Trend: Crazy for camel

Feeling Switzerland-neutral in your style these days? You're in luck. One of fashion's most famous muted hues — camel — is fall's hottest color.

We spotted the shy brown tone on the runways earlier this year — notably at Chloe, Michael Kors and Stella McCartney — but now it's official; retailers and fashion editors are pushing the color like crazy, offering, respectively, camel-themed fashion spreads and racks of merchandise in the classic color.

Lauded as a universally flattering hue, "camel" first popped up as a color name in fashion in 1916, according to the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names. We love it because it melds seamlessly into a black-heavy wardrobe and, when coloring classic silhouettes, adds 1960s-"Mad Men" panache to ensembles.

Here are a few camels we'd love to have on our backs:

Stella McCartney's wool-blend cape, $1,445 at Net-a-Porter, rolls two of fall's most charming trends — capes and camel — into one dreamy piece of outerwear.

Jil Sander's cashmere scarf, $525 at Barneys New York, works beautifully with trenches, winter coats and cool cardigans, and it's so basic, it will never go out of style.

J.Crew's wool-cashmere station coat, $149.99 at J.Crew, is elegant but understated, boasting retro military styling.

 

This Dior silk-wool dress at Bergdorf Goodman is a pipe dream because of the $3,600 price tag, but we love the way it hearkens back to the slinky, curve-loving "Mad Men" era without looking like a costume. 

-- Emili Vesilind

Photos, from top: Stella McCartney cape. Credit: Net-a-Porter. Jil Sander scarf. Credit: Barneys New York. J. Crew coat. Credit: J. Crew. Dior dress. Credit: Bergdorf Goodman

Your morning fashion and beauty report: Courtney Love, Mary J. Blige and ... Lindsay Lohan

The New York Post is the latest to weigh in on Courtney Love and her new website, WhatCourtneyWoreToday.com. The site now has 20,000 daily viewers. [N.Y. Post]

Michael Ball, Rock & Republic founder, seems to have found himself in a bit of hot water. No, it has nothing to do with his label, which went bankrupt earlier this year. The controversy instead involves professional cycling and a few names you might have heard of, including Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton. [The Cut]

If you're wondering, "What's Zandra Rhodes up to?" Vogue UK comes to the rescue. She talks about Lady Di, Christian Lacroix and designing costumes for the opera. [Vogue UK]

What? The launch of another celebrity scent? Well, yes, it's My Life from Mary J. Blige, and apparently it's selling well. [People]

And, finally, our Lindsay Lohan obsession continues. She's showing off her bikini body on the cover of September's Maxim ... and has some advice for anyone coping with adversity. Trite? You decide! [Pop Sugar]

-- Alice Short

Photo: Courtney Love. Credit: Charles Sykes / Associated Press

Weekend Update: $1 designer goods at theOutnet.com, Ron Artest at WSS, Banana Republic and Gap outlet deals

Sales

What can you get for a buck these days? A $4,123 Christian Lacroix? A $2,559 Halston bag? Or a pair of $595 Marc Jacobs shoes? You have a chance to get these coveted items and more on April 16 at theOutnet.com, provided you RSVP here by April 11. Net-A-Porter’s online outlet celebrates its one-year anniversary with a $1 Pop-up Sale featuring more than 2,000 goodies, including women's ready-to-wear items, bags, shoes and accessories.

Banana Republic Factory Store and Gap Outlet are celebrating spring with two hefty sales: Banana Republic Factory Store is taking 40% off all in-store fashions through April 6. Gap Outlet is offering 70% off plus new swim styles for $15 through April 15.

For locations, go to gap.com and bananarepublic.com

Events

On Saturday, Warehouse Shoe Sale is celebrating 25 years in business with a party featuring the Lakers' Ron Artest, meeting and signing. WSS is also taking up to 60% off footwear as part of its spring clearance sale.

3102 Century Blvd., Inglewood. (310) 677-8247. Noon to 3 p.m.

Kiki De Montparnasse is having a sexy sample sale Saturday and Sunday, taking up to 75% off past-season lingerie, vintage garments, apothecary and home goods. Current spring styles are 20% off.

8280 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

-- Max Padilla

Photo: A Christian Lacroix dress, Halston bag and Marc Jacobs shoes will go for $1 during theOutnet.com's one-day anniversary sale. Credit: theOutnet.com

Golden Globes: Loving Lacroix

Diane Kruger (left) wasn't the only one paying tribute to the French designer Christian Lacroix on the Golden Globes red carpet last night.

(Lacroix declared bankruptcy last year and stopped producing his fashion collection, but his exuberant 1980s designs were a flash-point of inspiration for the spring runway collections, especially at Louis Vuitton.)

For the after-parties, fashion girl Chloe Sevigny changed out of her ruffly, full-length silver-lilac Valentino gown into this coquettish cocktail dress (right) from Lacroix's last couture collection (fall/winter 2009).

-- Booth Moore

Photos: Best and worst dressed at the 2010 Golden Globes

Golden Globes fashion filled with romantic touches

Left photo: Diane Kruger arrives at the InStyle and Warner Bros. Golden Globes after-party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Credit: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images.

Right photo: Chloe Sevigny arrives at the HBO Golden Globes party in Beverly Hills. Credit: Dan Steinberg Associated Press

Lacroix and Chanel bring out the haute couture

Some of the haute couture shows in Paris have generated star wattage; all have undoubtedly inspired applause. But yesterday's Christian Lacroix show triggered tears.

Jenny Barchfield of the Associated Press reports that there were a few weepy moments at what might be Lacroix's last haute couture show -- "at least for as long as it takes the legendary French designer to sort out his finances." Lacroix started insolvency proceedings in May and "looks likely to close its doors at the end of this month."

It somehow seems appropriate, then, that his winter 2010 collection was done in shades of black and navy. Barchfield writes that the "collection had a funeral feeling, and the crowd of well-heeled women wiping their eyes after the display only added to the dark mood."

Lacroix told his audience that he hopes to relaunch the haute couture line. In the meantime, he sent models down the runway with "supple draping, black lace, tone-on-tone embroidery and luscious beadwork." The bridal gown "which traditionally closes haute couture displays," Barchfield wrote, "was a Catholic icon ... the sumptuous dress underscored Lacroix's rare genius."

Fashion Diary: Christian Lacroix files for bankruptcy protection

Gossip, first impressions, trends-in-the-making, celebrities and style setters. A regular feature by fashion critic Booth Moore.

Sad to hear the news this morning that Christian Lacroix has filed for bankruptcy protection, and just when his exuberant, puffed-up, 1980s-era designs were starting to come back into fashion, too. Marc Jacobs borrowed heavily from Lacroix's aesthetic for his fall Louis Vuitton collection, and Freida Pinto wore a Lacroix gown to the Golden Globes earlier this year. But Lacroix himself hasn't gotten much attention from the fashion world recently.