Musings of a fashion martyr

Editor's Note: This blog entry contains quite a bit of whining. You've been warned.

I climbed up on the cross, a hacking, wheezing fashion martyr on a mission. I'm shopping our fall fashion spread for Style while battling my first case of bronchitis since college.

(cue the violins ... here comes the whining)

I really wanted to just stay home on Monday and sleep (since I was jarred awake with alarming regularity by my abdomen-aching coughs all night on Sunday). Multiple cups of steaming Tazo Refresh tea were calling my name. So was the backlog of "No Reservations" on TiVo.

I accepted my fate: Fall trends and appointments wait for no one, especially sleep-deprived editors who dare complain about having to shop. As a job.

Instead, I'll focus my cantankerousness on summer "trends" I'll be all too happy to see disappear:

The summer scarf: Either you're cold or you're not. Wearing a scarf with a spaghetti strap sundress just makes people wonder what you're trying to hide on your neck. A hickie? Ew.

Ill-fitting sundresses: Not everyone can (or should) wear strapless. If your girls are hanging low (and you can't or won't wear a bra), do us all a favor -- change your dress.

Crocs: Please, please, please make them go away, in all their incarnations. In case you're wondering, they are not OK to wear with socks. Ever. Especially if you're older than three.

Pegged jeans: Since at least two celebs have been spotted sporting the most horrid trend of the 1980s, we should place bets on when it'll show up in Charlotte.

To what summer trends are you ready to say "buh-bye?"