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designer jewellery

white shirts

upcycling

floral-patterned

appliances

Upcycling

Think of it as upmarket dumpster diving. The "upcycling" of refuse such as auto scrap, old fluorescent tubes and even beach debris into stylish lighting and furniture gained mainstream currency this year, especially in Canada, where firms such as Castor and the Brothers Dressler garnered much ink for turning trash into design treasures. Who knew that landfills could be a decor resource?

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H&M

faux bois

Diesel textiles

'ethnic' design

Lindsay Lohan

leggings

H&M

We've been weary for a while of fast fashion, much as we have been guilty of indulging. But Sweden's behemoth clothing chain retained cred longer than most with its high-profile designer collaborations. Following on the heels of Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney and Roberto Cavalli, this year it was Rei Kawakubo, the long-time visionary behind Comme des Garçons. Too bad the inferior fabrics equalled avant-garde gone awry.

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Samare

One of the brightest debuts on the Canadian design scene this year was Samare, a Montreal collective whose first line was called Adaware. Members Laurie Bedikian, Mania Bedikian, Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte and Patrick Meirim de Barros put a sleek new spin on traditional Canadian motifs and materials, including babiche (rawhide webbing). Their scarlet Mountie stool has already been acquired by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

MacBook Air

According to one reviewer, it has "the heft of a leather portfolio, the dimensions of a design magazine and the cool-to-the-touch exterior of some exotic metal." Could Apple's silver-coloured, super-thin MacBook Air, introduced in January, be the sexiest computer ever? We say yes.

Floral-PATTERNED appliances

In a year that saw beautiful floral patterns on everything from laptops to flip phones, we especially liked LG's new flower-patterned refrigerators studded with - no kidding - Swarovski crystals. Outfitted with soft-touch LCD door panels and ion-coated antibacterial interiors, the fridges marked a new high point in the marriage of beauty and function.

Tony Duquette

Nearly a decade after his death, the designer whose interiors were as rich and theatrical as his sets for Broadway and Hollywood is finally getting his mainstream due. Last year, a monograph by Wendy Goodman was published; this year saw the launch by Baker of a 19-item furniture line called the Selected Works of Tony Duquette, reproductions of pieces that were available during his lifetime only by commission.

Hermès Toronto

When the new Hermès boutique opened in Toronto last summer, it was widely admired for its chic interior design by Rena Dumas. But the real visual treat was outside, where storefront cladding mimicked the luxury chain's trademark orange boxes. In a city not known for striking streetscapes, the temporary installation was a charming attention-getter.

La Pigalle chair

Furniture designers don't usually take kindly to knockoffs, but Philippe Starck and the manufacturer Kartell reportedly gave their blessing to Montrealer Alain Forcioli's La Pigalle chair, a colourful riff on Starck's transparent Louis Ghost. By cleverly slapping ornate faux tufts and gilding onto its back and legs respectively, Forcioli created an elegant new emblem of our post-postmodern age.

Designer porcelain

Formerly fusty porcelain was the design medium of choice this year, inspiring boldface designers such as Hella Jongerius, Studio Job and Jaime Hayon to produce some of their most innovative work to date. Among the highlights were Hayon's delightfully surreal Fantasy figurines for Lladro (shown) and Jongerius's Home Props line of nature-inspired tableware.

Tools for Living

Even if Design Within Reach's modernist furniture can sometimes be out of reach price-wise, the California-based chain gave us reason to cheer with its Tools for Living line of affordable smaller wares. Two new stores - in New York and L.A. - offer everything from stoneware vessels from France to miniature bowling sets. If you can't make it south, check out dwr.com.

Dior cellphone

Fashion brands from Ed Hardy to Emporio Armani unveiled mobile phones in 2008, but the one that stole the show was Christian Dior's $5,000 handset designed for women. Sure, the price tag was steep, but the chic diamond-pattern design was backed up by real innovation - a tiny version of the main cellphone clips to the outside of a bag and communicates with its mother ship via Bluetooth.

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Creepy decor

Yes, we know that the culture is obsessed with vampires right now, but isn't it time to drive a stake through the heart of decor bearing skulls, crosses, crows and other pseudo-Goth motifs? That's right, Tord Boontje, we're talking to you. Your recent Witches' Kitchen line may be crafted by Guatemalan natives, but it's also just plain weird.

