Shipley & Halmos’ Jeff Halmos and Sam Shipley (above, left to right) are currently touring the U.S.A., stopping in at Barneys locations nationwide. After spending a day in Austin, they sent back some of their favorite parts of their visit to the Lone Star State. We’re booking our tickets today.

We are in the middle of a two-week tour of the U.S. of A., shooting portraits of customers at Barneys for a book we are publishing and releasing this fall. Of course, we couldn’t pass up the chance to visit Texas. Are all the rumors true? Should we really not mess with Texas? Is everything really bigger in Texas? We started in Houston and stopped in Austin on our way to Dallas. Somehow neither of us had ever visited Austin before, and suffice it to say, we loved it!

On the way into town, we stopped for BBQ at Salt Lick (below). It was heavily hyped and totally lived up to expectations. The pork ribs were absolutely incredible! Also, keep in mind it’s BYOB, so make sure to pick up some cold Lone Stars on the way.

The next morning, we had breakfast tacos (popular in Austin) at El Chulito (below). Cheap and delicious. Plus, they serve Mexican Coke (Sam’s favorite), which is becoming quite trendy and is made with real sugar. They also serve homemade horchata (Jeff’s favorite).

From there, a little shopping. We drove over to visit our friends at Bows + Arrows and Spartan. Lauren and Currie know everything and everyone that’s anyone in Austin. Plus, their stores are so cool. Then, we went to a great vintage store called Feathers, where we scored some amazing pieces. Plus, Sam managed to scope out this pair of Texas flag shorts at the place next door (below). Purchase of the trip, in our opinion. And of course, we had to stop at a supplier of cowboy boots, hats, shirts, and all the fixin’s. This place called Allen Boots had a pretty solid selection as well as some interesting taxidermy.

At the end of the day, we went to Barton Springs (above) for a dip. We both agree that this would be a daily stop if we lived in Austin. The whole mix of revelers…dogs, babies, college kids, nerds, jocks, dweebs, men, women, children. Felt so good in the 100-degree August heat! After feeling refreshed, we headed out to sample some Austin nightlife. We started at Liberty Bar on the east side. Hard to beat cheap drinks, a large back patio, and even better, a Chinese/Tex-Mex food cart sitting in the yard. Without a doubt, you have to order the fried beets.

Although we love hanging with the hipsters, we came to Texas to hear country music. No better place than the Broken Spoke on the south side of town. Opened in 1964, you’ll find a country music “museum,” the owner and band playing Buck Owens covers, slide guitars, bourbon and sweet tea, and plenty of two-step dancing.

At the end of the night, Sam decided to take a 3 a.m. “bath” break (below) on the side of the road. It’s just that hot.

—Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos

All Photos: Courtesy of Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos

Meet the new faces of 2011: Poncho, Ziggy, Shuvel Face. Those were some of the fancy felines on hand yesterday as United Bamboo shot its second annual cat calendar. Miniature versions of the line’s looks from Fall ‘10, Resort ‘11 and the upcoming Spring ‘11 collections hung on one wall of the United Bamboo studio, as half a dozen kitties stalked the space, clad in bow blouses and peacoats. “We have to remake all the patterns, obviously,” explained United Bamboo founder Miho Aoki, as she dodged the aptly named cat Bamboo. “But it’s OK, because our patternmaker has a cat, so she gets into it.”

Speaking of getting into things, some of the model cats were more psyched than others to be outfitted and appareled. Bamboo, for example, once she’d finished wrestling with a feather on a stick, seemed more than fine with the idea of clothes. In fact, she might have been waiting her whole life for this big break into fashion. Elsewhere, there was much hissing and spitting. More than 100 cats were submitted for the casting; according to Aoki, the United Bamboo team picked the “cutest ones,” with an emphasis on longhairs. “We didn’t bring them in or anything. We just judged by the pictures.” Aoki and partner Thuy Pham made the wise decision to bring in more cats than necessary—22 were called, 12 made the cut. (That’s double the cat fun from the 2010 edition.)

Of course, United Bamboo’s forays into cat fashions have been timely: Word leaked about the 2010 calendar around the same time that Miu Miu was showing kitty prints on the runway, and since then it’s been a feline free-for-all in the industry, what with cat-eye sunglasses and kitten heels. (Click here to check out a slideshow of our favorite variations on the theme.) We’d like to say we called this first—and we stand by our kitty overlords prediction—but Aoki was way, way ahead of us. As she explained, she first made cat clothes more than ten years ago, when she got her cat. “I thought it would be funny, to dress up a cat,” she said. It is.

