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There are certain style mistakes almost every guy seems to make.The very existence of “Barack Obama jeans” in the lexicon of (questionable) style, proves that not even the nation’s most powerful man is above the law of fashion.Some guys have managed to put the biggest wardrobe boo-boo’s behind them.

A small apparel chain based in Atlanta is opening a new store in Phipps Plaza this month. K-la boutique will open in 1,000 square feet on the lower level of the mall, near department store Belk. It will be the shop's fourth location. The others are in Atlantic Station, The Forum and Charlotte, N.

What do you get when you mix one sluggish economy with 48 local retailers? Four days of fashion and events designed to put the fun back in shopping."Fashion Over Atlanta," which runs Thursday though Sunday, entices shoppers with a daily schedule of special events such as fashion shows, trunk shows and celebrity appearances.

You don’t get to be one of Atlanta’s well-known retailers by sitting idly by, and Bill Hallman is working overtime to make 2009 a banner year.For almost 20 years, Hallman has served the fashion world with clothing collections that at one time sold in 75 boutiques around the globe, as well as his own retail stores in Virginia-Highland and Little Five Points.

The lingerie chain is hoping a new push-up bra will enhance its bottom line this holiday season.

Anansa Sims was determined to be a model. She lost more than 40 pounds, moved to New York, and signed with a major agency, but it still wasn’t enough. So she did the unthinkable. Sims, 24, who until recently lived in Atlanta, regained the weight, and a few years later, she tried again.

Riding boots. Motorcycle boots. Western boots. Booties. Or retro-style, over-the-knee boots.This season is a boot lover’s fantasy.Not only is it easier than ever to find a suitable style among the many options, it is also acceptable to wear boots almost anytime, anywhere and with any outfit.

The top catwalks in New York, London, Paris and Milan, Italy, give head-to-toe style cues for next season.But while shoppers have to wait months for the spring-season futuristic floral prints and lingerie looks that debuted at these just-wrapped Fashion Weeks, the beauty trends can move from runway to real world right away.

It took Kandi Burruss, cast member of the “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” three years to convince her friend Peaches Chin to open a clothing boutique. They had even come up with a name. But Chin kept stalling.“I didn’t want it to hurt our friendship,” said Chin who met Burruss years ago when she owned several Atlanta boutiques.

Mimi Tin desperately wanted the white over-the-knee Chanel boots she saw on the pages of Vogue.Unable to find her size at stores in Atlanta, she called every store in the country that might have them, only to hear the same thing, "Sold out." Two weeks after her search began, she finally located the $1,600 boots in Dallas.

For the recessionistas, elite fashion designers are bringing their covetable fashions to more affordable platforms.

Amy Smilovic has traveled the globe, but she’s never far from her Southern roots. Not only does the designer of Tibi routinely infuse her women’s contemporary collection with feminine Southern flair, but her company is headquartered in St. Simons Island, a place that has had an undeniable impact on her work.

On a hot summer day in 1994, Alyssa Haskins decided she had had enough. She stood in front of her bathroom mirror, lifted a pair of scissors to her head, and just like that, cut off all her hair.After years of getting hair relaxers, including one at age 14 which caused extensive scalp burns and hair loss, Haskins cut off her chemically straightened hair and resolved to leave the "creamy crack," alone.

In this economy, reinvention is the key to survival.The right suit can supercharge your career and your wardrobe.Once deemed the attire of corporate automatons, suits are staging a comeback. Texture, color and details such as leather trim, flowers and bows can elevate a suit above the ordinary, making it the perfect choice for a day at the office or a night of networking.

Buckhead hairstylist Derek J. is used to tending to celebrity tresses. He says his client list includes singers Natalie Cole, Angie Stone and actresses Terri Vaughn and Nicole Ari Parker, to name a few. The 27-year-old, originally from Toledo, Ohio, also been the stylist for three of the five divas that make up “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” including Kandi Burruss while she was a member of the group Xscape.

Fashion can't be angry forever. It's an industry that thrives on what's new and what's next, and for spring that means cautious optimism about the economy.The tough, warriorlike styles in stores now were already on designers' sketch pads when the stock market was at its low point and the presidential election was still a campaign.

Look out London, Anna Wintour is coming.The only fashion editor so famous she's been portrayed in two separate movies (one fictionalized, one documentary) is giving London Fashion Week a boost as it opens Friday in its new home, the venerable Somerset House on the River Thames.

The styles shown at New York Fashion Week were meant for next spring — not that you'd know it.The collections that wrapped up eight days of previews on Thursday have been more covered-up than usual. Leather, suede, long sleeves and black have been all over the runways.

Designers at New York Fashion Week, faced with a grim national mood, looked for a solution far, far away.Vacation destinations — both exotic and less so — werethe inspiration for countless collections for spring 2010, which was in its seventh day of previews on Wednesday.

Fashion for spring is back in black.Black never went anywhere, of course — it's a perennial favorite with the crowd at New York Fashion Week. But for spring collections, the look wasn't terribly sunny.The nod to the spring/summer season was to offset the black with white and shades of nude, blush and stone, all part of the overall muted look that has dominated at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

As the baseball season grinds toward the World Series and another football season rears its helmeted head, a man's thoughts turn to fashion.Of course, that man is undoubtedly a designer, photographer, model or anyone else affiliated with the menswear shows at New York Fashion Week.

Marc Jacobs moved fashion toward femininity at New York Fashion Week, even if the other designers who previewed spring collections aren't quite there yet.His show Monday night, with Madonna in the front row, didn't take a completely new direction from the emerging look of the season, which was already a little softer than fall's warrior.

The American waistline may be expanding, but plus-size shoppers are tightening their belts. People just aren’t buying plus-size clothing at the rate they used to. Apparel in general — being a discretionary purchase — is suffering because of the economy, but plus-size has been particularly hard hit.

New York stores were jammed Thursday for Fashion's Night Out, where shoppers rubbed elbows with celebrities — sometimes quite literally.Amateur photographers jockeyed with paparazzi to get pictures of Victoria Beckham and stood on banquettes to get a glimpse of "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi.

Gwen Stefani is rocking the '80s well into 2010, presenting a LAMB collection on Thursday that included off-the-shoulder "Flashdance" tops and acid-wash jeans.There was a punk vibe to some of the spring season outfits, including studded suspenders attached to the skinniest of skinny black jeans and racy lace tights worn only with a body suit.