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This weekend's Object of Desire is this perfect hobo bag from Donna Karan's diffusion collection, DKNY. A perfect balance between slouchy and structured, it is in the season's hottest colour, burgundy. With this vintage leather baby, and you can demonstrate your trend credentials without ever purchasing another item in the colour (though that would be a pity, since it is such a gorgeously flattering colour).

In butter-soft leather with that bold, gold-tone clasp, this is a bag to take you to work, to wear at weekends or simply the perfect everyday bag. The 9-inch handles mean you can wear it in the crook of your arm, fashionista style, or on your shoulder, and  it has three interior compartments to keep your stuff organized.

While you can buy this bag in the UK in tan, it is only available in perfectly on-trend burgundy at Macy's. But with their flat-rate shipping fee of £10 on all purchases of over £99, this is is still great value at £268.64.

Shop the DKNY hobo

As someone who is strongly averse to prints and patterns, I'm approaching the new season with a high level of trepidation since print of all kinds, including flowers, fruit, foliage and bold digital patterns, continue as a key trend into Autumn 2012.

Which means we are all going to have to learn to love print or miss out on some of the most fabulous pieces for autumn, like the stunning trio of dresses, (above) by Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith Black Label and Damsel in a Dress.

First print item on our hot list for autumn is a coat: the sublime black-and-cream jacquard coat by James Lakeland (left), which will be a real statement piece once the temperature dips.

Another favourite is the blue, flower-print long-sleeve dress (below) by Erdem in an all-over blue flower print, which at £390, is a well-priced investment piece from the designer who is the godfather of print.

If one of the all-over prints feels a bit overwhelming, look for some of the clever placement prints, like those from James Lakeland and Damsel in a Dress, or the inventive graphic print from Zero + Maria Cornejo at Browns.

Alternatively, choose a more low-key print, like the Hermes-inspired chain print used by Equipment to give a new season's twist to its classic shirt, or animal and snake print, which have become classics, and allow you to display your print credentials without having to wear anything too dramatic.

And if you don't feel comfortable wearing print for a whole garment, there are brilliant print scarves, bags and shoes, including this exquisite belle epoque flower embellished pair from Nicholas Kirkwood at Browns, which are an obscenely pricey £850. On the other hand, that's quite a bargain for a piece of art..

SEE ALL THE PRINT PIECES

STOP PRESS: 15% OFF FOR SOSENSATIONAL (SEE BELOW)
For every woman who has lusted after a fabulous designer frock and then thought, “noooh, it’s too expensive”, we have to tell you about SoSensational’s latest Directory entry, Wish Want Wear.

A high-end designer dress hire service, Wish Want Wear allows you to hire a designer dress straight from the catwalk for any occasion, from Sunday brunch, to a ball, a wedding, a red carpet event or perhaps just a special dinner party.

They have dresses from the hottest international designer collections including Just Cavalli, M Missoni, Halston Heritage, Red Valentino, Temperly, Tibi, Milly, Carlos Miele and many more – and you never have to pay the designer price tag. Hire prices start from £45 and go up to £315, with a huge selection available around £100 to £120.

If you bought a designer frock at - ooh, what shall we say - £900, you would have to wear it at least 18 times to get the same value (or nine times if you hired at £100). And not even Kate Middleton wears a posh frock that many times. Which, of course, is why all the cleverest fashionistas are now hiring when they need a totally fabulous, luxe dress...

And the very clever team at Wish Want Wear have thought the whole online hiring thing through really carefully, acknowledging that what could put some women off the idea of hiring is wondering whether a dress will fit well. In all their garment descriptions they are very clear about whether a dress is true to size, smaller or bigger, and you can have a back-up size absolutely free with every dress. So, if you are not quite sure whether you are a 10 or 12 in a particular dress, they will send you both and you can decide when you try on.

And ordering is simple, too: you can filter by designer, occasion, colour and lots more to find your perfect dress. And if you're in a rush, you can use the express rental option - you just select the dates you want to rent and your size and a collection of all the dresses that are available for your date in your size comes up.

And as well as the dream dress, you can hire the perfect accessories from a selection of fabulous hats and fascinators, bags and stunning jewellery to complete any outfit. And if you really want to impress, they have vintage Chanel bags to hire, too.

Take advantage of a special discount with SoSensational. There's 15% off orders with the code Sensational15, valid until September 5th

Be unbearably tempted by the Wish Want Wear designer dress hire collection

Do Barbies have a pernicious influence on how little girls dress? Are they more responsible for the sexualisation of little girls than high street retailers?

Have you paid attention to what Barbie dolls look like lately?

No, me neither, until I saw several of them being played with by my adorable four-year-old granddaughter Sadie.

I concede that, even when my daughters (one of them Sadie's mother) were playing with Barbies 30 years ago, the plastic creatures were etiolated, distorted versions of femininity, but they at least looked fairly wholesome, and their clothes were princess costumes or tennis outfits, or impossible-to-put-on trousers and little shirts.

Not any more.The ones Sadie was playing with have big, tousled hair, exaggerated eye make-up and pouting mouths glossily painted hot pink.

Their clothes varied from a skimpy mini dress to a hot-pink crotch-length skirt plus plunge-neck top with silver straps, revealing most of this Barbie’s plastic “breasts”.

Sadie had them seated in a circle and was feeding them tea from little plastic cups. But they looked more like they were ready to glug down a Mojito and snort some coke before falling into a cab at 3am.

So, why is SoSensational exercised by this? Because these little plastic creatures are, inadvertently, fashion and lifestyle role models for millions of little girls, who play with these dolls and may believe that this overtly sexual hooker-style dressing is normal and acceptable.

We have been blaming magazines, clothing manufacturers and high street retailers for the sexualising of little girls, but these slapper Barbies surely play a role, too.

Such clothing send an insidious message that girls have to dress this way to fit in with their peers and to be “fashionable”. Barbie (and that means you, Mattel), you have been named and shamed. You need to get your fashion act together. Get rid of the glossed pouting mouth, the overmade-up eyes and big hair, lose the plunging necklines and the crotch-length skirts. Demonstrate that girls don’t have to look like slappers to be “one of the girls”.

Does it matter how dolls are dressed? Do tell us what you think.