This season's obsession with peplum signals the return of glamour and the hourglass shape. And it's just in time to work full on glamour with the ubiquitous red lip. As seen on the spring 2012 runways of Badgley Mischka, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Thakoon, Jason Wu--and the list goes on!--the ultra-feminine nipped then skirted at the waist shape has been part of the Western fashion lexicon since before Cleopatra seduced Alexander the Great. The ancient greeks were onto something...

In December of 2011, Gossip Girl Blake Lively, pictured above, inaugurated this season in peplum on the red carpet, at the launch of Jason Wu's Target Collection. The sleeved, black peplum dress actually IS available in the collection. Or should I say WAS available! Looking for great, quality options and alternatives to what everyone else will be wearing? Check out our list of vintage peplum--jackets, tops, dresses, even skirts--in And Pair It With Peplum!

New MVP's!! (Most Vintage Personalities, that is!)

There isn't a best-dressed, style, or trendsetter list in France that does not include the two young women making bookends of this photo: Lou Doillon and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Doillon and Gainsbourg are the two most fashionable daughters of  legendary French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, and Jane Birkin (also pictured above). As a young actress, singer, and style icon-in-the-making herself, Birkin's effortless cool, risk-taking allure, and boyish sex appeal turned the head of not only Serge Gainsbourg, but most of the fashion and film worlds. It was after her that Hermes named its iconic "Birkin" bag! She's since passed her sartorial superiority on to her two daughters, Charlotte, and Doillon, who mix vintage, menswear-inspired, and some of that good old Gainsbourg/Birkin rock and roll sex appeal to carry on the tradition of great style! First, get some background on the life and times of the trendsetting trio in The House of Gainsbourg-Birkin. Then check out our step-by-step guide to getting the ultimate vintage-inspired style of Gainsbourg-Birkin-Doillon!

Menswear-inspired looks added some much needed testosterone to the runways recently, from butterfly collar suits at Louis Vuitton to Marc by Marc Jacobs' tweedy "professor" trenches and masculine booties. But beyond being trendy, masculine-inspired looks are always helpful for the 9-5 set. The boardroom set. The "how can I look appropriate and feminine at the same time" set...

Alas vintage clothing is not normally considered work wear. It's more for unique night looks and quirky brunch fashion. Enter the shirt dress. Essentially a mens' shirt long enough to cover your goods, and feminine enough to call a dress, the shirt dress is a guaranteed "kill too birds with one stone" look. Just take a look at Botticelli babe, Christina Hendricks as Joanie from popular AMC show, Mad Men, in this wicked, electric blue shirt dress. Check out the quintessential list of office-friendly options in Work, Work, Work! 9 Vintage Shirt Dresses.

I would never have actually chosen her as an MVP. If you read this blog enough, you know that by MVP, I mean Most Vintage Personality. Those fashion forward celebrities who mix haute couture with thrift shop finds to craft the most creative, inspired looks. Women of the red carpet who don't follow fashion rules, and are all about quirky, individual style. Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny, Zoe Kravitz, the Olsen twins....Natalie Portman?

Her Girl, Interrupted-esque role in last year's Black Swan, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress, helped to sully her good Harvard girl next door image just a bit. In all the right ways, I might add. But who would have thought that Portman would turn into the year's vintage style champion, as she did with that stunning red polka dotted number from a 1956 Christian Dior collection, at this year's Oscar ceremony? The girl not only knows how to choose film roles, she can pick a dress, too!

That red 50's Dior, which recently sold to a British couture collector for $50,000, has made red, red and vintage, vintage--any combination therein, the go-to formal dress look of the year. Portman, in fact, was not the only one to go red and vintage on the red carpet this awards season. To get Portman and co.'s hot vintage-inspired look, check out our new Trends Gone Vintage: Dressy Reds.