—Maya Singer

Sketches for United Bamboo’s cat outfits.

Photos: Sean Dougherty and Noah Sheldon; Illustrations: United Bamboo

Crystal Renn’s latest coup revealed: the holy grail of campaigns, Chanel (above). Karl Lagerfeld shot Renn and Baptiste Giabiconi in Paris for the new ads. [Fashionista]

Lynn Yaeger convenes the “nutty-dressers’ convention” at the Carlyle Hotel, inviting New York’s chicest ladies-of-a-certain-age (including the legendary Iris Barrel Apfel) for a talk about their wild, Comme des Garçons-stuffed closets. What do you do, Yaeger wonders, when you need to dress for a business meeting or a funeral? Apfel’s response: “Who would want to dress for that? Those are life’s dreadful experiences!” [The Moment]

Speaking of Comme des Garçons, Adam Kimmel worked with the label on a series of limited-edition tees, to be sold at CdG, Isetan, and Dover Street Market. An illustration by George Condo—who created the awesome, creepy masks for the designer’s Fall ‘10 show—features a stylish old gent, Uncle Harry, kitted out in Kimmel. [Hint Mag]

Don’t stop the presses: Britain’s least-reputable tabloid claims Kate Moss and Jamie Hince got married. [Fashionologie]

And don’t stop the bookbinders, either: Tinsley Mortimer—whose High Society reality show will not be returning—is apparently penning a novel. [Page Six]

Photo: Karl Lagerfeld/Courtesy of Chanel

H&M is more than a ridiculously successful Swedish company—it’s also a training ground for many of the country’s top designers, and Stockholm fashion week was full of collections by “graduates” of the affordable-fashion giant, from the geometric, seemingly cloud-moistened wrappings at Nakkna to the skinny suits and tawny nature prints at Tiger of Sweden.

Statistically speaking, this is no huge surprise: H&M retains about 100 designers and takes on 35 trainees a year, according to Margareta van den Bosch, the legendary H&M design chief emeritus. Van den Bosch (who still plays an advisory role at the company) provided those numbers at the Hope show, where she was checking up on the latest from former H&M designers Ann Ringstrand and Stefan Söderberg. Having envisioned waiters and fairies at a mid-summer feast, they’d served up a seventies-inflected mix of utility and romance.

At Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair (left), former H&M patternmaker Astrid Olsson is experimenting with exaggerated silhouettes, feminine draping, and the occasional voluminous knot of jersey. (To the disappointment of her growing fan base, her label didn’t show at SFW.) Olsson’s preferred textures at the moment are dry and papery. The mod looks in Roland Hjort’s Spring collection for Whyred, on the other hand, have a greasy sheen that suggests the oily protective layer on feathers. Even if he’s taken flight with his own label, Hjort is grounded in the commercial realities he and his fellow H&M alums picked up there. “What you really learn is that the product has to sell,” Hope’s Söderberg said backstage. “If only one person wants what you design, it won’t last.”

—Darrell Hartman

Photo: Courtesy of Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair

The new, ladylike silhouette from Fall ‘10, with its fifties-inspired full skirt, has gotten no end of coverage in the press but hasn’t yet made as much of an impact in the world of celebrity dressing. But for Louis Vuitton’s Santa Monica store opening last night, a few brave souls took Marc Jacobs’ retro dresses for a spin—and came out, we’d say, the better for it. Sure, there were plenty of red-carpet-as-usual minis (most, of course, by Vuitton), but Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara and burlesque queen Dita Von Teese went long. We especially liked Vergara’s calf-length sleeveless navy version, worn without the belts styled with it on the runway. With an LV clutch and simple black pumps, we’d say she did her fifties forebears proud. What do you think—yea, nay, or eh?

Photo: David Crotty / Patrick McMullan

When most people’s love affairs fizzle, they eat a half-gallon of Häagen-Dazs and call it a day. When Pretenders front woman Chrissie Hynde’s tryst with a much-younger musician cooled, she started a new band, recorded a new album (co-written by him!), and founded an animal-friendly, leather-free clothing line. That Häagen-Dazs isn’t looking so good now, is it? [WWD]

Set your clocks: Mulberry’s affordably-priced Target collection (pictured) goes on sale today at Gilt at noon EST. [Fashionista]

The rumors are true: There’s a little angel on the way. Newly hitched Miranda Kerr confirmed in an interview that, as suspected, she and Orlando Bloom are expecting. [Fashionologie]

And frequent festival-goer Alexa Chung has some tips for surviving the summer fests: “I usually just pick something I’m comfortable in and shove a Barbour over it because nothing is fun when you’re freezing cold,” she says. That’s pretty sound advice even if you’re nowhere near the muddy fields of Glasto. [Vogue U.K.]

