Mr Fashion

The surrealist Jean Cocteau once said, “Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.” And this year, if there is one thing over-the-top accessories can say—or shout—it’s that the economy still sucks, pardon my French.

The good news is women are athletes when it comes to acquiring accessories and hoarders when it comes to letting them go. Shoes and bags are considered keepsakes, works of art too precious to part with. In other words, you already may have plenty to work with. For Freud, of course, a purse symbolized the vagina, so it follows that loving gorgeous bags is a way of loving our bodies! Hey, that’s a new twist: Freud as a beacon of female empowerment.

But I digress. In a season when shopping your closet is the wisest financial move anyone can make, adding a few outlandish accoutrements to your wardrobe is a fashion statement that keeps on giving, wear after wear.

That’s especially true in this season of menswear and strong shoulders, particularly tuxedo ensembles and draped dresses (designs that evoke the down-market eras of the ’30s and ’80s, not coincidentally). What better way to accent these at times sober, even somber, looks than with a wacky heel or bag? My favorites include Nicolas Ghesquière’s side-tie market-weave platform in contrasting colors of purple and green—a shoe like this will perfectly balance a silky drape dress or a body-conscious suit, or even add a bright pop to the bottom of a menswear silhouette, à la YSL. Louis Vuitton has one of the sexiest yet subtlest ankle-strap heart-stoppers, with Marc Jacobs’ metal disc cinched heel. And for the more straightforward among you, there is Riccardo Tisci’s metal-studded T-strap at Givenchy.