Gender is a construct, but this menswear trend is very real…and very rad.

GARDEN GROVE — The Garden Grove fire chief notified the city manager of his decision to retire, effective Sept. 14, but at the city manager’s request, he will continue to serve until the end of the year while a decision is made on whether to retain the city fire department or transfer to the Orange County Fire Authority, officials announced.

“It’s been my deepest privilege to serve and protect Orange County for 34 years,” Fire Chief Tom Schultz said in a statement Friday. “This is an amazing community that has shown me their care and support since Day 1.”

Voters in Garden Grove will decide Measure O, a proposed one-cent sales tax which, if passed Nov. 6, would provide a reliable source of locally-controlled revenue for Garden Grove’s public safety and quality-of-life services, according to a statement from the city.

“I have the highest of commendations for the quality leadership Chief Schultz has provided for the Garden Grove Fire Department,” City Manager Scott Stiles said. “Chief Schultz was pivotal in getting the department through a critical period early on, and he was instrumental in refocusing the department on the important and critical mission of providing fire service to the community.”

Schultz will continue to perform his fire chief duties at the same hourly rate he currently receives, but will not receive pension or non-hourly rate benefits and will only be allowed to serve up to 960 hours in the fiscal year, per CalPERS requirements, according to Garden Grove Human Resources Director Laura Stover.

Schultz was named Garden Grove Fire Chief on April 29, 2015, following a 30-year career with the Fullerton Fire Department, leading its management consolidation with the Brea Fire Department when he served as deputy chief.

“It’s bittersweet leaving a job and the people I truly love, but I feel this is a good decision and the right time to retire,” Schultz said. “My family has been instrumental in helping me make this important decision and is supportive of my remaining with Garden Grove during this very crucial period when important decisions must be made.”

A rare scoring opportunity emerged for USC in the third quarter of a 17-3 loss at Stanford on Saturday evening.

The Trojans were set up inside the red zone. On second down, quarterback JT Daniels threw a pass toward receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown in the corner of the end zone. St. Brown, draped by a cornerback, leapt to corral the football, but as he landed onto the Stanford Stadium grass, his left heel straddled the end line. He was ruled out of bounds. There was no touchdown.

The sequence was a fitting snapshot of USC’s offense in a game in which it failed to reach the end zone on potential scoring drives.

On the play before St. Brown’s near-tip toe catch, running back Aca’Cedric Ware was hit at the line of scrimmage, before bouncing off the potential tackler to pick up 2 yards. To begin second down, receiver Michael Pittman drew a 5-yard penalty for illegal motion.

So when Daniels lofted the high-difficulty throw toward St. Brown, USC had been left in an inauspicious second-and-13. The incompletion only furthered to decrease their scoring chances, putting them in a third-and-long. The red-zone trip ultimately ended with a field goal.

The offense has underwhelmed early in the season for a variety of factors, including the chemistry between a true freshman quarterback and his receivers, pass protection, poorly timed penalties, red-zone efficiency and stalled drives. USC piled it on late for a 43-21 win over UNLV in its season opener on Labor Day weekend, but many of the issues emerged in  sharper focus against Stanford, its first significant test.

The three points were the fewest the Trojans had scored in a game since being shut out by Washington in 1997. They failed to score a touchdown for the first time since a thumping by Alabama in 2016. They gained 332 yards, their lowest since last September’s loss at Washington State.

“It was a collective non-execution,” Daniels said.

After the loss, USC’s players passed through a dimly lit hallway outside the visiting locker room at Stanford Stadium, where they expressed various feelings of frustration.

They had shown signs of life on offense, moving six times into opposing territory and seeing a third of their drives last for 40 or more yards, but they rarely left with anything to show for it.

“When we had the ball, we’d go 30, 50 yards, fall flat toward the end zone,” left guard Chris Brown said. “It’s just kind of frustrating because I knew we had it.”

“It’s more annoying,” center Toa Lobendahn said. “It definitely didn’t feel like a couple years ago against ‘Bama when we weren’t moving the ball at all at a certain point. This time, we were flipping the field most of the time. And we just weren’t finishing in those situations.”

Their six trips past midfield ended with two punts, along with a missed 53-yard field goal attempt and a fumble by Daniels as he took a sack on fourth down. Daniels was sacked four times.