Photo: Courtesy of Mulberry

Ann-Sofie Back was and wasn’t completely herself these past few days, showing two very different collections during Stockholm fashion week. On Monday, she presented her diffusion line, Back, in a shop basement: easygoing looks that included windbreaker-fabric pants and a beautiful lipstick-smudge floral print. (For a look at Back Spring 11, click below.) Much more hyped, though, was the first full collection she’s done for Cheap Monday (above) since being named creative director last summer, which showed on a rainy Tuesday evening under a tent on the Stockholm waterfront.

Back tapped into her flashier side for that one, citing (along with collaborator Örjan Andersson) Latin denim and L.A. celebrity trends as strong influences. “With Cheap Monday, I can actually somehow be freer, because it’s not me,” she explained backstage. The brand’s bigger client base means working with more restrictions. “It can’t be too clean; it has to be playful and a bit rough. There are certain things that have to be included in the collection, and that’s actually quite relaxing,” Back said. “With my own line, I get a bit more precious, and not always in a good way.”

There’s nothing that self-deprecating in Back’s extroverted, slightly exaggerated Cheap Monday looks. There are some overlaps, though: sheer tops, drawstrings, and glitter. As for her main line, Ann-Sofie Back, she’ll show it in London on September 20. After a contemplative pause, she said, “I’m pretty sure there’s no glitter in it.”

—Darrell Hartman

Back, Spring 2011.

Photos: Courtesy of Cheap Monday

Exposed lingerie was a big story on the Spring runways. At the recent Resort collections, designers tweaked the trend, swapping bras for bandeaux. Echoing the 1940’s by way of the seventies, Yves Saint Laurent’s Stefano Pilati paired his with turbans and high-waisted skirts that left the models’ toned midriffs exposed. Others took a more covered-up approach, pairing theirs with a tweedy skirtsuit (Marc Jacobs) or a sporty leather bomber and shorts (Bottega Veneta’s Tomas Maier). Maria Cornejo told Style.com, “I really like the clean line of a bandeau. It’s low-cut, flattering, and more interesting than a bra.” But not exactly sidewalk-ready when worn on its own—so she suggests layering one underneath a dress or jumpsuit for a playful look.

Click here for a slideshow and let us know if you’ll brave the bandeau trend.

—Brittany Adams Photo: Courtesy of Bottega Veneta

Michael Cera’s new romantic comedy, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, had its European premiere in London last night, and though most of the film’s leading ladies (from Anna Kendrick to newcomers Ellen Wong and Mary Elizabeth Winstead) made an appearance, all eyes were on Florence Welch, the fiery front woman of the rising pop act Florence and the Machine. Welch has a solid history of supporting independent designers (she often wears Hannah Marshall, and has done turns in Roksanda Illincic, too), and for the occasion she picked a Fall ‘10 tattoo dress by the Australian label Willow, paired with chunky wedge booties. The combination—a bold, printed mini paired with ankle boots—is one we’ve been seeing more and more of lately, and Welch is the perfect example of why: She looks red-carpet ready but not fussy or prissy. What do you think of the look—is this one that should be turning Scott Pilgrim’s head?

Photo: Rex USA

It’s on the books. The LBD is now an officially sanctioned abbreviation—at least as far as the Oxford English Dictionary is concerned. The venerable OED, English papers report, added “LBD” to its lexicon (along with bromance, tweetup, and cheeseball, but we digress) for the third edition, published today. The closet staple is clearly not going anywhere, but nice to know that its shorthand is here to stay, too. From the famous LBDs of history (like Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy from Breakfast at Tiffany’s) to those that stalked the runway during the LBD-heavy Fall shows, like Lanvin’s (pictured), the institutionalization of the term feels like credit where credit is due. Use cautiously, though. In certain circles (i.e., ours), “LBD” will always mean short, dark, and fabulous. In others, according, at least, to the American Heritage Dictionary of Abbreviations, something else: laser-beam detector.

