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      ‘White Hot’ Review: A Retailer Whose Reputation Went Down in Flames

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      This documentary, subtitled “The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch,” is a new film that dresses up old headlines about the clothing company.Pitching yesterday’s fashions as today’s news, the documentary “White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch” charts the onetime popularity and subsequent public disgrace of the clothing retailer, which in the 1990s positioned itself as the avatar of aspirational frattiness. In the early aughts, the brand came under fire for selling racist T-shirts and for its hiring practices. Sued for race and sex discrimination, the company settled a class-action case in 2004. In 2015, the Supreme Court revived a lawsuit against Abercrombie in another case, which involved a Muslim refused employment because she wore a head scarf.In this documentary from Alison Klayman (“The Brink”), the “rise” part of the story is patronizing and tedious. Subjects offer inflated descriptions of Abercrombie’s centrality in American life and explain the ’90s in comically condescending terms. “MTV, the Video Music Awards and the ‘House of Style’ television show gave flyover country access to the things that they wouldn’t see ordinarily,” says Alan Karo, a marketing executive. Patrick Carone, a former editor at Abercrombie’s quarterly magazine, enlightens viewers on the concept of a mall: “Imagine, like, a search engine that you could walk through.”The documentary gets more substantive when the “fall” component kicks in. Former employees share descriptions of encountering more or less open racism working at the company, whose advertising courted white, wealthy consumers. But these stories aren’t new (multiple interviewees were among the class-action plaintiffs). And while the movie provides encouraging evidence of how much societal sensibilities have changed, it is fundamentally dressing up well-worn material.White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & FitchNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      The Politics of Rihanna’s Pregnancy Style

