This is what you get when you let Lindsay Lohan run wild at the Ungaro design studios—the critics denounce her flashy clothes, and then she ends up influencing trends anyway. Well, maybe it’s not all due to her, but a few months after Lohan’s sequined blazers went down the runway at Paris Fashion Week, we’re now seeing them all over the new crop of winter merchandise that’s just hitting stores. Labels like Paul & Joe, Tibi, and Sonia Rykiel have gotten in on the trend, and a lot of the styles are astonishingly expensive (take this gold Antik Batik jacket pictured on bottom, which costs $460 at Net-A-Porter). You can, however, find some more moderately priced blazers at Topshop in the $150 range (top, left).

Yet, that’s still quite a fair amount to drop on a piece that has a lot of potential to go out of style within a year. What do you think of sequin blazers? Awesome holiday party dress alternatives? Or blinding horrors?

My first encounter with bird skull jewelry came a few weeks ago at a motorcycle/clothing/coffee (I know, weird combo) shop in the West Village. The ring was sterling silver and the bird skull cast was the perfect length for my finger, but the ring itself was too big. Much to my dismay, the smallest size the company makes slides around on my long, thin, witchy fingers. Being a bit on the obsessive side though, I decided not to let go of the dream but to hunt down an alternative bird skull ring. Much to my surprise, it wasn’t quite the hunt I’d expected. Bird skull jewelry is all over the place these days. Get your hands on some before you’re the only girl out there not wearing a necklace modeled after a skull. Cause how embarrassing would that be?! Info about where to find the aviary-inspired pieces shown above after the jump.

“Everything old is new again” is a saying that you hear over and over again in the fashion world because, as we all know,  trends are recycled. A few years ago, my mom bought me a copper necklace that consisted of a filigree ... well, I called it a basket at the time ... and green, maroon, and clear beads from a vintage store. The necklace was really heavy, a little too ornate, and didn’t really fit with my style at the time, but I enjoyed looking at it. And I thought someday my necklace would be the signature piece of an outfit.

I had no idea at the time that my mom had stumbled upon one of the oldest jewelry trends in history. The pouch necklace has been worn for centuries by those looking to mask their odor or to ward off evil spirits. Nowadays, jewelry designers are giving pouch necklaces the studded and metallic treatment, but you can still find traditional leather ones. I’m really feeling the ones above by Bona Drag, because they’re sweet with the delicate crochet pattern, but are also a little tough with the oxidized brass chain. 

We’ve seen this one coming for a long time, and, between Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni Sarkozy, it’s been on the fashion radar a lot lately. Now, the not-new-but-new-now heel height has been spotted on Italian Vogue editor Giovanna Battaglia (uh, such a huge style crush on her!), above, and loads of runways for spring 2010—Marni, Missoni, Louis Vuitton. So, what are your thoughts? Are you a total four-inch heels or flats girl? Or do you really love the mid-height heels? I think to make a kitten heel feel non-corporate, you need a really wild pair—and a non-business-y getup. [Refinery29]

I’ve been seeing these sexy black leggings with the leather patches around for a while. I’ve been really been wanting a pair, so last week I caved in and bought one from COS (above, left). They were a bit pricey for me at around $120, but I could have spent a lot more—I’ve seen versions of them for over $400. Yet, I went home, slapped them on and felt great when I took them out for a spin that evening. I wore them again the next day, congratulating myself on making such a useful wardrobe addition. Then, when I was cleaning my room the day after and was about to chuck them in the laundry pile, I halted.

Wait ... you can’t just put leather in water, can you? Would I dry-clean these? Huh?

Last night as I was getting ready for a date, I sifted through my jewelry box, looking for something to accessorize my outfit. “Hey,” I thought. “Why do you never wear all these pretty earrings anymore?” I tried on a few dangly pairs, and promptly removed them—they really did change the whole vibe of my outfit. With some fancy vintage teardrop ones, I felt like I was coming from the opera. Gold medallion posts were pretty, but made me look a bit too grown up. I realized that I actually haven’t worn a pair of dangly earrings for about a year. And my friends? Not with any frequency that I can remember.

Looking at my collection, they just felt a bit dated and out of style. (Weirdly, not so much the earrings themselves, but how they looked on me.) What do you think? Do you reserve earrings for special occasions? Do you wear them regularly? Or are they a non-essential accessory?

Prompted by the revival of leather skirts, we decided to dig around a bit more to see what else is out there in leather land, and here’s what we found: shorts. Not hot pants but loose-fitting shorts like this Robert Rodriguez pair, which could be a regular style, except they’re made out of leather. Puzzling. Not sure how you would rock these seeing as you can’t really wear them when it’s hot and when it’s cold you’d have to don tights underneath.

