The most stylish people of 2008

My apologies if you momofukus have been looking for posts. I shot myself in the thigh Thursday while parked outside Scotty Quixx and have been recovering. Please spare me your thoughts and prayers; send checks. To that end, please expect posts to be even slower until the New Year. Knowing is half the battle.

Anyhoo, I was thinking last night about the most stylish people of the year. While it would bring me great joy to engage in brutal schadenfreude eh, it's the holidays and I feel like complimenting people.  Have a heart, ring a bell. Of course this isn't everybody, but some of my faves...

Solange Knowles

Her album notwithstanding homegirl brings it when she steps on a red carpet. I know many think her sister Beyonce is the second coming of Mary Magdalene and thus should be praised at every opportunity. But while B would look good in a potatoe (Dan Quayle spelling) sack, Solange, in my view, has the stronger, more free sense of style.

The Jonas Brothers

I've crowed about them all year but these guys run it. They'll give you a slim trouser, a skinny tie and a Chelsea boot in a heartbeat; they always, always look put together, never in sweats, never slouchy. A+. 

Tilda Swinton

Her real-life Big Bird lookalike game is proper, but count on this heady thespian to give you an avant-garde, intellectual androgynous outfit that stands out and makes you think. Take the one-shoulder thing she wore to the Oscars: a bit daft, and then you discover it's not by Hefty but Lanvin. Work mami.

Rihanna

She killed it this year. She has discovered how black always makes you look like an edgy rock star, even when you're a pop singer still shrieking out the same songs from a year ago. But whateveah, evah evah, evah eh?

Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland

I love how she alternates between tractor-driving hottie wearing a wife beater and jeans, to full on girly-girl in a gown. And she's pretty, which always helps.

Jay-Z

On the low, Sean Carter has developed a slick sense of style lately. Over the years he's gone from baggy urban wear to RL Purple Label suits to, lately, a sort of relaxed post-preppie hip hop thing. He's been snapped in a lot of black this year too; he looks tough and cool. Kudos, Jiggaman.

Michelle Obama

There's nothing particularly earth-shattering about her look, except that it's natural and chic as opposed to strained and forced, which, for politician's wives, is earth-shattering. She looks, really, like any cool mom who learned to balance style with work and chasing after her kids, and it's especially cool that she shops lower-tier stores. Her slick J Crew ensemble she wore on Letterman is still a defining moment, and she gets extra points for wearing the cardigan again in public.

Janelle Monae

A pretty brown girl takes on 50's style rockabilly, down to the saddle shoes and Afro-pompadour. Genius.

Brandon Flowers of The Killers

He doens't always get it 100 percent right -- the jury is still out on the feathered (Thom Browne?) jacket he rocked on their last SNL appearance -- however he always reaches for some kind of defining, over-the-top ensemble, complete with guyliner that hints at his Las Vegas upbringing. Still, he's never boring or plain and that's what it's all about.

Anyone can walk in a store and pour into an easy-bake look right off the wall. Style you either have or you don't.

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