I've been clipping newspaper ads this month. Yes, people still do that. Or at least this people is doing that. I don't really know what I'll end up doing with them. My original point has been to look for Holiday ads that feature fur coats and accessories. The NYTimes and the Seattle Times are daily touchstones. I'm sure you can guess which one has a larger number of those ads. As a result, I'm becoming more attuned to look for fur garments featured in print or online. For example, "Vanity Fair" included a mink stole from the designer Akris in "Punch Hutton's Holiday Gift Guide". Which led me to check out Akris - Swiss designers with a boutique in NYC and on the very fashionable and funky Newbury Street in Boston. See how research works? Then I caught sight of (cough!) the newly-leaked Lindsay Lohan spread in "Playboy". I've scrutinized all the photos, of course. As a matter of research, Officer. It's a total throwback - all inspired by Marilyn Monroe's iconic calendar pose that was reprinted in 1953 as the first centerfold of "Playboy". The reason I bring it up before Playboy's roiling tank of lawyers jump all over the folks that leaked them is to deconstruct one picture in particular. In which Lindsay's wearing nothing but a mink stole. Add that to the overall 1950s theme. If you were going to choose one oversexed garment to nail down (again COUGH!) that era, I can't think of a better choice. I'm sure I'm one of less than a carload of people pointing to that part of the pictorial right about now. Still...clip that and put it your ol' briefcase, Professor.