Addictions come in all forms; drugs, recreations, stimulations. One of the most expensive I've been aware of is fashion addiction, and one of the cleverest enablers on the market is the web business BagBorroworSteal.com.

Bag, Borrow or Steal works like Netflix for the fashionista. Customers can choose designer handbags, jewelry, sunglasses and more from its extensive collection to rent for a day, week, month or more. The item is then shipped to them. When the customer is ready to trade in the cool jewel or Prada purse, she sends it back to BBS. If she's fallen in love with the item, she also has the option to buy it outright.

The site offers several ancillary services, including a fashion consultant, a rewards program, and rentals grouped by trend, such as fashions popularized by Sex in the City. A member program also offers discounts off of the rental rate.

As you might expect, the rental, while paling in comparison with the purchase price, is still significant. A Prada Mirtillo Tote will set you back $100 a week, a Valentino Histore Patent Tote $137 a week. A Tiffany Eternal Link necklace runs $78 a week, a Vera Wang aquamarine ring $150 a week, and a Kara Ross Lizard and Ostrich Clutch as seen in Sex in the City $78 a week.

For special occasions or a celebratory splurge, Borrowdesignerbags.com could be a very reasonably priced option to experience the high life, a week at a time.

Other fashion tips:

Upcoming Henri Bendel sale

This is my second pair of black canvas flats from K-Mart's house label, Basic Editions. The first pair cost me about six dollars and change two years ago, and this pair cost about the same, two weeks ago. Sorry, they aren't available online, but if you drop by your friendly neighborhood K-mart, you should find them among the flipflops and summer shoes, in black, white and tan.

The cut is flattering and they look great with nearly everything. I've worn them downtown with cropped jeans, uptown with a designer pencil skirt and out of town with my swim cover-up.

Now, for under ten bucks, you don't get much in the way of engineering. These are thin rubber soles with a canvas lining, and I wouldn't wear them beating the pavement for hours. But for another few dollars, you could pimp them out with cushion insoles. Still cheap, still chic.

Kyran Pittman is a writer and blogger whose essays have been published in Good Housekeeping magazine and elsewhere. She writes about life, family, culture, and anything else she feels like at Notes To Self.

The 24 Tony Soprano auction items come from James Gandolfini's personal collection, and contain such gems as the button-down shirt that Soprano wore over the opening credits, the bloodstained clothes that he wore when he was shot in Season 6, and the garish geometric shirt that he sported in Season 5. The clothes will come with certificates of authenticity and are expected to fetch between $500 and $3000, depending on the item. Overall, experts are anticipating that Gandolfini's items will generate over $36,000. If you decide to hold off on wearing your Sopranos swag, you might just have a nice investment on your hands!

Apparently, Gandolfini has decided to donate all proceeds from the auction to the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps severely wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. While Tony Soprano might not agree with the idea of donating money to a cause, he would certainly appreciate your sense of fashion!

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. He's not a fan of Tony Soprano, but if Vito Corleone's wardrobe ever comes up for sale, he's cashing in a kidney!

Not satisfied with having already shod nearly every human foot in America, Crocs Inc. is setting its sights on your cellphone. Or camera. Or MP3 player. Its new $15 Crocs-o-dial are little shoes that hold an electronic device that you attach by strap or lanyard to yourself.

Seems like another overreach for a brand that has tried to nuzzle its way into clothing, high-priced shoes, retail stores, fake shoe laces, winter boots, and just about everything that could be made of Crocslite, its amazingly comfortable, smell-resistant foam. As Zac Bissonette pointed out this week on BloggingStocks, the company is starting to seem a little desperate. The stock once hit $70, but is now trading at about $11.

I myself suffered from Crocs mania for about a month last summer. I bought some Mary Janes and they were the ideal dog run shoe. (No treads on the bottom mean nothing gets stuck on your shoe). Then I decided to wear them to a bar. I felt ridiculous. I felt like I may as well have been wearing one of those sweatshirts that has some garish painting of a wolf or soaring eagle. Totally uncool.

When I was in middle school, I had trouble with fashion. A lot of trouble, according to my friends. I never thought about what I was wearing. I just threw something on and went to school, and for whatever reason, I was fond of wearing flannel button down shirts. And at some point, since this was before the grunge days of the 1990s when flannel became fashionable, someone pointed out to me that I looked like a nerd. From then on, I spent the rest of my middle and high school days always worrying about how I was dressed.