Offensive coordinator Tee Martin frequently cited poor execution when asked about the struggles following the loss.

Coach Clay Helton said a day later that had the Trojans finished drives, “it’s a totally different ballgame.”

The Trojans have in particular been ailed by a poor red-zone offense. They ranked 86th in the Football Bowl Subdivision last season with a touchdown percentage above 57 percent in the red zone. In this season’s opener, they scored three touchdowns over the six times they moved inside the 20-yard line. In two red-zone trips against Stanford, they managed one field goal. As they mounted a last-minute comeback attempt, Daniels was intercepted at the goal line, their second trip.

After throwing for 282 yards against UNLV, the most ever by a USC quarterback in a debut, along with a touchdown, Daniels ran into trouble in his second college game. He completed 16 of 34 passes for 215 yards and threw two interceptions.

“I didn’t do my part,” Daniels said. “I think the biggest blame goes on me. Age is not an excuse, and neither is experience. If coach puts me as the starter, then I have to get the job done. I didn’t get the job done.”

His performance may have been limited by an injury to his throwing hand, causing him to miss a series in the first half, though the 18-year-old passer downplayed the significance.

Helton said that an MRI on Sunday revealed that Daniels had suffered a hand contusion and would rest until practice Tuesday. Helton was optimistic Daniels would be available to play at Texas because the MRI results showed no ligament damage. X-rays during the game were initially negative.

Amid the defeat, Helton kept upbeat about the rest of the team’s prognosis, as well.

“This team can be an exceptional football team,” Helton said. “It’ll grow and get better with every game. I believe we’re very talented at quarterback and have a quarterback learning lessons with each game rep he gets. We’re learning with him as a staff, where his strengths are, where his areas of growth are.

“I can tell you this is not the end of the world, the sky is not falling. It’s one game early in the season against a top-10 team.”

CARSON — The man responsible for the biggest blunder in the Chargers’ season opener will keep his job.

During the fourth quarter of a 38-28 loss on Sunday, undrafted rookie JJ Jones managed to fumble twice on a single punt return, finally losing it for good just a few steps in front of his own goal line. That helped set up Kansas City’s final touchdown, all but dashing the Chargers’ hopes of a 1-0 record.

Apparently, the former West Georgia receiver will get a second chance. Coach Anthony Lynn stuck by the 5-foot-10 speedster after the game, calling the miscue an aberration despite Jones’ lack of experience.

“He made this team because he can score points,” Lynn said. “We’re looking for guys that can score points. Just because he made one mistake, I’m not going to give up on that young man. Not at all.”

Perhaps Jones will redeem himself. The 25-year-old was electrifying in the preseason, returning a punt 72 yards for a touchdown in his debut at StubHub Center. After four exhibition contests, he also collected 137 yards on six kickoff returns.

Jones didn’t do much on offense in the preseason — catching just one pass for 7 yards — but when fellow receiver Artavis Scott suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the preseason finale, a spot opened on the 53-man roster.

He tried to take advantage. The Chargers had just cut their deficit to 11 points, thanks to a touchdown by Keenan Allen and two-point conversion by Antonio Gates. After a Kansas City three-and-out, Jones was expecting left-footed punter Dustin Colquitt to place the ball in a certain part of the field.

Instead, it veered toward the northwest corner, forcing Jones to change course. He bobbled his initial catch, and by the time he scooped up the ball again, someone was close enough to knock it loose.

“I was just trying to make a play,” Jones said. “Give my team a spark. Like I said, I’ve got to secure the ball better.”

It’s unfair to lay the season-opening loss entirely on Jones’ shoulders. The Chargers could have displayed surer hands. They could have done more on defense, especially against a talented but inexperienced quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. They could have punted away from Tyreek Hill, who opened the game with a 91-yard touchdown return.

Next week in Buffalo, they’ll try to fix some of those errors.

And Jones, presumably, will too.

INJURY REPORT

The Chargers entered the weekend without star defensive end Joey Bosa, who is awaiting a second opinion on an injury to his left foot.

Less than 10 minutes into their season opener, they also lost starting right tackle Joe Barksdale to a right knee injury. The offensive lineman was helped to the sideline, and eventually carted to the locker room. Lynn did not have an update on Barksdale’s condition after the game.

