The Martin Grant Fall 2006 collection, consisting primarily of perfect basics, is an aestheticspluseconomist's dream. The new minimalist feel doesn't hurt either. I would totally ask Santa for one of these coats.
Photos: View the rest of the collection at Style.com.
In this time of high-low dressing, one would think that leggings would be a low-end item, bought to complement expensive coats, tops, jackets, and dresses. It's a bit of a shock, then, to see that this season's staple ranges in price from about $14 to upwards of $1000 (and let's not even mention the $100,000+ leggings on the Balenciaga Spring 2007 runway--they are in a league of their own!).
My first reaction upon coming across reported prices of $652.50 for the leggings in the Fall 2006 Versace campaign to $1098 for cashmere leggings from Ralph Lauren was to ask, somewhat skeptically: how much can a design house really improve on a simple pair of $38 Wolford leggings? How much of the price difference between any of the higher end leggings and a $26 pair from American Apparel can actually be explained by an increase in value, and how much is pure mark up?