I have a new writing hero

It's New York fashion writer Lynn Yaeger. I can't imagine how I missed her, and can only assume that she was doing something else the year that I lived in New York and read New York magazine and The Village Voice cover to cover.

I found her not through her writing, but through a photograph taken by fashion blogger The Sartorialist. I then went on to hunt down some of her articles, and found a fabulous New York Times essay ("The Face; Age Appropriate?" -- for purchase via Times Select). It's about vintage clothing -- and whether "vintage women" should wear it.

She consults a number of authorities in the fashion industry and the vintage field, including Iris Barrel Apfel, and, once again, gives in to temptation:

"Just when I resolved to mend my ways instead of my clothes, I found a sable coat on eBay (of course, this doesn't happen unless you have typed ''sable'' into eBay in the first place) and placed the winning bid on a luscious garment previously owned by a famous philanthropist who died last October at 99. Although this item is a good 40 years old, it is still remarkably lovely. Like all truly wonderful fashion, it completely transcends the vagaries of time. In fact, it makes me look younger than springtime."

Just reading Yaeger's stuff makes me want to buy something totally...ridiculous.