It seems that Americans have always been nostalgic around the winter holidays. Just look at the lyrics of Irving Berlin's iconic song, White Christmas, written around seventy years ago:

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops...

Some stars rule Hollywood for a decade or so, only to see their legends fade into obscurity. For example, how many contemporary theatergoers are familiar with silent film vamp Theda Bara or 1930s silver screen goddess Myrna Loy, once dubbed "The Queen of Hollywood?"

Other stars seem to shimmer on...

For the second holiday season in a row, Americans are short on jobs and treasure. Yet many of this month's magazine gift guides and advertisements are still begging us to buy a preposterous array of prezzies and "stocking stuffers:" a $400 dollar pair of boots here, a $2,000 designer handbag...

The season of gratitude officially commenced last Thursday. While I am, of course, grateful for many big things (shelter, food, the love of a good man), I am also considering with great appreciation certain smaller things that make life lovely, such as:

1. The fact that my dog is a...

Tonight President Obama and Mrs. Obama will host their first state dinner at the White House, honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Few events are more glamorous than these; they make Vanity Fair's famous annual Oscar party seems like kindergarten in comparison. A thousand egos must perish on the vine...

If someone invited you to a dinner party, and told you that the other guests would include poet Maya Angelou, designer Stella McCartney, Ambassador Susan Rice, and comedienne Amy Poehler (oh, and Michelle Obama might just stop by for appetizers), how long would it take you to leap out of...

As the creative director of Vogue, Grace Coddington might have the best job in fashion. While Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour has been making the magazine powerful over the last two decades, Coddington has been making it beautiful.

When The September Issue - a documentary about Vogue - recently came out,...

It's early in the morning (for me, anyway), but Audrey Tautou has been up for hours, doing television interviews. She's curiously intense for someone who's been subjected to such a barrage; she gestures broadly as she speaks, her El Greco-like hands as eloquent as she is.

Yes, she is a...

Fashion Week is underway in New York City, and American designers are showcasing their visions of the future. Our fashion world heavyweights - Donna, Calvin, and Marc - are further cementing their legends; the next generation of designers, such as Jason Wu, Thakoon, and Derek Lam, are building theirs.

I'm...

In the September issue of Harper's Bazaar, the editors ran a cutesy feature titled 'What Would Coco Do?'. With the new film Coco Before Chanel due out this autumn, says the headline, "Bazaar wondered what the notoriously feisty Madame Chanel would say about the world after Chanel. So...

Two months ago, we ran a feature titled Six of the World's Most Beautiful Older Women. To our amazement, nearly 900 comments poured in and the piece went widely viral. Clearly a nerve had been struck.

The article was, at heart, a celebration of women's beauty at every stage...

I just saw a recent picture of comedienne Joan Rivers that made me want to throw up. Her face is now stretched tighter than a piano string; her mouth and snout bear more than a passing resemblance to that grotesque "cat-woman," Jocelyn Wildenstein.

"I've had so much plastic surgery,"...

When the Obamas ascended to the White House earlier this year, many Washingtonians breathed a sigh of relief: after serving a grim eight-year sentence in the Prison of No Fun, they were finally up for parole. The capital's social life was about to come alive again at last.

Looking back...

Tonight Vogue and the MET Costume Institute will co-host their annual gala, considered by many to be fashion's most glamorous event. This year's theme - "Model as Muse" - seems like a fairly unimaginative concept for a fashion event, until you remember that popular actresses have been elbowing models off...

HBO's film remake of 1975 documentary Grey Gardens finally airs amidst great fanfare tonight. Both the film and the documentary feature the lives of two society belles-turned-eccentric-shut-ins: a mother (nicknamed "Big Edie," played by Jessica Lange in the upcoming film) and daughter (known as "Little Edie," courtesy of Drew Barrymore...

Last year at this time, you'd likely never heard the name Jason Wu.

Sure, he's been designing clothes since the age of nine, and after his 2006 debut collection he became the darling of the Vogue and Bergdorf circuit. Yet Wu was hardly a household name.

Then, on...

If there's a silver lining to this recession, it may be that Americans are less willing to buy tons of expensive crap for each other during the holidays.

As we all know, consumers are massively scaling back on holiday shopping this year. This is bad news for retailers, but...

Illustrations by Maddy Simpson.

So, the economy's in the toilet, and we'll all be fighting over cans of Beenie Weenie soon.

But just remember: poverty doesn't have to be inconvenient for those accustomed to the best. Weathering tough times in style just takes a little creativity.

Introducing my satirical...

I'm a very modern woman. After all, modernity is so terribly convenient. My blackberry connects me with my best friend in Dubai as I sail up 5th Avenue in a taxi; my DVR records Mad Men when Sunday night dinners run late; my iPod conjures up Brigitte Bardot, Rachmaninoff, or...

At last: fall is arriving. In fashion terms, autumn means tall, gorgeous boots; it means delicious layers of cashmere. Ta ta, ugly gladiator sandals; hello, luscious leopard-print swing coats.

What it also means: those mega-issues of Vogue, Bazaar, and W have been weighing down newsstands and crippling postal-workers across the...