Fashion designers usually hate things that women can actually wear. Or, at any rate, they hate it when someone calls their clothing wearable. They feel profoundly reduced by the taint of utility. For that reason, a lot of fashion in the last few years has looked not merely extreme but also tangential to women's lives.

Is that abbreviated blob for me? What were they thinking?
"The danger is we're losing sight of what women really want to wear," Azzedine Alaia said recently. Alaia, one of the great innovators of our time, is saying that for fashion to move forward it must relate more directly to women's lives and bodies. It must be something women can wear.

This fall many designers seem to share that view. In the buzz of words of the new season -- "chic," "tailored," "sophisticated" -- there is the pleasing symmetry, the able-bodied logic of "elegant sufficiency." The clothes are at once elegant and practical, but more, they project an attitude that is above the trendy fray: not a contentment, but certainly a reasonableness.

At the leading edge of this more elegant mind-set is John Galliano, with his mix of sharp suits, fresh colours and romantic accessories like coloured hosiery and gloves. Calvin Klein and Donna Karan focused on daytime dressing, with slim knee-length skirts and coats. Gucci has a 1940s-inspired look, and that means more covered-up, feminine dressing. Jil Sander and Versace emphasised tailoring. Marc Jacobs' streamlined skirts and coats reflect a more mature sensibility. And as conceptual as Prada is this season, with its novel fabrics and textures, the clothes are ultimately wearable.

This change in direction comes at a good time, offering women more choices in fit and style, and at a bad time. Still, it's hard to deny fashion's womanly turn, and how it may attract consumers. "I don't feel I'm going to be square in a suit," said Linda Fargo, the fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman. "The suit is cooler now."
Like a lot of women, Natasha Elkon, who works with her mother at the Elkon Gallery in New York, says her taste tends to be classic. "This year there are really things you can wear," said Elkon, who found a puff-sleeved jacket and trousers at Chloé. "I love something that you can dress up or down."

Citing how grown-up clothes look after a season or two of girlish smocks and trembling platforms, Julianne Quay, the executive editor of V and V Man magazines, said: "This is why I'm so looking forward to going back to school, back to work. You can actually dress up." She added, "I think a lot of designers fell into this Britney moment, where they did a 2-inch rise on all their pants." Many women have struggled to find clothes that fit across all the compartments of their lives: work, family, civic and social commitments.

Marsha Cross, who manages her family's real estate investments in Houston, likes the minimal suits and flattering dresses that Raf Simons designs for Jil Sander because, she says, "they go more places, especially for somebody who's working and travelling a lot."

There are lots of explanations for what brought about the reality check. Gorman says women became tired of trying to make youthful clothes work for them. If women feel excited about fall, it may be that they're getting what they want.