We love Christina Aguilera's diva-ness, we love the fact that she's married to a "normal" guy and we adore her fantastic voice -- but most of all, we love her old school style!

Nicole Richie has confirmed the rumors. Her maternity line will soon become a reality. The Simple Life star is now talking about why she decided to become a designer for knocked up women and who was her inspiration during pregnancy. Continue reading to find out more.

For anyone who has picked up a fashion glossy in the past six months, this shouldn't come as a surprise to you:

Spring 2008 is about three and only three key trends: bold colors, florals, and, well.... did I say color?

From the model's lips at Louis Vuitton that resembled a Skittles bag to the constructed floral military armor at Balenciaga, fashion's most directional designers all had bright hues on the brain this season.

And while most of us won't be able to snag one of those adorable harlequin dresses from Miu Miu (like me), these slick patent clutches from Poppy Couture will allow anyone to buy into this very vibrant trend without having to skip a rent payment or two.

How chic are these? The oversized clutches come in assortment of fun colors and can be easily transitioned from day to night. Which makes their $450 price tag a little bit easier to swallow.

Ladies, trust me, you'll be a vision in a white summer dress and this arm candy on your side.

Buy

Ouch. It looks like Beyonce has been raiding the shoe rack of Optimus Prime's trashy girlfriend. The singer was spotted at the American Music Awards sporting these $4,175 heels from Balenciaga, which Lauren mentioned earlier this year. Yeah, I said $4,175. I would rather eat that much in a green, cash salad than buy these monsters to put on my feet.

I must admit, this shoe has done a number on my imagination. If one ignores the pointy heel bit, the awkward straps kind of make the shoe look like one of those sandals that a lot of dads like to wear with socks. That's never a fun quality to have on a shoe for a night on the town, right? When I look at this, I also think of what hardcore Global GUTS fans would have made their mothers wear. It'd be like GUTS' equivalent of the soccer mom. My brain also starts conjuring up images of people on the corner of NYC's Canal and Broadway, trying to sell knock-off versions of this made of Legos and aluminum foil.

Sad thing is, I'm sure they'd make at least one sale. Yuck.

We have seen open-toed boots mentioned on StyleDash before (in fact I wrote about them twice). I really thought that if I closed my eyes they would just go away. Looks like that trick doesn't work. At all. In fact, the open-toed boot trend has taken it to the next step by opening up the heel too. Let's just show off the two most unsightly parts of the foot, please.

Balenciaga has brought us these boots for fall. They are interesting to say the least, so interesting that I actually have to respect them. Balenciaga has gone so far past what constitutes "normal" in a shoe that these are actually okay with me.

The thing about most open-toed boots is that they just look like boots that had an unfortunate incident. These also look they have been in an "accident" of sorts, but the construction worker style of the shoe makes it much more interesting. The shoes tell a story and it goes a little something like this ...

A Paris Hilton type gets stuck with community service after yet another DUI and has to pick up trash off the side of the 405. Never to be one to look bad in uniform, the trendy little devil has Balenciaga design the fiercest construction boot anyone has ever seen.

Voila! The insane toe-less, heel-less boot is born.

Beyoncé seems to be going through some sort of bizarre identity crisis. Not only is her lower body attempting to define itself a separate entity by experimenting with grandma legs, but at last week's BET Awards, B shamelessly flaunted her new robo-knight ways. The picture on the left is of Beyoncé on the red carpet wearing a fairly normal metallic dress with a not-so-normal metal belt, stripped straight from one of King Arthur's buddies. To the right is a photo of Beyoncé later in the evening, performing one of her songs as a half-naked C-3PO.

Actually, I normally wouldn't have paid much mind to Beyoncé's bizarre onstage get-up because, after all, performances often require rather dramatic make-up and costume. However, I was stunned to see that those tights weren't fashioned by Beyoncé's mother, like most of her costumes, but came off the runway! Shame on Balenciaga for luring Beyoncé to the dark side ... and by "dark," I mean "absurdly shiny."

These $4,175 Balenciaga shoes have been photographed in every fashion magazine lately and I have finally found a photograph of them online! I was in desperate need of a photo so someone out there can help understand why these shoes exist. Usually talking it out on Styledash gives me some sort of strange conclusion that may or may not make any sense, so let's give it shot:

At first glance I would say these shoes look like a combination of a ski boot and a roller blade, which leads me to believe that these are a high fashion version of an athletic shoe. However, the 1990s colors lead me to believe these are some sort of high fashion street shoe, i.e. if in the proper shape, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air would rock a pair. Then there is the obvious correlation, these are just another pair of freaky hooker shoes.

There is a slight chance that I am dead on about all of these ideas. Maybe if we opened the sketch book where this shoe was conceived there would be clippings of ski footage, action sports shots, photos of Will Smith in his Fresh Prince days, and a hooker leaned into a car window about to close a sale.

But the real question is, would you wear these shoes, and if so, with what? I would go full on 1990s and wear them with a black mini dress and Ray Ban sunglasses.

As the buyer for a women's clothing boutique, I constantly find myself trying to be creative with designer looks for less. You know, you want the $2100 look of the Chloé Silverado bag but with more of a $150 price tag. Would you rather spend mega bucks for the real deal, or save your cash but end up with a fake? It's a tricky subject, but Radar Online posted an interesting article last month about the consummate consumer desire to get more for less.

The bureaucratic regulations governing copyright laws in America are old, confusing, and (most of all!) boring, but to sum up, as long as you don't slap a Pucci tag on your Pucci look-a-like scarf, you're in the clear. So what does this mean for consumers?

There has been some backlash from the privileged few who can afford to buy designer originals, and to tell you the truth, I can see their point. If I had the cash flow to buy my very own pair of Jimmy Choo pumps any time I felt the urge, I might be annoyed that the girl behind the counter at Starbucks was sporting a knockoff pair of her own, but at a fraction of the price. I can see how luxury items gain their appeal by being just that - a rare treat, meant for only a few lucky consumers.

On the other hand, why should the rich and/or famous have all the fun? Isn't imitation the highest form of flattery? If Balenciaga makes a great looking bag, why shouldn't we all be able to afford some manifestation of it?

What do you think? Are knockoffs devaluing designer brands, or do they simply make luxury items more accessible to the everyday shopper?

According to Fashionweekdaily.com, the Olsen twins are embarking on a new frontier for their conglomerate empire: a high-end fashion label. At a Balenciaga party held at Barneys last weekend, Ashley arrived sporting a plaid jacket of her own design.

While the specifics of Ashley's new line -- "The Row" -- remain a secret, the prospects for the fashion house of Olsen seem promising. If "The Row" is even half as good as the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen toothpaste I once bought in a moment of sheer desperation, the line will be a smashing success.

Win a designer handbag! Enter the StyleDash giveaway.

What's big, unbalanced and bulky all over?

No, it's not Pam Anderson's brassiere (but good guess!). I'll give you a hint: Balenciaga has one. Marc Jacobs has one. Miu Miu has one. It's this season's platform heels.

Sure, I suppose these new platform heels push the limits of shoe design. And maybe they even shock us all out of our bourgeois preference for "pretty" shoes.

But am I the only one who is going to call a spade a spade in this situation?

If I am, fine -- I'll happily do it -- because, fashionfans and fashioneditors, these shoes are ugly. As in "U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you ugly, hey, hey, you ugly!"

And they're not even that original. In fact, I've seen this shoe before, Balenciaga. So don't even think you're fooling me with this one.

Admit it! You totally stole this design off of Minnie Mouse! Just look how mad she is...