JANUARY Already beleaguered by the press for her performance during the presidential vote-counting scandal, heavily lacquered Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris gets it this month from Mr. Blackwell, who ranks her tenth on his annual list of the nation’s worst-dressed celebrities. “The pretty, brassy lassie from Tallahassee needs cosmetic direction,” proclaims Hollywood’s self-appointed fashion cop.
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MARCH The U.S. Army announces that black berets will be standard headgear for all soldiers starting in June. The Rangers (the elite infantry group that already wears black berets) and the Green Berets register their formal opposition, but many soldiers are relieved to be rid of the envelope cap, which one calls “an eyesore and an embarrassment.” Explains haberdasher John Helmer, “A beret can be morale-building, because it is pretty cool looking.”
MAY Survivor host Jeff Probst forces his cast to show up to the reunion show in the same smelly, filthy, worn-out clothes they’d worn for 45 days in a row during filming. Meanwhile, on the show’s Web site, copies of the tube top worn by winning survivor, Tina, are marketed as “the Buff.” Part head scarf, part tube top, the Buff is a “uniquely versatile, stitch-free garment you can wear as you struggle to survive.”
OCTOBER New Yorkers are too depressed to shop, reports the New York Observer, and salespeople all over town are bored and listless. “I’m still in the place where shopping feels disrespectful,” says one woman. Equally disaffected are some designers: Hussein Chalayan trots out unraveled, half-torn garments at the spring ready-to-wear shows in Paris. “Tailoring didn’t seem appropriate,” Chalayan tells the International Herald Tribune
