Christian Lacroix

When is a shirt not just something to hide under a jacket? When it's gussied up with fancy buttons that transform it into an important article of clothing.But not to worry. The buttons won't get mangled in the laundry if they are the latest fad: button covers that clip onto a shirt's basic plastic buttons.They take a variety of forms, including hearts, flowers, coins, colored stones and mirrors, cameos, cat faces and, of course, pearls. They are sold in matched or mismatched sets of six and cost from about $24 to $48.Macy's has sold the buttons for a couple of years, but they really took off this spring, thanks to the emphasis on jewelry-like buttons by Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Todd Oldham, Gemma Kahng and Zang Toi.

When Renee Fleming appears Sept. 15 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for the BSO's Gala Celebration, the appeal will be both sound and sight. The world-renowned soprano is famous not just for her voice, but for her gowns, designed for her by the likes of Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano for Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, Oscar de la Renta, Douglas Hannant and Angel Sanchez. We chatted with her about some of her favorites. Is it fun to play dress-up in a way most of us just dream about?

The passage into reading magnifiers is especially traumatic for people who have never needed glasses or those who wear contact lenses. All of a sudden there are those things on the face on occasion.But one thing that may soften the blow is that such spectacles are now available in the highest fashion looks, says Tom Appler, of Clark-Appler-Loeber Opticians in Towson."It's important to have a doctor check for any eye problems, then you can turn to the designers."The names in frames today read like a glossy fashion magazine -- Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Benetton, Mikli, Christian Lacroix -- all the big fashion guns.

Knights in shining armorA city skyline comes alive on a chessboard designed by Baltimore architect David Kerivan (left). The pieces, in black and clear anodized aluminum, resemble buildings, but each has attributes that define its role in the game and its hierarchy. The tops of the pieces are grooved or notched to indicate how the pieces move. A bishop, for instance, has two diagonal grooves, indicating it can move an unlimited number of spaces along diagonal lines. Each piece also has channel-like grooves around the base that indicate its point value in the game.

Knights in shining armorA city skyline comes alive on a chessboard designed by Baltimore architect David Kerivan (left). The pieces, in black and clear anodized aluminum, resemble buildings, but each has attributes that define its role in the game and its hierarchy. The tops of the pieces are grooved or notched to indicate how the pieces move. A bishop, for instance, has two diagonal grooves, indicating it can move an unlimited number of spaces along diagonal lines. Each piece also has channel-like grooves around the base that indicate its point value in the game.

It's the other kind of drag. Women in pin stripes, starched shirts and neckties ruled the runways from Paris to New York this season.But like Madonna in "Express Yourself" or Marlene Dietrich in black tie, this is men's wear with an edge, Savile Row with an undercurrent of some new sexual dynamic."

Cheryl Karen Burse wants to spread the gospel: "You can look stylish and still glorify God."The 36-year-old receptionist who is active in Genesis Bible Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Towson, says that too often religious folks get typecast as dowdy dressers."

Calling all girlsGirl magazine is a hip celebration of all girls - short, tall, African-American, white, Hispanic, Asian, heavy, thin and more.That's evident in the first issue, out this fall, which features ads for size 14 fashions, clothing under $20 and a tone that's approachable and real."

When Renee Fleming appears Sept. 15 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for the BSO's Gala Celebration, the appeal will be both sound and sight. The world-renowned soprano is famous not just for her voice, but for her gowns, designed for her by the likes of Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano for Dior, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, Oscar de la Renta, Douglas Hannant and Angel Sanchez. We chatted with her about some of her favorites. Is it fun to play dress-up in a way most of us just dream about?

PARIS -- First came the tuxedos, wave after wave of them, squadrons of models marching to the brink of the stage of the Opera Bastille.Then came the satins, iridescent and ablaze. Then the pastels, the Russian peasant dresses, the see-throughs, the Braques and the Matisses, a white wedding dress, capes, embroideries, hundreds of models on the stage, wearing the whole history of the house of Yves Saint Laurent.Then came Yves Saint Laurent himself, fat, unsteady, trembling with nervousness, blinking incredulously at the standing ovation from the crowd of 2,800 that had assembled to celebrate his 30 years of haute couture.

Calling all girlsGirl magazine is a hip celebration of all girls - short, tall, African-American, white, Hispanic, Asian, heavy, thin and more.That's evident in the first issue, out this fall, which features ads for size 14 fashions, clothing under $20 and a tone that's approachable and real."

Cheryl Karen Burse wants to spread the gospel: "You can look stylish and still glorify God."The 36-year-old receptionist who is active in Genesis Bible Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Towson, says that too often religious folks get typecast as dowdy dressers."

It's the other kind of drag. Women in pin stripes, starched shirts and neckties ruled the runways from Paris to New York this season.But like Madonna in "Express Yourself" or Marlene Dietrich in black tie, this is men's wear with an edge, Savile Row with an undercurrent of some new sexual dynamic."

PARIS -- First came the tuxedos, wave after wave of them, squadrons of models marching to the brink of the stage of the Opera Bastille.Then came the satins, iridescent and ablaze. Then the pastels, the Russian peasant dresses, the see-throughs, the Braques and the Matisses, a white wedding dress, capes, embroideries, hundreds of models on the stage, wearing the whole history of the house of Yves Saint Laurent.Then came Yves Saint Laurent himself, fat, unsteady, trembling with nervousness, blinking incredulously at the standing ovation from the crowd of 2,800 that had assembled to celebrate his 30 years of haute couture.

The passage into reading magnifiers is especially traumatic for people who have never needed glasses or those who wear contact lenses. All of a sudden there are those things on the face on occasion.But one thing that may soften the blow is that such spectacles are now available in the highest fashion looks, says Tom Appler, of Clark-Appler-Loeber Opticians in Towson."It's important to have a doctor check for any eye problems, then you can turn to the designers."The names in frames today read like a glossy fashion magazine -- Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Benetton, Mikli, Christian Lacroix -- all the big fashion guns.

When is a shirt not just something to hide under a jacket? When it's gussied up with fancy buttons that transform it into an important article of clothing.But not to worry. The buttons won't get mangled in the laundry if they are the latest fad: button covers that clip onto a shirt's basic plastic buttons.They take a variety of forms, including hearts, flowers, coins, colored stones and mirrors, cameos, cat faces and, of course, pearls. They are sold in matched or mismatched sets of six and cost from about $24 to $48.Macy's has sold the buttons for a couple of years, but they really took off this spring, thanks to the emphasis on jewelry-like buttons by Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Todd Oldham, Gemma Kahng and Zang Toi.

NEW YORK - To judge by the talk emanating from Paris last week, the couture shows should be held in oxygen tents.Pierre Berge, the longtime partner of Yves Saint Laurent, recently suggested that haute couture would die with Saint Laurent. Gianni Versace and Christian Lacroix, two proponents of a younger, sexier couture, objected strenuously in interviews.Interestingly, a review of Saint Laurent's couture collection in The International Herald Tribune last week said the designer "has nothing new to say" and added: "Saint Laurent's collections are dead."

This is the saga of a country-cousin staple that came to town in a big way. This season soft tweeds, with their subtle or strong mixes of colors and patterns, have become the chic city fabric. Just a look around a packed luncheon at the packed Waldorf-Astoria ballroom in New York last week proved the tweed takeover.It seemed that every other woman was wearing a colorful tweed suit or jacket. Meanwhile, women are looking stylish in restaurants and at private dinner parties wearing short dinner dresses, often strapless, but unexpectedly made from the boldest of patterned tweeds.