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      When the right to control your own body and the right to dress how you like intersect.Ever since she announced her pregnancy in late January via Instagram and an artfully staged paparazzi shot of her and her partner ASAP Rocky strolling beneath the Riverside Drive viaduct, Rihanna’s maternity style has been marked more by what she has not worn than what she has.She has not worn tent dresses. She has not worn maternity jeans. In fact, she has barely worn much clothing at all.Instead she has bared her naked belly at seemingly every turn: in green draped fringe and ombré pants at a Fenty beauty event; in a bra, sheer blue top unbuttoned over her bump and low-slung gray jeans at the Super Bowl; in dragon-bedecked black pants, a vinyl bandeau and a crystal headdress at a Gucci show; in a sheer baby-doll dress over a lacy bra and panties at Dior; and, most recently, in a sheer organza Valentino turtleneck over a sequin skirt and bandeau at Jay-Z’s Oscar after-party.In the annals of public pregnancy, there has never been a display quite like it.Not surprisingly, the general reaction among celebrity watch sites has been a breathless swoon. “Rihanna Keeps Wearing the Hottest Maternity Looks Ever,” HighSnobiety crowed. “Rihanna Is Single-handedly Giving ‘Maternity Style’ a Rebrand,” Glamour U.K. sang.Rihanna at a Fenty Beauty event in Los Angeles in February.Mike Coppola/Getty ImagesAt a Fenty Beauty event in Los Angeles in March.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Fenty Beauty by RihannaThey’re right, of course. But, really, the style choices are just the beginning. In dressing to confront the world with the physical reality of her pregnancy so consistently, Rihanna has gone way past just making a fashion statement. She’s making a “totally transgressive and highly political statement,” said Liza Tsaliki, a professor of media studies and popular culture at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece.It’s just all couched in the familiar trope of the “the celebrity bump watch.” Sneaky, right?The result is a dizzying swirl of contemporary phenomena, including: (1) celebrity culture, in which we increasingly take our consumer and behavioral cues from boldface names; (2) what Ms. Tsaliki calls “the aestheticization of the body and the monitoring of women’s waistlines”; and (3) modern politics.All of which take this particular pregnancy dress story far beyond mere “get the look” role modeling. (They also explain why this particular “get-the-look” role modeling has been so disproportionately exciting for so many.)After all, said Renée Ann Cramer, the deputy provost of Drake University and author of “Pregnant With the Stars: Watching and Wanting the Celebrity Baby Bump,” this is a time when “many people on the far right and even the mainstream right are promoting policies that challenge the continuing autonomy of women-identifying people over their bodies, lives and decision-making capacity.”At the Dior show at Paris Fashion Week in March.Jeremy Moeller/Getty ImagesBy dressing to showcase her pregnant belly, and in a way that has nothing to do with traditional maternity wear, Rihanna is modeling an entirely opposite reality. “She’s saying, ‘I’m a person still, and I’m my person.’” Ms. Cramer said. That she can be “autonomous, powerful and herself, even while carrying a life.” She’s connecting the right to dress how you like with all sorts of other, more constitutional rights.It’s a pretty radical move.The pregnant body, after all, has been celebrated, policed, hidden away and considered problematic for centuries.In ancient times, pregnancy was venerated and exhibited, seen as a physical embodiment of women’s connection to mother earth, but by the Middle Ages and medieval Christendom, Ms. Tsaliki said, it had been transformed into a shameful state, one connected not so much to the sacred as the profane.It had become a symbol of our base desires and a sign of female instability and lack of control and thus something best kept behind closed doors and (literally) under wraps. At least until the child emerged and the woman was transformed into a paragon of pure maternal selflessness.It was an evolution revealed in “Portraying Pregnancy,” a 2020 exhibition at the Foundling Museum in London that demonstrated how, since the 16th century, “the response to the unsettling physical reminder of mortality and sexuality engendered by pregnant bodies changed.” Or so wrote Helen Charman in a review of the show in the international art magazine Apollo.ASAP Rocky and Rihanna at the Gucci show during Milan Fashion Week in February.Victor Boyko/Getty Images For GucciAfter the Rams Super Bowl victory in February.Ab/BackgridIt revealed, she said, how paintings and other art forms moved from showing pregnant bodies “as affirmations of paternalistic structures of inheritance and power” to trying to pretend they didn’t actually exist (or the condition of being pregnant didn’t) to putting pregnancy front and center as an increasingly idealized state.That began in 1952, when Lucille Ball became pregnant during the filming of “I Love Lucy” and famously forced her producers to write her impossible-to-ignore condition into the script, and onto everyone’s screens (though they still couldn’t use the actual word “pregnant”), as dramatized in the recent film “Being the Ricardos.”That in turn gave way to the tent dress compromise. (Remember Princess Diana’s ruffled smocks and sailor dresses during her pregnancies in the early and mid-1980s?) At least until Demi Moore shocked the world by posing naked and heavily pregnant for the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991, inaugurating the age of the pregnancy art portrait.And that period extended through such belly-baring covers as Cindy Crawford, naked and pregnant on W; Britney Spears, naked and pregnant for Harper’s Bazaar in 2006; and Serena Williams, naked and pregnant on Vanity Fair in 2017. That phase reached its apogee with Beyoncé’s 2017 photo shoot/announcement that she was pregnant with twins, a heavily art-directed series of pictures that seemed to encompass such references as Botticelli’s Venus and a renaissance Madonna.As the pregnant body became valorized for its life-giving potential, it increasingly became “a place of safe transgression,” Ms. Cramer said. And that meant that “it’s one of the few times women-identifying people can safely disrupt some norms.”At Jay-Z’s Oscar after-party in Hollywood.Ngre/BackgridProgressive though they may seem, however, as Ms. Charman wrote in Apollo of such images, they nevertheless “conform to the glossy conventions.”Not so Rihanna. She has made confronting her pregnancy part of her every day. Or maybe more pertinently, our every day. “I was expecting the announcement,” Ms. Cramer said — perhaps even a few other, carefully calculated appearances. “But there has been no return to covering up.”Though it’s possible that this is a totally unconscious choice — maybe her skin is so sensitive that it’s uncomfortable to have anything on her belly — Rihanna herself has a history of consciously using her own physicality and profile to force reconsideration of old prejudices and social conventions about female agency and beauty. Most obviously in her Savage X Fenty lingerie brand, currently valued at around $3 billion.Indeed, her current approach may have been foreshadowed by her choice to have Slick Woods, at nine months pregnant, model in her first Savage X Fenty show in 2018 wearing only pasties and lacy lingerie. Famously, Ms. Woods went into labor on the runway, later posting “I’m here to say I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT WHENEVER I WANT AND SO CAN YOU.” (There were some additional words in there to emphasize her point, but they cannot be printed in this newspaper.)Change the date and those lines could easily be the motto of Rihanna’s maternity wear. She did characterize her own pregnancy style as “rebellious.”Now the question, said Ms. Cramer, is whether “an overt celebration of embodied power through pregnancy can make a difference.” Can the “performance of a powerful pregnancy by a wealthy woman at the top of her game filter down” to change how all pregnancies are perceived?If so, Rihanna will have done a lot more than influence how pregnant women dress. She’ll have influenced how we think about the rights of women. Pregnant or not. More

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      Grammys 2022 Best-Dressed

