Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 27, 1994                   TAG: 9403260017
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 18   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HILLBILLY CHIC

This summer's fashion landscape is on the horizon. And the hills are alive.

The shorts are short (I mean, really short.) Hip-hugging and belly button-baring.

The jeans are tight (yes, really tight.) The hair is loosely curled and mussed up a bit.

Forget the French braids. Pull out the rubber bands and braid yourself some pigtails. (Even Demi Moore is doing it.)

And overalls aren't just for baling hay or milking cows anymore.

The fashion powers that be are calling it hillbilly chic. Isaac Mizrahi is showing a silk taffeta baby doll dress you can almost see Elly Mae Clampett wearing. Calvin Klein decided why not dress in a burlap sack, so he made a tank slip out of one.

The skirts are as high as an elephant's eye. And even Ralph Lauren has tightened up short-sleeved denim shirts for those who want to walk the fine line between naughty and naive.

Guess? just slapped one of their status triangles on the kind of things you'd expect to find in Ike Godsey's General Store back on Walton's Mountain.

The good news is that while most of us can't afford to shell out the 40 or so bucks for the frayed Guess? shorts, we've all got jeans at home we can fray ourselves.

(We did this back in the '60s, remember?)

You don't need a Guess? triangle or a Polo pony to do the hillbilly chic thing.

All you need is an old pair of Lee's, Wranglers or Levi's; a pair of scissors; and a set of great legs to show off in the summer.