big differences in estimates given in court today of how much it costs to keep New Jersey's former first couple in a gubernatorial lifestyle.

$51,000 or $15,000? Experts differ on McGreeveys' monthly lifestyle costs
There were big differences in estimates given in court today of how much it costs to keep New Jersey's former first couple in a gubernatorial lifestyle.
An accountant hired by ex-Gov. Jim McGreevey says it would cost a total of $15,000 a month for the governor and his estranged wife to live like they did at the governor's mansion.An expert hired by Dina Matos McGreevey says a lifestyle including personal security, a chef and use of two beach houses would cost $51,000 a month.Matos McGreevey wants alimony and child support from the now openly gay McGreevey. She's asking for compensation for the time she would have spent at the governor's mansion had her husband not resigned in 2004 amid a gay sex scandal.McGreevey is trying to convince the judge he's too poor to pay alimony.

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The nation's first openly gay governor could have become a talk show host, pursued a movie deal or otherwise cashed in on his fame after a sex scandal forced him from office, a lawyer for his estranged wife argued Monday.

John Post, who represents Dina Matos McGreevey, is trying to convince the judge in the couple's divorce case that former Gov. James McGreevey has underestimated his earning potential and net worth to avoid paying alimony to his soon-to-be ex-wife.

McGreevey's lawyer, Stephen Haller, has tried to show that his client, now an Episcopal seminary student, is too poor to pay. The 50-year-old former governor has testified that he does not want to pursue high-profile jobs because he wants to quietly get on with his life.

Lawyers for the McGreeveys repeatedly clashed over money matters Monday as the judge tried to untangle the couple's assets and debts

Old but bold

Fashion: Old but bold

THERE’S a character in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel The Leopard who says: “If we want things to stay as they are, they will have to change.” Gieves & Hawkes ought to have something like that emblazoned over the front door of its Georgian premises at 1 Savile Row.
Founded in 1771 as a military outfitters, no other firm has had more impact on men’s clothing. After all, it invented the suit. “People used to wear britches and stockings before,” muses managing director Mark Henderson. “The blazer is based on the military uniform. It is the source of pretty much all men’s style.”

TRAPPINGS
The dinner jacket, too, was invented on Savile Row — people used to wear white tie with tails, but the Duke of Windsor came in one day and asked for a black tie, and for the tails to be cut off his jacket. “That’s why there’s no vent on the back of a dinner jacket,” explains Henderson.
He is sitting at a desk in the order room, where thick, dog-eared and faded order books going back to the 18th century line glass cabinets. Old military uniforms hang on rails and a pot of tea sits brewing on the table.
But despite all the trappings of olde worlde-liness, this business isn’t stuck in the past. Henderson is excitedly showing me pictures on his laptop of a Gieves and Hawkes show that recently took place in Shanghai. China accounts for 50 per cent of its business and it has 68 shops in Asia — four in Shanghai, with another four to open later this year. The business has a turnover of £20m in the UK.

GLOBAL FASHION

If Henderson has his way, Gieves & Hawkes will retain its position at the top table of global fashion brands. To ensure it does so, he helped set up Savile Row Bespoke, a sort of co-operative of a number of tailors on the street, which promotes the Row and all it stands for.
“You have French wine, Swiss watches and Savile Row tailoring,” he says, adding that the group aims to capture and communicate the attractive “quaintness and energy” of the Row. “We’ve been selling Savile Row in Florence, Paris and Tokyo — we took one tonne of tailoring to Tokyo. The challenge is, how do you take the skills and the values that represent SavileRow and reproduce them.”
He says integrity is the key. It really is the craftsmanship that is the heart of Savile Row: the street has 20,000 sq ft of workshops. And a glimpse into Gieves & Hawkes’s shows what he means. There, in an atmosphere of quiet absorption; tailors cut and sew — some on an antique Singer machine. They range from those in the their twenties (Savile Row has a link with Newham College in east London and the London School of Fashion) all the way up to a 67-year-old coat-cutter.

POPULAR
But in this world of sweatshops and the £25 suit, is there are place in the modern world for this sort of workmanship? Henderson insists that the quality of the product will keep it popular. He says that a member of the House of Lords recently came in to get some alterations made to a suit that he had made when he got the advance for his first book — in 1958.
Savile Row suiting seems to be one of those things that everybody wants, once they have the money. Henderson says that Gieves & Hawkes are doing a roaring trade among London’s new international rich, and it has added 36 new outlets in the past two and a half years, taking the total to 91.
“People come to us because they love the experience,” shrugs Henderson. By the looks of things, that is something that isn’t going to change.G&H HISTORY LONDON BOYSGieves was founded in 1785, Hawkes in 1771. Gieves & Hawkes got its first of three royal warrants in 1809. In 1912 it came to 1 Savile Row, which was built by Lord Burlingham in 1732. Among the famous it has dressed are 19th century explorer Dr Livingstone and singer David Bowie.