The model/muse dispenses style smarts and details about her new LowLuv and RVCA designs. By Erin Donnelly, Portraits by Todd Selby and Dan Martensen

Erin lounging in her apartment, shot by Todd Selby

Typically, when we hear the phrase "model side project," our minds instantly leap to reality TV show hosting gigs, guest vocals with the emo band du jour, and movies costarring Billy Baldwin. Thankfully, Erin Wasson is anything but typical. Though born and bred in Texas, this L.A.-based Lone Star has come to embody a certain rough-around-the-edges West Coast cool punctuated by deconstructed denim cut-offs, ski caps, and loose basic tees and tanks.

This enviably effortless look has famously led to a gig styling the past two runway collections for Alexander Wang, her own body armor-inspired LowLuv jewelry line, and a new multi-season clothing design deal with RVCA (the first collection, spring '09, will debut in stores come January). Somehow the dirty-blonde beauty finds time to squeeze in high-profile modeling assignments for the likes of Maybelline and every fashion mag under the sun.

This coming Fashion Week, Wasson will once again be joining Wang backstage, but not as a stylist; instead she'll be accenting his designs with pieces from LowLuv's latest collection. Naturally, we pressed her for more details…

First things first. What five fashion musts are you currently obsessed with?

1. "I found an [incredible] black and white striped Norma Kamali jumpsuit from the '90s. It kind of looks like an old jailbird jumpsuit, but it's cut really amazing."

2. "I'm really obsessed with a pair of these tie-dyed silk Y & Kei pants that I bought and altered the shit out of and turned into bellbottoms."

3. "An oversized black silk pirate shirt with fringe that I found at a thrift store."

4. "If I didn't have a pair of cut-off denim shorts, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I wear denim shorts every day, it seems like."

5. "I have a little black, really simple Margiela dress that's my go-to. It's all open in the back and it comes down really, really low. It's just black cotton and I love it."