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Some anxiety-addled, manic-depressive New Yorkers are in for a disturbing treat from this week's Look Book: your psychologist, Dr. Rosalie Mishkin, is featured. The lucky lady, who enjoys color-coordination and clothing from Lands' End, is stopped regularly by strangers who have to tell her how beautiful she is. In her weekly grilling of the fashionista roundtable, Intern Alexis gets some fashion therapy from Josh Tager, Nikki Darling, Jocelyn Carmichael, and Jonathan Swerdloff (no relation).

Josh Tager, style editor, Planet Out

Dr. Mishkin claims that she doesn t think about her style. Take some time to think about her style. What are you thinking?

Everyone thinks about style, from accountants in rumpled jackets to pious latter-day hippie vegans in hemp cloth shirts. So I m thinking Dr. Mishkin is in denial. She s an adherent to the dress-up school of fashion: a seafoam green, fun fur jacket, Wintour-esque glasses, Michael Jackson lipstick, a grandma bag and a black wicker safari hat. (I, too, used to dress like this for my make believe catwalk shows.) At its best, dress-up fashion is whimsical, but it can also look contrived, or even like it was purchased by the pound.

Let's put Rosalie on the couch. What sorts of neuroses come out?

I m absolutely certain that my second favorite childhood blanket (my cheetah print spread from Chanukah 79 is first) was cut from the same bolt of cloth as her jacket. And just like I did with my boyhood blanket, she s clutching her jacket close to her neck so the monsters can t attack her. Her primary monster (AKA neurosis) is the fear of being abandoned by everyone. With her clothes she s simultaneously hooking people in (Look at me! I m interesting!), and pretending she doesn t care (You don t know me! I m too mysterious!). She doesn t need Prozac, she needs khakis.

Apparently, a ton of people like to come up to Rosalie in the street to tell her how beautiful she looks. If you saw Rosalie on the street, what would you say to her?

Context is everything. If it was on a dark street and we were the only two around, I d squeak and run. If she sat by me on a park bench, I d offer to buy her a sandwich, but tell her I have no change. If we met at a cocktail party, I d tell her how beautiful she looks because that s just what people do with co-workers, acquaintances, and moms, right? (Apparently so.)

What camp is Rosalie in? Freud or Jung? Oral or Anal?

She so wants to be Jung, but she s Freud. She so wants to be oral, but she s anal. Her costume is meant to convey creativity and free spiritedness, like one of Jung s collective consciousness dreams. But really she s a textbook Freud case, wearing the contents of her roiling unconscious replete with repressed memories and perverse urges on her sleeve. No wonder she claims not to think about her style. It s all unconscious.


Nikki Darling, freelance writer and novelist-to-be

Dr. Mishkin claims that she doesn't think about her style. Take some time to think about her style. What are you thinking?

My therapist often says that sometimes the answer to all our problems has been right in front of our faces the entire time. All we need to do is look in the mirror.

Let's put Rosalie on the couch. What sort of neuroses comes out?

Many who study Kafka point to this paragraph as proof of Gregor's imminent metamorphosis:

"Samsa, a traveling salesman, hung the picture which he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and put into a pretty gilt frame. It showed a lady, with a fur hat on and a fur stole, sitting upright and holding out to the spectator a huge fur muff into which the whole of her forearm had vanished!"

Let's hope Rosalie's building isn't planning on fumigating anytime soon.

Apparently, a ton of people like to come up to Rosalie in the street to tell her how beautiful she looks. If you saw Rosalie on the street, what would you say to her?

Well, I wouldn't ask her if she was afraid of global warming.

What camp is Rosalie in? Freud or Jung? Oral or Anal?
I think all shrinks are full of shit. But then again, her outfit isn't compacted.


Jocelyn Carmichael, sauce developer

Dr. Mishkin claims that she doesn't think about her style. Take some time to think about her style. What are you thinking?

Her style is say one thing and wear another. Lands' End and New Balance may have their cache, but Rosalie wears a whole other story: Chanel, Saks and Burlington Coat Factory Okay, the jeans are believably New Balance. The structural elements pay homage to the late great Bouvier Beale nuts while the careful color coordination is informed by the artist Andre 3000.

Let's put Rosalie on the couch. What sorts of neuroses come out?

"Will that Gawker intern subject me to a Roundtable discussion? Was it worth appearing in New York Magazine? How long are blog entries internet-searchable? Is that the same for archives?"

Apparently, a ton of people like to come up to Rosalie on the street to tell her how beautiful she looks. If you saw Rosalie on the street, what would you say to her?

I ve been reading Lands' End for over forty years and I never once came across that green fur jacket. That business aside, may I have your autograph?

Or perhaps I would unleash the construction worker in me and yell expletives at her, indicating what I would do to her. Or complain that she is hiding such a lovely derriere behind that bear of a coat.


Jonathan Swerdloff, lawyer and part-time blogger

Dr. Mishkin claims that she doesn't think about her style. Take some time to think about her style. What are you thinking?

That's an interesting color combination - a green and purple motif. It reminds me of the bedspread I had in college. I've personally never been fond of the retro 60s/70s look, but that's a me-problem, not Dr. Mishkin's issue. Was there a question here about neuroses? Otherwise, I'm thinking that, despite my own prejudices against the colors and the retro thing, it all works together somehow and she looks good. The jacket looks fun to touch.

Let's put Rosalie on the couch. What sorts of neuroses come out?

The way she's hiding her face, she's concerned with becoming too popular, or possibly with being recognized. Of course, it's easy to recognize her when her name is attached to the interview. Also, with those big sunglasses, she's either super sensitive to light or she's hiding from something. Possibly vfom adoring fans (witness "but people stop me on the street three to four times a week to tell me I look beautiful") and possibily from her belief that she has adoring fans (witness "but people stop me on the street three to four times a week to tell me I look beautiful"). I'm not a psychologist, so I'm not sure which it is.

Apparently, a ton of people like to come up to Rosalie in the street to tell her how beautiful she looks. If you saw Rosalie on the street, what would you say to her?

I don't think I'd say anything to her. Who says things to people on the street? I think I said "nice shoes" to a woman once, when she was wearing some very sexy heels. That worked pretty well. Other than that, if I were to say that she looks beautiful, I'm pretty sure it would be taken the wrong way. I might ask her for directions, but the way she's all closed off with the giant sunglasses and hat and her coat pulled up around her face, I'd probably look for someone who looks more open and receptive.