. 

Saunders’ line hit Target’s shelves this past weekend. The Scottish-born designer offers a fresh take on color blocking, knitwear and clean-line silhouettes. Among our trendy favorites: the colorblock dress in white/ebony ($30, above right) and the ombre print skirt in blue whale ($27, above left).

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Even before the 2009 spring ready-to-wear shows in Europe have ended, a few trends are popping up: layered colors, sumptuous prints, gorgeous whites and short-to-long hemlines. Add a shoulder pad here and draped fabric there, and you’ve got the look. It seems like nearly every designer has at least one teeny tiny dress on the runway. Oh-so-short and wildly sexy, they dare your legs to look longer:

Stella McCartney, Paris. A little bit of a black dress with a big silhouette.

Balmain, Paris: A mermaid without her tail, with shimmer and shine for miles.

Peter Jensen, London: Check the blazer and portfolio; are we to interview in this?

Dolce & Gabbana, Milan: Be your own botanical garden!

Christian Lacroix, Paris: The man does know how to create a party dress (picture, right, New York Magazine).

Jean Paul Gaultier, Paris: A pretty thing, but a bit too dependent on the illusion.

Jenny Packham, London: Spring brings ruffles, color and a bright orange belt.

Missoni, Milan: A breath of fresh air in teal and gold.

Dior, Paris: If you’re brave enough, it’s certainly an attention getter!