This whole debate I may have touched on before about New York's place in the world of fashion, well, it's really not anything new. Americans are best at commodifying things, going for what works, what sells. We're far less adept at accepting the conceptual, which the French seem to have a talent of embracing.

So while we don't have a river of innovation coursing down 7th Ave, there are pockets here and there. The Mulleavy sisters who, ironically enough, hail from California, probably possess a big hand bag's supply worth of that illusive stuff rather than a humble pocketful.

But of course, when the price tags of your dresses can only be given up "upon request", it gives you free license to have all the luxury you would want in a frock. Oh, and what luxury. I love how they've moved on from those looks that almost became their signature when they first started out. Remember them? When they used wave upon wave of circular fabric with absolute reckless abandon.

Their girls now are more sexy, more tough, and dare I say, like the Mulleavys, perhaps a little more smart and grown up,