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      The Vegas evening was an exuberant reminder of why red carpets can be fun for both stars and fans.Ah, Las Vegas: It provides inspiration in so many ways. That’s how it seemed, anyway, judging from the Grammy red carpet, newly located to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the city of … gosh, so many things! Sin and lights and camp and Elvis.And as with the site, so, too, with the clothes. If there was a theme to the night, it was an exuberant anything-goes attitude that was not a bad reminder of why red carpets are fun in the first place. They’re as much for those doing the watching as those doing the wearing.Megan Thee Stallion, St. Vincent and Billie Eilish.Angela Weiss/AFP, via Getty Images (Stallion); Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyThere was Megan Thee Stallion, channeling an entire big cat enclosure in her one-shouldered, slit-to-the-waist Roberto Cavalli. St. Vincent, modeling “Showgirls,” the X Games version, in ruffle-trimmed Gucci with enormous sweeping sleeves and skirt. Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast, looking like a fabulous daffodil in short ruffled yellow Valentino. And Billie Eilish, going all Gothic conceptualist in a black Rick Owens coat with a neckline that seemed to have migrated to her torso, thus suggesting everyone’s perspective had flipped sort of sideways. Who couldn’t relate?Even the relatively sedate Louis Vuitton suiting of BTS (think tones of clay, sand, white and teal) was punctuated by V’s overblown corsage, like an entire bouquet of paper flowers had attached itself to the side of his jacket.BTSFrazer Harrison/Getty Images For The Recording AcademyShocking pink was the color of the night, worn by Billy Porter in a ruffled Valentino shirtdress, cape, opera gloves and trousers; Saweetie, in a Valentino bra, more gloves and ginormous skirt (the brand actually had its own patented name for the pink: Pink PP, after its designer, Pierpaolo Piccioli); Travis Barker, in a shocking pink coat over a black Givenchy suit; and Angélique Kidjo, in a fabulous fringed fuchsia.Billie Porter, Saweetie and Travis Barker with Kourtney Kardashian.Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy; Amy Sussman/Getty Images (Barker)Also Justin Bieber, who accessorized his oversize Balenciaga suit and steel-tipped Balenciaga Crocs with a bright pink beanie. (Crocs also made an appearance on the feet of Questlove. Comfort dressing to the fore!)Speaking of Saweetie, the pink was only the first of three — count ’em — outfits she wore during the night, swapping it for a black Oscar de la Renta gown cut to flash one silver-covered breast, like an Amazon going to the prom, and then trading that for a glimmering, backless gold Etro number.Giveon, Jon Batiste and Brandi Carlile.ordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated Press; David Becker/Getty Images For The Recording Academy; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyStill, when it came to bling, there was Lil Nas X, shining like a rhinestone on one of Elvis’s jumpsuits. He seemed to be channeling a sci-fi warrior angel in pearl-encrusted Balmain with butterfly detailing before he changed into glittering Zorro black to start his performance, which in turn was shed for a pearl bolero and then a marching band jacket complete with gold braid. As for Giveon, his Chanel black bouclé “denim” jacket and jeans sparkled like the night sky over the desert. Chanel men’s wear! Why not?Then there was Jon Batiste, who made his entrance in a silver, gold and black harlequin sequin suit in honor of New Orleans, his hometown. Designed by Dolce & Gabbana, the formerly canceled brand whose history of politically incorrect behavior seems to be behind it, at least as far as celebrities are concerned, the suit was outshone only by the diamante-bedazzled cape, part royal, part priest, he wore to accept his award for Album of the Year.Their only real competition in the sparkle stakes was Brandi Carlile, in a rainbow-bejeweled Boss tuxedo she told the E! host Laverne Cox weighted about “40 pounds” (anything for fashion), and that she said both made her feel “like a boss” and was a homage to Elton John, the king of fantabulous costume.H.E.R.Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesLeon BridgesJordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressIndeed, there was a strain of nostalgia running through the night. H.E.R. wore an egg yolk-yellow Dundas jumpsuit with caped sleeves and phoenix embroidery that was a direct reference to Aretha Franklin’s 1976 American Music Awards get-up. Leon Bridges, in white with gold embroidery, had a touch of Presley about him. Lady Gaga served full midcentury silver screen siren in black Armani Privé with a swag of white satin at the side before slipping into a minty blue Elie Saab satin number with a gigantic bow at the back to do her golden oldies medley, like a gift-wrapped Jean Harlow.Olivia Rodrigo, Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga.Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated Press; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyOlivia Rodrigo paired her corseted Vivienne Westwood with a signature ’90s choker. And Dua Lipa channeled Donatella Versace in long blond hair and a bondage gown from the 1992 Versace “Miss S&M” collection. (Ms. Versace herself made an appearance in an award-presenting skit that was perhaps the ultimate in product placement.)SZAFrazer Harrison/Getty Images For The Recording AcademyStill, that Versace gown wasn’t the only vintage on the carpet. SZA wore a nude tulle Jean Paul Gaultier design from 2006 sprouting a garden’s worth of flowers down the front, and Laverne Cox modeled a lacy black John Galliano number from 2007. It was as close an anyone got to value signaling via dress.Billie Eilish performed in a T-shirt with Taylor Hawkins on it.Emma Mcintyre/Getty Images For The Recording AcademyYet in the end, amid all the fun and frippery, the one garment that most lingered was perhaps the least elaborate, least formal of all: the T-shirt worn by Billie Eilish for her performance. Featuring Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters drummer who died in late March, it was a fashion statement of the most emotional, effective kind. More

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      Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren at Armani Pre-Oscars Party