Would you salute these shorts? We think you guys know what our answer is. [Shopbop.com]

From Alexander Wang to Marc by Marc Jacobs, something rather odd happened on the spring 2010 runways during Fashion Week: Sweatpants became cool again. Whether we’re talking fleecy material dresses or actual sweats, they were everywhere and looked much more fashionable and much less Juicy Couture. As lovers of cool-looking comfort clothes, we fully approve of this move towards clothing that allow us to breathe just a little. [CBS News]

Not since the days of “Pretty Woman” have leather skirts even crossed our minds. Perhaps Cher Horowitz has been the only girl since then to rock one with class. Because otherwise we can only think of Jersey-accented monsters or brain-dead girlfriends of rock gods wearing them. Yet, this ‘90s classic has been making a comeback this fall and we like what we see. The garment seems to be fitting in well with the edgier looks on the shelves—you know, asymmetrical lines, lots of black, and a sort of androgynous, Helmut Lang aesthetic. We’re digging the traditional tight-and-straight cut, but what we’re particularly keen on are these leather skirts with more body. They don’t scream s-e-x as much as they do c-u-t-e ...

Spandex shapewear doesn’t have such a great rep, previously making appearances in bad ‘80s music videos and being the culprit behind embarrassing hookup moments. But things might be turning around. DKNY is about to give the oh-so-trendy Spanx a run for its money by launching a new line of tummy-tucking underwear that is meant to be a bit cooler, thanks to neon pink and blue colors. Grazia has pointed out that maybe there’s a trend beginning here, since the presentation of Topshop‘s “Unique” collection was filled with workout-like looks—sports bra-like bandeau tops were paired with Spandex biker shorts under jean shorts.

Did you just audibly gasp in horror upon seeing these tie-dye jeans? Us too. Are people seriously buying these? We knew the ‘80s were back when acid wash denim started showing up on the butts of celebs, but this is taking things to a whole new level.

Neiman Marcus has been promoting these styles as the “trend to dye for” (oh har-har), and a few culprits are also being sold on RonHerman.com and Shopbop. Surprisingly, the designs are produced by some of our favorite denim brands—Current/Elliot, J Brand, James. The scary thing about tie-dye denim is that it’s almost, almost something you might change your mind about if you saw Kate Moss rocking it the right way. (Let’s hope she doesn’t.)

What do you think? [NeimanMarcus.com, Shopbop.com]

“I really believe in people not forgetting their pants.”

—Designer Erin Fetherston talking about her dislike for the ever-more-popular pantsless trend. We see she has no issues with models going braless though. [The Cut]

Gone are the days of Marilyn Manson‘s goth-rock and black lacquered nails (we would hope). But apparently nail polish for dudes is experiencing a European revival in a much more colorful way. Makeup line Uslu Airlines has come out with a manicure product branded for men in participation with Berlin DJs and urban culture figures. The colors gracing the men’s hands are baby blue, metallic purple, and silver.

Just when we thought the pre-owned, pre-roughed-up trend had run its distressing (ha) course, we happened upon “pre-dirtied” sneakers from shoe gurus Golden Goose. Essentially, their new line of sneaks are white and come with existing scuffs and grime—just as if you (lightly) wore them kicking around town for a few weeks. Now, I get why no one would want a pair of glaringly white shoes, but c’mon, isn’t this taking the “broken-in” trend a bit too far? (Apparently, most people don’t agree with me—the shoes are sold the eff out.) Not sure how much they cost but Golden Goose shoes are super expensive, so ... crazy, right? [Inventorspot]

Despite rumors to the contrary, mohawks are not “soon to be everywhere.” Unattractive, perpetually over-gelled and a staple mostly reserved for those who are trying too hard, it’s simply not a hairstyle that we see gaining too much traction any time soon, New York Magazine. But while the thought of the masses cropping their locks into that woefully misguided style makes us feel like gagging in advance, we are willing to make a concession for: the lady faux hawk.

You see, though it does technically copycat the mohawk in its singular focus on one protruding hair ridge down the center of the head, it does so with much more class and dignity. Plus, if you decide you’re sick of playing the badass, you can easily wash it out the next day. We’ll show you how to master our beloved faux hawk after the jump.

Elle UK has huge trend news for you: Everyone is wearing denim shorts right now! Umm, yeah, because it’s summer. And people wear denim shorts pretty much every summer. Know what else people do with denim shorts on an annual basis? Look terrible in them. Too often, the styling is off and they’re either too wannabe sexy (with pointy pumps and a corset, for example, blech) or the thought process seems to be “Hell, this is denim, who cares if I look homeless?” Well, we care. So we’re going to help you get denim shorts right.

After a few weeks of lusting over it, I’ve finally decided to acknowledge that this Valentino bag will not be mine. Even though my computer would look so cute in there and I’m a relatively nice person. Grr. But even during my points of deepest obsession, a Valentino shopping bag never seemed like a reasonable substitute. I get the idea behind carrying designer shopping bags: looking like you can shop at stores that would really eat an entire month’s paycheck in one go. But I don’t get the allure.

The New York Times just wrote about this designer shopping bag “trend” sweeping Japan and focused mostly on the adorable aspects. Like a teenage girl who says carrying a bag from a popular designer store reminds her of the fun times she has shopping. On the other hand, could it also be the ultimate form of label whoring, more intense in its desperation level than carrying fakes?