Jeggings -- Love or Hate 'Em?

Most American women are wearing the wrong size jeans. Either they are too tight, creating buffets of sausage legs and muffin tops, or they're too baggy.

So I was skeptical about the idea of jeggings. A marriage of skinny jeans and leggings, jeggings have been around for the past two seasons and they're likely to take another whirl through Fall 2010.

On celebrities like these, jeggings seem like the perfect solution for flaunting a lean silhouette while being comfortable. Worn with a tunic, a blazer and t-shirt or a sweatshirt, jeggings are a stylish and modern alternative to bootcut jeans.

But like the sculpted shouldered blazer of last fall, this trend is easy to screw up. Instead of Fergie fierceness, you have Cindy cellulite. Cropped anything looks terrible with jeggings, even if you're tall and skinny. The right shoe also matters. Heels, boots and booties elongate the legs, while ballet flats have the potential to create stumpy leg.

Bottom line: Jeggings get a yellow light. Proceed with caution, but have fun.

Chic to Chic at Talbots

I LOVE the Fall 2010 Talbots collection. It's the crescendo to a style transformation that began last spring when Talbots dropped its grandma image and started producing chic, stylish basics that grandmothers and granddaughters can buy to suit their taste. I've got my eye on a few things:

How J Crew Saved Me From Myself

My mother dropped a huge bombshell on me -- she needs a kidney transplant. After we rang off with many assurances from me that my kidney was her kidney, I stared at the phone in my hand. I was numb. I needed to get out of my apartment and do something. But what?

"We get our new shipment in on Monday," a sweet voice chirped in my head.

To J Crew!

I arrived an hour before closing and tried on many variations of this season ruffled tops and "borrowed from the boys" tailoring. Everything I tried on made me feel fat and useless. So I went to the jewelry counter where I would be forever beautiful no matter how many Oreo cakesters I ate or missed trips to the gym.

"Are you looking for anything special?" that sweet voice chirped again.

"Uhh, no. I'm emotional shopping," I blurted. "My mother needs a kidney transplant and you're the first person I've told."

The angel of a saleswoman listened to my ramblings while I tried on earrings and offered to pray for me and my family.

Once I finished, she said, "I'm not going to let you buy these. Save your money. See your mother."

She was right. Even if I bought every ruffly, distressed, borrowed from the boys, sparkled, bedazzled, bejangled piece from J Crew, it wouldn't save me from the difficult decisions I may have to make in the coming months.

But a new pair of earrings would make things a bit more bearable.