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      BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — At the culmination of an intense and monthslong Oscars awards season, Hollywood took up where it left off before the pandemic and became a maskless, glittering free-for-all.Fashion labels like Saint Laurent, Chanel and Gucci and powerhouse talent agencies like CAA competed with tech Goliaths like Apple to score the best restaurants, most elegant party spaces and the rarest specimens from among the celebrity coterie.The consensus is not yet in on who won the race for best wingding. Some parties were so scrupulously private — like CAA’s at the San Vicente Bungalows club on Friday — that only megacelebrities like Elon Musk, Leonardo DiCaprio and Taylor Swift were invited to graze a buffet of roast salmon, pulled pork, chicken curry and mini meringues.But Hollywood also hungrily eats its own history, as the writer and producer Mitch Glazer once wrote, and often upstages the talent itself.Sophia Loren was at the Giorgio Armani party celebrating Nicole Kidman. Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesSofia Pernas and Justin Hartley.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesBarbara PalvinKrista Schlueter for The New York TimesA case in point was Saturday’s party for the reopening of the Giorgio Armani flagship on Rodeo Drive, a glamorous mosh pit in which hundreds of those from the Juvéderm and micro-mini face-lift set jostled for breathing space.They sipped Veuve Clicquot Champagne or iced Limoncello and ogled the assorted show people — Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Annabelle Wallis, Miles Teller and Dylan Sprouse — who came out on a cool California evening. No matter whom anyone was talking to, all eyes were on the front door awaiting the arrival of Nicole Kidman, the evening’s honored guest.A ripple ran through the room when Ms. Kidman — an Oscar nominee for her role as Lucille Ball in “Being the Ricardos” — swept in at 5:52 p.m., surrounded by a security phalanx and Kevin Huvane, the co-chair of CAA, in fullback form at the lead.Alan KimKrista Schlueter for The New York TimesRegé-Jean PageKrista Schlueter for The New York TimesAdrien BrodyKrista Schlueter for The New York TimesDressed in a black Armani pantsuit, a décolleté embroidered bustier and flats (“I wanted to wear man’s clothes,” she told this reporter) to offset her commanding height, Ms. Kidman immediately sequestered herself in a corner wedged between a case of velvet clutches and a rack of beaded frocks.With her unlined and poreless, bisque-doll complexion and her startled Dresden-blue eyes, she seemed too preternaturally glamorous to fit her characterization of herself, in a recent Vanity Fair article, as an “oddball.”Explore the 2022 Academy AwardsThe 94th Academy Awards will be held on March 27 in Los Angeles.Oscars Preview: Looking to catch up quickly on all the basics ahead of the event? This guide can help. The Hosts: Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes plan to keep the show moving and make it funny, though they will acknowledge the war in Ukraine.A Win for Streaming: A streaming service film could win the Oscar for best picture for the first time. A few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine.‘Seen That Before?’: Four of the best picture nominees this year are remakes or reboots of earlier films.Best Actress Race: Who will win? There are cases to be made for and against each contender, and no one has an obvious advantage.“Oh, I am an oddball,” Ms. Kidman said flatly, when asked about her self-assessment. “I’m an introvert. I think laterally — always have and always will.”Ms. Kidman is 54 and first starred as a leading actress in a film 33 years ago. Such a feat of show-business survival would seem hard to surpass. Yet 20 minutes after she arrived, the crowd parted again, this time for the arrival of Sophia Loren, who made her first cinematic appearance seven decades ago.From left: Thuso Mbedu, Justice Smith and Cameo Adele.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesKathy HiltonKrista Schlueter for The New York TimesChampagne and merch.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesNo matter what doomsayers may say about a crumbling dream machine, the impress of these luminous beings on our cultural consciousness is forever. Sure, shifting technologies will alter how fantasy is delivered. The appetite for it will always remain.Consider a spontaneous scene that erupted when the mob clamoring outside the Armani party spotted a tuxedo two-tone convertible Rolls-Royce cruising up Rodeo Drive, top down and Mark Wahlberg behind the wheel. Suddenly those in the crowd surged into the street to surround the vehicle, “The Day of the Locust”-style, with smartphone cameras hungrily fixing him in their sights.Mr. Wahlberg grinned like a tanned and benevolent deity accepting tribute, as the street echoed with the cries of strangers shouting his name: “Mark! Mark! Mark!’’Exotic Creatures at ChanelAt the Chanel dinner: Charles Finch greeting Joan Collins, as Taika Waititi took a sip.Hunter Abrams for The New York TimesHarvey Keitel, center, and Paolo Sorrentino.Hunter Abrams for The New York TimesKristen Stewart, center.Hunter Abrams for The New York TimesDepending on one’s vantage point, women either have all the fun or are stuck with the heavy lifting when it comes to Oscars dressing.Harvey Keitel was fine cruising into Chanel’s annual pre-Oscars dinner on Saturday, held in the gardens of the Beverly Hills Hotel and its storied Polo Lounge, wearing a basic black jacket and sandals. It was socially acceptable for both Charles Finch, the co-host of the starry, hot-ticket evening, and Jamie Dornan to wear white shirts with the collars left deeply unbuttoned. Chris Pine elicited oohs and aahs in nothing more special than a rumpled linen suit out of Don Johnson’s “Miami Vice” closet.Women don’t have it nearly so easy, even with Chanel munificently providing some of them with their party glad rags.Our Reviews of the 10 Best-Picture Oscar NomineesCard 1 of 10“Belfast.” More

