FASHION

The latest fashion news and updates

ELIOT KAMENITZ / THE TIMES PICAYUNEBrad Pitt plays with geometry in a plaid-on-plaid tie and shirt combination at the local premiere of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

We knew he loved hats. But now Brad Pitt apparently has another obsession. He's plaid to the bone.

With the nation's economic woes hanging over the holidays like a souring clutch of mistletoe, I almost expect to see shoppers heading to the mall today in sack cloth.

Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, has turned gray under a surfeit of financial gloom. Times are tough, and fear and worry are nudging out comfort and joy as the overarching seasonal sentiment.

Nightmare before Christmas, indeed.

Kathy Anderson / The Times-PicayuneGraham Gibby first got interested in kilts after researching his family's Scottish genealogy.

Here's one of the few absolutes in the fashion world: Shy guys don't wear kilts -- at least not on this side of the Atlantic.

A man in a skirt is just bound to get noticed.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez MonsivaisPresident-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle and their daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7,arrive on stage during his election night party at Grant Park in Chicago on Tuesday night.

Though this was no cliff-hanger election, the vote is still too close to call today on one thing. Michelle Obama's dress, was it a win?

The future first family cut a memorable image as they crossed the stage in Grant Park last night in color-coordinated outfits: Barack Obama in a black suit and red tie, his adorable daughters in crimson and black frocks and Michelle Obama making a statement in a dress from Narciso Rodriguez's Spring 2009 collection.

Style.com called it a "progressive" fashion move.

I'd call it unfortunate.

What do you think?

AP PhotoTim Gunn with Heidi Klum of Project Runway

Tim Gunn never seems in a hurry, even when he's pressed for time.

On the phone recently, calling from the Los Angeles taping of the sixth season of "Project Runway," he was characteristically charming and thoughtful as he answered questions on everything from the reality TV show's planned network change ("The skeletal makeup of the show is the same") to the essential items every woman should have in her wardrobe (well-fitting black pants, a classic trench coat, a little black dress).

Jeanna Duerscherl / AP Photo/The Roanoke TimesRepublican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin addresses the crowd of thousands at the Salem High School Stadium in Salem, Va. on Monday, Oct. 27, 2008.

Governor Palin, we feel your pain.

On the campaign trail this week, Sarah Palin is back to wearing her consignment-store clothes.

Gone is the Valentino jacket. Poof went the Cole Haan boots. The fashion fairy tale (from secondhand to Seventh Avenue in a sprinkling of magic credit-card dust) has come to an end, and the campaign clock hasn't even struck midnight.

KATHY ANDERSON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNEThis gown from the 1955 Krewe of Mid-City ball was designed by Lucia Philip Liuzza.

Before they select their first silks and satins, crystals and sequins, the designers who dream up some of Carnival's most opulent gowns and glittery costumes pick up a pencil and start to sketch.

A queen's velvet mantle emerges first from watercolor. A king's Egyptian crown. A float rider's satin-covered fez. A royal wardrobe eventually springs from paint on paper.

On Mardi Gras, Susu Kearney, the designer of Rex's float rider costumes, takes her sketch book out to the parade route. As the floats cruise down St. Charles Avenue in a blur of papier mache and plastic beads, she watches for fabrics that catch the eye at crowd-level. She looks for colors that pop both in the bright afternoon sun and in the patchy shadows of an oak tree.

ASSOCIATED PRESSTommy Hilfiger will sign autographs at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Macy's in Lakeside Shopping Center.

Tommy Hilfiger got his start in the fashion business with $150 and 20 pairs of bell-bottoms.

He was a plucky high school senior at the time, more interested in edgy clothes than 12th-grade calculus. He sold the jeans in his sleepy hometown of Elmira, N.Y., and thereby launched an illustrious fashion career.

