Fashion has gone a little tweedy for fall. Those of us who have always loved the whole English country manor thing will no doubt be pleased.  Style conscious women - who otherwise would not be caught dead in tweed - will want to take note of the fact that this fall’s tweeds have been greatly updated.

While you will still find plenty of frumpy tweeds for fox hunting with the hounds, the new breed of trendy tweeds pack a greater fashion punch.  Tweed popped up in Valentino’s fall collection with some bling-embellished jackets and dresses.  Peter Som showed tweed coats in his fall line, one of them in black sparkle for evening.

Photos by Evans Caglage, Fashion at the Park, NorthPark Center, Fall 2008

If you’re sold on the concept of getting tweedy but don’t have the budget for the pricey stuff, you’ll find more reasonable tweed options from labels such as Anne Klein and Adrienne Vittadini.

The key to avoiding the dowdy look is to pay attention to silhouette - fitted dresses, cropped jackets and chunky belted sweaters help to ground the look in the now.  Color is a factor, too - if shelf life is not a consideration, buy yourself a tweed jacket in purple.  Nothing would be more fall 2008 than that.

Photos by Evans Caglage, Fashion at the Park, NorthPark Center, Fall 2008