top five

When you first forgo gluten, the most difficult part is staying away from the delicious desserts you used to know and love — goodbye cake, brownies, pie, and cupcakes! I've already introduced you to some of my favorite gluten-free baking brands which allow me to re-create all of my favorite sweets — minus the gluten — at home. But what happens when you are away from your kitchen? Here are some mouthwatering options you are free to enjoy — just make sure you always read the labels for any traces of wheat or gluten and if possible, try to go the healthy route by selecting low-fat or fat-free options!

Most babies put back a lot of bottles in their little lifetimes, so moms, especially first-timers, want to figure out which brands are best. Some companies cater to tots moving from breast to bottle, while others boast to be made of more pure components. Like children, the feeding contraptions come in all shapes and sizes. Some infants reject one brand and latch right on to another, so we've tested numerous lines and rounded up five of the very best bottles on the market. Check out our picks and let us know which one you (or your children) prefer.

Our choice of Preen's Fall 08 as part of our Fall Top Five is based a different set of criteria. We're not going to pretend that Preen and Prada are really comparable brands but what makes a Top Five list fun to invent is that there need not be the same rules for including each collection. The Preen show was held off site on the Sunday of Fashion Week, which set it off on the right foot to begin with. This was the first time we weren't frenzied and stressed and we felt like the collection conjured that same kind of cool calm. Down the runway glided electric blue, powder puff, and blue plaid looks--it was glam and relaxed all at once. We hate to say this but it was the kind of collection we hoped we'd see from someone like Karen Walker and didn't. When a contemporary brand is capable of conjuring 'hipster' without sacrificing 'beauty' we've fallen in love. After Fashion Week was said and done, and the trends emerged in our minds, Preen deserved a mention for more than one. Transparency, shearling, plaid, sequins, luxe layers, and andogyny were all trends from Fall 08, touched upon in this collection. Preen is quickly becoming one of our favorite independent brands, and, judging by the sheer editorial coverage they've gotten from Fall 08, we're not alone.

Wrapping up the list of our favorite shows from Fall 08 is British brand Modernist. We've said from the start that this list has no real rhyme or reason save for the fact that the five shows each impacted our impression of Fall 08 as a season. Bringing you this list was as much about having the galleries back up on the front page as it was talking about them again. We think it's reason enough. So, after bringing up Prada, Preen, Yves Saint Laurent, and Miu Miu, we're going to finish up by talking about the Modernist Fall 08 show. British brand Modernist, headed by Abdul Koroma and Andrew Jones, showed their second collection as part of London Fashion Week this Fall 08. The collection, feminine and appropriately paired down with a strict palette of red, charcoal, and black was a stark and striking contrast to the opulence that overran New York Fashion Week the week prior. Everything from the cool grey backdrop, to the thick painted eyebrows and slicked hair, to the shapely garments that layered over one another quite beautifully, made this collection on of our favorites. To our surprise the brand is stocked sparingly in the United States and abroad, but we're confident that will change if they keep moving in this direction.

Today and tomorrow, in spirit of impending Fall deliveries and the Spring 09 season, we're going to wrap-up our top five favorite Fall 08 shows. We indulge in plenty of independent and contemporary fashion and we're just in the mood for some old fashioned high design. To start, our ultimate favorite, Prada Fall 08. We never disliked this collection, not from the first moment we set eyes on it, but we will say that over the months the thing has taken on a whole new shape for us. When we first saw the collection we likened the lace to the recession and thought it was slightly unwearable but smart and editorial-friendly. These ideas were realized and now we've seen the lace everywhere, from six Pop covers to the red carpet to the already-delivering knock-offs and since then, we've really fallen in love. There's something so sexually repressed and yet aggressive going on, something that puts contemporary fashion, quite literally, to shame. Prada Fall 08 is all about opposites: it's transparency versus opacity, femininity versus masculinity, and lavishness versus conservatism. It's safe to say that lace is going to be pretty prominent for the next year. Check out our gallery below and the whole collection here.

YSL is on our list for two reasons. First, that we can't deny our love for the traditional YSL aesthetic. It is, above everything else, classic. Fall 08 gave us just what we asked for which was suiting, suiting, suiting, office-appropriate frocks, and the occasional overtly sexual garment. Secondly, because somewhere along the line the whole Fall 08 show became decidedly Brooklyn hipster. First off, Someone Great by LCD Soundsystem was the soundtrack to the show. The song, eponymous about six months earlier in Brooklyn, was almost as shocking to hear in Paris as was seeing the mop haircuts the models were sporting. Now matter how many people now attribute the haircut to YSL, we'd like to say, for the record, that it was already all over the place in Brooklyn and downtown. In fact, it was Mandy Coon, wife of LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, whom we first saw sporting the haircut and, in the song's video, so does the main character (one of your editors is also in this video though regrettably sans mop top). The energy of this collection, the way it hit home without remotely departing what we know and love about YSL, made this collection a really special one. Months later, when couturier Yves Saint Laurent passed away, it was solidifed in our minds that this would be a show and collection we would never forget.