Those absences shifted the workload to Sam Tevi and Isaac Rochell, last year’s sixth- and seventh-round picks. Rochell, who spent most of last season on the Chargers’ practice squad, made his first career start in place of Bosa and recorded four tackles.

Tevi started one game as a rookie, but played just 136 offensive snaps in 2017.

Barksdale also missed five games due to injuries last season and was replaced then by Michael Schofield, who started Sunday’s contest at right guard. Schofield could move back out to right tackle, which would open a starting spot for 2017 second-round pick Forrest Lamp.

Lamp, who sat out his rookie season with a torn ACL, was left inactive against Kansas City.

“He hasn’t played football in 18 months,” Lynn said. “He played that fourth preseason game, but he’s just not there yet.”

NOTES

Rookies Derwin James and Kyzir White debuted as starters, lining up at free safety and outside linebacker, respectively. James broke up a likely touchdown to De’Anthony Thomas in the second quarter, and also notched the Chargers’ only sack of the day. … Running back Melvin Gordon caught nine passes for a career-high 102 yards. … Mike Williams had 81 receiving yards to open his NFL second season, all in the fourth quarter. The former No. 7 overall pick only caught 11 passes for 95 yards during his injury-plagued rookie year.

LAS VEGAS — Isac Lundestrom rocketed toward the net late in the second period of the Ducks’ 5-2 victory Sunday over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 2 of the Rookie Faceoff. Head up, legs churning, Lundestrom had the puck on a string as he skated ever closer to the goal.

He could have shot the puck himself, but the angle wasn’t optimal.

Instead, he slipped a pass to Ducks linemate Kiefer Sherwood near the right goal post. Sherwood then passed the puck across the crease to Jack Kopacka, who was cutting toward the net from the opposite wing. In a nanosecond, the puck was in the back of the net.

It was one play among many Lundestrom orchestrated with his speed and smarts. He added an empty-net goal in the closing moments for his second multi-point game in as many nights. He had two goals in the Ducks’ 8-3 victory Saturday over the Kings’ rookies.

Lundestrom, an 18-year-old center who was the Ducks’ first-round draft pick in June, is ticketed for a return to his native Sweden after the Ducks’ training camp ends later this month. He will depart for home having impressed the Ducks’ executive suite and gained a healthy dose of confidence.

“The biggest thing for me is he’s gotten better every shift,” said Ducks rookie team coach Dallas Eakins. “His first few shifts in the first game, I was a little worried and then he ended up being one of our best forwards at the end of the night.”

Lundestrom’s skating ability was on display in each game, but especially during Sunday’s victory over the Avalanche. In one sequence, he skated backwards at what seemed to be warp speed in order to find an open patch of ice and present a target for a teammate in the defensive zone.

Lundestrom accepted a pass and turned toward the neutral zone, already in full flight. He then made a clever pass to a teammate to start an attack in the offensive zone. The play didn’t result in a goal or a scoring chance, but it was an indication that he can do more than score goals or set them up.

“He’s got ice in his veins with the puck,” said Eakins, who also serves as the coach of the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks’ AHL team. “He sees the ice well. He’s not afraid to take it to the net. He’s one of those guys all the wingers we have are probably dying to play with him.

“He can really distribute the puck well.”

EXECUTIVE DECISIONS

Eakins said he couldn’t claim credit for teaming Max Comtois, Sam Steel and Troy Terry together during the Ducks’ rookie camp or for the Rookie Faceoff. Bob Murray, the Ducks’ general manager, wanted those three together and so they skated on the same line Saturday.

Sunday, Steel and Terry were out of the lineup Sunday and Comtois was on a line with Tyler Soy and Giovanni Fiore. Comtois scored the Ducks’ first goal, after Soy forced a turnover in the attacking zone in the opening minutes of the second period.

Eakins said it was up to Murray as to whether Comtois, Steel and Terry would skate together in the Ducks’ Rookie Faceoff finale Tuesday morning against the Arizona Coyotes. Eakins called off a scheduled practice for Monday.

CARSON – Russell Okung raised a fist, but the only kneeling was done by Philip Rivers on Sunday, sent to his knees by the sight of a touchdown pass bouncing off the hands of Travis Benjamin.

