Redundant? We Totally Agree 100%

Dear Fashion Police: Will you please help me in my campaign to arrest those fashion mavens who use the redundant expression “strappy sandal”? A sandal is a shoe with straps. Adding the word “strappy” is like saying a human person, or dark black, or--need I go on? Thank you. I feel better already.

--BOTHERED IN BURBANK

Dear Burb: No, thank you! To be honest, we’d never really thought about the “strappy sandal” issue before, but you do have a point.

And it got us thinking. Recently we’ve gotten weary of the overuse of “trendy” and “chic,” as well as seeing great-looking clothes described as “delicious.” While we’re at it, let’s stop abusing the term “faux,” as in calling acrylic knits “faux cashmere.” For bringing your peeve to our attention, we’ve decided to make you head of the Fashion Police’s Semantics Division.

*

Of Jeans and Greens: Who would have thought that tight jeans and an unflattering green jacket would stir the wrath of so many people? Not us--until the fax machine started spewing your vitriol-tinged letters.

For instance, some people thought it was just ducky that the new line of Sergio Valente jeans won’t go beyond size 12. Wrote one reader: “Do I go to stores like Lane Bryant [a large-size women’s store] and throw a fit because they don’t have a size 2? No! Sergio Valente jeans are for slender women--deal with it! A size 12 is definitely not anorexic. I’m surprised they make them that large. Grow up! And call Richard Simmons!”

Then there was this: “I have a cousin who was so adamant about being thin enough for designer styles that she became anorexic. Can’t these people realize that they have warped everything?”

But wait, there’s more: “As a size 8, I wouldn’t wear them if they fit that tightly--let’s leave them to the lucky gals who don’t have a few lumps and bumps here and there. [Sergio Valente] is producing the product and has a right to target any portion of the market they wish.”

Frankly, we thought we’d have a lot of people agreeing with us that it’s time to retire the yucky green jacket that winners of the Masters tournament are forced--er . . . allowed to wear for a year.

But we probably didn’t hear from you because your fax machines were broken or you ran out of stamps--right? Instead, we got this: “Wrong, wrong, wrong! What does the color have to do with any of it? This was a tradition. And how refreshing to see something--anything--not black.”

Another reader uncovered yet another pro-golf-related crime: “Those ill-fitting baseball caps with the adjustable leather band that allows a crop of hair to bunch out of the back of the head! Can’t these millionaire athletes afford to find someone to design and produce a good-looking hat--and a safer one, too, that would protect their ears from the sun?”

At least there’s some good news in the fashion-challenged world of golf. Since it’s become such a hip sport, designers such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss and Giorgio Armani have lines of clothes to wear on the course. And we’ll bet there’s not a pair of lime green madras pants in the bunch.

* When reporting or preventing a fashion crime, write to Fashion Police, Life & Style, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or fax to (213) 237-0732. Submissions cannot be returned. No telephone inquiries, please.