I love the silhouette and the jacket this year. There are some very great shapes and the more I flick through the many images online of what walked the runways for fall I find myself feeling a growing appreciation for fall.

Fall, a season I once looked down upon. It was the season that signified that cold was on it’s way. That Santa was soon to be racing atop our roofs with pattering reindeer. Fall was the welcoming back of sweaters and jackets, scarves and hats and the one thing I hated most . . . long underwear. For a gal who thrived in the heat of summer and longed for swimsuits and tank tops I found it difficult to find joy in layering sweaters upon blouses, with blazers and mittens. I snickered at the snow and those who chose to play in it and longed for August days of heat and running through the sprinkler.

As I find myself living in a climate that now never seems to exceed 90 and mostly settles in around 60 or 70 I find a new love for layering. This year I take special note at the many outwear garments that hit our New York Fashion Week runways and vigorously add-on to my checklist of must-haves for Fall 2008. From the first few letters of our alphabet I bring you a glimpse.

Akris, Amanda Wakeley, Aquascutum, Baby Phat, Bel Staff, Betsey Johnson, Bill Blass, BluGirl.

Blumarine, Carlos Meiele, Carolina Hererra, Christian Lacroix, Cynthia Steffe, D & G, DSquared2, Diane Von Furstenberg, Etro, Haider Ackermann, Iceberg.

Fall is in the air. Tailored jackets, wide leg pants, wools and sweaters, AND . . . bum bum bum . . . the waist! Unlike the last year, this year we will take on a much missed appreciation of the waist. We will not see thousands of shapeless trapeze dresses, instead we will be encouraged to work our best female assets. Accentuate what your momma gave ya.

I am eager and giddy. The smell of tweed is in the air and I can feel DVF’s launch of her prints and newly envisioned wrap dress for the season.

As often as I can, I click page-after-page in my best effort to get a glimpse of the one show I desire to see most. This week I flashed back several months to Fashion Week when we saw all those bitchin’ Fall 2008 wears. Thanks to New York Magazine I have been doing some serious oogling. I am in love with this fall fashion. Layers of perfectly inspired fabrics and shapes.

However . . . in a land of beauty and design how does it happen that what appears to be a mess can still slip through? Some of my biggest laughs of what walked the runway and claimed itself to be fashion.

Vivienne Westwood really shocked me this year with what I am choosing to call ‘Crocodile Dundee in New York, Aborigines can Catwalk’. It’s as if fabric found a 5′10 beauty and threw up on her. Up chuck everywhere. Chunks and chunks. Color spewing from all angles. Fabrics thrown about in what appears to be an attempt at draping. I am most disappointed as I have always been a strong believer in Vivienne, but this year she throws me off. I am left with a sour taste in my mouth. A sick stomach. I still maintain a tidbit of faith for her for spring however. I hope not to be let down.

And in a land where I was pleased to see a prominent waist line I feel confused at the wrong accentuation. Marc Jacobs not only chooses what I consider to be ghastly fabric but chooses shape that well . . . isn’t really a shape at all.

Carolina Herrera brings the waist to new extremes providing a nice tire around your middle. Aren’t we all doing sit-ups to avoid this look?

Alexander McQueen with a sour attempt at a tutu, and . . .

lastly. I refused to be convinced Armand Basi even HAS a waist or wouldn’t it be more obvious where it is located? Unless you are ‘gravel girdy’ and your boobs are around your knees you don’t require this much room in your bodice to store your goodies. Too long wasited . . . not floating my boat. The choice of fabric? Don’t even get me started.