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      ‘Calendar Girl’ Review: A Portrait of an Angel of Fashion

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      This documentary follows Ruth Finley to shows and tributes as she reluctantly brings her decades-long career to a close.Fashion is a cosmos unto itself, as so many books, articles and films insist on reminding us. And so it has its own angels and demons — as you know, the Devil wears Prada. In this firmament, Ruth Finley, who died in 2018 at the age of 98, was unquestionably one of the angels.Finley is introduced to us as a nice lady in her 90s who sits patiently with folded hands as she’s made up before heading onstage to receive another award for her work. Her dress is understatedly elegant; she speaks of her old friend Bill Blass as one of her favorite designers.Finley, in this opening scene and subsequent ones, is celebrated for creating a publication which you may have never heard of, but which has been vital for keeping the fashion industry on schedule: “Fashion Calendar.” It is perfectly described by its title.A subscription publication that took no ads, the calendar was simplicity itself: a grid describing who was showing what, and, most important, when they were showing it. It never ran illustrations or outgrew its use of typewriter font. And Finley was slow to take it into the online world, where it resides today.“Calendar Girl,” directed by Christian D. Bruun, follows Finley to shows and tributes as she reluctantly brings her decades-long career to a close.Finley’s story is also the story of how New York became a fashion powerhouse: Her own discernment, and her kindness to up-and-coming designers, is recounted in sometimes nostalgic detail.This affectionate portrait is also well grounded. Finley is remembered as a hard worker among other hard workers. Despite the extremes often associated with the fashion industry, in Finley’s narrative, there’s very little haughty self-regard or hyperbole on display.Calendar GirlNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

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      Why the Costumer of 'The Gilded Age' Is Being Driven Out of Business

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      Helen Uffner has dressed Broadway, Hollywood and TV shows for more than 40 years. But high-rise developers and Amazon distribution centers are making it impossible to store her extraordinary vintage collection.Helen Uffner began her love affair with old clothes as a young teenager, wandering into estate sales near her family’s home in Queens, unnerving her father, who had immigrated to this country as a Holocaust survivor and worried that people would think he could not afford to outfit his daughter properly. As a high school student in the mid-1960s, she would go to auction houses in Greenwich Village to buy vintage clothes and antique jewelry, using her babysitting earnings. With the prospect of a career in period fashion lacking promise, she sensibly joined a management consultancy after college. Soon enough the sexism got to her so she quit and decided to monetize her passion, drawing from the large collection she had already amassed which, at the time, focused on Victorian lingerie.Over the next 40 years or so, Ms. Uffner established a celebrated business renting out vintage clothes to theater, film and television productions from an inventory considered unparalleled. Initially, she ran the business out of her apartment — supplying the wardrobe for “Out of Africa,” “Zelig,” “The Color Purple.” By the late 1990s, when that model was no longer sustainable, she moved to a 6,000-square-foot space in the garment district, which made it easy for Broadway costume designers to visit and for actors to come in for fittings. Within a decade though, the unforgiving pace of real estate development in New York would threaten her viability, and now, in an all-too-familiar scenario, the pandemic economy was taking an extinction-level toll.It was a paradox though because even as the performing arts have suffered immeasurably during the past two years, film and television production in New York City has mostly returned to prepandemic levels and is ramping up. In September, Netflix opened a 170,000-square-foot studio in Brooklyn, and Ms. Uffner has been involved with one of the most anticipated series of the year, “The Gilded Age,” Julian Fellowes’s follow-up to “Downton Abbey,” set in turn-of-the-century New York (and starting Monday on HBO).Challenges began for Ms. Uffner in 2006, when the landlord of the building she occupied in Midtown “invited” her, as she put it, to break her lease early. He was selling the building and wanted her out, but moving thousands of racks of clothing was going to be an ordeal. At the same time commercial rents were soaring and the city’s garment industry had all but disappeared, large loft-like spaces given over to corporate offices. Eventually, in 2008, Helen Uffner Vintage Clothing moved to Long Island City, after its proprietress faced fines of $1,000 a day if she did not vacate her existing space.The transition was not easy. Fashion houses, which also rent from the collection as a means of inspiration, began returning things by FedEx, Ms. Uffner told me, “as if we were in another state.” But over the next several years, Long Island City became popular enough that it was now a place where a marketing executive at Ralph Lauren might actually live. So by 2018, Ms. Uffner inevitably found herself in the same predicament she had faced earlier — the building she was in near Queens Plaza would be redeveloped and she would have to move. She ultimately settled into another space in Long Island City only to confront the drama all over again — her current building is planned for demolition to accommodate the construction of a high-rise.In the past, Ms. Uffner had several competitors, also independently owned, but nearly all have fallen away. If she shut down, the impact on the costume industry would be profound. Tom Broecker, an Emmy Award-winning costume designer who has relied on Ms. Uffner for decades described her collection of women’s wear from the early 20th century as extraordinary. “In the entire world, Helen is the only person who has cotton dresses from that period,” he told me.Even a move to Industry City, in Brooklyn, where the city has been trying to revive garment manufacturing, would be difficult from his point of view. In addition to film and theater projects, Mr. Broecker works on “Saturday Night Live,” where he might have to come up with a piece of old clothing in a span of two hours, making a trip from Rockefeller Center to a semi-inaccessible quarter of Brooklyn unfeasible.Understanding the importance of her enterprise to New York’s creative life, the city via the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment has said it is trying to help Ms. Uffner relocate, but without broad commercial rent regulation, there is little that can be accomplished. Over the years, she told me, landlords have added fees to monthly rent bills with impunity. In the beginning she was paying rent, electricity and property tax. In a subsequent space, the landlord added gas, and then came requirements to contribute to the local business improvement district.While Covid has tanked the price of office leasing, vast warehouse space of the kind Ms. Uffner needs is at a premium because of the demand coming from Amazon and other e-commerce sites that have become even more attractive to consumers during the pandemic. The city suggested a space in Hudson Yards, she told me, that was going to cost more than five times what she was paying.Five Movies to Watch This WinterCard 1 of 51. “The Power of the Dog”: More

