Sweaters

So far this year, much of the nation has been hunkered down dealing with ice, snow, sleet, closed airports and all the other facets of a particularly cold winter. And despite our local heat wave this last week, forget what envious people elsewhere may believe about Southern California being the land of "endless summer. " Angelenos know that it's always best to heed Grandma's advice and bring a sweater ? especially given the record lows we too experienced in early January. For cozy and fashionable alternatives, meet three local knitwear designers who have ditched the twin sets in favor of styles that are uniquely chic.

At the starting line, some runners will shed their warm-up gear and Christian Alvarado will hear the jackets, sweaters and sweatpants hit the ground. The air will be warmed by the combined body heat of so many people clustered together. In a moment, the first wave of the 20,000 or so runners will start in the 27th annual L.A. Marathon. But just before this happens Sunday, Alvarado will shed his sweater, revealing a light blue T-shirt with two lines centered chest-high on the front, "CHRISTIAN," and below that, "I'M BLIND.

Much of what's out there for fall looks like it could have been ripped from the pages of Cowboys and Indians magazine: arrow print maxi-skirts, blanket-stripe ponchos, suede jackets with swinging fringe, cowboy booties and T-shirts with more Navajo patterns than Ralph Lauren's RRL ranch. Shopbop.com calls the trend "neo-native," Les Nouvelles refers to it as "nouveau Navajo," and at H&M it's "bohemian style. " It brings me back to the 1990s and my first apartment in West Hollywood, with its Kokopelli lamp and IKEA Ektorp sofa in Santa Fe stripe.

The fall-winter 2012 menswear collections that showed during the recently wrapped New York Fashion Week brought the usual riffs on masculine archetypes. Rag & Bone and Tommy Hilfiger served up military men. Michael Kors went for plaid-clad lumberjack luxe, and Scott Sternberg took his duster- and work-suit-wearing cowboys into the desert Southwest. But after several years of moving toward a more laid-back look, American menswear appears to be headed in the opposite direction, with an emphasis on a more polished, dressed-up panache that stops just this side of dandification.

At the starting line, some runners will shed their warm-up gear and Christian Alvarado will hear the jackets, sweaters and sweatpants hit the ground. The air will be warmed by the combined body heat of so many people clustered together. In a moment, the first wave of the 20,000 or so runners will start in the 27th annual L.A. Marathon. But just before this happens Sunday, Alvarado will shed his sweater, revealing a light blue T-shirt with two lines centered chest-high on the front, "CHRISTIAN," and below that, "I'M BLIND.

L.A. fashion week took center stage this month, with several familiar and some not-so-familiar labels showing collections to buyers and the media. But off the runway, there's a fairly new crop of promising contemporary brands that didn't participate in fashion week events but are worth knowing about because of the way they capture the L.A. lifestyle through their easy, wearable and versatile pieces for women. Offering wares as varied as menswear-inspired sweaters and ultra-feminine silk dresses, these designers have keen fashion and business sense, creating practical pieces at a mostly palatable price point.

Designer Maureen Cullinane admits that her capricious sweater-and-skirt ensembles are a definite no-no for women climbing the executive ladder. "These clothes aren't listed in the dress-for-success manuals--and they're definitely not recommended for the junior stockbroker," asserts the New York-based knitwear specialist, who says her conversation-piece clothes won't lead to promotions in a Brooks Brothers world. "But once the woman chairs the board, my designs are perfectly OK for her."

In a new twist on sustainable fashion, designers aren't just embracing new fabrics made from organic cotton, hemp or bamboo, they're pawing through piles of clothing waste, crafting high-fashion, hand-made items from old cashmere sweaters, T- shirts and other castoffs. In the U.S., there's a lot to choose from. Almost 9 million tons of clothes and shoes end up in the municipal waste stream each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. "Most sustainable fashion is focused on substituting materials, whether it's going from conventional cotton to organic, or from [synthetic]

Knits with guts. Comfortable but not cuddly. This season's sweaters wear well both at home and on the road. Available with ladders of little stitches or cables you could climb like rope, they're stretched and patched, with exposed seams and long-on-purpose cuffs. And they're sexy, too--deep necklines and side slits are ideal over bare skin. Wear these sweaters with loose jeans or rugged cords, union suits or overalls, boots or sandals, whatever your choice.

A student at University High School was describing the current state of teen fashion. "You just gather a bunch of stuff," she said, "and put it on." However vague it may seem, the description is accurate. Today's look is casual, comfortable, sloppy. The pressure is off to dress for success. Even in private schools, competition has relaxed for the must-have accessories that are allowed with uniforms. Competition comes not from what is worn, but how it is worn.

