FASHION : Live! From New York . . . Church Lady
YOU CAN BUY THE CHURCH LADY, BUT NOT BUCKWHEAT -- After 16 years without licensing its characters for commercial products, “Saturday Night Live” has just come out with its first T-shirts.
You won’t find such favorites as Buckwheat, the Blues Brothers and Roseanne Roseannadanna. But shirts bearing the images of the Church Lady, bodybuilders Hans and Franz, the hosts of Wayne’s World, the Richmeister and Toonces (the cat who could drive a car) are available.
According to a spokesperson, the character choices had little to do with what fans might be willing to drive across town to buy.
They were a matter of legal rights: “It has to do with who owns the rights to what character. Every situation is different. It depends on whether the artists brought the characters to the show and what percentage of the rights NBC owns.”
So don’t look for a shirt with the faces of former SNL news anchors Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin and the words “Jane, you ignorant slut.”
The Hans and Franz, Church Lady and Toonces shirts are $15.95 at aahs stores in Westwood, Santa Monica and Sherman Oaks.
DEAR HOT: Can you recommend a good place in Los Angeles to buy shoes at discount?
DEAR HOT SHOPPER: Check out the Sacha of London outlet store at 1731 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica for close-out prices on shoes by Sacha and designer Kenneth Cole.
If you’re headed out of town, try the shoe stores in these outlet malls: The Citadel, 5675 E. Telegraph Road, Commerce; Factory Merchants Outlet Plaza, 2837 Lenwood Road, Barstow, and Desert Hills Factory Stores, 48800 Seminole Drive, Cabazon (near Palm Springs).
And if you’re going to the Bay Area, don’t miss My Favorite Clothing and Shoe Store.
It regularly stocks such footwear brands as Anne Klein, Perry Ellis, Joan and David, Nine West and Rockport and “all the knockoffs too,” says co-owner Cathy Penwell.
There are two locations: 271 Sutter St. in downtown San Francisco and 2052 Redwood Highway in Marin County’s Larkspur.
If you’re traveling in the South or the Midwest, be sure to find out if there’s a Shoe Carnival in town. This large chain, based in Evansville, Ind., offers an enormous selection of discount-priced shoes--plus outrageous party-style retailing.
Barkers perpetually offer deals, like free purses to women willing to rush up and reveal the runs in their stockings.
The Shoe Carnival is known for its nutty contests. It once sponsored a Tammy Faye Bakker Look-Alike Contest (every hour) in each of its stores. At one branch in the South, Tammy Faye Bakker showed up and won.
