A potential matching prom dress-style embarrassment was chalked up to timing: October's breast cancer awareness month. Marc Jacobs' Louis Vuitton show. Many of the designer runways seemed more of the same stark stages, thumping music and audiences distracted by their electronic gadgets but the Louis Vuitton fall catwalk in Paris commanded attention. Models dressed in their very best traveling clothes stepped off a reconstructed retro steam train. Valets carried the vintage-inspired hat boxes and vanity cases. The trip seemed refreshingly refined and modern. Two-tone Stella McCartney dresses. McCartney, no stranger to the red carpet, has created a style that celebrities can't get enough of. Her ultra-flattering ''silhouette'' dress has become almost ubiquitous. It features one color on the bodice and back, and a graphic opposite on the sides and sleeves.

Kate Winslet has worn several versions, and Brooklyn Decker, Kate Moss, Edie Falco and Liv Tyler have, too. The best turn might have been Jane Fonda at the Cannes Film Festival.    _

Beyonce's back-from-baby body. Some new mothers claim they feel sexier than ever. Beyonce was living proof at the Met Gala, the important industry event co-hosted by Vogue's Anna Wintour. Beyonce's skin-tight, largely sheer save the bodice beading and feathered fish-tail train _ gown by Givenchy announced that Ivy Blue Carter's mom wasn't going to hold back.

An honorable mention goes to Jessica Simpson, who dieted her way to a Weight Watchers ad then wound up pregnant again. 007's slim suits. Daniel Craig's wardrobe in ''Skyfall'' is impeccably tailored and quite tight. Unlike the James Bonds that came before him who all liked the traditional looser, longer cut of a Savile Row-style suit, Craig, whose wardrobe is created mostly by Tom Ford, takes his suits Euro style with tapered legs and shorter rises. There's no question Craig's super spy Bond will go down in history as one of the best, but it's fair to ask if he could pull off those impressive chases in clothes that tight.

Supermodel reunion at the London Olympics. Gold was the new black at the closing ceremony with a parade of supermodels wearing gilded gowns in a tribute to British fashion. Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell both had on Alexander McQueen, Georgia May Jagger's was by Victoria Beckham, Karen Elson was in Burberry, and Stella Tennant donned a Christopher Kane Swarovski-crystal catsuit. The soundtrack of course was David Bowie's ''Fashion.''