You too can look like Rick Santorum, the Sleeveless Wonder who almost won (or won) last week's Iowa caucuses. Santorum's presidential website is offering an official Santorum vest Just Like the Candidate Wears for a $100 contribution (A hundred bucks? We smell a markup). The vest is "perfect for demonstrating solidarity with true conservatives," the website says. Or, you know, spring. Santorum's beloved sweater vests became a symbol of his fast rise in Iowa, where he finished just eight votes behind Mitt Romney, a count that still has yet to be certified amid claims that Santorum may have indeed won the contest.

"It's been a disaster, a disaster," bellows Ubaldo Grazia. The owner of his family's 500-year-old ceramics business isn't talking about the financial meltdown in his country or the Eurozone debt crisis, but the weak U.S. economy that he said had cost him one customer after another. Saks, Tiffany, Nieman Marcus, Williams-Sonoma — his list goes on. Grazia's company, now in its 25th generation, is one of dozens of ceramics makers struggling in this picturesque medieval town known for its handcrafted pottery.

The films of John Hughes can teach us a thing or two about how to survive the holidays: Unwelcome kin are best left to their RV, burglars can be thwarted with homemade booby traps, and you should always travel with John Candy. "For the Record: John Hughes (Holiday Road)," a musical production playing at Show at Barre Nov. 17-Dec. 30, is a mash-up of the soundtracks and quotable moments from Hughes' holiday classics — including "Home Alone," "Christmas Vacation" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" — with a dose of his '80s teen flicks.

L.A. fashion week took center stage this month, with several familiar and some not-so-familiar labels showing collections to buyers and the media. But off the runway, there's a fairly new crop of promising contemporary brands that didn't participate in fashion week events but are worth knowing about because of the way they capture the L.A. lifestyle through their easy, wearable and versatile pieces for women. Offering wares as varied as menswear-inspired sweaters and ultra-feminine silk dresses, these designers have keen fashion and business sense, creating practical pieces at a mostly palatable price point.

Much of what's out there for fall looks like it could have been ripped from the pages of Cowboys and Indians magazine: arrow print maxi-skirts, blanket-stripe ponchos, suede jackets with swinging fringe, cowboy booties and T-shirts with more Navajo patterns than Ralph Lauren's RRL ranch. Shopbop.com calls the trend "neo-native," Les Nouvelles refers to it as "nouveau Navajo," and at H&M it's "bohemian style. " It brings me back to the 1990s and my first apartment in West Hollywood, with its Kokopelli lamp and IKEA Ektorp sofa in Santa Fe stripe.

So far this year, much of the nation has been hunkered down dealing with ice, snow, sleet, closed airports and all the other facets of a particularly cold winter. And despite our local heat wave this last week, forget what envious people elsewhere may believe about Southern California being the land of "endless summer. " Angelenos know that it's always best to heed Grandma's advice and bring a sweater ? especially given the record lows we too experienced in early January. For cozy and fashionable alternatives, meet three local knitwear designers who have ditched the twin sets in favor of styles that are uniquely chic.

Rodarte's collection for Target launches today, which for die-hard fashion lovers is shopping nirvana. Now anyone can own a piece of the label's sunshine-meets-goth aesthetic, with spidery lace sweaters and stockings, tulle blouses and slip dresses priced $9.99 to $79.99, instead of the four figures that Rodarte's clothes typically command. To get the word out, designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy didn't tap red- carpet fans Reese Witherspoon or Kirsten Dunst, or vintage guru Cameron Silver, who helped put them on the fashion map. They didn't go to Vogue, or any other glossy magazine that has championed their collections, which have been inspired by things as disparate as horror movies and California condors.

Antiperspirants are just the beginning for that way-too-sweaty feeling. There are also clinical-strength antiperspirants, oral medications, Botox injections and a treatment involving trays of water and electrical current. This probably goes without saying, but we've found it's best to take nothing for granted. So: Do not try the latter treatment at home. Ditto a nerve-snipping procedure. All of these anti-sweating solutions (and we should note these are for hard-core sweaters, not run-of-the-mill-sweating-because-it's-hot sweaters)

Fashion is having a bit of an identity crisis this fall. The military-tough, almost street-warrior vibe is still going strong with cargo pants, utility jackets and tailored coats, while fur (both real and faux) is aggressively adorning almost everything from boots to anorak collars. But on the flip side of this heavy, edgy approach to fall dressing is the season's pulled-together 1950s aesthetic, inspired by the ladylike look of that decade. Call it a yearning for simpler times, when women wore skirts that hit below the knee and the only boxy thing was a pillbox hat. Fall collections from Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs look to this woman, with longer skirts that fit at the waist and fall full to the shin.

Antiperspirants are just the beginning for that way-too-sweaty feeling. There are also clinical-strength antiperspirants, oral medications, Botox injections and a treatment involving trays of water and electrical current. This probably goes without saying, but we've found it's best to take nothing for granted. So: Do not try the latter treatment at home. Ditto a nerve-snipping procedure. All of these anti-sweating solutions (and we should note these are for hard-core sweaters, not run-of-the-mill-sweating-because-it's-hot sweaters)