Runway

Toss the leggings and pick up a pair of boot-cut pants. Replace the bateau stripe shirt with an olive drab tee. Give the boyfriend jacket back to the boyfriend, and pick up a military jacket instead. Now that designers have shown their collections for fall in New York, Milan and Paris, department store fashion directors and boutique owners have to figure out how to translate the big ideas to the racks. Chanel's faux fur fantasy, Junya Watanabe's military march and Celine's luxe vision of minimalism were memorable on the runway, but what do they mean for a woman's wardrobe?

The British government approved the construction of a third runway for Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, but legal challenges could delay the project. Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon told Parliament that the new runway and a new passenger terminal should be ready between 2015 and 2020. But opponents say adding the runway would require destroying 700 homes and significantly increase noise in the area. The environmental coalition against the runway includes Greenpeace and key political leaders.

An American airlines flight preparing to take off from Houston's Hobbby Airport on Friday slid off a runway into mud when the pilot turned the plane too sharply, authorities said. The 90 passengers were unharmed.

A small jet carrying House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), his wife and two bodyguards ran off a runway in northern Michigan after hitting four geese, aviation officials said. No one was injured. The plane was rolling for takeoff Monday from the Mackinac Island airport when one Canada goose was sucked into the right engine and three others were struck by other parts of the plane, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Suppose your plane has left the gate and moved to the runway for takeoff. Buckled in, you wait for the plane to ascend. And wait. And wait. Takeoff delays are common, and with the increasing amount of air traffic and airport congestion, it may take longer and longer for the planes to get off the ground. How long can an airline keep passengers on a plane while it's waiting to take off? What information, if any, must it provide to passengers during this process? How often must it update this information?

A Soviet airliner on a domestic flight skidded off a runway Saturday in Uzbekistan and smashed into concrete construction blocks, killing 31 people, the state news agency Tass said. The crash occurred as the Antonov-24 turboprop, carrying 52 passengers and four crew members, was landing in Tashkent, capital of the southern republic. The plane hit construction blocks being used for repairs at the airport, Tass reported. A state aviation commission is investigating the cause of the accident.

It is a funny place for a hotel, this airport. It is even a funny place for an airport hotel. Most airport hotels are near the airport or perhaps even next to the airport. This hotel is on the airport, alongside the runway, like a hangar with suites and bellboys. Pilots can taxi up to the back door in their planes. And what an airport for a hotel. This is not LAX, London or New York.

For all the dreamers out there, for all the starlets and sweater girls who ever heard the tale of Lana Turner plucked one day from a drugstore counter and immortalized the next on celluloid, it was the event of the season. About 140 model hopefuls and several hundred onlookers gathered Wednesday night in Center Court at Topanga Plaza for the West Coast opening of Elite Model's nationwide talent search. Malisa Young, 22, came early--way early--to beat the crowds before the 6 p.m. event.

GERREN TAYLOR was still playing with Barbie dolls when she walked the runway for the first time at Los Angeles Fashion Week in 2003. Just 12 at the time, she was the youngest person ever to be represented by the runway division of L.A. Models. Although most agencies require girls to be 14, it's not unheard of for 12-year-olds to get work. Actress Milla Jovovich made the cover of Vogue at 12, and Brooke Shields, Gisele Bundchen and Kate Moss were all stars before they turned 16. With her long legs and confident walk, Taylor looked as though she would follow in their footsteps.

Paris From the moment the first Dior kabuki clown stepped out onto the runway, you knew you were in Paris, where clothes are important, but fashion-as-theater is transcendent. Shown under a tent in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, John Galliano's pan-Asian collection for Dior was a Technicolor shock to the system, replete with Pierrot-meets-geisha-girl makeup, and enough wild prints to swath an entire Chinese New Year parade.