Diesel textiles

We applaud the Diesel clothing empire for trying to bring a little rock 'n' roll to home decor, but the garish bed linens and bizarre trompe l'oeil throws that marked the first stage of its Successful Living line are far from a success in our view. The next round - furniture - is planned for 2009. Be afraid.

Cul is Cool stools

Featured in a show of recent Spanish design at the Conran Shop in New York last May, Ramón Ubeda & Otto Canalda's cheeky Cul is Cool stools proved too much of a bummer to take sitting down. More vulgar than vanguard, the seating barely caused us to crack a smile. If the law, as Dickens noted, "is a ass," we don't want the same to be said of design.

Danes at the AGO

At the risk of sounding ungrateful, wasn't there something rotten about the use of mostly Danish furniture at the newly renovated Art Gallery of Ontario this year? The generosity of the Danes notwithstanding, a prime opportunity was missed, we feel, to showcase more of this country's own fine furniture designs.

Faux bois overload

A popular decor tool for several years now, faux bois materialized in funky finishes and ultra contemporary materials this year. But if another tree-shaped lamp fell out of the forest, would anybody notice? It's time to take an axe to the woodsy look.

Colourful TP

Cited by trendwatching.com as a hot product for '08, Portugal-based Renova's colourful toilet paper in shades such as red, black and pink was big in nightclubs around the world. But if you really want your loo to look like a disco, why not toss in strobe lights and a wall of urinals, too.

Art toys

We're not sure when the Japanese schoolgirl became a global arbiter of taste, but we would like the mainstream design world to stop creating products geared solely and unrepentantly to kids. Our biggest hate-on is reserved for those goofy, limited-edition "art toys" by the likes of Kidrobot, which wasn't even started in Japan, but in a California garage. Sayonara, Huck Gee Ninja.

Designer dog beds

As far as we know, Frank Lloyd Wright never worked on a doghouse. Nor did Le Corbusier erect a kitty tower. But that didn't stop a U.S. company called Dog Bar from offering a canine couch in the form of Le Corbu's famous LC2 armchair. When critics charge that contemporary design is going to the dogs, they may be on to something.

Risqué toile

As 2008 rolled on, we became increasingly tired of those "ironic" toile patterns featuring gritty contemporary scenes instead of the usual pastoral ones. Scotland's Timorous Beasties, for instance, offered wallpapers depicting drunks throwing up and people getting waylaid. Now that we mention it, a lot of these patterns had all the charm of a mugging.

'Ethnic' design

The fact that decor magazines and blogs were still touting "ethnic" or "exotic" design this year seemed so depressingly outdated. Worse, some were positing teepees as accessories du jour. Come on, folks: This is 21st-century Canada, not Victorian London.

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Louis Vuitton Damier Graphite

The original 120-year-old Louis Vuitton Damier pattern (older than the famous Monogram) could best be described as a check pattern of milk and dark chocolate. By ingeniously introducing the same pattern in black and dark grey, Louis Vuitton created a must-have collection, coveted equally by men and women, in a year when It bags bottomed out.

Prada lace (ORANGE)

Leave it to Miuccia Prada to turn a traditional craft into a hot-button trend. Her most-talked about collection featured decadent handmade couture lace from Switzerland. The floral lattice was beautiful without being girly; it managed to look as no-nonsense as ironwork. The winning colour was the neon orange version; we also loved it in gold, nude and icy blue. (But not black; see below.)

Michelle Obama

Yes, she can bring fresh flair into the White House. The lawyer and mother of two sure knows her J. Crew from her Thakoon. Often compared to Jackie O., the first lady-to-be defines elegance on her own terms. Sometimes prompting criticism (see her election-night dress), she will keep fashion pundits salivating through 2012.

Designer jewellery

Any designer who failed to expand into fashion jewellery this year completely missed the bauble boat. The gorgeous cuffs, necklaces and rings from the likes of Burberry, Dries Van Noten and Marni offer an instant update to any wardrobe and a more affordable entry point to the brand. Collect enough of them and you'll never have to buy clothes again.

White shirts

Gap continued its reinvention of the white shirt, enlisting for the second year a group of emerging designers to update the classic. The Gap Design Editions shirts by Phillip Lim, Michael Bastian, Band of Outsiders and ThreeASFOUR sold out within days. Club Monaco also got in on the placketed action. And don't forget Barack Obama, the white shirt's biggest champion, no tie necessary.

