The Googleplex is a place apart. But are the brainiacs of Mountain View, Calif. so cloistered that they haven't heard of AIG's woes? Apparently so, judging by new graphics VP Marissa Mayer unveiled Wednesday.

Google search czarina Marissa Mayer explains her "personal style philosophy" — or, at least, that of her personal shopper and the staff at Bergdorf's — in a comprehensive if hardly hard-hitting followup to the launch of iGoogle's designer themes in the Wall Street Journal. Yes, the woman who showed up to her first interview in a sweater from Macy's INC International Concepts line is being crowned as a new tastemaker. Even as the economy takes a nosedive, Mayer jokes about being an unrepentant label chaser:

The Google homepage today features a photo of chrome tulips by famous artist Jeff Koons. Google has hired a bunch of artists and designers to create themes as a way of promoting the iGoogle homepage. And their choices read like a veritable "who's who" of name-brand, commercial types who create work that isn't particularly daring or challenging.

An online publishing veteran who goes by the name of Halsted has stopped drinking from the RSS firehose. She says she's not missing her feed reader's unread items folder: