A great bright yellow parka adds great color in winter. (Despite the fact that it was a March day, it was freezing.) Note the cropped trousers and oversized scarf. On him: black fur. It’s not just for women anymore. Excellent sunglasses on both of them.

A cool mash up of disparate elements: shorts, leopard print top, Chloe lace-up boots, and a two-tone coat. Notice: gray socks!

A mid-calf length floral skirt, blue suede sandals and a fedora. The runways have featured lots of longer skirt lengths; the trend may just catch on, especially if the material is light and feminine like this.

This much-photographed girl has a daring and cute pixie haircut under her fur hat.

I believe this is Julia Restoin-Roitfeld in the shaggy black fur and lace-up boots – but I am bad a recognizing people, so let me know if I’m wrong. Those Victorian-style lace-up boots seem to be very similar to the ones Carine Roitfeld wore the day earlier, though.

Here’s another development in fur: dyed furs, like this green one.

Leopard scarf and a belted coat with raw edges.

Silk dress in military green paired with pearls.

The colorblock effect of a large plaid pattern on her coat mixed with a yellow scarf and two tone bag.

This belted look is the way to wear boyfriend sweaters now: with an emphasis at the waist that’s a little more girly.

A model off duty in a neutral mix of gray, brown and black.

Another model off duty in a gray feather coat and Fendi bag.

The same gray feather coat on another model off duty, abstract black and white floral print shirt.

A black wool coat with oversized lapels. Love the 1920s hairdo.

Model off duty in ferocious leopard print platform heels.

A toggle coat with a hood frames her face beautifully.

An interesting furry twist on a Chanel classic.

A wonderfully outlandish, colorful feather coat and azure blue dress and shoes.

A coat of a different stripe.

Gallic pride: dressing in red, white and blue.

What do you do when you want to wear spring clothes but it’s freezing outside? Put on your best spring coat and make a run for the indoors, as this girl did.

Another dyed fur, this time in vermillion red.

A very fashion-forward look of uniform camel color that anticipated the Chloe fall winter 2010 collection shown two days later.

An amazing gray cinch waist coat with embroidered edging and pom poms. Also worn with Victorian-style lace-up boots.

Bright yellow pants and caramel-colored leather makes me wish we were in Provence.

You don’t have to be a photographer to envy this Billingham camera bag, which would fit perfectly with spring’s military trend.

Beth Ditto of the Gossip arrives in a silk flower-print dress and elaborate makeup.

Kate Lanphear in a gray coat with an abstract print. Another interesting thing about her style is her jewelry: though she always wears a lot of bracelets and rings (and is at least partly responsible for the studded bracelet trend exploding now in stores), she never seems to wear any earrings. Her style seems resolutely androgynous. But then you consider those heels….

Grande dame of French fashion Sonia Rykiel departing her show.

A gray abstract print dress and a gray fur stole.

Love, love knit hoods like these, which double as big scarves. The red glasses and orange nail polish add a quirky pop of color.

Great French intellectual look of beret, black framed glasses and a trench.

An amazing asymmetrical haircut and black strappy sandals worn with – of course – gray socks.

Imagine the wondrous things you could do with this! The Bagel Spice site suggests using it on top of eggs, but the possibilities are endless. Think of grilled meat or shrimp kebabs rolled in everything bagel spices, for instance, instead of plain old sesame seeds. You could use everything bagel spice on the rim of a Bloody Mary glass. Or a brilliant Passover solution – matzoh bread with cream cheese sprinkled with everything bagel spice.

It’s enough almost make you give up the original everything bagel – almost.

Bagel Spice ($4.99), available online

Urban Daddy: Spice World

She has this androgynous petit gamin look that’s just fascinating. A good example of how the guests can really bring a designer’s vision to life at a fashion show.

A big-shouldered fur and combat-boot heels mix uptown and downtown sensibilities.

Carine Roitfeld in a belted trench and Victorian style lace up boots.

Hedging one’s bets on a cold spring day: a poufy white cotton skirt paired with warm black tights.

Long, draped knit layers create a sculptural effect.

The tough look of black leather jeans.

Michael Roberts of Vanity Fair.

Loving this nudish-pink color for spring. A great spring coat.

The cool ’70s retro glasses frames really make the outfit.

Maximalist fashion in the form of a big fur jacket, studded shoes and a captain’s hat.The beautiful red rosette clutch gives the whole look a pop of color.

More ’70s retro glasses frames. Though many designers are now putting out frames like these, this is one trend that really came up from the street, started by 20-somethings in places like Williamsburg and its European equivalents. It really picked up some speed when American Apparel began selling inexpensive vintage frames a year or so ago.

A minimalist silhouette with maximalist hair.

Lynn Yaeger and Sarah Rutson.

Layers of neutral gray, black and white. Notice: gray socks. More on those later.

Kate Lanphear in an oversize poncho with fur trim.

Bright eastern colors of saffon yellow and washed pink add zing to an otherwise all black outfit.

Obsessed with her pink color rinse hair.

How do you know when the show has started? The massive doors to the old convent shut tight, and outside the publicists (from Michele Montagne) have a cigarette and wait.

A beautifully executed top knot. She has taken the loose bits of hair and pinned them around the sides.

Mixing neutrals with black: a putty-colored Hermes bag and pale fur stole.

More platform wedges, this time with goth-y black velvet and buckles.

Model Tanya Dziahileva in a patchwork fur vest and black over-the-knee boots. While I have not seen a lot of over-the-knee boots on the street (though they were supposed to be the It shoe of fall/winter 2009), they are – not surprisingly – very popular with models. A fabulous look when you have legs up to here.

Another model off duty in a midnight blue belted coat and lace-up boots.

A spiky version of the updo – a model still in her hair from the show.

Ann Demeulemeester’s ultra-tough sensibility really is in tune with what models wear off duty. Though they may be modeling super feminine, frilly dresses at many of the French shows, afterwards many of them immediately change into something bad ass. Here a black fur shrug softens the silhouette of a leather motorcycle jacket.

More all black with touches of fur and over-the-knee boots: there’s a pattern emerging.

The danger of a black wool coat is that it can be boring, unless it has cool sculptural elements like this one, worn with motorcycle boots.

corrections amended

On to the next place: Delaville, a newish addition to the slew of Costes restaurants in the city. When we asked for a table in the shabby chic dining room, we were referred to a tall guy who barely paused between waiting on tables, bartending, and managing the staff to tell us that the wait for a table would be at least an hour, though there was no sign of anyone else waiting. We were welcome, however, to eat in the bar, so we settled in there. Our table on the cold, glassed in patio had all the charm of the old Dallas BBQ on 8th Street. Ah, Paris.

At least the menu was something different: light dishes that even included some vegetarian options, which is not easy to find in this city of meat. The scallop and salmon ceviche (8.5 €) was the best thing we had all night. Buttery, fresh salmon and lightly saline scallops were cut into small strips and tossed with lime and olive oil.

We detected some king crab in the king crab with whipped avocado (11 €), but not a lot. “There’s something in here,” Ms. S. said, prodding the whipped avocado with her fork. Indeed, there was a mystery slice of off-season tomato wedged in the bottom of the cylindrical glass dish. To make the layers look pretty? Or to take up room otherwise occupied by the more expensive ingredients of avocado and crab? This bland tomato certainly wasn’t something you’d want to eat.

We ordered another bottle of wine.

If you are looking for a punch of Thai spices in the chicken in green curry (16 €) you will be disappointed, because there isn’t any. At least the accompanying mango and haricots verts lend some bright flavor to the dish.

Steak tartare (16 €) can be made two ways, traditionelle or aller retour, in which case it’s flash seared on one side then the other before being ground. As at most other places here, the steak tartare is mixed with egg and other ingredients in the kitchen, not tableside, which is disappointing if you like the whole theater of the dish. The quality of the meat in De la Ville’s tartare is quite good, but the final preparation lacked any real seasoning.

