2009 Best - and Worst - Dressed List

The second installment of my world-renowned best and worst dressed list.

Every year Hollywood designer and arbiter of fashion, Mr. Richard Blackwell, published his list of the ten best and worst dressed people in the demimonde. Mr. Blackwell has since gone to his maker, but the StoneZONE refuses to let this fine tradition die. Last year we published our first 10 BEST AND WORST DRESSED PEOPLE in the world. It was well received.

You will notice that our TEN BEST AND WORST dressed list contains liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. The StoneZONE may lean right, and I personally dress right, but our style choices are completely non-ideological. Great style knows no ideology. We didn't take politics into consideration and even give a posthumous listing to Ted Kennedy who continued the great New England based preppy style of his brothers.

Fashion hasn't improved much in 2009. The Obama's have imparted a low-key American style that is almost as monochromatic as the President's suits and ties. It's tasteful, understated and never loud.

The Zone has compiled its second official list of the BEST and WORST dressed men and women of 2009. However, first a word regarding the sorry state of fashion in America, and the very few who can plausibly claim to be true possessors of style.

Americans cared deeply about proper dressing in the 1930s, 40s and even the 50s. The 60's, a decade fashion forgot, also began a trend of informality that devolved over time from slovenliness in the 90s to dishevelment in the 2000's. No matter how many times Details tells you to wear white sneakers with a tux........don't do it. The sheer number of men who will go out in public in a wife-beater is staggering. Very few can look like a young Marlon Brando but men still crowd casinos, bars, malls and sport events in this "outfit."

The task of then sifting the real dandies from our society-the men and women, who think about dressing without ever appearing to think about dressing, is more difficult than it appears. This nonchalance, this insouciant nature of dress must look effortless - like you "threw" it together.

In compiling a list of the best and worst dressed people in the world, we try to avoid "costume" which some celebrities, like Tom Wolfe and Lady Gaga, utilize as part of their persona. Tom Wolfe's manner of dress is Old World, his taste exquisite, his tailoring impeccable, but it's still costume.

SO then, here they are - the 10 BEST AND WORST DRESSED MEN OF 2009