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      in Television

      Sari or Lehenga: Difference Between the Traditional Indian Garments

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      Worn at weddings, festive occasions and most recently on an episode of the “Sex and the City” reboot, these traditional Indian garments are not the same.When the sixth episode of “And Just Like That,” the reboot of “Sex and the City,” aired earlier this month, it garnered a lot of attention from the South Asian community. Named after the Hindu festival Diwali, the episode used the celebration as a plot point and provoked strong reactions to a faux pas that is now being called sari-gate.In one scene, Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, and Seema Patel, a real estate broker played by the Indian-British actress Sarita Choudhury, are shown buying outfits for a Diwali party at what Ms. Bradshaw calls a “sari shop.” After the episode aired, many viewers pointed out that the store was actually stocked with Indian garments beyond the sari, and that Ms. Bradshaw ultimately bought a lehenga, a three-piece garment worn at Indian weddings and celebrations.In the episode, Seema Patel, who is played by Sarita Choudhury, takes Ms. Bradshaw shopping for a Diwali party at what Ms. Bradshaw calls a “sari shop.” Some viewers noted that the show did not seem to point out the difference between a sari and a lehenga.HBO MaxLater in the episode, Ms. Patel and her mother are seen wearing saris, which consist of an uncut piece of fabric that’s wrapped around the body and draped over a shoulder, along with complimenting blouses. But the script never makes an effort to distinguish between their saris and Ms. Bradshaw’s lehenga, an oversight that disappointed some viewers who were otherwise heartened to see Indian culture and fashion enjoy prime real estate on a mainstream TV show.In an Instagram post shared the day after the episode aired, Imran Amed, the founder and CEO of Business of Fashion said “I think it’s really cool” that Ms. Bradshaw wanted to wear Indian clothes to the Diwali party. “The issue is that there are now millions of people out there who think what Carrie is wearing is a sari,” said Mr. Amed, who lives in London. “It’s not.”The ‘Sex and the City’ UniverseThe sprawling franchise revolutionized how women were portrayed on the screen. And the show isn’t over yet. A New Series: Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte return for another strut down the premium cable runway in “And Just Like That,” streaming on HBO. Off Broadway: Candace Bushnell, whose writing gave birth to the “Sex and the City” universe, stars in her one-woman show based on her life. In Carrie’s Footsteps: “Sex and the City” painted a seductive vision of Manhattan, inspiring many young women to move to the city. The Origins: For the show’s 20th anniversary in 2018, Bushnell shared how a collection of essays turned into a pathbreaking series.What’s in a name, really? In this case, centuries of cultural history.The lehenga (or ghagra) is believed to have emerged in popularity around the 10th century, during the Mughal reign over India, and is more predominant in northern India.“The lehenga set is typically made of three elements — the voluminous floor-length skirt called the lehenga; the blouse or choli, often like a crop top; and a dupatta or stole-like drape,” said Divyak D’Souza, a stylist in Mumbai and the host of the Indian edition of “Say Yes To The Dress,” a reality TV show.Ms. Bradshaw’s much-discussed lehenga is a burgundy skirt and midnight-blue blouse ensemble from the spring-summer 2020 collection of Falguni Shane Peacock, a line founded by husband-and-wife designers Falguni Peacock and Shane Peacock. The ornate ensemble, made at the designers’ atelier in Mumbai, features colorful embroidery and gold thread accents on a jacquard fabric, and also comes with a matching tulle net dupatta that Ms. Bradshaw does not wear in the episode.“The motifs on the lehenga feature architectural domes, inspired by the palaces of Udaipur, Rajasthan,” said Ms. Peacock, whose brand enjoys popularity with several celebrities of the diaspora — its lehengas were also recently worn by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Mindy Kaling for Diwali celebrations in 2021. Mr. Peacock added that he and his wife approach their lehengas almost like gowns, which also makes them a hit with a younger crowd.The sari is an even older garment. K.H. Radharaman, the creative director of Advaya, a brand that is known for its technical innovations of the sari, said that the drape has a rich history. “The sari is one of the oldest surviving garments in human history, with its origins going back to the Indus Valley civilization.”A sari from Advaya, a brand that is known for its technical innovations of the traditional drape. via Advaya“The nature of our ceremonies has changed, but the sari has stayed constant,” said Mr. Radharaman, who lives in Bengaluru. “It represents centuries of continuity in thought, tying us to our past and its traditions.”Saris, he said, are paired with a stitched blouse and mostly worn by women, though some men also wear them. “The commonly depicted way of wearing one is that it’s wrapped around the waist down in concentric pleats, while the extended part — the pallu or tail piece — is thrown over the left shoulder,” said Mr. Radharaman. More contemporary ways to style a sari include wearing it with a tailored jacket, crisp white shirt or even a cape.In its undiluted form, the sari is a textile that assumes the form of a wearer, which means there are as many ways to drape it as there are communities in India.“Every region has its own sari and corresponding visual design vocabulary, with motifs and techniques whose lineage and origin are steeped in history or mythology,” Mr. Radharaman said. “It is deeply symbolic of the culture of both the wearer and its maker — thus representing different cultural sensibilities in a way few garments around the world can.”Between it and the lehenga, is one more popular or more appropriate for certain occasions than the other? In a country as culturally diverse as India, it’s hard to generalize, as both have been part of Indians’ collective sartorial lexicon for centuries (alongside other garments like anarkalis, kurtas and shararas to name a few). Every community has its own mandate on their preferred silhouette or drape for festivities, though Mr. D’Souza said the lehenga is often a choice when an event calls for more formal dressing.“The sari is common garb for many Indian women even for everyday wear,” he said. “The lehenga, in comparison, tends to be brought out more for festive occasions and weddings; seen on both the bride or the guests.”A lehenga’s “colors and surface ornamentation are often linked to the bride’s cultural context,” added Mr. D’Souza, who noted that not every version is spice-colored or high on bling and floral patterns. “The silhouette has evolved immensely. Many designers are taking a modernist approach; experimenting with traditional weaves, contemporary updates and modern styling.” More

