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"  Dear FKIA,I&amp;#039;m a prepster who&amp;#039;d like to try some of the new prints. What should I buy?  I had a heart-stopping conversation about prints the other day that made me realize my taste level is well beyond my means, but worth indulging just the same. There&amp;#039;s a padded-shoulder Balenciaga blue spotted dress that I&amp;#039;d sacrifice everything in my closet for. It&amp;#039;s an occasional dress that&amp;#039;s at once sexy, rich, and cool. Neither prissy nor too butch, this jersey number is more &amp;#039;80s Dynasty than anything else, and so now in such a bourgeois, day-to-evening sort of way that it would take the guesswork out of how to be fresh and chic. I called the Balenciaga store to see if I could afford it. The salesperson told me that, thanks to the economy, they&amp;#039;d adjusted their prices and the dress would cost somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000, a far cry from the usual $10,000. A $5,000 to $7,000 dress? Even I, who had once walked out of a Prada store with a $3,000 sequined skirt because I&amp;#039;d messed up the dollar-to-euro conversion, was flummoxed. I quickly hung up and decided I could only hope to find a vintage look-alike, which at least carries cachet with the fashion crowd. Since most prints are bold and romantic, a little goes a long way. I love batiks for summer, but for fall there&amp;#039;s really nothing more striking than an oversize botanical. Consuelo Castiglioni made some charming brocades at Marni that she combined with layers of textured furs and knits and exotically wrought colors. Being a prepster, though, you may prefer something with a little more intellectual heft. Dries Van Noten showed several fluid, understated riffs in charmeuse, which had the effect of looking like Japanese graphics, florals, and bird paintings through shattered glass.  Prints for fall should always be dressed up with heels, bold cuffs, and a great belt, lest you look frumpy. As for the sad story of the perfect dress that will not be hanging in my closet this fall, I&amp;#039;m haunted. I&amp;#039;m not giving up. I&amp;#039;m still taking inventory in case what I already own adds up. Ka-ching!  -submitted by Courtney from Westchester, NY "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/a10353/preppy-style-338547/>