Meanwhile, we ate our main courses without any wine, because the bottle never arrived. “Is that our waitress out there…smoking?” Ms. S. indicated a woman smoking and laughing it up outside. Yes, that was our waitress. She finally brought our wine just as our plates were taken away, just so we’d have some more time to enjoy that glamorous patio.

There are no photos with this article because I left my camera at the restaurant. When I called about it, I was told that no one had turned it in.

Bien sûr.

Delaville Cafe
34, boulevard Bonne Nouvelle
10th arrondissement
Paris
01 48 24 48 09
delavillecafe.com

A patterned cape and exaggeratedly long black legs with wedge boots.

Sitting by the pond in a quirky but cool outfit that combines a parka and black knit hat with the traditional French silk scarf.

A photo blogger in a pom pom hat and bronze metallic Doc Martens checks her images.

A lean silhouette and a cross necklace, which seems to be making a surprising comeback for spring and fall, often in Byzantine styles.

Neutral silk jumpsuit, pom pom hat and a fur jacket.

A plaid coat in blue and gold.

Extreme fashion: super high platforms. And a braid.

A gray fur vest tops off this neutral, sophisticated outfit.

A photographer in stars and stripes.

Long scarf tails fly in the wind.

Sarah Rutson of Lane Crawford in a great casual weekend outfit for the shows: leather shorts, over-the-knee boots, and a striped sweater with gold tassles.

Blogger Susie Lau of Style Bubble in a mirrored skirt and pastel colors.

A black dress with punched out holes brings some avant garde flair to the mix.

A blue silk jumpsuit channels the Orientalism trend.

Blue metallic platform stilettos to match.

A red polka dot dress and black fur jacket.

A girl in a sheared haircut and black bowler hat attracted a lot of attention from photographers.

A photographer in combat chic.

A fluffy gray fur jacket catches the March afternoon light in the courtyard of the Couvent des Cordeliers.

Red lipstick and socks, white beret and black mod sunglasses.

Models arrived at the show via chauffeured motorcycle (all the better to cut through traffic) and ran in, still in hair and makeup from the Christian Dior show that had just ended across town.

Floral patterned leggings and tights: a sign of spring.

A layered, sculptural gray coat.

Another model in off duty clothes: black leather miniskirt, sleek black biker boots, and a chain link bag.

A parka with fur.

Love her rakish green fedora and bright yellow lace-up shoes.

Filipa Fino of Vogue in a double breasted coat and black stiletto platform boots.

There’s an interesting article in today’s WWD about the preponderance of fur on the fall runways. Many of the coats are in patchwork styles like this one.

A swingy leopard print fur coat works well with black leather leggings.

Anna dello Russo in her feather and sequin belted coat.

Strappy black stilettos finish off a black and white look.

Another great high-low mix of a plain black knit cap and very polished belted coat.

A wild haircut and black leather jacket.

Love her style – the giant afro and skinny jeans emphasize the current top-heavy silhouette.

A skirt with a Southwestern pattern gets mixed into an otherwise very urban outfit.

They may look scary in the store, but these legging-style jeans really can exaggerate the length of your legs, especially when worn with platform stilettos.

Three chic women waiting to cross the street.

A closer look at a colorful outfit of a pink blazer, mustard pants, and royal blue suede sandals.

An alternative to legging-style jeans is these wide cropped trousers, worn here with a little bit of her black polka dot stockings showing at the ankle. Plus: another rakish hat.

Note the mid-calf length of her white lace skirt – it’s the direction hemlines are going for fall 2010.

Faded denim is another key development for fall and spring.

Mixing a fur coat with a fedora.

The collection had a ’50s biker chick theme–fitting given the models’ arrival.

Neutral layers get a kick from sexy cropped jeans.

These glittery leggings, great for evening, looked particularly intriguing when paired with a conservative, slightly oversized overcoat.

Hemlines might have dropped at shows like Marc Jacobs, but they stayed super mini at Isabel Marant, which maintains a consistently sexy appeal.

Studded stilettos in the front row.