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      Glyn Johns is a Fashion Favorite in 'The Beatles: Get Back'

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      The long-lost outfits of the Beatles sound man have made him an unwitting fashion favorite, five decades later.“It’s just cringe-making,” said Glyn Johns, the recording engineer and producer who plays a prominent role in “The Beatles: Get Back,” Peter Jackson’s marathon documentary series about the fateful Beatles sessions in 1969 that culminated in the “Let It Be” album.Mr. Johns was not talking about the nearly eight-hour series, which critics and fans have embraced as a watershed television event, but of the Austin Powers-esque outfits his 26-year-old self wears throughout it. “I look like a bloody clown,” he added.His yeti-like goatskin coat. His dandyish Oscar Wilde jackets. His Capri-ready neck scarves and Janis Joplin sunglasses.It is not easy to stand out in a documentary featuring four of the 20th century’s most famous people. But with his flair for accessories and slinky-pants-cool, Mr. Johns has found a new round of appreciators a half century after the fact.“Glyn Johns is the late ’60s fashion icon I didn’t know I needed,” tweeted Katie Irish, a costume designer who worked on “The Americans.”“Glyn Johns in the fluffy jacket is my look for the rest of winter,” said Emma Swift, an Australian singer and songwriter, on Twitter. Others have noted his uncanny resemblance to Liam Gallagher of Oasis; Cillian Murphy, the star of “Peaky Blinders;” and Ronnie (Z-Man) Barzell, the debauched rock impresario in the 1970 camp classic, “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.”“The coolest thing I think I wore in the film was the crocodile Levi jacket, which in fact had been given to me by Keith Richards,” Mr. Johns said. Disney+For Mr. Johns, 79, the experience has been amusing — to a point.“I’m fed up with it now, I’ll tell you,” he said with a laugh in a telephone call from his home in Chichester, England. “I have 9,000 emails and texts from people from my past, all taking the Mickey unmercifully.”“Some people are saying, ‘Oh, the jacket you wore on X day was fantastic,’ or ‘Where did you get the goatskin coat?’ But in general, they’re laughing at how ridiculous I looked, which of course is true.”Mr. Johns was hardly the only peacock during those fateful weeks, as the Beatles labored to get over their differences and get back to their roots with a no-nonsense rock n’ roll album, accompanied, in theory, by a concert television special.What to Know About ‘The Beatles: Get Back’Peter Jackson’s seven-plus hour documentary series, which explores the most contested period in the band’s history, is available on Disney Plus.Re-examining How the Beatles Ended: Think you know what happened? Jackson may change your mind.Yoko Ono’s Omnipresence: The performance artist is everywhere in the film. At first it’s unnerving, then dazzling.6 Big Moments: Don’t have time to watch the full documentary? Here’s a guide to its eye-opening scenes.While John Lennon and Paul McCartney generally seemed to be dressed for comfort, befitting long hours toiling in the studio, Ringo Starr showed up to one session in a lime-green pinstriped suit with a forest green musketeer shirt. George Harrison, wore a similar ensemble in pink and purple. (Fashion sites including W and Marie Claire have offered guides on how to shop the looks in “Get Back.”)In such company, it is a little surprising that Mr. Johns has garnered so much attention. He was already an industry heavyweight, who would later become the go-to sound man for The Who, Eric Clapton, the Eagles and many others. But at that point, Mr. Johns was anything but a Beatles insider. He was associated with the Rolling Stones, whom he had worked with since the early days. In fact, when the Beatles first reached out to him, he was dubious.“I was at home on a very rare night off and the phone rang, and the person on the other end announced themselves in a Liverpudlian accent as being Paul McCartney,” he said. Mr. Johns thought it was Mick Jagger pulling a practical joke, so he told him to get lost, albeit in saltier language..