Today, Hilfiger sits at the helm of a multibillion-dollar brand. Since the company's beginning in 1985, his preppy polos, patriotic colors and pressed chinos have hit a chord with a wide spectrum of customers, from hip-hop club kids to the cocktail-sipping Hamptons crowd.

In July, the Hilfiger label ranked 16th on a list of the top 100 brands women consumers know best, as compiled by Women's Wear Daily, an industry publication.

Though his company has been buffeted by fickle fashion head winds in recent years, the designer has been able to glide through them, a starched white button-down as his sail.

Ready to wear your political leanings on your sleeve? Or perhaps around your neck?

Whether you're feeling blue or seeing red after tonight's final presidential debate, there's plenty of partisan, nonpartisan and just plain silly campaign stuff out there. Here are some of our favorite ways to be the life of your party.

New Orleans designer Naydja Bynum makes these self-tie Republican and Democratic bowties from 100 percent cotton.

Ties are $25 each and can be ordered by calling 504.523.0797 or at naydjadesigns.com

Kathy Anderson / The Times-PicayuneKyle Berner's Feelgoodz flip-flops are made with all-natural rubber from Thailand. Berner, who spent a year teaching English in that country, doantes 3 percent of company revenues to nonprofit programs that work to improve the quality of life and business opportunities in Thailand.

For a man who describes himself as "a T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops kind of guy," Kyle Berner clearly enjoys being pushed outside of his comfort zone.

After graduating from Loyola University in 2003, he tried his hand at a slew of jobs -- music producer, computer salesman, hot dog cart vendor (yes, striped shirt and all).

None was an ideal fit. After each experience, though, he developed more energy, stronger entrepreneurial urges and a deeper aversion to cubicle culture.

Ariel Meredith of Shreveport was discovered at a Dallas modeling expo.

NEW YORK -- Ariel Meredith sat on a concrete bench at the 39th Street ferry terminal, nibbling on peanut butter crackers and waiting to catch the boat back to her apartment in New Jersey.

The day was sunny and cool, with an early fall crispness. She shivered a bit and hugged her long legs up to her chest, sinking into the bench. Dressed in a T-shirt, gray workout pants and a fedora perched low over her eyes, she had not a bit of makeup on her face.

There's one thing that drives me absolutely crazy about New York fashion week.

Kathy Anderson / The Times-Picayune

Carolina Gallop Fashion Show
• What: A fashion show and clothing drive for LaCeiba, Honduras. Event includes complimentary hors d'oeuvres, beverages and live entertainment as well as the fashion show.
• When: Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.
• Where: The Blue Nile, 523 Frenchmen St.
• Cost: Entrance fee is $10 with a donation of two pieces of clothing. Money raised will be used to ship the donations to those in need in Honduras.

Carolina Gallop spent most of Saturday with needle and thread in hand, seated in her second-floor studio overlooking Elysian Fields Avenue, hand-sewing paillettes onto a belt and finishing the trim on collars and hems.

A cool breeze blew off the river, ruffling the Indian print fabric draped artistically over the windows. The day was sunny and warm, but with blessedly low humidity. There was not a cloud in the sky.

More importantly, further south, all was quiet over the Gulf of Mexico.

Local hairstylist Chris Guidry of Paris Parker Salon on Prytania Street works backstage at New York's Fashion week.

NEW YORK -- Behind his chair at the Paris Parker Salon on Prytania Street, Chris Guidry chats with clients, many of whom he has known for years, listening to tales of their romances and routines as he clips the latest bob, trims some split ends and pins an up-do.

Backstage at New York Fashion Week, where Guidry recently was part of an assembly line of leading Aveda hairstylists, he is lucky if the women in his chair get off their cell phones while he works.

AP PhotoA gown from the spring 2009 Zac Posen collection.

Zac Posen is the darling designer of the pretty young things, and the PYTs were choc-a-block along his runway Thursday night. Claire Danes, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bernadette Peters, Venus and Serena Williams created the constellation on the front row.