Fashion

THE RESTAURANTS and merchants of Rittenhouse Row are gathering again on Walnut Street this Saturday, and that means about 50,000 area residents and guests will be joining them for one of Center City's largest street fairs. The Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival will close Walnut from Broad to 19th streets (from noon until 5 p.m.) and feature food, fashion, entertainment and fun for children. It's big. It's crowded. It's fun. And this year there's a lot of new stuff. * Dunkin' Donuts will be giving out free iced coffee on the 1400 block of Walnut.

THING OF BEAUTY The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia By Stephen Fried Pocket Books / $22 For Gia Carangi, two hastily scrawled words spelled the difference between a life of fame and oblivion: "Get Herion. " The reminder to buy heroin - misspelled in her appointment book - revealed that the caress of fame and fortune had become a death grip for the young Northeast Philadelphia woman. Carangi's beauty opened doors to international acclaim as a fashion model in the late 1970s.

P AULA HIAN IS a Manayunk-based fashion designer who splits time between Philly and France, where she makes her own line of knitwear for women. The sole owner of Paula Hian Designs rolls out her 2013 holiday collection for buyers next week in New York City. Hian, who grew up in Penn Valley and lives in Wayne, won an international competition in Paris for fashion students, and the winning dress is on permanent display in the Louvre. Q: What inspired you to become a fashion designer?

SHE IS: Madeline Arrington SHE DOES: Housing rehab SHE SUCCEEDS: Through determination At first, Madeline Arrington wasn't sure she wanted it mentioned in the newspapers that before taking on her current post as an apartment building manager, she spent time in jail. But, on second thought, Arrington decided she had important messages to get out: About how quickly your life can fall apart. About picking up the pieces of your life and starting again. In 1982, Arrington, then 39 years old, a single mother of two daughters, then aged 18 and 9, made what turned out to be a fateful decision.

The sunlight surrounding Urban Outfitters' loft-like corporate headquarters Saturday afternoon illuminated Drexel University's end-of-year fashion show. As usual, the 40-plus presentations were stellar, all exemplifying a keen sense of design. The garments' construction was very top-of-the-line; no unraveled hems on this runway. Among the first works presented was a grouping of dresses fashioned from airy fabrics donated by Lilly Pulitzer, showcasing the students' ability to create ruching and draping techniques.

Among the city's fashionable, there was much to-do when Zara, H&M, Lush, Club Monaco and BCBG Max Azria opened their doors on Walnut Street last year. But when the local development firm ARCWheeler confirmed recently that Barneys Co-op - the cutting-edge offshoot of the high-end New York City department store Barneys - was coming to Rittenhouse Square, high heels clicked with excitement. The region's chic-ometer has officially been raised. "For so many years, Philadelphia has had a reputation of being staid," said Stephanie Naidoff, commerce director for the City of Philadelphia.

Baby boomer women might not want to wear their daughters' jeans and men may refuse to don muscle shirts, but the generation that brought us tie-dye still wants to remain fashionable and hip well into middle age. How to monetize that desire is both a marketer's conundrum and dream. "Even with mature figures, boomers want to have fashionable options," says Roseanne Morrison, fashion director for the Doneger Group, an industry consultant. "That doesn't stop just because you hit a certain age. " The problem is, designers and retailers often don't know how to reach a demographic that is varied, numerous, and affluent.

10 tonight CHANNEL 3 Luminaries such as Anna Wintour (right), editor-in-chief at Vogue , prepare for the event that celebrates fashion worldwide. The one-hour special also tracks the night itself as it unfolds around the globe.

Fashion and appearance are high priorities for 14-year-old Myira. A typical teenager, she delights in having her hair done, using makeup, and shopping for new outfits with matching accessories. She dreams of becoming a fashion designer and even now does sketches of clothing. An animal lover, Myira particularly likes small dogs that she can cuddle and play with. She enjoys going to school, where she receives some special education services. Art, gym and computers are her favorite subjects.

If nothing else, so-called fast fashion is cute. A Michael Kors-esque striped maxi skirt for $25 at Zara? I can always rationalize that purchase, right? Not really. Fast fashion may keep us on trend within a small budget, but it has done considerable damage to our local and national economy by stuffing our closets with subpar clothing made by workers paid the lowest wages. At its worst, fast fashion is actually killing people. In the last year, several deadly accidents - including one fire that killed 112 people - have taken place at manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter of clothing in the world and one of the world's poorest nations.