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-m80ywj header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}“And of course there was silence on the other end of the phone,” Mr. Johns added. “He started all over again, and I thought, ‘Oh, it is Paul McCartney, Jesus Christ!”The Stones’ fashion influence on Mr. Johns is undeniable. “I remember Brian Jones taking me to a store in Carnaby Street once, and we bought stuff,” he said. “I remember Mick gave me a fabulous shirt.”“The coolest thing I think I wore in the film was the crocodile Levi jacket, which in fact had been given to me by Keith Richards,” he added. “We were in Paris, and Keith had this jacket made for him in France, and it had been delivered to the hotel. He took it out of the packaging, put it on and said, ‘Here you have it, I don’t want it.’ I have no idea what happened to it. Maybe I gave it away.”Nor can he remember where he got the goatskin coat that viewers are obsessed with, although he does remember how it smelled after a rainstorm.“I distinctly remember queuing for an airplane wearing that coat, and the people in front and behind me moved away from me because it actually stank,” Mr. Johns said. “And of course in those days, if you had long hair you were suspect anyway.”Fans rightly laud Mr. Johns’s looks in the film as the epitome of ’60s British rocker cool, and the costume-like whimsy he (and various Beatles at various times) display in “Get Back” has all the color and exuberance of the peak-psychedelia moment.Mr. Johns, left, would become the go-to sound man for The Who, Eric Clapton, the Eagles and many others.Disney+By 1969, however, rock was taking a harder, darker turn, as evidenced by the Rolling Stones’ “Let it Bleed” and Led Zeppelin’s eponymous first album (both of which Mr. Johns worked on), not to mention Beatles songs like, yes, “Get Back.”The Beatles’ public image was starting to reflect that. For the cover shot of “Abbey Road,” taken on Aug. 8 of that year (coincidentally, the same day four members of the Manson family set out for Sharon Tate’s house in Los Angeles.) Mr. McCartney and Mr. Starr opted for somber navy and black, Mr. Lennon blank-slate white and Mr. Harrison, “gravedigger” denim — at least according to the viral Paul-is-dead conspiracy theory of the day.Nor did the Beatles seem to gussy themselves up much for their last public appearance on a London rooftop — the climax of “Get Back.”Gone were the Technicolor satins. Mr. McCartney was basically dressed for the office in a somber black three-piece suit and open-collar shirt. Mr. Lennon, in sneakers, and Mr. Starr went minimalist black-on-black, although the former wore a fur coat borrowed from Yoko Ono and the latter, his wife Maureen’s bright red raincoat, presumably to gird themselves against the winter chill. George Harrison looked somewhat festive, if a little thrift-store chic, in bright green pants and a grizzly-like Mongolian lamb-fur coat. And then of course there was the ever-present Ms. Ono herself, in her ever-present black.A traditional analysis was that the Beatles had stopped putting on showbiz airs by then because they were bickering over money and management, and were headed toward a breakup. That view became canonical after the release of “Let It Be,” the downbeat 1970 documentary by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who plays a prominent role in “Get Back,” and captured the hours of unseen footage that appears in the series.To Mr. Johns and many others, “Let It Be” has all the joy of a divorce proceeding.“It’s awful, terrible,” Mr. Johns said of the earlier film. “My memory was that we actually had a really good time and everybody got on great. The fact that George left the band for 24 hours is no different from any other band I ever worked with, or anyone who works in an office. People who work together for years on end, they fall out, and they patch it up at the end. It’s normal.”He would never have guessed the Beatles were heading toward a split.“The four of them had gone through this mammoth experience, from when they were unknown, to being four of the most famous people in the world,” he said. “There was this massive bond between them. They were like family, really.”He recalls a lot less about what he was wearing, and why.“Listen, mate, it was 50 years ago, how can I remember?” Mr. Johns said with a laugh. “Everyone has a style of their own, I suppose. But I was busy working.” More