Photo: Marcio Madeira/FirstView.com

Expect the fashion set to turn out to see a Brahms performance tonight. Just maybe not the Brahms you’re thinking of. This Brahms is an unsigned poppy, electronic trio out of Brooklyn—one that in very short order, less than a year after forming, has opened for some very top-bill (and wildly disparate) acts as Passion Pit, Nas, and Damian Marley. And tonight at Mercury Lounge, they’ll headline their first New York show. (Click below to listen to the band’s “Subtext Is Deadly.”)

The rapid rise has something to do with the indie rock past of singer and keyboardist Cale Parks, who previously put in time with the band Aloha. But it’s bassist Eric Lyle Lodwick’s (left) side gig as a model that’s doing more to turn heads in Brahms’ direction. Lodwick has opened shows for John Varvatos and Lanvin and fronted campaigns for Marc by Marc Jacobs, Topman, and Diesel. And if that helps turn heads in Brahms’ direction, he says, all to the good. “There are so many different things an artist has to be today. It’s no longer simply playing music,” Lodwick explains. “With the Internet, and there being more bands than ever, a musician has to be ‘everything entertainment.’ Modeling aids that need, and
I was born to entertain.”

Embracing his double life has given Lodwick and Brahms the opportunity to play big shows not usually offered to such a young band—thanks to boosts from fashion brands like Levi’s, which sponsored a Brahms performance at Austin’s South by Southwest festival. “We see the crossover and like playing fashion stuff,” Lodwick adds. Good thing, as next up is a gig at Fashion’s Night Out, alongside Savoir Adore and Bear Hands.
Brahms plays tonight at Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston Street, NYC, www.mercuryloungenyc.com.

—Julie Ragolia

Photo: Courtesy of Brahms

The floral dresses. The chunky shoes and woolly socks. The high-piled buns. Looks like another night at the Jane. Also looks like—Elaine Benes?! The NYT assesses the reruns and finds the season’s unlikely style icon. Bizarro! [NYT]

Meet the new, technologically savvier fashion week—one with barcode-reading check-in kiosks, iPad-stored guest lists, Fashion GPS. [WSJ]

The latest Levi’s collaboration, designed by Alabama-based designer Billy Reid, hits stores September 14. Workwear obsessives who just can’t wait can get a first look on Fashion’s Night Out, when Reid heads up north to debut the line at Bloomingdale’s on 59th Street. [Racked]

And beleaguered American Apparel CEO Dov Charney speaks out about the rumors swirling around his company. Could it fail? Well, maybe. “There’s a chance that you get hit by a car. There’s a chance you get a disease. But they are chances,” Charney tells WWD. “But there’s also a likelihood that the [financial] covenant will be worked out, as it has in the past.” Deep-V aficionados, keep those fingers crossed. [WWD]

Photo: Columbia TriStar Television / Courtesy of The Everett Collection

It’s a bold move (or a bout of hyperbole) to call an event a Fashion Spectacular. But to describe how very spectacularly Target showed us all up (an overcrowded group that included Mary-Louise Parker, Nina Garcia, Penn Badgley, and Prabal Gurung, hemmed in by protesters from the retailer’s current gay rights controversy), let’s cut to the basics. First—perhaps in a Midwest kind of mind-set—the Minneapolis-based chain went big: renting 155 of the famously clear-windowed rooms on the southern facade of the Standard Hotel in New York big. A dazzling light show masterminded by Bionic League smartly made use of said giant windows; rooms were filled with 66 dancers performing choreographed dance and light sequences, which included everything from replicating falling raindrops to a Chicago-inspired routine that prompted one former skeptic to cheer, “That was insane!” There was a runway on ground-level, too, where models showed off fall merchandise, but with the lights and dancers, who was looking?

Flying in for the night, Target’s senior vice president of merchandising, Trish Adams, did make New Yorkers feel a bit better about being out-razzle-dazzled. “When we come here, it’s usually to see what’s going on,” she explained. “Most of the trends come from the city.” To that effect, Garcia, who recently signed on as Target’s style expert, will be on the hunt for the latest and greatest. “It’s perfect because I’m basically doing what I already do, which is to see what’s out there—definitely can’t complain!” the Project Runway judge and Marie Claire fashion director enthused. With fashion week looming, Garcia et al. will soon have plenty of new trend reports for the dissecting. But even its specter couldn’t keep a few devoted designers away. “I’m at the office until at least 8 p.m. every day,” Gurung said of his hectic pre-NYFW schedule. “I like to call it controlled stress,” the designer added, on taking time to check out the light show. “I’m also working out four days a week at 7 a.m., and I just started doing yoga, too.” Now that’s a flexible business plan.