Balenciaga black dress

Just when women thought they couldn't possibly lust after another black dress, what with all the fall florals and painterly prints, along came Nicolas Ghesquière's interpretation in moulded wool crepe. Severe in cut (check out that slit) and unapologetically dramatic, it is futuristic without being far-out.

Mad Men

This television drama set in a Manhattan advertising agency during the early 1960s gets a tip of the hat for championing an era when we actually dressed for the office. Let's hope more men take a cue from Don Draper, paragon of polish. Va-va-voom Joan Holloway sure does work her curves; she just never exposes them.

Traceability

Now that we have become obsessed with cocoa-bean origin and heritage pork, clothing companies are pulling back the curtain on manufacturing. A new eco tee from Cotton Ginny comes directly from the Rajlaksmi Mills in India, where farmers belong to a fair-trade co-op. And Icebreaker's merino wool from New Zealand comes with a "Baacode" to learn about the living conditions of its sheep.

Quebec lingerie

Ever since Victoria's Secret acquired Le Senza for $710-million, bras and undies from Quebec have busted out into the mainstream. Lingerie lovers may not realize that C.J. Grenier dates back to 1860, while brands Papillon Blanc and Ariane have sold their frilly wares for decades. Boutique Jacob is, ahem, a treasure chest of cheap and chic sets.

Yves Saint Laurent

The visionary designer died at the age of 71 - just three days after the opening of the first major retrospective of his 40-year career at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. YSL's contributions to the style canon - Le Smoking, safari jackets, bow blouses, art-inspired collections - reverberate throughout the industry today.

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Ombre overkill

Back in the gleefully consumptive days of 2007, Miucca Prada injected an arty vibe into patent leather by giving it the ombre treatment. Her footwear and handbags had instant appeal, two hues gradually blending together for the price of one. But along came the glut of imitations, from socks and sweatshirts to pumps and, sadly, men's shoes.

YSL black lip gloss

The models for YSL's fall/winter collection boasted bowl-cut black wigs and lips like oil slicks. The lacquered effect was macabre and modern, with beauty junkies desperate to replicate it pronto. Fast-forward to the limited-edition release of Gloss Pur YSL Black. Unless applied professionally, it made lips look icky, as if stained from too much red wine.

Keira Knightley's Vogue cover

Huh? That's the reaction most people had upon spotting an apparently shorn Keira Knightley on the cover of Vogue. While we applaud her fashion ambition, the drapy blue velvet top with bizarre layers around the waist was an odd choice for the all-important September issue. "History's Sexiest Duchess" looked decidedly asexual. Fashion atonement, anyone?

Gladiators

Once the weather got warm enough to wear sandals, women took two steps forward and a million steps back - to ancient Rome. What is it about a series of cage-like straps up the calf that registers as attractive? Multicoloured gladiators looked especially clownish. If satisfying a foot fetish was the point, a peep-toe probably would have done the trick.

Jumpsuits for dudes

Could Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana really have expected guys to buy utilitarian-inspired jumpsuits? Bottega Veneta and Z Zegna also introduced these questionable one-piece garments in the fall. Perhaps in Milan, a man in a designer jumpsuit could be applauded for being a fashion maverick. Here, someone would ask him to fill 'er up.

Prada lace (black)

Yes, we loved the colourful versions, especially orange. But the problem with Prada's black lace was that it combined "black" and "lace." While Miucci's version was couture-quality, it was just too obvious to escape cliché. So attractive was the dress to knockoff artists that socialites risked seeing their imitators at parties.

Sarah Palin

Performing in Alaska beauty pageants is not a qualification for fashion sense, as we learned from the U.S. vice-presidential candidate this year. Her updos were the coiffure faux pas of 2008. And they hardly looked right with the $150,000 makeover wardrobe (including Valentino and Elie Tahari) that we learned had been financed by the Republican Party. If you're trying to appeal to average Joes, don't go shopping at Saks.

Lindsay Lohan leggings

We empathize with a woman considered more of a punchline than a promising leading lady. But Lohan sets herself up when she launches a line of expensive footless tights named 6126 in honour of Marilyn Monroe's birth date. Lindsay, please explain why the pair with quilted leather kneepads is called Mr. President?

Recessionista

Sandinista + fashion = fashionista. Fashionista + recession = recessionista. Funny how the name of a Nicaraguan political party can morph into a way to describe style setters on a shoestring. Problem is, recessionista became too trendy too fast and now the buzzword deserves to buzz off. It makes "shopaholic" sound quaint.