Costumes

Often considered the most popular entertainer of the 20th century--his extravagant performances set still-unchallenged attendance records--Liberace (dubbed "Mr. Showman" in tribute to his flashy theatricality) sued a London columnist in 1956 for implying he was gay. He won.

"Arrested Development" costume designer Katie Sparks, whose efforts on the first two seasons of the Fox sitcom earned her a 2006 nomination from the Costume Designers Guild of America, was tapped by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz to work on the new streaming-to-Netflix season that will be released May 26. She recently spoke about her work on the original series and the challenges posed by revisiting - and re-dressing - the quirky Bluth family after...

If you're old enough to have midriff bulge, the fashion stories emanating from television can be a major turnoff. There's no denying the spandex-and-denim set dominates the tube's style waves, from "Melrose Place" to MTV. But a few stylish, mature role models--for whom black leather motorcycle jackets are not the be-all and end-all--do exist.

Most of us are collectors, whether we display our obsessions in the workplace or hide them in their original boxes at home. We devote hours to researching and buying wine and designer bags, comic books and antique buttons, action figures and shoes. Neil Zevnik is a slave to costume jewelry. Zevnik has been an actor, a personal chef (his client list has included Liz Taylor and Pierce Brosnan) and a marine mammal rescuer, but it's his 21-year-old hobby that has turned into an obsession.

Kitty Black Perkins has her own ideas about dress-for-success: Make it pink and bouffant, and the more glitter the better. For 14 years, she has been fashion designer to the ultimate material girl, Barbie. And one thing she's learned about the little girls who own all those little dolls is that they think Barbie is pretty in pink. Black Perkins, who is principal designer for Mattel Toys' fashion dolls, works out of a studio in a top-secret design center in El Segundo.

Call him the accidental trendsetter. Costume designer Michael Kaplan's futuristic-noir look for "Blade Runner" inspired an Alexander McQueen fashion collection. His "Fight Club" designs were soon being paid tribute to by his designer friend Marc Jacobs as well as Donatella Versace. And then there were the slouchy, off-the-shoulder outfits in "Flashdance," which triggered a rabid '80s trend that still has some life left in it. So does this mean we might all soon be wearing feathered headdresses?

Booth MOORE seemed to express surprise at Michael Jackson's court attire, referring to several outfits as "costumes" ["Style: Indefensible?" April 18]. But that's exactly what his attorney no doubt has requested that Michael wear. It's a brilliant defense to a crime that requires specific intent. If Michael were to dress conservatively, the jury would see him as a dirty old man surrounding himself with children with the intent to molest them. But in costumes, even bright-colored pajamas, he is what he has always been: a person with an arrested development, stuck in childhood, when all his acts are innocent.

HILLSBORO, Ore. - Movie buffs probably have some idea of what goes into designing a costume for film. But what about when the star is a 9-inch-tall puppet named Norman? As I learned a few months ago during a visit to the Laika Studios set of "ParaNorman,"the 3-D stop-motion animation film that opened Friday, it was all about sweating the small stuff. There were pint-sized patterns, scalpels for cutting fabric and tiny needles roughly the thickness of a human hair for sewing it. These tools of the trade helped create the 120 miniature costumes for the film's silicone puppets.

Madonna's “Like a Virgin” wedding dress and Jean Paul Gaultier cone-bra corset are two of the iconic costumes in rock 'n' roll history. And they will be on display to the public in L.A. on Thursday during a one-night-only pop-up fashion exhibit at Macy's in Century City. The event, titled “Madonna's Fashion Evolution,” marks the first time many of the star's costumes have been displayed together. Items have been brought in from all over the world. The pink satin cone-bra corset (worn during the "Blonde Ambition" tour)

Designing costumes for Shania Twain's gig at Caesars Palace in Vegas took designer Marc Bouwer six months in development plus three weeks of on-site finishing touches. Most of the clothes were inspired by ensembles the star has worn in music videos. One of the challenges: designing a formal gown that horses (part of the show) wouldn't step on. [WWD] Southern California band No Doubt has teamed with Fred Perry on a limited edition collection of clothes for men and women influenced by the band's ska roots that's expected to hit retail in January.

Madonna's “Like a Virgin” wedding dress and Jean Paul Gaultier cone-bra corset are two of the iconic costumes in rock 'n' roll history. And they will be on display to the public in L.A. on Thursday during a one-night-only pop-up fashion exhibit at Macy's in Century City. The event, titled “Madonna's Fashion Evolution,” marks the first time many of the star's costumes have been displayed together. Items have been brought in from all over the world. The pink satin cone-bra corset (worn during the "Blonde Ambition" tour)

For those of us up late at night concerned about Halle Berry's high-risk pregnancy at age 46, fear not. It appears that the pregnancy, at the very least, will not affect her role in the upcoming "X-Men" film. As if that makes anything any better. Director Bryan Singer teased fans with Berry's return to the franchise in a tweeted photo of the Oscar-winning actress smiling in her all-black costume. Berry confirmed her appearance in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" on "The Tonight Show" in March, and she'll reprise her role as the weather-manipulating mutant Storm.

Of all the "Gatsby" partnerships, Brooks Bros.' 53-piece menswear collection may be the most high-profile - and most authentic. "F. Scott Fitzgerald was actually a Brooks Bros. customer," said Arthur Wayne, vice president of global public relations for Brooks Bros. Wayne also pointed out that while "The Great Gatsby" doesn't explicitly mention the 195-year-old label, Fitzgerald's debut 1920 novel, "This Side of Paradise," does, pointing to a passage in which one character advises another: "You must go to Brooks and get some really nice suits.

This year alone, Beyoncé sang for the president, headlined the Super Bowl, scored her 17 th Grammy, debuted a highly rated HBO documentary and was named half of pop music's first billionaire couple (with hubby Jay-Z). So what does such an accomplished woman wear to launch her latest world tour? The answer, in a gold-plated nutshell, is whatever she wants. And she did. Beyoncé kicked off “The Mrs. Carter Show" tour Monday in Serbia, and the pop diva donned some daring attire.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but this one has inspired many more, because it has become a departure point for how Europeans became acquainted with Asia. When the Getty acquired an 17th century drawing by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, "Man in Korean Costume," at a 1983 auction, it was already well known among the cognoscenti. Then six years ago Getty curator Stephanie Schrader learned that it had inspired two books in Korea - a bestselling novel in 1993 and a nonfiction volume by a Jesuit historian in 2004.

Called to action by the blast of a horn, more than 30 yapping, spotted hounds spill down a hill, bound across a country road, leap a fence and rush a faded winter field. On their heels are about two dozen hunters on horseback, men and women in breeches and tweed and velvet hats. The few motorists this deep in the country on a winter weekday morning slow down to watch. Some stop. It's something to behold, this pageant of beasts and man - a scene from another time, another place. A painting.

It's going to be a Halloween of record proportions. But with the spooky day falling on a Wednesday this year, will you be dressed appropriately when you go in to work? Spending on the holiday is expected to hit a peak of $8 billion, up 10.7% from 2011. Consumers will shell out $2.9 billion for costumes, a 12.2% increase coming off a 34.8% boost in 2011. But that doesn't mean your colleagues are down with revealing outfits and offensive get-ups . More than half of the people surveyed by career website Glassdoor said the colleagues who celebrate Halloween in poor taste should be asked to change.

After almost two months at the negotiating table, workers who play characters such as Mickey Mouse and Cinderella at Walt Disney World have won an important concession: clean undergarments. Disney and the Teamsters union have a tentative agreement to assign workers individual undergarments, which they can take home each night to clean themselves instead of relying on Disney laundry. The agreement follows worker complaints about contracting pubic lice and scabies from Disney-laundered underwear.

For sale: one used lion costume. But we're not talking just any lion costume. Archivist James Comisar owns one of the largest archives of television artifacts, with about 10,000 individual objects. Now he's looking for a new home for the iconic Cowardly Lion costume designed by Gilbert Adrian and worn by Bert Lahr during all the "mane" sequences in the beloved 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz. " This may be the perfect time to pique collectors' interest in the costume because of the opening Friday of Sam Raimi's big-budget "Oz the Great and Powerful," which tells the story of how the wizard came to take up residence in the Emerald City.

The sky might in fact be the limit for the Harlem Shake. The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday said it is investigating a video, titled "Harlem Shake Frontier Flight 157," that shows Colorado College's ultimate Frisbee team doing the meme with their fellow passengers. The Harlem Shake is a viral video craze that has exploded in the last month. Most videos show one person dancing alone, with others suddenly joining about 15 seconds into the song. Most videos contain people in costumes and masks.