Fast-Track Designs Getting Up to Speed
Tom Cruise in “Days of Thunder” isn’t the only one into fast-lane fashion. The movie’s race-car theme inspired J.C. Penney to launch a collection of men’s “stock car style” accessories. Simplicity Patterns has fueled the fashion trend by releasing racing-suit patterns for men, women and children that include transfers of the “Days of Thunder” logo. And earlier, ready-to-wear designer Alexander Julian styled team uniforms for race-car drivers Mario and Michael Andretti as well as their team, which is owned by Paul Newman and Carl Haas. Versions of the team’s off-track knit shirts hand-painted with race cars will be sold at Julian’s Collections boutiques. Next fall, Carmelo Pomodoro hitches a ride on the fast track with race-car driver wannabe wear, for Toyota.
* COUTURE CONNECTIONS: Marc Bohan, deposed chief of design for Christian Dior in Paris, is taking over as artistic director for Norman Hartnell, the London couture house announced. It’s part of a plan “to make a quantum leap into the major league,” says Hartnell chairman Manny Silverman of the house that has dressed British royals for several generations. Before Bohan was named, there were rumors that Oscar de la Renta was up for the job, but he announced instead that he’ll show his next ready-to-wear collection in Paris, before New York. That makes him the first American to join Italian Romeo Gigli, Briton Katharine Hamnett and several other non-French designers who have recently made the move. Insiders predict Bob Mackie is next.
* FASHIONABLE FRENZY: Luis Estevez fans didn’t waste any time after his fall fashion show. They went shopping. Morgan Fairchild added a pink satin organza blouse with high-waisted pants to her wardrobe, and film producer Sherry Lansing, bought an emerald green jacket and black spaghetti-strap sheath, possibly to celebrate her new title. She was named “woman of valor” by Ben-Gurion University’s Women’s Guild, at a luncheon that accompanied the Estevez show.
* YOU ARE WHO YOU WEAR: Clothes not only make the man. They may very well land him a table at Belmont Brewing Company, a new ocean-front restaurant in Long Beach. Along with a patron’s name, the hostess jots down a brief description of what he, or she, is wearing. Restaurant co-owner David Lott says the system is only as good as the description. “Something like ‘the man in the striped shirt’ doesn’t quite cut it,” he quips.
* SCHEDULED SHOPPING: Avid mall shoppers return to their shopping grounds every two weeks, according to Linda Phelps-Holmes, a spokeswoman for First Issue, a new store owned by the Liz Claiborne Retail Group. Phelps-Holmes says the store, at South Coast Plaza, has tailored its merchandise delivery schedule after the mall shoppers’ time table. New groups of clothing arrive every 14 days so that regulars will have something new to see.
* THAT OLD THING?: Members Only, the New York-based apparel company that introduced the simple poplin jacket with epaulets on the shoulder, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of that classic coat this fall by pointing out that more than 10 million of the $40 jackets have been sold to date. Over the years, such famous folks as Johnny Carson and Frank Sinatra and Presidents Jimmy Carter and George Bush have sported the Members Only label on their left breast pocket, often wearing the golf-style jacket in place of a sports jacket.
