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Thanks a lot, Gwyneth Paltrow. It's been more than 10 years since the actress and style icon showed up at the "Shakespeare in Love" premiere with long, stick-straight extensions. And suddenly, boom ? "Blow-out salons [popped up] across the landscape. It also was when hairstylists started Japanese straightening treatments and then Brazilian," says Kristin Perrotta, executive editor at Allure magazine. No matter, she adds, that not everyone could pull off the look. But although we might not have always tried to achieve stick-straight hair, many curly-haired women have been fighting the good fight for generations.

Mother-daughter designing duo Marie and Kelly Gray are back in business together with a new label called Grayse, eight years after stepping down from their day-to-day duties at St. John when a private equity firm bought the company and cleaned house in a rebranding effort that famously also involved hiring Angelina Jolie as spokesmodel and alienating hordes of loyal customers. Although St. John is best known for creating the conservative, Crayola-colored knit suit uniform worn by a generation of women in the go-go 1980s and '90s, Grayse taps into the more recent trend of casual luxury and seasonless, day-to-night dressing.

By the numbers it just doesn't seem right. Nearly 65% of American women are overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, and of those, more than 35% are obese. Yet most designer collections end at size 10. And on hundreds of high-fashion runways at international fashion weeks this month and last, ultra-slim models were wearing trendsetting designs that will never be manufactured in sizes to fit most American women. In a time when retailers are struggling to turn a profit, the disconnect between fashion and reality is a puzzle.

Monika Chiang doesn't do things on a small scale. The statuesque beauty with the cascading black locks has just launched her eponymous debut line, and it's no capsule collection. In fact it's closer to the amount of merchandise that would fill a substantial chunk of a department store rather than just a 1,300-square-foot boutique. The size of her first collection (which includes bags, shoes, jewelry and clothing) and planned move Oct. 5 into a free-standing Robertson Boulevard store, called Monika Chiang, may seem gutsy.

Hayley Starr is a modern-day flower child. The artist and designer (whose given last name is Keenan but who describes "Hayley Starr" as her "highest self and inner superhero") may not wear fringe and flash peace signs. But a desire to promote creativity and self-confidence prompted her last fall to open the Quest by Hayley Starr, her one-stop boutique, art gallery, New Age refuge, classroom, studio and event space in Venice. The shop, which is clean and feminine but decidedly offbeat, is like a three-dimensional Pinterest page, communicating Starr's whimsical outlook via an eclectic collage of her favorite things.

It was like an Oscar flashback with all the Giorgio Armani gowns, Harry Winston bling and Veronica Lake waves on the red carpet Sunday. Then there was a Sharon Stone Gap turtleneck moment, when Helen Hunt revealed that her navy blue gown was from none other than cheap chic retailer H&M. (Apparently it was a custom job; Hunt worked closely with H&M designers exchanging sketches, fabrics and samples, according to the retailer.) PHOTOS: Oscars 2013 best dressed on the red carpet Back to Armani, though.

Gregg Renfrew wants to change the way people live, starting with their cosmetics. Sitting in her light-filled office in Santa Monica, Renfrew rattles off the statistics she finds most alarming when it comes to some of the lotions, sprays and powders we apply to our bodies on a daily basis. "Did you know that there has not been a federal law passed since 1938 governing the cosmetics industry? And there are close to 12,000 ingredients used in all personal care products, from toothpaste to shampoo, lipstick to lotion, 80% of which have never been tested for safety on human health.

Within the concrete heart of downtown Los Angeles, an area three blocks long and two blocks wide fills with daily shipments of blossoms in every color, size, shape and fragrance imaginable. Bold sunflowers. Delicate baby's breath. Boisterous red roses. Pastel snap dragons. Golden orchids flecked with red. Fluffy white carnations. This is the Los Angeles Flower District — which claims to be the largest wholesale flower market in the United States. Although it caters to wholesale buyers, its marts and shops are open to the public — to everyone who loves wandering through endless floral vistas while observing an industry at work and finding some good bargains, too. Most shoppers visit the two biggest and oldest marts, the Los Angeles Flower Market and the Southern California Flower Market.

Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated Hollywood costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorléac was mentored by the legendary Edith Head, who died 29 years ago today. He is frustrated by long-standing accounts that credit Givenchy with the classic black H-neckline dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in "Sabrina" ["Impressions of a Legend," Oct. 3]. Here, from his memoir-in-progress, Dorléac gives Head her say on the controversy: Secondhand accounts can ruin someone's reputation as much as malicious rumors.

Tory Varney donned the 80-year-old silk organdy gown replete with spaghetti straps and several dozen hook-and-eye closures cascading down the back moments after the vintage dress was unpacked by employees at the Way We Wore boutique in Los Angeles. "I do really love this," said Varney, 23, a music studio manager who plans to wed her college sweetheart this fall. "I didn't say that about anything at David's Bridal. " She's right in step with other young women, who are keeping the vintage trend of the last few years going strong.