With the economic shitstorm showing no signs of clearing, innovative escapism comes courtesy of The Citizens Band, a politically-charged, cabaret-esque dance troupe led by trapeze artist and filmmaker Sarah Sophie Flicker. The Panic Is On, Citizens Band’s sixth show, will open this Thursday (October 23-25) at New York’s Henry Street Settlement, transcending mere death-and-taxes monologues. The show features an allegorical take on the nation’s social, economic, and political meanderings, reinterpreted through flamboyant showmanship and flush with lace and rubies reminiscent of Victorian and flapper fashion. We caught up with Flicker to converse about the political undertones of her upcoming show, what she really thinks of Tina Fey, and how exactly the word "consumerism" translates into a costume. Maybe it's not escapism, after all.

In this digital age, lookbooks are largely archaic -- now it's all about the short-film lookbook. It's now often customary for hip designers to assemble their celebrity pals for a fashion-cum-performance art piece. Wren designer Melissa Coker is carrying the torch this season. She has her pals model Karen Elson, Sarah Sophie Flicker (of the Citizen's Band), and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld (daughter of French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld) showing off her Spring 2009 collection. Coker and her filmmaker pal Alia Raza combined dialogue from Robert Altman's 3 Women and Woody Allen's Another Woman to create a short called "Another 3 Woman." Raza explains, "It's less about the literalness of what is occurring on screen and more about what remains in our minds and influences us after we've seen a film or a work of art."