Gianvito Rossi: One, Two, Lace Up My Shoe...

We love a shoe like this, based on simple, even elegant lines but loaded with sexy details. Gianvito Rossi took an old-fashioned suede ankle boot, went at it with a buzz saw and presto!–Edwardian England, by way of Milan's runways. All the current trends are addressed, including a bulkier proportion for the foot (sans platform, which is a relief), laces and grommets, and safari or military influences (call it campaign chic). The only thing missing is a warning label about hidden maintenance costs: those cut-outs frame toes and heels, making regular pedicures de rigueur. Perfection has its price.

With Tie-Ups Belts You're a Rubber Band Man

Let's make one thing perfectly clear: nothing can replace a well-made leather belt sporting handsome brass hardware. That said, there's still room in the wardrobe for clever surprises and even fun packaging, especially as days get warmer and words like beach and swimming pool sound viable again. A friend spotted these oddly-named Tie-Ups belts in Florence several months ago. They come in dozens of colors, two widths, one trim-it-yourself length, and are waterproof, recyclable and (being made entirely of rubber and plastic) ideal for wearing through airport metal detectors. They're sold all over Europe and Asia (the website lists plenty of stores); and at a few US retailers, including Diztrict, New York. So you're just a FedEx shipment away from jumping into fountains with impunity.

Malcolm McLaren's Legacy: From Punk to Posh

When Malcolm McLaren died of cancer on April 8, the world lost a force of nature: an impresario-cum-ringmaster, addicted to shocking with impropriety, who squashed the face of 1970s upper-class Britain against its drawing room windows to see the dismal view. Along with his partner, Vivienne Westwood, McLaren ran a shop in King's Road (called Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die, but renamed Sex) catering to rebellious youth. His greatest claim to fame, however, was managing the Sex Pistols, and acting as foster father to British punk rock.

In 1976 (while the Ramones were churning out brilliant noise in Queens, New York) the Pistols' first single, "Anarchy in the UK," made headlines, thanks partly to Jamie Reid's poster of a shredded Union Jack held together with safety pins and clamped-on, torn-paper type. It was seen as rebellious–almost evil–at the time, but just as The Clash followed hard on the heels of the Sex Pistols (diffusing punk's focus on class warfare by opening it up to other cultural, and musical, influences) and New Wave followed punk, so too the safety pins of the Sex Pistols were copied in couture by the likes of Zandra Rhodes and Gianni Versace. Now, more than 30 years later, the initial shock has long since worn off, but the iconography remains.

In a funny way, it's come full circle, which is why we like this python clutch by Lulu Guinness. Punk imagery has ebbed in and out of fashion over the years (it even rated a sidebar, 'THE PUNK-PREP CONNECTION,' in 1980's Official Preppy Handbook) but by this point raises no eyebrows. The solution? Dress it up: take a large measure of Continental chic, add a dash of British wit and finesse carefully until it's very posh. Then, with tongue firmly in cheek, carry it back into to the drawing room. You may well start a revolution of your own.

Big-Game and Moustache Suggest You Hang It Up

Next week, Milan's famous fashion brands will find themselves temporarily nudged out of the spotlight by a different designer crowd, as the world's biggest names in furniture design descend en masse for the Salone del Mobile. Of course, this being the age of Twitter, Facebook and other instagratification tools (did we just coin a phrase?), reports have begun to filter back before the show's official opening on April 14. FA2L loves these Micro clothing hooks (that's "microphone" in French) by Big-Game for Moustache. They hold hangers, of course, but it seems even easier to drape coats and bags over the padded heads. We hope they'll come in lots of colors, too, so entry halls everywhere can suggest rainbow gatherings.

A Call to Action: Keith Haring's Art Comes Back

Almost anyone who lived in New York City in the 1980s felt engaged by Keith Haring's art in a way that 15th-century Florentines or 19th-century Parisians must have felt about the work of their local sculptors and painters: Haring's bold chalk drawings (sometimes tribal-looking, sometimes Dubuffet-like), often rendered on black panels in subway stations, were so common and distinctive they seemed as much a part of the landscape as the Chrysler Building. Like Andy Warhol before him, Haring used charm, wit and faux naiveté to address society's ills–crime, homelessness, corporate greed and, of course, the fear, prejudice and heartbreak caused by rising tides of HIV infections. Unlike Warhol, however, Haring usually favored heat-seeking, active optimism over cynicism's cool detachment.

Haring died in 1990, but his legacy is still with us–and as the 80s revival rolls on (set against a fresh hell of bewildering social problems), designers are looking back to his work for everything from its nostalgic value to its strong message (which we still want and need to hear, perhaps more than ever). The Keith Haring Foundation recently gave Zara and Tommy Hilfiger permission to use Haring's drawings on tees and sneakers: the former are sold in Zara stores (but not online), while the Hilfiger shoes are available at Colette, Paris, before launching globally in September. We're fans of both, and think Haring would be, too: he'd certainly love the shoes...

Photograph of Keith Haring and Bill T. Jones (1983) © Tseng Kwong Chi