Hillary Clinton gave a stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention last night in one of her signature pantsuits, this one a very bright orange. Much has been made of Clinton’s pantsuits during the campaign, the sameness of their cut, their bright colors, their shapelessness. Designers have decried them. Try as we might we could not find a name of the designer of Clinton’s pantsuits, but in searching we did come across some pretty pantsuits to share. Macy’s has a striking black suit with a pleated jacket by Calvin Klein, on sale for $145. Sutton Studio has a basic suit with Hillary-esque longer jacket on sale for $190 at Bloomingdales. The Le Suit line of pantsuits from J.C. Penney are not high style, but they’re safe and solid, such as one with a long houndstooth coat and black pants, or a brown one (on sale for $100) with similar styling to Clinton’s suits (albeit a little more tailored around the waist). Moving up the price scale, the high-end designer Web site Yoox seems to have the market in expensive suits cornered: there’s a Costume National simple suit for $410, a similar but bright red suit for $478, a loosely cut pale pink one from Jil Sander for $314 (marked down from $1,250!) and a gorgeous black Armani with cropped jacket (Hillary’s are never with cropped jackets, which are more stylish and common currently) for $1,178. Nordstrom has plenty of mix and match jackets and pants, such as a $398 Elie Tahari or a black Kenneth Cole with a cropped jacket cinched at the waist with a stylish skinny belt. You can see all of Nordstrom’s suit offerings on this page. The creator of the women’s pantsuit, the late Yves St. Laurent, was proud that Hillary Clinton wore pantsuits (albeit not any of his). At Style.com, you can review a gallery of St. Laurent’s pantsuits over the years (the one pictured is from his fall 2001 couture collection) to see how many ways he interpreted the style.

When is a book a head scarf? When is a dish towel a souvenir? Not often, granted — but these cute textiles fit all the descriptions above and more. They’re humble but lovely cloths made in Japan, where you might find them worn in street festivals or hanging on the wall. In case their multi-functionality confuses Western shoppers, importers have folded them up and stitched them so the make a kind of book of fabric, each “page” highlighting a different part of the larger illustration. (To use them as originally intended, just snip the two threads that keep the sheet folded up.) While the fabric’s maker, Hamamonyo, offers a huge selection of patterns in Japan (see them at this foreign-language site), the American company Compact Impact is testing the market with only three styles, which it sells in this bundle for $15.50. More varieties featuring illustrations of pets are on their way in October, the retailer says.

The little black dress is just a Pandora’s Box, isn’t it? We only need one, but there is no guarantee that one is actually the one. The next LBD we see looks even better. It could be the best ever. It could be the most Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the perfect Sex in the City. And we are looking for it all the time. Little-black-dress radar is never turned off.  Designers understand this, because they must constantly reinvent the little troublemaker. This fall, Abaete (Saks, $270, pictured) adds a sweetheart neckline and barely-there curves; Lanvin hits a bit of a harder edge with a sharp silhouette and a no-nonsense shoulder line. Michael Kors takes the hem up to here and the sleeves down to there, and ends up with a bit of a ’70s babydoll ($150). Fendi adds buckles, buttons and a skinny little ruffle around the hem; Vera Wang ends in ruffles as well, but goes sleek and sophisticated before she gets there. Thakoon adds short little sleeves and a square neckline to a dress with a lot of shape; Dries Van Noten adds colorful embellishment to his elbow-length bell sleeves, but otherwise comes up with a fairly shapeless dress. Baby Phat owns the literal interpretation of the word “little,” in a dress small enough that it could roll up and fit into a nice Marc Jacobs bag. We give Bottega Veneta’s simple black off-the-shoulder sheath this year’s Hepburn nod, for the dress most likely to get us down a Parisian street with confidence. Well, maybe except for Chanel, of course, and their hoodie-inspired leather dress. We’re just not sure we have the, uh, je ne sais quoi needed to pull it off.

