Versace

The restructuring of two giant American companies will cost the Maryland economy 267 jobs over the next several months.Integrated Systems Solutions Corp., a unit of the International Business Machine Corp., will transfer its "Solution Center" in Bethesda to offices in Southbury, Conn., and Sterling Forest, N.Y. -- a move that will affect 190 workers, according to spokesman J.P. Versace.Separately, Sears, Roebuck & Co. plans to terminate 77 employees at its Hunt Valley home improvement installation operation by the beginning of next month as part of its plan to reduce its corporate-wide work force by 50,000.

Taking a cue from Ralph Lauren, whose chic, pricey home designs have enamored fans across the Atlantic, some top European fashion designers, including Eman- uel Ungaro, Gianni Versace and Claude Montana, are trying to woo American clients with their own luxury home lines.Design buffs bored with traditional print sheets and flower-sprigged china can now sample Italian and French collections that emphasize bold colors, offbeat patterns and motifs inspired by everything from Roman ruins to African cloth.

With a hairstylist on guard with a brush and a makeup artist standing sentinel with a powder puff, fashion diva Donatella Versace thrusts her left hip toward the camera. "My best side," she says in a smoky voice, hooking her thumbs on the waistband of a pair of pants just a shade more tangerine than her tan. Posing outside her bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the designer is commanding every click of this photo shoot. "Standing, no sitting," she says, grabbing an invisible roll at her tummy.

The French haute couture shows were predictably either very, very good or horrible. A little less predictable was the fact that the heroes of the showing season were both Italian.Gianni Versace of Milan and Valentino of Rome went to Paris with lustrous collections. Versace incorporated modern elements in distinguished-looking clothes, while Valentino achieved the requisite couture look in elegant clothes of quiet refinement.Christian Lacroix upheld the glory of the French with a wildly imaginative collection that brought him the only standing ovation and caused him to be pelted with flowers like an opera diva.

Britney Spears, the pop star who brought sizzle to the schoolyard with glitter T-shirts and short shorts, strode onto a Milan runway last Tuesday evening in a $23,000 rainbow-spangled gown by Donatella Versace. Spears, who turns 21 on Dec. 2, was flaunting her inner grown-up, turning to the makeover queen of couture for a quick fix. "She wanted something sophisticated and glamorous," Versace said. It was the culmination of Spears' two-month intermission from work, ostensibly to relax but in reality to begin the process of refashioning herself for a new career.

Pity those who follow these 'leaders'We were breezing through the March issue of Bazaar when we spotted a story about "The Fashion 50." The story promised to tell us about the 50 women who start and end trends. They are not necessarily the best-dressed, the story cautioned; it's just that when they wear chartreuse, so do the masses.Of course, there are the usual suspects such as model-actress Isabella Rossellini, singer Janet Jackson, models Iman and Naomi Campbell, designer Donna Karan, designer/social butterfly Paloma Picasso, eternal gamine Audrey Hepburn and fashion muse Donatella Versace.

COLOR-SATURATED DRAMA by Gianni Versace, satin pink flowers by Lacroix, spare black and white shapes by Calvin Klein, traditional silhouettes by Ralph Lauren. We're not talking frocks, my dears, we're talking dinnerware.Designers have discovered that a table setting makes a strong fashion statement that any hostess of kindred taste can achieve without dieting down to a size 6.Tabletop collections, as they're called in the crockery industry, are the latest creative outlet for high-profile designers, and new ones are entering the market with each season.

Three cheers for old school glamour. The lush fabrics, the classic tailoring. The jewels, the makeup, the hair! When celebrities find a way to bring back old Hollywood, and make it their own, it reminds us why we love to star-gaze in the first place. On the red carpet of last week's Academy Awards, actors and actresses combined style and beauty and grace, each in his or her own way. Elegance and romance ruled the night, but there were other trends that emerged. "The mermaid hemline was very in," said celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch, "very fitted all the way down and then flared out."

Paris -- If the gods who rule Paris fashion got it right this season we're all going to get into the black.Haute hippie black at Gianni Versace. Corseted and see-through black at Chanel, Christian Lacroix and Thierry Mugler. Jet-beaded black bras at Yves Saint Laurent. Furred and feathered black at Christian Dior. And from Givenchy, the man who brought us Audrey Hepburn in the little black dress, the new mother-of-chic little black suit.For U.S. retailers here looking for clear, new fashion direction that they will buy later in the form of the couturiers' less expensive ready-to-wear, the other big news of the season is the overall endorsement of many skirt lengths.

To connect the dots on the trail of 27-year-old Andrew Cunanan, follow the stolen cars and the bloody bodies.Begin April 29 in Minneapolis, where a Naval Academy graduate is found hammered in the head at a friend's apartment.His stolen Jeep Cherokee is seen heading upstate, where four days later a fisherman at East Rush Lake finds the body of the friend, shot in the head.The Cherokee turns up a day later in Chicago near the home of a millionaire, who is found stabbed, sawed and taped around the head.