Fashion

There is no place like Southern California in the fall. The golden light, the warm air, the perfectly sharp horizon. It does summer one better, if that's possible. It's no wonder that our designers do fall lines like no one else. There is an ease and a lightness to their clothes that's refreshingly removed from New York's fall runways.

The MOST exciting thing at couture week in Paris last month wasn't an over-the-top runway gown or a wasp-waisted lady suit. It was denim. And it was denim by Alber Elbaz, the darling of French fashion who over the last few seasons has captivated women with his take on functional femininity at Lanvin. Lanvin's first denim collection, shown during a casual presentation, is being manufactured by Acne, the cult Swedish jeans brand. And it could be the best thing to happen in fashion in a long time.

EVEN IF you haven't noticed the tell-tale white side seam peeking out from a smartly cuffed pant leg, chances are you've heard of selvage denim. Once a term whispered only by denim snobs and jean junkies, selvage has become a sartorial status symbol for men akin to functioning button cuffs or a family tartan. Cult brands such as Evisu and A.P.C. started the phenomenon in the 1990s, and now selvage is everywhere -- Levi's, Ralph Lauren's Double RL and J. Crew all carry it.

KATIE HOLMES is on a roll. Tom Cruise's better half was bumming around downtown L.A. a couple of weeks ago, wearing loose, boyish jeans that she pegged and rolled, teamed with a pair of strappy stilettos. That's right: The puffy, peg-leg '80s profile we never thought would come back is with us again -- and we're not even snickering.

CALL it the green carpet. When celebrities hit the links, they're vulnerable to snipes at their slices and their ensembles alike. From left, here's a look at the good, the weird, the loud, the ugly. * Justin Timberlake -- wearing a polo by J. Lindeberg at the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge in early June -- takes a cue from golf legend Sam Snead, who made fedoras cool on the course.

Steve Hale has discovered a reason to splurge on clothing again: the slim silhouette in suits to shirts that's replacing the baggier fits of past years. But his wife, Cathy, has slashed her monthly apparel spending, saying she's "bored" by what's out there. In tough economic times, men are traditionally the first to cut back -- but the Hales represent a new phenomenon in retailing: Over the last year, men have been on a clothes-buying spree, while women have pulled back even more.

Gliding across the stage, crooning "come closer" over a driving beat, he manhandles the microphone stand like a modern-day James Brown. Only without the polyester jumpsuit. Ne-Yo, the R&B triple-threat singer, performer and songwriter, is rocking a steel gray Tom Ford sharkskin suit, a silver tie cinched with a tie bar -- and his trademark fedora. His retro style -- or "swag" as he calls it -- informs every element of the performance.

Leave it to George Lucas to dictate style in space. On the first day of filming "Star Wars" -- as Carrie Fisher writes in her new book, "Wishful Drinking" -- the director told her that she couldn't wear a bra under her white Princess Leia dress because it would strangle her in zero gravity. Hmmm. No doubt, a little jiggle didn't hurt in a galaxy far, far away, either. In fact, it would seem that undergarments have no place in most science fiction movies.