Clothes

As you may know, the stock market hasn't been a fun place to be lately. Dot-coms collapsing left and right. Aggressive growth stock funds aggressively shrinking. Retail stocks in sad straits. So isn't it interesting that the stock of J. Jill Group went up by 275 percent last year? Who'd have thought a catalog retailer that sells grown-up clothes to middle-aged women could hit such a hot streak? Even a few years ago, fashion pundits were still assuming that the only way to succeed in retail was to target zippy young things who kept changing their minds about whether they wanted to look more like Britney Spears or Madonna or Lil' Kim or Julia Roberts.

Cloaked in a move to require uniforms at Willingboro's Twin Hills Elementary School is an attempt to make the kids who wear them better students. Parents hope that visual parity will allow children to worry less about attire and more about attitude. They hope that uniforms will foster an egalitarian environment in which children will walk prouder, have higher self- esteem and exhibit scholarly behavior. If items such as $100 sneakers and designer jeans are eliminated, they hope, children will focus more on their studies.

In fall-fashion annals, 1986 may well be remembered as "The Year of the Gray Cashmere Dress. " This single creation best sums up the current mood pervading both the New York and European collections: quiet, understated, luxurious clothes that are more establishment than avant-garde. Everything is soft and tranquil (lush fabrics like cashmere and alpaca); dark, soothing colors (charcoal gray, black, creamy neutrals, brown), and easy, graceful silhouettes with well-defined waistlines and long, calf- grazing skirts.

The burglar came clean in court after realizing the prosecutor's case against him was in the bag. Plastic bags, that is. Assistant District Attorney Mark Gilson said Jeffrey Burns, 29, of 51st Street near Springfield Avenue, was arrested at 5:55 a.m., on Jan. 6, 1990, while trying to steal bags of clothing from a dry cleaners at 50th Street and Warrington Avenue. Burns pleaded guilty and was sentenced yesterday to two to 20 years in prison by Common Pleas Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan.

Most men don't give their old clothes away. A man will wear a flannel shirt until it is threadbare - or even longer. This is frustrating to organizations that collect and distribute second-hand clothes, the only wardrobe source for most poor and homeless people. "We get tons of women's clothes, particularly in mid-range sizes," sighs Janet Bernstein of Frankford Group Ministry, "because women will clear out their closets four times a year. "But we rarely get donations from men," she says, "because men's clothes don't go out of fashion the way women's do and because men don't seem to care if their clothes are out of fashion.

Women in the market for elegant, luxurious clothes - the sort that go nicely with diamonds and sables - need only do two-stop shopping this fall: at the salons of Valentino and Emanuel Ungaro. The two designers, who between them clothe just about all of the socialites, film stars and royals in Europe, don't skimp when it comes to designing sleek, dressy daywear and glamorous, entrance-making evening gowns. "These are rich-lady clothes, and they look it," commented Dawn Mello, president of Bergdorf Goodman, after Valentino's big, beautiful show Monday night.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham yesterday told a modern-day tale of rags to riches. The riches were said to have been garnered by eight suspects who allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar counterfeit clothing manufacturing ring in Philadelphia. The rags - cheap forgeries of top-name designer clothes and professional sportswear - were deep-discounted to customers for at least four years before cops shut down the estimated $2 million-a-year operation this summer. Standing near several tables covered with counterfeit Calvins, knock-off Nikes and fake FUBUs, Abraham announced the arrests that resulted from a lengthy joint probe by police and her office.

Prompted by the pleas of a concerned neighbor, relief workers brought warm clothes and the promise of company yesterday to a mentally ill Kensington man who lives alone with his demons in a dark, unheated rowhouse. Stephen Ferry, an outreach coordinator with the Community Organization for Mental Health and Mental Retardation, visited the man's home yesterday morning and returned later to deliver four second-hand sweaters, three pairs of pants and some socks. "Now we'll work on getting you some new shoes, Bill," Ferry said, pointing to the man's weatherbeaten feet, which were stuffed loosely inside two old dress shoes, one black and one brown, neither with laces.

The men's department was empty. No one was testing the perfume neatly arranged on the counters in the middle of the store. And all the appliances on the lower level remained untouched Thursday at J.C. Penney's in Audubon. But on the second floor, in the boys' and girls' departments, Gloucester County kids in all shapes and sizes held onto the hands of adults they had just met while the youngsters pulled clothes off the shelves and racks in search of the warmest gloves, the frilliest dresses and the perfect pairs of pants.

NGA, a community-service organization based in Warminster, is collecting new clothes and backpacks for students in need. NGA, with three branches in Bucks County and five in Montgomery County, distributes donated items to school districts several times a year. Kristin Beggs, assistant administrator for NGA, said that new clothes at the start of the school year can help improve students' self-esteem. "If kids can fit in with their peers, they're more likely to go to school," she said.

