On a single afternoon in the fall, Kate Bosworth visited one talented young American designer after another—each of whom was frantically preparing for the spring collections. Bosworth wore an electric-blue strapless dress with a single dart in the front, which is to say, a Jil Sander skirt by Raf Simons that the actress had hiked up to add yet more edge to an already edgy separate. On her feet were strappy flats from Chloé, and on her shoulder hung, a little demurely, an ivory leather Marc Jacobs bag that was an It bag: One of the hazards of being Kate Bosworth is that every bag you carry automatically becomes an It bag. That bag was tossed onto the long refectory table (itself suddenly an It table as a consequence) in the Chinatown studio of Proenza Schouler. At the Met's Costume Institute Gala six months before, Bosworth had knocked out Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez (and indeed le tout New York and le tout fashion world) with a silver Prada dress and marcel-waved hair—a look both fabulously flapperish and ultra-up-to-date. It was mutual friendliness at first sight, and the designers joined Bosworth and her boyfriend, James Rousseau, for an after-party drink at the Beatrice Inn. "They called the next day and asked if I'd be their date for the CFDA awards," she remembers. And she was their date, in a restrained feathered sheath, and they were the Designers of the Year of 2007 (jointly with Oscar de la Renta). Little wonder, then, that she found herself invited back to preview (and bring luck to) their spring collection, and she was happy to oblige: "The fashion world feels more normal to me when I'm with them."

"The Simple Life" has been edited for Style.com; the complete story appears in the February 2008 issue of Vogue.

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