1) ELABORATE BLACK

Black is a woman’s best friend. It is slimming. It disguises figure flaws, and it is easy to pretend that you look like Angela Jolie on a mission to Cambodia. However, this year’s black transcends the simple shift dresses and T-shirts of yore. Designers have been using it to complement complicated and intricate designs. Quirky details and structural originalities have been dominating the new black, rendering it a mix of Victorian ingenuity and modern couture. In order to avoid looking like you have been mourning Prince Albert for forty years, however, choose a shape that flatters your existing figure, as opposed to the one you want to have.

2) BOOTS

Boots have been in fashion in various forms ever since the Pilgrims realized that Massachusetts was a cold and inhospitable place. However, this year, boots have become gentrified and increasingly detail-oriented. New features such as delicate heels and unexpected fabrics have given this year’s boots a Trollope-like flair for the ridiculous and the elegant. Essentially, this should be the ultimate excuse to throw out the round-toed, clunky-heeled monstrosities that have dominated the Harvard landscape for the past ten years.

3) HIGH-WAISTED PANTS

I realize that this section may garner a sigh of relief from the women among us who wear jeans that stretch past their belly buttons in the style of Farrah Fawcett circa “The Burning Bed.” However, the new high-waisted pants hearken back to the androgyny of 1930s glamour, as opposed to the glamour of the Tori Spelling’s hit “Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?” These pants are voluminous when cut correctly, and so this statement is not for the faint of heart. Wear these pants with a simple or form fitting shirt and try to laugh in a throaty manner while throwing your head back so quickly that you almost shatter your spinal column.

4) MILITARY-STYLE COATS

I too often feel like Omar Sharif from “Dr. Zhivago” while wearing a military coat (i.e. imposing and about to be sent to a gulag); however, in the current incarnation, the effect is completely different. The military coats of today are cut snugly and sexily and the detailing has become more couture than regimental. These coats can flatter most figures and are relatively practical for New England. This is good news for those of us who participated in the cocktail jacket trend of last fall and then permanently lost circulation to their extremities and for those of us marching against New Jersey just for fun.

5) VELVET

Velvet is exemplary of the understated sumptuousness of this fall’s fashion trends. It has been used in everything from blazers to cocktail dresses, immediately increasing the elegance and romanticism of a particular piece. Though velvet hasn’t been used this liberally since the free loving ’60s, this particular form is elegant, versatile, and fun to rub against.

­—Staff writer Rebecca M. Harrington can be reached harring@fas.harvard.edu.