Layers of abstract silk prints in autumn color get cinched at the waist by a kimono-style leather belt.

Fur appeared in Marant’s collection as well, paired with a cocktail dress.

A favorite look – black fur jacket and leather pants.

Autumn colors in the final procession. Also note the blingy, dangly earrings on all the models.

One thing is very different from olden times – there are many more photographers!

Leigh Lezark in a silk dress and green satin bow stilettos.

Gray, fur, and a Dior bag.

A white woolly coat is perfect for a cold but sunny March day.

Love the look of long hair and a black knit cap – especially when worn with a beautiful sculptural coat.

A camel-colored leather jacket and pale beige bag are a great transition into spring.

An elegant look of a double breasted overcoat and light blue scarf.

The beautiful Victorian silhouette of a fur trimmed coat and hat and velvet shoes.

A ’70s Americana look of belted poncho and pale suede boots. This was one of many rakish hats seen that day.

Military poncho and tough-chic lace-up, peep-toe stilettos in military drab.

Extreme wedges are the shoe du jour – like these in black suede with a zipper detail.

Look for more faded denim like this jacket come spring – a little ’70s retro, but it looks fresh and new now.

More extreme wedge platform heels, this time with mirrored sides.

Individualistic style: a red silk jumpsuit and navy coat.

Glenda Bailey and an equally chic colleague in a leopard print fur scarf.

Black coat, fur scarf and gold platform heels on a fashion week regular.

Here’s a new development: Sheer white stockings. They look especially great with a white lace dress. These look prettier than black tights at this time of year.

More sheer white tights, this time paired with a beautiful dove gray jacket.

Hamish Bowles in a gray overcoat and purple scarf. The mustache suits him well.

Hair is turning up in every color of the rainbow, like this pale pink color. It’s a light wash on platinum hair.

Invitations in hand.

A beautiful ombre silk dress in gray and black, paired with a white coat.

Her colorful silk scarf is a mishmash of leopard and floral prints.

Gray leopard prints and legging-skinny jeans.

Extreme, wide-shoulder version of a double-breasted overcoat.

Carine Roitfeld poses for a photo with French fashion fans. Simple but elegant silk black coat.

A red fur coat and gold statement necklace. Plus: crazy high black suede wedges with a gold metallic heel.

Her clothes are wonderful, but the thing to notice here is her hair and very little makeup. Chic French women are opting for the au naturel beauty look–a sexy, slightly disheveled look popularized by Carine Roitfeld.

A sort of military-meets-safari look will be all the rage in the coming months.

Killer heels. These too are lace-up with a gold metallic trim.

Anna Dello Russo arrived in an elaborate feather and sequin coat. She seemed to be taping a TV show that day.

Two young fashion fans and photographers.

A great and unexpected combination of colors: red, black, white, and purple.

The reason for its popularity becomes clear as soon as an amuse bouche lands on the table: a steaming cup of soup, balanced between creamy and light, rings in the spring with its first pungent note of leeks and a base of white potatoes.

A special of seared foie gras could be a textbook lesson in how to do this dish. Slightly pink, chilled to a perfect cellar coolness and processed to a dense but velvety texture, it first hits you with the scent of cognac and then a base note of shallots. Spread it on thin crisp toasts and top it with the accompanying roasted pear confit, and you’ve got a wonderful appetizer that could be a meal in itself.

The kitchen deviates from the purely French by serving lamb shoulder over polenta, pictured at top, yet turns around and reinforces its Frenchness by mixing that polenta with cream, butter, thyme and homemade chicken stock. The heartily seasoned lamb, redolent with herbs and shallots, meets its match in the intense red wine sauce made with veal or lamb stock, which not only makes it glisten but gives it that distinct umami flavor no stewed meat should be without.

All this costs just the prix fixe price of 32 €, plus 4 € extra for upgrading to the foie gras appetizer. There are a number of reasonably priced, good wines on the menu, like this light Coteaux d’Aix half bottle for 14 €. La Ferrandaise’s setting is casual with lofty aspirations to match the concept: an elaborate mural of cows in a pasture (a “ferrandaise” is a breed of cow native to Europe) faces an exposed stone wall—the Parisian version of exposed brick, plus a hundred years or so.

