A Ray of Light

Ray of Light is one of those albums that I come back to again and again, like a musical Bhagavad Gita. It's Madonna and the genius William Orbit at their collaborative best - this is what Awakening sounds like.

The "Material Girl" becoming a Spiritual Girl.

Look at the LP cover: She never glowed like she did c.1998; that Ashtanga yoga practice was serious. When I'm getting too far from the center, this collection helps bring me back to mental equilibrium, organic fruit, white tea, Buddha beads, lotus position, and right mind.

Desperately Seeking a Roll of Rubber Bracelets

I was too little to see "Desperately Seeking Susan" (1985) when it came out and I never got around to seeing it on a Netflix/newtwork television type of occasion until last week. Never even knew what the plot was, only that Madonna was in it. But I could hardly pay attention to the action (bored housewife gets amnesia and wrongly thinks she's the free-spirited Downtown girl played by Madge), what with all the black rubber bracelets, oversize hair-bows, and lace bustiers. I don't know why 80s fashion, which is having a major resurgence, gets such a bad rap. It wasn't all shoulder pads and neon, people! Pre-Giuliani New York gets top billing here too for nostalgic New Yorkers.

'Gossip Girl' for '80s Babies

Teen sitcoms written by adults (aren't they always?) can go very badly (think melodramatic The O.C. with a vacant Mischa Barton) or rather well (like Dawson's Creek, which launched a couple of young Hollywood careers.) And as I've mentioned before, I'm a card-carrying Gossip Girl fan, from the fashion to the soundtrack to the scripts, loves it. I was excited to hear that it was getting its own prequel/spinoff set in 1980s Los Angeles. But after network upfronts, the fate of the still-untitled show is still in limbo; fingers crossed.

Not only would I get to indulge in eighties fashion porn ranging from stirrup pants to lace gloves and tutus, but I'd get a peek at a city I don't know much about, save for an ill-fated trip I took a few years ago thinking I'd rekindle the love with my already-ex-boyfriend. His California was as glossy as it looks in the InStyles and US Weeklys, from the Chateau Marmont to Robertson Boulevard. But there's an underground L.A., too, with a thriving music and fashion scene, and I think the writers aim to capture that - only 20 years earlier.

Brittany Snow (pictured, left, with Krysten Ritter) will play Lily Rhodes, mother of GG socialite Serena van der Woodsen, in all her fab teendom. Lily flees her posh Santa Monica boarding school to join her "rebellious" sister on the Sunset Strip. I hear Lily has some Almost Famous moments, giving up the groupie love, and that's how she eventually encounters GG's veteran rock star, Rufus.

The Gloved One

Maybe you were like me, and capped second grade with a sacred ceremony to rival a chapel wedding in its grandeur. For my First Communion - a religious rite Caribbean Catholic households are known to fete with lavish receptions - my mother outfitted this 7-year-old in an ecru gown and wrist-length gloves of elaborate lacework. At the time, I hated that my dress wasn't looseleaf-paper white like every other girls' (lady had to be different!), but I remember loving my handwear. Never mind that I looked like a tiny cake topper - I was having a "Like a Virgin" moment. Now that I'm all grown up, I find something so devilishly naughty about white lace gloves. Say what you will about the former Mrs. Ritchie, but after all these years, she still owns the look. (W, March 2009)

See Spot. Run and Cop These Pants.

My life sometimes feels like a high-wire act, one that requires nimbly balancing any number of competing goals and desires. I've decided that if you're gonna go through life walking a tightrope, might as well do it in style! These cranberry-colored silk polka-dot trousers ($1,250, detail, at right) from Louis Vuitton's spring/summer 2009 collection, had me seeing spots when they were first previewed last Spetember. Enough to make a girl drop the bad-news Business section of The New York Times and join the circus. And now the parachute pants are everywhere: Model Jourdan Dunn sported them in a February 2009 Vogue spread; Lindsay pairs them with a boyfriend blazer and midriff-baring tee on the cover of Nylon's April 2009 anniversary issue, and Ms. Ciccone features them in the latest LV campaign.