At New York fashion week, you have access to throngs of fashion journalists, stylists, celebrity stylists and buyers. I was dying to ask these stylish people how they have navigated shopping in a downturn. Are they shopping? Are they cutting back? Have their buying habits changed? Yes, yes and yes (except one self-proclaimed shopaholic who said if she allowed herself to buy one thing, she'd fall off the wagon). Answers like this came back unanimously: "I used to buy cheap and volume and now I buy fewer things that are better quality and I take care of them." Timeless pieces top people's lists for fall. A pair of diamond studs. A pair of black pumps. The perfect white shirt. An LBD, of course. And all are planning to make these purchases from well-established designers. There's little talk of wear-'em-once pieces like plaid trousers, It handbags or look-at-me shoes. If buying more of a statement piece, like the jewelry pictured above they'll wear it a million different ways. In other words, they're shopping like Europeans, not Americans. "I'm focusing in on what I need and I need a black dress. " said Jennifer Lee Rosth, a fashion editor based in Austin, Texas. "I've been shopping my closet for two years. I was so glad that I had been an American before because I had 15 black dresses. But, now, I'll be more choosy."