There’s an excellent cheese plate (4€), too. To make it, your server will just bring over the whole slate of cheeses and lop off several chunk, in this case two blues, a tomme, and a cow’s milk cheese.

As with many good Parisian restaurants, it’s French speakers in front, tourists in back. (I considered it a minor triumph to be seated in a middle purgatory area next to a couple speaking French with a country accent.) Service is pretty homey and casual—you have to retrieve your own coat from the coat check—but convivial and friendly.

One note of warning: though it isn’t in the Michelin guide yet, La Ferrandaise is in Time Out Paris, and already tourists are vying with local regulars for the few coveted seats in the house. (Fortunately, it’s open for lunch, and until midnight Friday and Saturday.) Let this be your incentive to visit Paris again soon.

La Ferrandaise
8 Rue de Vaugirard, between Rue Monsieur le Prince and Place de l’Odeon
Sixth Arrondissement
Paris, France
08 92 68 06 89
laferrandaise.com

Bacon-wrapped shellfish are nothing new—until you take prawns ($16), and wrap the tender midsection in the thinnest layer of lardo so that the whole thing dissolves in your mouth. These come on a bed of rosemary lentils. The whole dish is the perfect combination of sea and earth.

Truffles get a light treatment in the fonduta sauce with grilled ciabatta and a poached duck egg. Though the sauce could have used a little more salt, the ciabatta was charred perfection, the duck egg and fonduta a decadent side—especially for just $6.

Faustina’s olive oil-poached sardines ($12) from the extensive raw bar (manned by that sushi chef) are a reason for Americans to reconsider their aversion to this much-maligned fish. The accompanying artichokes and preserved lemon give them a Moroccan touch.

The meaty, succulent beef short ribs ($16) were braised to the point of falling apart and served on top of spaetzle, which, though it’s considered Austrian, is also quite popular in Fruili (Lidia’s home town).

The deep, earthy flavor of braised oxtail and bone marrow got a jolt from concentrated tomato. This is country cooking in high form: dollops of rich stew on a symmetrical row of semolina dumplings.

Here’s that cannelloni ($17): the sunshine-y baby tomatoes were showcased on top, while the pasta beneath were buried in melted burrata. It’s like a window into summertime in the dead of winter.

The kitchen doesn’t stop paying attention at dessert: An excellent torrone panna cotta ($9) with nougat, honey caramel and pistachio meringue had a gelatinous feel and balanced sweetness that elevated the traditional dessert to an almost Asian take on the Italian. Scrape your spoon down to the bottom and you’ll reach a thin layer of grated spices for the final flourish.

The bar also hews to a similar jet-setting philosophy: here the Il Fumatore ($12), a vodka and blood orange cocktail, gets a hit of mezcal, making it a very current apertivo indeed.

This all suits the crowd at the Cooper Square Hotel, where English was only one of several languages being spoken around us. Gone are the bad vibes of Table 8, whose smoking patrons famously irritated its neighbors to the point that they strung their dirty laundry across the hotel’s patio in an act of vengeance. The sophisticated, glittering dining room that’s taken its place is quite peaceful by comparison. And though this place is hot right now, it’s not impossible to get a table here. You can book through Open Table and get an early or late slot at relatively short notice, or walk in and sit in the bar area.

Lord knows how Scott Conant had time to launch such a great new restaurant in less than a month and be there seven days a week—especially now that he has a brand-new baby at home, too. But even Cooper Square Hotel detractors in the neighborhood would have to admit: Faustina has brought a democratic take on alta cucina to the Bowery.

