Fashion Turns Over a New Leaf

Ralph Lauren treads the middle ground, using dashes of color to complement the company's classic line of embroidered pinpoint oxfords. As with Hilfiger, Lauren offers checks, plaids, stripes and even a herringbone pattern, but the line's boldest fall statements are made by a hot-purple broadcloth dress shirt for $69.50 and a shirt with a haberdashery-inspired orange check pattern for $75.

On the more conservative end of the spectrum, once again, is Ermenegildo Zegna, whose fall dress shirts are a melange of low-voltage colors, restrained patterns and classic tailoring. Unlike others, Zegna has resisted the trend toward asymmetry and continues to craft shirts from regulation stripes that would make a mathematician proud. Shirts start around $200, but as with Zegna's suits, they're well made, guaranteed to look good and will stay stylish over the next few years.

Tweedledum, Tweedledee

After years of smooth wools and pinstripes in sleek, ultramodern shapes, designers are looking to fabrics that have more texture, history and character this fall. Enter tweed. Strange as it seems, tweed is hip again.

The fabric will be everywhere this fall, but in leaner and cleaner blended wools, unlike the lumpy, itchy tweeds that tend to smell like a wet dog after a few seasons of use. The tweed offerings for men will be limited to standard jackets and trousers, but women will find it in everything from handbags to dresses. The fabric was a cornerstone of Louis Vuitton's fall women's line and featured in a number of looks, including a dramatic wool tweed coat that served as the collection's signature piece.

Tweed isn't just lighter -- it's more colorful, too. Nanette Lepore has a navy tweed jacket with black satin accenting for $438, with a matching pencil skirt for $196. Albert Nipon features a red-and-white, three-piece tweed suit for $500 that's a throwback to the days when Jackie O was best known for pillbox hats and the color pink. And Theory has a bright green, chunky box tweed for $490 that's about as far from grandpa's closet as you can get.