THE RULE in journalism is that two of anything is sheer coincidence, but three of anything is an ironclad trend. Here's one for you: We now have three movies in theaters about momentous historic events that occurred in 1947 - "42" and Jackie Robinson's integration of baseball, "Midnight's Children" and the 1947 partition of Pakistan and India, and now "Kon-Tiki," a dramatization of Thor Heyerdahl's historic 1947 Pacific rafting trip, which proved...

P AULA HIAN IS a Manayunk-based fashion designer who splits time between Philly and France, where she makes her own line of knitwear for women. The sole owner of Paula Hian Designs rolls out her 2013 holiday collection for buyers next week in New York City. Hian, who grew up in Penn Valley and lives in Wayne, won an international competition in Paris for fashion students, and the winning dress is on permanent display in the Louvre. Q: What inspired you to become a fashion designer?

Like most teenage girls, 17-year-old Madelyn Rosario is enamored with this spring's prom dresses. She loves the trendy princess gowns and body-skimming mermaid frocks made popular on this year's red carpets by the super-slim Miley Cyruses and Taylor Swifts. But at 5-foot-3 and 170 pounds, Rosario is a confident, well-dressed teen - who is a solid size 14. In the discriminating world of fashion, that qualifies her as plus-size. "Up until now, this is the biggest night of my life," said the Pennsauken High School junior.

MILAN, Italy - Ottavio Missoni, 92, patriarch of the iconic fashion brand of zigzag-patterned knitwear that has added a classy touch of color and style to countless well-dressed women, died Thursday. A statement by Missoni SpA said he "passed away serenely" in his home in Sumirago. The town, near Varese, is home to company headquarters. It was the second sorrow for the family in a matter of months. In January, Mr. Missoni's eldest child, company chief executive Vittorio Missoni, 58, disappeared with his wife and four others while flying in a small plane during a vacation to a Venezuelan island.

If it wasn't for Ottavio Missoni, fashionistas wouldn't know how beautiful, flattering, and powerful a bunch of zigzags could be. Thanks to unconventional color combinations with patterns that were sometimes curved, sometimes sharp, but always striped, the designer's dresses, accessories, and home products are iconic. Missoni, affectionately known as Tai, died Thursday at his home in northern Italy. He was 92. "He set the standard when it came to luxury and knitwear," said Paula Hian, a women's designer based in Manayunk, who manufactures some of her knitwear line, PH Paula Hian, in the same European factory as Missoni.

For most people, felt belongs on the same shelf with pipe cleaners, to be used for craft projects: soft stuffed forms with glued-on googly eyes, or posters covered with a mishmash of vibrant letters. But in the last couple of years, wool's hardworking cousin has upgraded its fashion status, making its way into rugs, chairs, wall panels, and home accessories. Feel-good felt just hasn't felt better. "Craftsmen really like working with it for its simplicity," said Kelly Smith, cofounder of FilzFelt, a Boston-based company with a Center City office that imports felt and customizes pillows and rugs, and novelties like place mats, trivets, coasters, and table runners.

Philadelphia University honored Nicole Miller with the Spirit of Design Award at its annual student fashion show Saturday. The shy designer with two local boutiques was lauded for her easy-to-wear silhouettes that range from office-appropriate to super-sexy, as well as for her fabric innovation. Miller is a pioneer in working with stretch metallics and body-camouflaging fabrics. (No wonder her body-skimming ruched pencil skirts and evening gowns actually allow for breathing.) Other innovations were on display as designers sent a cadre of wearable looks down the runway.

Jones Group, the clothing, shoes and accessories maker that owns chains including Nine West and Easy Spirit, said Wednesday that it is closing 170 U.S. stores and slashing jobs as part of a plan to improve profitability. A spokeswoman for New York-based Jones Group, which has its financial offices in Bristol, said that 8 percent of the company's 10,000 jobs will be cut, or about 800 U.S. positions. The company, which also sells its products through department stores, has had stagnant sales, and it posted a loss last year.

Toggery is a collection of cotton T's and tanks perfect for layering under this spring's trendy shrunken blazers. The comfy 23-piece line features wraparound cardigans in neutral shades and racerback maxi dresses in punchy pastels, too. But the locally made label founded by Kate D'Arcy, 32, is more than a grouping of easy-to-wear women's basics. It is proof that designers can have successful fashion careers designing and manufacturing clothing in Philadelphia - after a very long hiatus when a lack of skilled local workers made it nearly impossible.