Side show

YVES SAINT LAURENT SAYS FAREWELL: Yes, indeed, it was time for the designer to retire. He put this on the runway last week at his final show. It's described as a white dress. Which is fine if you like to dress like a condom.

A LITERAL FASHION STATEMENT: The hottest item in the Los Angeles area is the "Free Winona" T-shirt at the Y-Que Trading Post in Los Feliz. No matter that Winona Ryder is free on bail after being accused of shoplifting at the Beverly Hills Saks. And she hasn't been charged.

Three hundred of the $15 shirts -- with the slogan in jail-type lettering and Ryder's face as a caricature -- were sold in a month, the Los Angeles Times says.

"Sales are exploding," designer Billy Tsangares tells Reuters. "I'm getting 100 calls a day."

His take on why the shirt is so popular: "This gives people an expression that is radical and at the same time meaningless."

Wednesday, Tsangares debuted his latest product: a $20 canvas tote bag with the "classic Free Winona" design on one side and "I paid for this stuff" on the other.

TAKE OUT THAT DARN SPOT IN STYLE: You, too, can be like the servants in Gosford Park and wear gloves while you clean. Caldrea, a Minnesota company that produces aromatherapy cleaning products and high-end cleaning tools, has introduced Victorian handkerchief linen polishing gloves.

The gloves can be worn to remove fingerprints and smudges from china, crystal and silver when setting a formal table, company founder Monica Nassif tells the Washington Post.

"If you're having a dinner party and you hate spots on your wineglasses, these are the perfect thing," she says.

THERE ARE RULES FOR SHAKING YOUR BOOTY: Some British country music fans are fomenting a line dancing revolt, saying too many people are now dancing in lines to pop music.

"They still wear cowboy boots and Stetsons, but they've been going down the road to pop stuff for the last year and a half or so," said Louise Woodcock, who runs the Boots and Boogie dance events in central England.

Line dancing is huge in Britain, the Associated Press says. Classes are held in pubs, clubs and civic halls. May Cooper of the British Country Music Club estimates as many as 1-million people may be involved.

But young people are abandoning country for pop, a move started by the group Steps, a quintet that became famous as a line-dancing novelty act and had 12 consecutive top five hits before splitting up last month.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright