The best designers spend big bucks to get the lowdown on hot looks from "the hood" and then turn these fashions into tomorrow's fads. So I thought where better to find looks of the street than Atco Raceway's street car racing night? Sifting through clouds of oil smoke, teased hair and Taco Bell containers, I spied the very hottest ensembles. After soaking in some of the very finest drag racing New Jersey has to offer, I went home, stared into my Waterford crystal ball and discovered the looks of tomorrow.

Along with the return of comfort food comes the "accessory" that announces satisfaction - the giant stain. What fanny packs were to the early '90s, decadent stains will be to the late '90s. The clock's already ticking on the trendy retro mod look. When it's done, be ready with the look that's bold, ultra-casual and says: "I'm getting back in the buffet line. Who's with me?"

The bandanna and wire-rimmed glasses combination will soon be donned by the brightest business leaders on Madison Avenue. It simultaneously suggests "Imagine"-era John Lennon and "Welcome to the Jungle" Axl Rose. You can be a dreamer and a fighter, sensitive and sardonic. The glasses let everyone know you're always looking at the bottom line while the bandanna says you're prepared to break a sweat pushing that corporate takeover.

Those T-shirts with tiny breast pocket emblems are for demure sissies. What's the point? As my old football team used to chant: "If you're proud then why not show it, scream and shout and let 'em know it!" Nothing roars louder than T-shirts saturated with enough electric color to make the Goodyear Blimp seem subtle. Go silk-screened lightning!

- Ted Harding