Faustina
25 Cooper Square, corner of the Bowery and East 5th Street
New York, NY
212-475-5700
thecoopersquarehotel.com/the-restaurant

Before you consider the place doomed, know that while this is still El Chod’s space, the owners of the very successful Almond restaurant from the Hamptons are much of the time, making sure things run smoothly. The crowd has gotten a polish too. Gone are those grubby locavores that patronized Borough, now the crowd includes stick-thin women in wrap dresses and big jewelry, men with winter tans and cashmere V-necks. (”They’re not on our team, ladies,” our waitress whispered.) Chelsea Clinton dined there on a recent night. Celebrities, gays, emaciated women, face lifts: Almond is a Hamptons away from the Hamptons, and I mean that in the best possible way.

To my dismay, Almond just changed their cocktail menu, which is too bad because now it doesn’t include the Sidecar Royale ($12), which was a luxe version of the sidecar with champagne and a sugar rim. Maybe the bar will make one on request if you ask for it.

The house smoked bluefish with Greek yogurt, dill, and crispy latke ($10.50) was a noble effort: I endorse any attempt to popularize smoked bluefish. Almond’s has the right flavor, but it’s a little on the light side. Properly smoked bluefish should really stink. The house-cured copa crudo ($9) with with a lemony salad of baby greens was very nice, though again they needed more oomph in the smokehouse. Can you even really smoke things in Manhattan given the restrictive zoning laws? Unclear.

Don’t skip the sides: Swiss-cheesy mac and cheese ($7)  was very good one night, a little under-salted on another, and there was no salt on the table. (Update on this trend from a friend of mine who was a server at the Palm: Apparently the reason that salt shakers aren’t on the table anymore isn’t because of any Bloomberg initiative but because people have been stealing them. Even rich people. Even at fancy places. No kidding.) The mac and cheese is emblematic of Almond itself: it’s not crazy good, it’s not bad, but it’s nourishing and sustaining and provides you with decent food while you’re enjoying the scene. A side of polenta ravioli ($7) was highly unorthodox – you’d be as likely to see a starch inside a starch in Italy as you would a turducken – but still very good and delectably buttery.

The kitchen puts a lot of focus on sauces and sides but sometimes neglects the central piece of meat or fish on the plate. An entree of grilled sea scallops with caramelized endive polenta ravioli, duck prosciutto and cippolini onions ($26.25) seemed calibrated for a girly palate, with several clashing sweet tastes and slightly tough scallops in the center. While the arctic char was bland and under-salted, the huckleberry sauce that accompanied it was too sweet.

The roast chicken “au vin” ($19.25) with its thyme-flecked crispy skin fared better, and the accompanying “au vin” sauce added more depth of flavor without overpowering everything else on the plate.

While an entrée listing of “steamed market vegetables with a single boiled egg” may be unintentionally hilarious, the croque provencal was a gargantuan amount of food. It was a flavorful, good gratin, but the mega size of it all rendered it very un-French.

Almond offers a rotating cast of daily specials, like the whole roasted fish available on Thursdays. Our roasted sea bass experience was problematic, since we did not get to see the whole, beautiful fish before they filleted it. Then there was the case of the missing avocado. After remarking that it tasted “like spa food,” because the fish was so mild and naked, J. Marciano realized they’d neglected to add the avocado intended to be part of the dish. When the missing avocado was delivered, the fatty butteriness really did change up the whole equation, but unfortunately we’d already eaten half the fish by then. Everything surrounding the fish – bruschetta with an olive puree, perfectly cooked vegetables dressed in basil vinaigrette – were intensely flavorful and excellent.

For dessert, a pear cake with red wine sorbet was one of the best things we ate all night one night – the light texture, dense fruit flavor of the mildly sweet cake played off the tartness of the wine sorbet – a real winner.

For the most part, the food at Almond is decent, not fantastic. And yet – and yet! – I have recommended Almond to several people and returned here to dine again. Why? Because like the best Hamptons locale, it’s comfortable but glamorous. The menu is varied, the theme is consistent, and you don’t have to sell your first born to get a table here, even for five or six people. Unlike Borough, which was all over the place, this restaurant has real direction and substance – and will probably be at 12 East 22nd Street for a long time to come.

Almond
12 East 22nd Street, between Fifth Avenue and Broadway
New York, NY
212-228-7557
almondnyc.com