—Bee-Shyuan Chang

Photo: Chance Yeh/Patrick McMullin

A solid three-point plan to upmarket your brand: 1) Begin introducing more luxurious products into your office-friendly line. 2) Sign on Olivier Theyskens to do something, anything. And 3) Bring in a footwear expert to design hot new styles, from lace-up booties to cap-toed platform spectator heels.

That’s the Theory plan, and so far, it’s working. The label’s offerings are looking better season after season (Bergdorf’s Linda Fargo is raving about its glamorous and comparative inexpensive fur coat for fall), and Theyskens’ collection for the brand is on deck. But before the former Rochas and Nina Ricci phenom tries his hand, there are the shoes. Several styles launch tomorrow on Theory’s Web site, all for under $600. There’s a lace-up bootie in leather or charcoal flannel, a cutout take on the hot-again pump, and a chunky sling-back we wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot more of in the coming weeks. Who to thank for all of these? The brand’s design team and a certain much-followed private designer. No names, but you never know—she might just hit the shows sporting one of her own creations. If that’s the case, we’d advise buying now, before they sell immediately out.

Leather lace-up bootie, $595, and suede sling-back, $415, available tomorrow at www.theory.com.

Photos: Courtesy of Theory

The list of hosts was a mile long: David Byrne, Parker Posey, Prabal Gurung, Paper’s Mickey Boardman, Bonnie Morrison. And is that Matthew Modine? Yes it is, over there in the baseball cap.

The occasion, as these occasions often are, was goodwill. The above (and several more) were pulling their weight at the Tribeca Grand last night, raising funds to build a women’s health center in Rajasthan, India. And despite the early-in-the-week Tuesday night, the party was packed with well-wishers (and open-bar frequenters) all evening long. More than a few bleary-eyed designers even left the work room for a rare night out—despite being now officially in the frantic run-up to New York fashion week. (Buzz among the editors centered on the season’s first NYFW save-the-dates, which began arriving yesterday afternoon.) Host Gurung and Fenton/Fallon jeweler Dana Lorenz both had work left to do—the latter even planned, post a single cocktail, to head back to the studio—but the cause was too good to miss. Why? Chalk it up the charms of the subcontinent. “I went to India, and people either love it or hate it,” Boardman (left, with Posey), dressed in a vintage leopard-print blazer, explained. “The minute I stepped off the plane, I thought, baby’s home!” Baby was in good company.

—Matthew Schneier

Photo: Shaun Mader/Patrick McMullan

The dog days of summer are winding down, and the suntanned kids of the world are preparing to head back to school. And the over-22 set? They’re just planning to dress like it. This September, we’re in the mood for collegiate style, thanks to all the great pleated skirts, boy blazers, varsity jackets, and slouchy, schoolyard sweatshirts we’ve been dreaming of lately—our senior market editor, Marina Larroude, rounded the best of them up this week. And over the next few weeks, two new books will arrive to accessorize your quad-ready look.

Lisa Birnbach, author of the original Official Preppy Handbook, files her second dispatch from the gin-soaked, Nantucket red front lines of WASP-dom with True Prep—subtitle: It’s a Whole New Old World. (Case in point: Hereby elected to the preppy hall of fame are Michelle Obama and Al Franken.) Co-created with Chip Kidd (one of the best book designers in the business), True Prep ($13.46, available September 7 at Amazon.com) is full of handy intel, like the 43 preppiest places to have a summer home, the relative widths of prep-favored fashion logos (the Lacoste croc is 2.8 cm, while Brooks Brothers’ sheep is 0.875″), a roundup of acceptable men’s loafers (Stubbs & Wootton, natch) and the ingredients to a Mixed Marriage (gin, vodka, vermouth, olives or a twist). Mummy will have three.

And the blog-beloved Take Ivy ($14.97, available August 31 at Amazon.com), Japanese photographer Teruyoshi Hayashida chronicle of the stylish men of the early-sixties northeastern college campus, is reissued this month. (After being talked up by blogger Michael Williams at A Continuous Lean, prices for the out-of-print tome skyrocketed on eBay.) Originally published in 1965, it’s got enough khaki, corduroy, and leaf-dusted gothic architecture to sate even the most blue-blooded Yale man. Boola boola!

