It’s the type of go-for-broke opulence that reeks of economic recovery (or decadent last hurrah). A round-up of our faves:

• Gucci‘s epic desert caravan makes us covet a solid gold couch—never mind the five-story walk-up—almost as much it makes us want to embrace dusty brown.

• We don’t need much of an excuse to love whatever Givenchy churns out, whether it’s studded mandals or hair-trimmed boleros, but as usual our favorite designer crush took it up a notch with grungy pink hair and edgy transgender beauty Lea T.

• Speaking of hormonal change, Dolce & Gabbana had Madonna reprise her spring turn as saucy Sicilian mama. Shot by Steven Klein, this domestic new Madge apparently lives in Harlem and likes to stroll past stoops in see-through skirts and jailbait arm candy, and it looks pretty damn good.

• Lanvin is giving us Mariacarla, Anja and Magdalena as reincarnated Robert Palmer glamazons. Hard, unflinching, refracted—definitely worth dropping the big bucks for.

• We’re still trying to figure out Prada’s fall campaign, which looks something like smooching hour at the ice-cream social or outtakes from Hairspray. We would’ve loved a Tracy Turnblad cameo, but the Eisenhower A-line dresses and sculptural beehives more than make up for the missing heft.

• Stefano Pilati is inspiring us to join a sexy monastery so we can don his monastic hoods and cassocks for YSL—though we doubt we’ll look as good as Daria shot by Inez and Vinoodh.

• We love Daphne Guinness for never skimping pennies on her wardrobe. And we love her more from partnering with Nars for her namesake eyeshadow, which, at $23, is the only part of her look we can afford.