Clothes

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

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.

Philadelphia has always been a major center for textiles and clothing, but John Conway adds a new wrinkle to the old industry. Actually, Conway's garments are wrinkle-free. He makes clothes out of rubber. It's an unusual business. Conway says he's the only person on the East Coast making rubber clothes, a fashion statement created in Europe that is stretching slowly to America's fashion avant-garde. So, who wears rubber? Generally, it's the same kind of people who wear leather - the kinky, the hip, the young, slim and sexy or those who want to get noticed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wedged between a Saladworks restaurant and a UPS store on Spruce Street, a storefront displays tony dresses in jewel tones, with a neon "Dry Cleaning Shirts" sign glowing nearby. The proximity has left some passersby scratching their heads. Is it a boutique or a dry cleaner? It's both. Run by Yoon Sook Kim and her daughter HanNa Jung, Bonded BoutiqueCleaner in University City is a seven-month-old hybrid shop that was born of both opportunity and necessity. Until October, this spot was just Bonded Cleaners, Kim's utilitarian dry cleaning business — more function than fashion — with several working sewing machines in an unadorned and largely empty interior.

Making your way through the creepy, funky, and inspiring FiberPhiladelphia exhibition "Outside/Inside the Box," in the Crane Arts Building's Icebox Project Space, is unexpectedly affecting. There is a surprising intimacy to these materials that makes the art very direct and personal, and it tends to follow you around throughout your day. And why not? When Brenna K. Murphy is using hair in her art, or Riccardo Berlingeri is transforming burned newspapers (and one hopeful green shoot)

  Now that spring is officially here, it's time for some warm-weather bidding. Sales of outdoor garden decor and potential spring wardrobes will oblige. The potential spring wardrobes will be offered by Andi Charkow at her next regular sale of vintage clothing, accessories, and fine linens, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at Horsham VFW Post 9788, 324 Sawmill Lane. More than 1,000 lots will be offered, including fashions from 1870 through 1960 and a few later designs, as well as linens, laces, purses, a few shoes, and buttons.

Want to shop designers whose clothes are made in America? Here's a sampling: Nanette Lepore 877-537-6734 www.nanettelepore.com Milly 212-921-7800 www.millyny.com Jason Wu 646-395-3774 Chado Ralph Rucci 877-242-3317 www.chadoralphrucci.net/ Brooks Brothers 866-515-4747 www.brooksbrothers.com ...

Margaret Cromartie Hennegan, 89, of Northern Liberties, a retired seamstress and the grandmother of a national television correspondent, died of complications of a stroke Tuesday, March 6, at Hahnemann University Hospital. Mrs. Hennegan was born in Wilmington, N.C., and grew up with three brothers in South Philadelphia. She attended William Penn High School. While raising a daughter as a single mother, she worked in textile factories in Philadelphia and was a member of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.

An unidentified woman was fatally struck by a vehicle Tuesday evening in Delaware County, police said. The woman, described as between 60 and 80 years old, was crossing the 2000 block of South Sproul Road in Marple Township when she was hit by a southbound vehicle at 6:46 p.m., police said. The woman was pronounced dead at Bryn Mawr Hospital. The vehicle stayed at the scene. Police asked that anyone who may know the identity of the woman, who was wearing dark-colored clothes and shoes, or saw the accident call Marple detectives at 610-356-1504.

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, "Philosophy ought really to be written only as a form of poetry. " I am never happier than when I can read choreography as poetry, as I - and, I think, the audience - did over the weekend with choreographer John Jasperse's Fort Blossom Revisited 2000/2012 . This fuller version of the original 2000 work premiered Friday at the Hepburn Teaching Theater, Bryn Mawr College's black-box theater. The college was the leading funder of the reconstructed and expanded 60-minute work.

New York Fashion Week starts Thursday, and it appears the runways will be popping with a fashion flair that's unmistakably all-American. Levi's is planning its first appearance on the runways next week. And J. Crew - a favorite of first lady Michelle Obama - will return to the Lincoln Center tents Tuesday for its second year in a row. American sportswear stars Michael Kors, Diane von Furstenberg, Max Azria, Lacoste, Tibi, and Anna Sui appear as if they will even be more heavily attended - invitation lists have closed already.

Erica Stewart walked into the sixth annual Women's Clothing Giveaway at the Germantown Jewish Centre in Mount Airy on Sunday in search of just a few pairs of pants and shirts. But the 18-year-old quickly gathered more than she had planned on from the tables piled high with donated clothing. Who could blame her? All of it was free. "This helps people that need things who can't afford them," Stewart said, taking a break on the side of the auditorium. "It's a great event. " The giveaway attracted many enthusiastic "shoppers," some from as far as Chester County.

Robert J. Schaefer, 79, of North Wales, a public relations executive who collected warm clothes for Korean orphans while in the Army, died of a heart attack Sunday, Jan. 8. Mr. Schaefer earned a bachelor's degree in 1954 from La Salle College, where he was editor of the school paper and in later years served on the college's board. After graduating, he joined the Army and, after training in Oklahoma, was sent to Korea as a communications officer with the Seventh Infantry Division.