Dazed & Confused editor Robbie Spencer styled teens gone bad for the mag’s new short film, The Outsiders. Parental warning: This video glorifies smoking, drinking, shirtlessness, face paint, and candy bars. [Dazed Digital]

LOVE’s six “Gorgeous” issue covers have hit the Web. “The Bombshell” (Gisele), “The Angel” (Alessandra Ambrosio), and “The Rebel” (Aggy Deyn) are all nice, but our hands-down favorite is “The Heroine”—the one and only Lauren Hutton (pictured). [Vogue U.K.]

What does legendary Vogue Italia editor Anna Piaggi do at the office? After clicking through this slideshow, we’re still not totally sure, but we’re glad we did it anyway. [Vogue Italia]

Lady Gaga visited Apple’s Cupertino, California, HQ yesterday, fueling rumors that she’ll may star in new ads for the tech giant. Here’s hoping that if it’s true, she keeps the Patsy Stone/Ab Fab bouffant she was sporting on her visit. [Hint Mag]

Photo: Courtesy of LOVE

Hot on the heels of its big July store opening on Dover Street, Acne is doing its first true runway show in London on September 19. The venue is an apartment at Kensington Palace that is the former residence of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon; the brand’s creative director, Jonny Johansson, discovered it while scouting a sunken garden at the royal complex. “There was a door open when we were going through a back office, and I saw this super-strong turquoise,” he recalls. “The apartments are really tiny, but that color just drew me in.”

Johansson (left), in jeans and T-shirt, is quietly recalling all this from the center of his own somewhat palatial domain: his light-filled office at the brand’s Stockholm headquarters, housed in an imposing old bank. Some of the locals are disappointed that Acne isn’t even showing a pre-collection at Mercedes-Benz Stockholm Fashion Week, which wraps up today. (It’s the first time that Mercedes has taken Sweden’s shows under its international fashion week umbrella, which currently covers New York, Miami, and Berlin, too.) But Johansson’s plate is more than full with London, where Acne has only done salon-style shows in the past.

And what will we see in London this time around? “A lot of sheer, a large amount of leather,” he explains. “I can’t say we have a lot of denim this season, but it’s a denim look, a tough look.” Throw in another eyewear collaboration with Thierry Lasry and jewelry (once again) by Husam El Odeh, and you’ve got an idea of the show—oh, and something involving a tattoo artist. But Johansson left it at that.

—Darrell Hartman

Photo: Courtesy of Acne

Justice was served—we guess—in Dallas today, where city officials report that R&B singer Erykah Badu has paid a $500 fine for stripping down to her birthday suit in the city’s Dealey Plaza for a music video for her song “Window Seat.” (You can see the NSFW video here; in it, Badu re-creates the assassination of President Kennedy, except, of course, more naked.) Law abiding is a pretty good reason for Erykah to remain clothed in public, but we can think of another good one, too: For all her wild style, she actually gets it right a lot of the time. We’ve combed through the year in Badu performances and found that the singer (and/or her stylists) tend to hit right on trend. Below, a few onstage outfits and their runway precedents. The top hat, on the other hand, is 100 percent her own.

Left: Erykah Badu performs at Lollapalooza in Chicago, August 2010. Right: Louis Vuitton, Fall ‘10.

Left: Erykah Badu performs at Lilith Fair in Washington, July 2010. Right: Ralph Lauren, Spring ‘10.

Left: Erykah Badu performs at The Palms in Las Vegas, June 2010. Right: Oscar de la Renta, pre-fall ‘10.

Photos: Rob Grabowski / Retna Ltd. (Lollapalooza); Kim Weston Arnold (Vuitton); Dana Nalbandian / WireImage (Lilith Fair); Marcio Madeira (Ralph Lauren); Ethan Miller / Getty Images (Las Vegas); Maria Valentino (Oscar de la Renta)

Jennifer Aniston took to the carpet in L.A. last night for the premiere of her new maternity comedy of errors (a 2010 genre if ever there was one), The Switch. Aniston has a mixed history with red-carpet looks, and if you ask us, she could have dialed up the glamour a bit for her new premiere. Her two-tone Spring ‘10 Lanvin dress flatters her ultra-toned figure but doesn’t bring much spark. (Though the contrast-color zip on the side gives a little bit of pop that’s hard to make out in a front view.) With loose hair and strappy, nude sandals, the whole look feels more dinner-and-a-movie than star tour. (Though we love the Ferragamo croc clutch—even if it threatens to upstage its owner.) What do you think? Is less more, or should Jen have done like her on-screen alter ego and switched?

Photo: Steve Granitz / WireImage