There has been a pitched battle for Olympic gold going on 1,222 miles from Beijing this week, but it’s likely only aficionados or little girls have watched. The equestrian competition ended in Hong Kong with Germany coming out on top with three gold medals (the U.S. won two, including a gold). Anyone who watched the events marveled at the sheer strength, skill and hutzpah of horse and rider, but in case Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin distracted you, there are lots of little girls who live and breathe horses. One person even attempts to decipher the riddle of why girls love horses on Yahoo!Answers. Now all these girls are going to need a horsey fix: If she’s around 6 to 8 years old, get her the “Fashion Angels” equestrian sketchbook ($15) from Toys’r'Us, or the Equestrian Challenge for PC for $20. If Barbie is her thing, the omnipresent doll has a complete equestrian outfit for $50 from etoys (if you want the horse and tack, that’s extra). There’s even a lovely book from the American Girls library, Girls and their Horses for $9. Mom, do you remember how much you loved horses? Maybe it was because of the classic movie National Velvet. Lest we forget that Jackie Kennedy made equestrian style chic, England’s Equestrianism.net maintains the standard. More recently, the O’Halloran Co. turned it into couture styling. (If you pay attention to fashion, you’ve noticed the riding boots that designers are churning out, such as Burberry’s $995 pair.) If the grown-ups have become enamored of dressage, this classy coffee table book shows you how to put the horsey into your home décor ($41). Finally, to make sure the holiday’s are just right, grab a Little Girl Riding Horse ornament from Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland for $6.

Anyone who pretends not to look at tabloid magazine covers knows that America is very, very interested in babies of celebrities. To feed that insatiable hunger, most every celebrity of childbearing years has had a baby of late. People Magazine’s Web site has found the perfect mixture of star-obsession and shopping with their Celebrity Baby Blog. The Blog features a section on what gear celebs buy for their babies. Because we know there is an instinctive maternal urge to buy your baby something that Nicole Richie’s baby has, we’ve rounded up a few recent items. Laila Ali, of boxing and Dancing With the Stars fame, is expecting a son and has a Mutsy 4 Rider Light stroller ($699) waiting, as well as a Luca Glider for $895, baby shoes by Pediped and a $50 Jelly Baby changing mat by Kuster. Julianna Margulies wheels son Kieran Lindsay in a Bugaboo Cameleon ($900) and uses an $80 Skip Hop Via messenger diaper bag ($79). Actress Gretchen Mol has an 11-month-old son named Ptolemy and he sucks a Gerber soft center pacifier (2 for $3) and rides in a Bugaboo Frog ($759). Singer Sheryl Crow and son Wyatt Steven cruise in Kolcraft Countours Lite stroller ($70, pictured) and the baby wears an eco-T from Tiny Revolution, $25. Celeb-dad Matthew McConaughey strolls tiny Levi in an Orbit Baby’s Orbit infant system ($900) with bassinet ($240). In an amazing double-celebrity, double-baby sighting - Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, with Apple and David -  were seen walking both with Paltrow’s green Phil and Ted’s Sport double stroller, which costs $510. And, short of Brangelina’s twins, the most ogled child in America has to be Suri Cruise. On a recent outing, she carried Jellycat’s My Little Friend Bunny ($12). Must you have more? The Baby Chic 101 blog keeps tabs on every celeb and their baby buys. (Lisa Marie Presley, expecting twins, just spent more than $18,000 at chic Petit Tresor).

Ever heard of Zara? Good, then you heard it here first. If you haven’t heard of it, you’re probably not much of a world traveler. Zara is a hot brand that has just become the world’s largest clothing retailer. That honor was given to Gap until this week. A slumping U.S. consumer sales market has dropped Gap’s revenues by 10 percent in the first quarter of their fiscal year. For your edification: Zara clothing is trendy , chic, inexpensive, you can’t buy it online and there are 3,900 Zara stores in the world, compared to 3,100 Gap outlets. There are five Zara stores in New York City and surrounding areas. The retail giant was born in Spain (in the bedroom of 72-year-old founder and chairman Amancio Ortega, who made bathrobes) and the first store opened in 1975. Now you can shop in Zara stores in Bahrain, Croatia and Iceland. British Vogue says the Zara philosophy is fast fashion: they quickly take designer runway looks and turn them into mass audience items, like the one pictured. They aren’t interested in any celebrity designers coming into their fold. Owned by Inditex, they proudly state it takes only two weeks to get an item from drawing board to store shelf. But guess what? You can buy online from their home and bedding line, although you’ll have to translate Euros to dollars. That’s not so hard: here, use this to do it. Gap, on the other hand, has an aging and eroding customer base, according to The Guardian of Britain, and they’ve not been successful enough at appealing to younger customers. The Zara brand does have 24 U.S. stores, in big cities (Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Miami and more) and some small (Canoga Park, Garden City, Wayne). You can find all their U.S. locations on their Web site.