Skinny Jeans Craze Puts the Squeeze on Guys

Diaper-friendly styles for kids setting retail trend

(NEWSER) - Chubby diaper-wearers and skinny jeans don't sound like a great combination but retailers say their lines for little kids are selling fast. Adult-style clothes for kids, including skinny jeans for tots as young as 3 months, have been helping keep the children's apparel sector healthy amid declining sales elsewhere. Retailers say parents cutting back spending buy their kids the styles they can't afford—or fit into—themselves. More»

Jeans are back in the spotlight, but how much is too much?

(NEWSER) - Thanks in part to the recession, denim is all the rage—but the growing tendency to layer denim on denim (on, sometimes, even more denim) might be too much. “It can look silly, too contrived,” a video producer tells the Wall Street Journal . Nonetheless, the look is everywhere, from Jessica Biel wearing a denim jacket over a denim vest on the cover of Vogue, to the denim trench coats and shirt dresses for sale at Banana Republic. More»

Once scary, now stylish, skulls are trendy—and not just at Halloween

(NEWSER) - Skulls, once seen as sinister symbols, are now used on everything from children's shirts to underwear. Sara Dickerman of Slate takes a look at how the trend developed:

• In the 16th century, artists like Albrecht Dürer were still using skulls to remind people of their mortality.
• French pirate Emanuel Wynn was the first to use the skull-and-crossbones logo on his ship's flag.
• As skulls came to symbolize bravado, fighters—from US special operations to the Nazi SS—used them on uniforms.

Mad Men 's Don Draper, John Slattery inspire real-life Brooks Brothers suits

(NEWSER) - Need an excuse to chain smoke and drink excessively in true 1960s style? No problem: Come Monday, you can dress up like Mad Men’s Don Draper for a mere $998. Brooks Brothers, which has collaborated on the show’s costumes, is rolling out 250 of the “Mad Men Edition” sharkskin suits designed by the series’ Emmy-nominated costume designer, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

But for about a quarter of the price

(NEWSER) - Gap is taking on the reigning kings of designer denim with its new jeans revamp in an effort “to reinvent Gap as a place of authority on denim,” the company's president says. Gone are the old designs—all of them. In their place are six new styles that include features normally seen on more expensive duds—think $200; Gap’s run $59.50. Was the reboot successful? Fortune’s Suzanne Kapner thinks so. More»