Early Heat Wave Brings Out ‘Shorts’-Sighted Southlanders : Please Wax and Tube to Fashion for Justice

All around town recently, in honor of the heat waves, dedicated shorts people were on the streets, dressed as the spirit moved: in Day-Glo surf colors or muted safari shades, in billowy walking shorts or narrower athletic styles, in sturdy cotton or wilted linen, in real Bermudas from Bermuda or in imitations from who-knows-where, in the unisex and the sexy, in the hip and the haute .

Pausing in the sun along Melrose Avenue, hat designer Willie Reedy was wearing knee-length walking shorts that were slightly frayed along the edges. He had converted them a few days before, he said, from a pair of baggy trousers. His prediction for the summer, understandably, was: “You’ll be seeing a lot more cut-off jeans.”

Elsewhere, treasures were described as coming from trips to exotic shores, such as Brazil, or exotic stores, such as Banana Republic. At USC, xxxxxxxx

Daisy Ridgway identified her lavender-print pair as memorabilia from a sorority party. But according to a number of other women

students, their shorts weren’t their shorts at all: They were borrowed from roommates.

For label watchers, the collection of names out and about includes

Perry Ellis, Albert Nipon, Izod, ID , Merona Sport, Jag, Express, the Limited, Generra, Ocean Pacific and Maui and Sons.

Almost completely missing from the street scene are madras

and the once-ubiquitous running styles. Favorite

silhouettes include longer lengths and fuller shapes. Freshest

patterns on the block include stripes, ranging from

ticking thin to nautical broad, as well as the new toned-down surf prints.

Mid-thigh safari khakis, with plenty of pockets and pleats, recall recent box office hits, such as “Out of Africa” and “Crocodile Dundee.” But for those more interested in the chic of “The Great Gatsby,” there’s nothing quite like the look of lengthy linen.