I've always liked the fact that ever since going to college, I've never had to really think about whether I'm in fashion or not. In college, you tend to dress down, and since I've worked in my home office for years, I can mismatch socks without a crisis erupting. That said, I get out into the world sometimes, interviewing CEOs, consultants and the like. I can't be completely fashion clueless.

All of this is preamble for the fact that Staples is unrolling what they see as fashionable accessories for the business person. They're calling their line M by Staples.

I'm sure if I had any sense of fashion, I'd know what the M refers to. Perhaps it's a parody of another fashion designer? As it is, all I can think of is that James Bond likes to hang around letters, like his gadget guru Q. But I have a feeling I'm getting off topic.

Bamboo? Who knew?

Well, consumers in Asia did, and probably plenty of fashion-conscious shoppers in America knew all about the benefits of bamboo fabric, but I sure didn't. Clothes made out of bamboo are supposedly environmentally friendly because its one of the fastest growing plants, and you don't need pesticides to grow it in the way that you do when you're farming, say, cotton. There's also an alleged benefit to bamboo-made clothing because bamboo is known for having anti-bacterial properties.

But there have been some drawbacks, such as the sun's ultraviolet rays being able to go right through the clothing. You can wear bamboo and apparently still get a sunburn.

This post is part of our series on people, places and things that have found new life in 2008.

Finally. Just when you've lost faith in everything stylish and genteel, men's hats are making a comeback. Not a moment too soon, if you ask me.

Time was every man wore a hat in public. Everyone, from the businessman down to the worker. You were undressed without one. But somewhere along the line the norm loosened. They say that once Jack Kennedy was sworn into the presidency, hatless, in 1961, men's head gear soon went the way of the clean, close shave.

But times have changed once again. Oh, for the stylishly daring, the hat never went away. Willie Brown, the dapper former mayor of San Francisco, was never without his fedora. The more dashing of hip-hoppers were already wearing the older style gentleman's hats, perhaps following the lead of the always elegant Sean Combs. But the tide turned for men's hats back in 2005, say fashion wonks, when Brad Pitt donned several deeply natty straw fedoras in a 2005 cover shoot for W Magazine. With Angelina, of course.

As luxury fashion's market grows and reaches consumers who once never would have dreamed of buying expensive bags, the industry is facing a backlash: If too many people have a luxury item, it loses some of its cache.

Like the restaurant that no one goes to anymore because it's too crowded, some fashion-conscious shoppers are turning away from the top labels in search of hot bags that other people don't have. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "... as big luxury brands have expanded world-wide, offering more entry-level products to reach more consumers, some high-end shoppers are getting turned off. The proliferation of knockoffs has helped erode the mystique of owning a high-end bag... As retailers head into the new year, some are declaring that "it" is over."

Someone should print that article out and send it to all the teenage girls who would drive their parents into the poorhouse in pursuit of the "it" bag. Think about it: How stylish can you be if you're wearing the same stuff everyone else is? That isn't stylish! It's copying.

Some of the most fashion-forward people I know shun the big-name high-price labels, opting instead to craft their own unique looks at other stores -- sometimes even thrift shops!

Think of putting together inexpensive but hot outfits as a challenge -- If you really do have style, you should be able to do it.

With all the unsettling news about the likelihood of a recession, you'll be relieved to know that the designer clothing market for the "stroller and grade school sets" is booming. Time Magazine recently devoted a feature story ("Downsizing Style. Why Kids are the latest consumers of pricey designer clothing and accessories") to haut couture for six-year olds.

The Time story carries a picture of "Little Miss Runway," dressed in designer everything, carrying shopping bags from Dolce & Gabbana and Juicy Couture. She looks outstanding - but this, after all, is an article about $300 Little Marc cashmere sweaters and $225 linen and cotton belted Safari dresses. The conclusion drawn is that kids are "getting more and more involved in choosing...what they wear" and that, "parents are expressing their own status by outfitting their kids who are more clothes conscious than ever."

Be forewarned that as a children's therapist, I am opposed on every conceivable ground. Financial. Child Psychology. Morals. Let's take these one at a time.