adding it all up; Who wears one designer head-to-toe these days.

Byline: Mark Holgate

An entirely nonscientific poll of some of America's best designers (from Donna Karan to Derek Lam, Michael Kors to Behnaz Sarafpour) regarding the concept of combining high with low revealed the following:

(1) Designers are the first to applaud any woman who makes her own rules: "If you want to wear one of our jackets with a skirt from Club Monaco," says Proenza Schouler's Lazaro Hernandez, "then why not?" (2) Price is irrelevant when the piece itself is fantastic: "The amazing thing these days," says Derek Lam, "is that great fashion is not driven by cost. It's found everywhere." (3) Attitude is all: "My rule, whether I'm dressed in something that's 'high' or 'low,' " says Carolina Herrera, "is to wear it like it cost a million dollars."

They also all say that of course American women have been mixing high and low forever. And they are absolutely correct: Most women have always stocked their closets with both designer looks and dependable basics. The difference today is that never before did the two worlds collide: They coexisted in mutually exclusive zones. Chic wasn't found at chain stores.

That all changed when the pair of Levi's and the Chanel jacket hanging side by side in the same closet turned out to be perfect partners. And now . . . who's to say that the best accompaniment to Peter Som's $5,320 seed-pearl-embroidered jacket isn't a pair of J.Crew khakis that cost $58? Or that an Isaac Mizrahi $13,000 skirt swirled with sequins suddenly looks less and yet somehow, ...