The fashion wagon has rolled on from the Midwest to the Asian steppes, picking up inspiration from Inuit and Russian folklore along the way. Homespun embroideries and print medleys keep winter belles on the right ethnic trail.

　　Layers

　　Fashion whips up the layered look all over, and woos everyone with dresses and pinafores over gauchos and culottes, or dresses over track pants. If you can’t decide between trousers or skirts, wear both this fall.

　　Fashion marathon

　　Sports-inspired style has lasting power. It’s stayed on the fashion scene, season after season, charging designers to come up with charming athletic wear. Fashion’s front-runners continue to surge ahead, powered by sporty couture that mixes utility and comfort with high-energy style.

　　Urban goddess

　　She looks down on the world from seven-inch talons, and she goes to the vault not only to inspect her accounts but also her furs. She celebrates her comeback in luxe tweed, silk cashmere and all the couture fabrics. The uptown queen knows that it’s not what you eat, but what you wear: Belted trenches and fur-trimmed jackets are her armor.

　　Patchwork power

　　Squares are hip this season — especially if the squares all add up to patches of inspiration for fall. Mixing and matching goes down the retro road as designers take a bit of this and a bit of that to create a peasant theme. Bedspread squares come out of the bedroom in suede and leather patchwork and fabric prints.

　　Snow belles

　　Summer is over, but the magic of winter is on its way. Angels float down catwalks in everything from down-to-earth sports-inspired ensembles to gossamer gowns designed for a winter palace soiree. The perfect accessory would be a pair of cherub wings.

　　All night long

　　The caravan has reached a dark kingdom for fall, where the black rose blooms around the clock, and the look is inspired by the theatrical chic of Gothic. Fashion turns blacker than black, as romantic escapism meets the hard edge of modern cool for a subversive charm.

　　THE designers of Paris and Milan must have spent the summer holidays watching classic cinema. This fall’s line of bias-cut dresses are very similar to clothes worn by sexpots like Jean Harlow and Joan Crawford in the 1930s.

　　Pair that with this season’s must-have — a fur-trimmed coat — and we have an all-out return of glamor.

　　Peacoats and trench coats take a leaf out of St. Laurant’s book and play on the charm of military uniforms. Aviator jackets and parkas add a fighting spirit to girl power.

　　Jackets are back in force. If you don’t have an overcoat, you must have a wool shrug.

　　As for trousers, you can walk the walk in everything from wide-legged trousers, statement-making gauchos or trousers tucked into this season’s hippest footnote, boots.

　　It’s your choice, because designers agree to disagree and the spotlight continues to shine on their free spirited designs. Exquisite fabrics such as crumpled silks and velvets look as though they came out from an old chest in the attic.

　　Knits are also quite popular this year, and we’ll see a lot of chunky fisherman’s sweaters, Shetlands, and argyles. Appliques and lavish embroidery highlight old-fashioned charm on new-fashioned urban folkwear.

　　This season we’re revisiting the 1920s with its Jazz Age of sensual furs, chiffons and Art Deco prints. Influences from Victorian boudiors can be seen in the form of corsets and old lace.

　　And of course many are falling back on the modern classic, true blue denims. (SD-Agencies)