I’m going to flout the fashion pundits and confess, on record, that this approach has never worked for me. It ignores some basic realities. First, any item of clothing has a finite lifecycle. Fitted shirts develop armpit stains, sweaters become scraggly, and things stretch or shrink and slowly lose their shape. Second, everything slowly slides out of style. Although in theory this process happens more quickly for trendy items, and less quickly for “classic” items, I have found conventional wisdom about their lifecycle differences much exaggerated. Black pants, per se, may not go out of style, but the shape and cut of any individual pair of pants most certainly will. Conversely, something that was on display in stores everywhere last year is unlikely to make the wearer feel uncomfortably out-of-sync this year. In short, I haven’t found that the usual suspects on lists of “classic” items necessarily lasted longer and were more worthwhile expenditures than “on trend” items.

So, how to know whether that divine, pink trench coat is worth the price tag? Cost-per-use. If you were to divide the cost of the item by the total number of times you imagine you’ll wear it, what will it have cost you to wear each time? Items with a lower cost-per-use are a better use of your money – even if the initial price tag is higher.

Some key characteristics to identify a low cost-per-use item, even if the initial price tag isn’t low:

1. You like the way you look wearing it. (You won’t wear it if you don’t feel good in it.)

2. The item coordinates well with other clothes and accessories in your wardrobe.

3. The item fits with your lifestyle. You can immediately think of places you’d wear it.

4. The item can sustain regular use. I’ve found that fitted shirts – which develop armpit stains at the speed of light – almost never can. For me, fitted shirts aren’t worth a lot of money.

5. The item is a *regular* use kind of item. Many people splurge on special occasion clothes and save on daily wear; I’d actually recommend the opposite. Wouldn’t you like to wear beautiful, special things every day? Conveniently, that’s how you can make a splurge price worthwhile!

6. You love it, and want to use it regularly!

Only you can say whether a new potential acquisition meets these criteria. But if that pink trench flatters you like a lover, could comfortably become a go-to jacket in the spring and fall, and would last for a couple of years, then it may very well be worth the cost. May this simple, pragmatic approach help you create a flattering, fun, economically-sound wardrobe you love!

The brooch has fallen into disuse. Once a signature of precise, well-planned grooming, in the decades after its heyday, it came increasingly to be seen as too fussy to be modern. The time is ripe for its resurrection.

The unerringly stylish diva also known as Nelly recently demonstrated how to reinterpret this historic accessory. At a family holiday party, she turned out in a black dress with a grey shawl and ivory-colored magnolia brooch. Gorgeous! The trick, I think, was that the brooch wasn’t constructed from a traditional, metallic material. This change, together with the contrast of the white brooch on her black dress, made the brooch fresh. And, as a party accessory, the corsage referenced by a floral brooch was perfectly on key. With the effortlessly elegant neutral color palette as a backdrop, the brooch was reborn as a witty, modern accoutrement.

Despite assistance from innumerable dermatologists, medications, facialists, skin care products, a little hypnosis, some acupuncture, and my largely unswerving commitment to regular exercise, a low glycemic index diet, and sufficient sleep, I’ve been able to win isolated battles, but not the war.

With the advent of the Clarisonic skincare brush, I’ve made the leap to guerilla warfare. Nothing else has effected such immediate, pronounced, and sustained change. Existing product reviews (among them, Allure magazine’s 2011 Best of Beauty list) breathlessly bandy about descriptions of soft, dewy, fresh skin. This is not hyperbole. Allow me to add my voice to the chorus: the Clarisonic brush is really as spectacular as the claims suggest. Within a couple of days of using it, my skin looked clearer, fresher, and somehow more youthful, and felt smoother and softer.

Unsurprisingly, my dermatologist recently disclosed plans to begin selling the Clarisonic brush from her office.

N.B. I used the Clarisonic brush with the blue, “delicate” brush head. Friends who have used the regular brush, with which the Clarisonic comes, report finding it a bit rough. The brush heads are replaceable – and should, in fact, be replaced every couple of months – so this is not a difficult alteration.

Attended with my good friend, Lahnna. Lahnna dressed for the occasion in a swingy, plum-colored A-line dress, knee-length pink suede jacket, gold metallic strappy sandals, and a champagne-colored Coach purse. The gold tones in her shoes and purse created a satisfying cohesion, and popped against the saturated pink tones in her outfit. Her look communicated poise, while maintaining a youthful sprightliness.

I opted for a hip, slightly insouciant look in an original design from fashion designer Laura DiMarcantonio’s Fall 2011 individual line. I wore a navy-colored dress in a slightly firm, taffeta-like fabric. The dress had a fitted bodice with asymmetrical, diagonal pleats and an A-line skirt. I paired it with boots to dress it down a little.