IF YOU'VE BEEN paying attention to the deadly collapse of the Bangladesh garment factory, you know our dirty laundry just got dirtier. Like a lot of you, I've followed the April 24 tragedy that, at last count, has claimed more than 1,000 lives. I was haunted by the heartbreaking photo of the couple found under debris in a final embrace. I was amazed at the rescue of the seamstress who lived 17 days trapped in the rubble. But it was all from afar. Until I went to my basement to do laundry, and noticed the tags on my clothes.

S EUN OLUBODUN , 31, of Northern Liberties founded Duke & Winston, a line of casual tees, polos, hats and ties ranging in price from $24 to $68. He launched the company in 2009, and last December raised $30,000 on Kickstarter.com. The money allowed Olubodun to hire a full-time assistant and a part-timer, and to begin attracting wholesale buyers. The Temple grad was born in Great Britain and moved here with his family when he was 10. Q: How did you come up with the idea for Duke & Winston?

This spring, thousands of college students across the nation will aim to be below average. To that end, they'll go through their dorm-room closets, dressers, gym bags, and more, seeking to weed out all the clothes they don't need anymore, won't wear again, or simply can't fit into the luggage they're taking home. I say "below average" because, apparently, the average person tosses a lot. According to the latest municipal solid waste report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 13 million tons of textiles - a grab-bag group that includes more than clothing, but it's the closest the report gets - entered the municipal waste stream in 2010.

A Bucks County woman says she found $30,000 in cash in the pockets of some clothes given to her after an elderly woman died - and then returned the money to the woman's family. Carol Sutor of Bristol said she found the money inside the clothes last week. She said that a relative of her cousin's had died and that the cousin gave her the clothes to give to her mother. When Sutor was going through the clothes, she said, she found bank envelopes containing $100 bills totaling $30,000. She called her cousin, Medford resident Marlene Lattanzi, who came over and counted the money, too. She gave Sutor $1,000 back.

DEAR ABBY: I am a single mother raising a 15-year-old son. For most of his life it has just been the two of us. I now regret that I put him in bed with me when he was a baby. As he grew older, I encouraged him to sleep in his own bed, but it would last only a few nights, and then he would sneak back into my room. I was married for three years when he was around 11, and he'd sneak into my husband's and my bedroom after we were asleep and sleep on a couch in there. His problem is he is terrified of the dark and believes in ghosts, monsters, etc. He says he has a phobia and I believe him. I tried getting a dog for him to sleep with and night-lights, but nothing worked.

  Imagine a table full of beautiful dolls, and though each doll is wearing a beautiful outfit, one is wearing one that matches yours. For the participants of the American Girl Fashion Show, that little-girl fantasy becomes a reality. For the last 17 years, the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey has put on the event to raise money for the facility and families with sick children. The participants model clothing straight from the American Girl catalog - a dress, nightgown, or play outfit - that is the real-life and person-size version of one from each American Girl story.

GRANDPA sweaters. Pro Wings, with Velcro. Fur coats, extra fluffy. Fringed brown jackets. Footie pajamas - for adults. All cheap. All used. All . . . the height of fashion? Absolutely, according to the song "Thrift Shop," which occupied the No. 1 spot on both Billboard's Hot 100 and R&B/hip-hop charts for most of February. The creation of Seattle rapper Macklemore, producer Ryan Lewis and vocalist Wanz (who performs the addictive, Barry White-like hook), "Thrift Shop" is more than a sketch of West Coast trends, more than a YouTube sensation, more than a huge crossover hit. It's an anthem for a sort of secondhand style that's been part of Philly culture for a while now. And, it's getting bigger by the day. Exhibit A: Sara Semborski, the hip, 22-year-old manager of Circle Thrift on South Broad.

The Supremes' glamorous style - lush eyelashes, sleek beehive hairdos, and fur stoles - forced the world to see black women as more than mammies and maids years before the civil rights movement got fully under way. But the accessories wouldn't have mattered a lick without the gowns. Original Supremes Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard performed in what seemed like an endless supply of heavily beaded, floor-length confections. Some featured plunging necklines and flowing capes.

Sidney A. Grossman, 87, a haberdasher from Northeast Philadelphia who became a card dealer at an Atlantic City casino, died Wednesday, Jan. 2, of heart failure at a nursing home in Northfield, N.J. Mr. Grossman was raised in Philadelphia's Strawberry Mansion section and attended Simon Gratz High School. He served in the Army during World War II. He was stationed in Panama and earned the rank of corporal. Mr. Grossman was married to Barbara Grossman. The marriage ended in divorce.

R ussian-born dressmaker Irina Sigal, 49, of Huntingdon Valley, opened a boutique on Locust Street near Rittenhouse Square on Thursday. After achieving success with bridal gowns and formal dresses, Sigal moved to the U.S. more than 20 years ago. In 2000 she opened a boutique in Elkins Park, where she also offered custom jackets, suits and skirts. Q: Tell me a little bit about your business and exactly what you do. A: I have six employees at my Elkins Park store and four at the new location, not including me and a couple people helping out. Q: You're known for recrafting of garments, right?