Roy Caires, owner of Alter, peruses the racks

It's hard to stay on top of trends in a city like New York, where a fashion must can become a fashion don't as quickly as a career on Wall Street can fall from grace. You miss the days when mom laid out your skirt and spandex onesie the night before school--when you didn't have to think too much about whether or not a fedora worked with your skinny jeans and vintage tee. Between boozing, eating and sleeping, you barely have time to shop, let alone lend precious time to planning your day-to-day get-up. So skip the needless worry, and trust our expert shop clerks to do the tough work for you this season--from selecting the perfect all-in-one tuxedo at Albertine, to sorting through the racks at Mayle for the best winter coat. Their picks for fall's must-haves are stylish and of-the-moment. And if you need help finding that perfect pair of jeans, we've got that covered too.

Several weeks ago we alerted you to the Target Bullseye Bodegas, four pop-up shops that will be up from Sep. 12-15. I went to a preview event this morning and generally liked what I saw. There are 22 designers currently collaborating with Target, and visitors to the bodegas will get a crack at the merchandise before it heads out to stores across the country. The John Derian homewares (below) were by far the most impressive items for sale, followed by the $50 Anya Hindmarch bags. From our previous post:

The Bullseye Bodegas will be open from 10am-10pm from September 11-14, and are located in midtown (101 57th Street at 6th Ave), Union Square (813 Broadway between 11th and 12th Streets), Soho (489 Broome Street between Wooster and West Broadway) and the East Village (325 Bowery at 2nd Street).

More pics after the jump ...

You have goals! Ideas! Ambitions! And a growing list of "Things To Do While Living in NYC," which you started with the best intentions but have since neglected in favor of a longer, more important list of Ways to Get Drunk in the City. Lucky for you, there's a fun, easy way to scratch "walk across the Brooklyn Bridge" off that dusty old list. Head over to the bridge at 6pm tonight for Fashion Indie's No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn fashion show. There you'll find a crowd of spectators eyeing the procession of models and previewing looks from labels like Love Brigade, Brooklyn Royalty, Mandate of Heaven, New York Couture, all of which will be featured during the next 8 days of Fashion Indie Week Brooklyn.

For more fashion-related news, check out our coverage of New York shops.

Bodegas, aka the places where I buy Boar's Head sandwiches and Vitamin Water at 3am, are now more fashionable than ever. Ok, by "bodega" I mean "corporate bid for publicity," but still, this is pretty cool. Target, home of many a popular designer collaboration, is opening four "bodegas," or as they are known 'round these parts, pop-up shops. Average prices will be around $25, a great deal considering the roster of 22 designers includes Anya Hindmarch, Sigerson Morrison and Jonathan Saunders.

The Bullseye Bodegas will be open from 10am-10pm from September 11-14, and are located in midtown (101 57th Street at 6th Ave), Union Square (813 Broadway between 11th and 12th Streets), Soho (489 Broome Street between Wooster and West Broadway) and the East Village (325 Bowery at 2nd Street).

It pains you to admit it, but you're secretly superstitious. It's no accident that your significant other dumped you; you never would have been caught cheating were it not for that black cat that crossed your path. 

It's really about time you had some good luck for once, which is why you will make an extra effort to be one of the lucky 888 passersby on the corner of 57th and Madison Avenue tomorrow, August 8th, 2008, at 8:08am. There you will receive a red envelope containing one lucky Chinese dollar from a women dressed in a red silk dress, representing the Shanghai Tang boutique. Eight is the most auspicious number in Chinese culture, and not only will your dollar bring you well-deserved good luck, but its serial number might also entitle you to a shopping spree at the Shanghai Tang boutique in the amount of $888! To find out if you're that lucky, swing by the store up the block, at 600 Madison Avenue (between 57th and 58th Streets), and, whether or not you win the gift certificate, consider yourself lucky to check out the modern chic pieces by the luxury Chinese brand while there.

Then, because you're exhausted from all your new luck, treat yourself to a spa treatment. There are plenty of spa deals waiting to be exploited by lucky people like you.

Photo borrowed from Shanghai Tang

Gar-de trunk show at 141 Division Street on the LES

There's nothing quite like prefacing an evening out by perusing the racks at a trunk show. What better way to justify dropping $30 on dinner than by saving $500 or so on a high-quality leather jacket?

Last night on the Lower East Side, I stopped by 141 Division Street, where Gar-de was holding their first trunk show featuring a line of leather jackets for men and women. Dramatic collars and hoods stood out, as did the jackets' overall construction, involving lots of overlapping and crossovers.

The innovative designs, available to order, were a collaborative effort between designers Chris Viggiano and Jonathan Delagarde, branding consultant Jiminie Ha, creative director Ken Li and stylist/consultant Jessie Cohan. Gar-de's goal is to focus on a new product category and fabrication each season, ultimately culminating in completed men's and women's collections. The items from this season will soon be available at Oak in Noho and Brooklyn, but, being the avant-garde New Yorker you are, there's no better way to stay ahead of the fashion curve than to place an order through the website before they're available in stores.

For more shopping deals around New York, look to our list of sample sales and fashion events.

Shoppers in a frenzy at the Catherine Fulmer sample sale last night

Why cope with the crowds and commoners in a regular store when there are perfectly good penthouse apartments out there? That’s the question I asked myself last night, sipping a mojito, moseying about an apartment so spacious I forgot for a minute that I was in New York, rather than some other city where rent might actually cost less than the price of a vital organ.

The occasion was a sample sale for clothes by Catherine Fulmer, and the penthouse was in the Gramercy Yoo by Phillipe Starck building on East 23rd Street. Fulmer's a former model-turned-up-and-coming designer who drapes her duds on fashion-conscious celebs like Nicole Richie and Jaime King.

As a woman about town, in calling her clothes “timeless” Fulmer isn’t alluding to their sophistication--she means that they can literally be worn at any time. That kind of adaptability is reflected on the racks, oozing from styles that are just right for a busy day that morphs into a late night of dancing at Beatrice or Socialista--where you’re more than likely to bump into Fulmer at 3am.   

To add some Catherine Fulmer designs to your own collection, visit her on the web or check out the Satine store in Los Angeles.

Nolita's The Good, The Bad & The Ugly wasn't a misnomer; the store had some amazing clothes, but also some pieces that I couldn't imagine anyone in their right mind wearing. Still, I've always respected fearlessness over good taste, and the store has avoided being a Vogue-inspired clone of all the other high-end boutiques in Manhattan. So, it is with a heavy heart that I announce that after 8 years The Good, The Bad & The Ugly is closing down.

From July 11-13, the store is going out in style with DJs, discounts, ice cream and free champagne. Don't worry though, store owner and designer Judi Rosen has hinted she has another project in the works.