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Today's Thursday Style section in the Times was all about fall fashion; in this sure-to-be debated article, Cathy Horyn heralds the new sobriety in fashion for fall; according to her, we'll give up platforms and babydoll dresses for sharply tailored jackets, pencil skirts, and trousers. The article has a good point--I'm all for dressing like a woman, as opposed to a pregnant Lolita--and I agree that a lot of the sharp tailoring seen on the fall runways was probably a reaction to the rampant knockoffs occurring throughout the fashion world (after all, it's much easier to copy a simple shift dress than a well-made suit). However, I feel like the article is addressing a slightly older demographic; I own both platforms and babydoll dresses, and neither will be leaving my closet anytime soon, just so I can look like a generic office drone. Yes, I work at a desk job in corporate America, but the daily challenge for me is expressing my personal style within the contstraints of our company dress code, and I'm not just going to throw in the towel and wear pantsuits every day. Also--and the article touches upon this briefly at the end--dresses aren't going anywhere, at least not for the next few seasons, since women love them so much. (Because, hey, nothing is easier or more feminine than a dress.) I don't think we're going to spend the season looking like we've stepped straight out of the Marc Jacobs runway show, but I do hope the modesty and restraint influences fashion to a certain degree. I'm thinking sophisticated, but not boring.