Rivers had seen footballs do that  all day, off Benjamin and Tyrell Williams in particular, and he had seen the Chargers’ punt coverage team fail to herd a supersonic cat named Tyreek Hill.

“Another disappointing start to the season by the Chargers,” said a fan in a Rivers jersey, on the way out of StubHub Center.

Everybody’s a SportsCenter anchor these days.

“We left a lot of plays out there,” receiver Keenan Allen said. They were left out there last year, too. Some are probably still lying on the Qualcomm Stadium turf in San Diego.

At least the Chargers seemed to have remedied their kicking failures, until they cut the lead to 10 and lined up Caleb Sturgis for a 48-yarder, with 1:11 left. The Chargers had all their timeouts, so it was doable, at least until Sturgis missed it softly to the left.

The Chiefs won, 38-28, for the ninth consecutive time against the Chargers.

Afterward, Rivers compared the long season to the Tour de France and Antonio Gates, who caught a 2-point conversion, said it was a marathon. Neither is quite as exhausting as the life of a Chargers fan.

“I was surprised by the drops, very uncharacteristic,” Allen said. “You got to clean it up and move on.

“I don’t know what happens during drops. It happens so fast. I don’t know how it could be focus. All you’re looking at is the ball. Nobody is trying harder to catch it than the person who’s trying to catch it. Sometimes it happens.”

Down 17-12 late in the second quarter, Rivers had Benjamin in the end zone and quite available, but it wasn’t caught. Earlier, there were deep ones that didn’t stick to Williams or Benjamin, but the Chargers scored at the end of the possession.

Rivers had Benjamin locked in, open in the end zone, just before Sturgis missed the kick, and the same thing happened, or didn’t happen. Rivers still threw for 414 yards and three touchdowns. He had to keep flinging because the Chargers defense, third in the league last year in points allowed, was steadily bleeding from the attacks of ew Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“Sometimes when you’re really open you can get lackadaisical,” Allen said. “Maybe you feel like you’ve already got a touchdown. Maybe you try to catch it easy, I don’t know.”

“I missed some throws, we had some drops,” Rivers said. “It’s just tough to get guys open, and you hate it when you do get them open and you can’t make plays.”

After the indescribably fast Hill had an early 91-yard punt return touchdown and a 58-yard touchdown play, the Chargers cut the lead to 17-12 at halftime. Then Mahomes hustled the Chiefs downfield and shoveled a touchdown to DeAnthony Thomas, Rivers threw a deep interception to Ron Parker, and Mahomes hit Hill for a 34-yard pass to escape bad field position.

That is not “complementary football,” where one side of the ball provides absolution for the sins of the other.

Perhaps the most embarrassing moment  was the next Chiefs’ touchdown. Mahomes sent fullback Anthony Sherman on a wheel route. Linebacker Kyle Emanuel let him get away, and Sherman turned it into a 36-yard score.

Remember fullbacks? Sherman is 5-foot-10, 242, although he played some tight end here. It was his third receiving touchdown in eight NFL seasons.

“He’s got crazy hands, man,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “You think of him as a sausage, but he’s just a sausage with hands.”

The Chargers were the chic pick to win the AFC West and maybe the AFC championship. They still can. But with Mahomes, the Chiefs seem even more dynamic.

Mahomes is a slick ball-handler, a willing runner on read-options, and a brilliant thrower. This often happens with quarterbacks coached by Reid, and also with quarterbacks who are allowed to marinate for a season, as Mahomes was in 2017 behind Smith.

It helped that Joey Bosa was in a T-shirt and jeans and the Chiefs controlled Melvin Ingram on the other side. Mahomes was sacked only once, by safety Derwin James.

“He has a chance to be a really, really, really awesome player,” Rivers said of Mahomes. “He has the kind of arm talent that, well, I’d like to borrow his arm every now and then.”

No doubt he’d like to borrow some stronger hands for teammates that couldn’t catch the football or Tyreek Hill, or for a fanbase that wonders why it should even bother getting a grip.

A feast for the eyes and an injection of good vibes for the spirit: On Sunday night, Prabal Gurung celebrated the joyful and positive side of fashion with a runway show that was pure energy.
Colorblocking, bold tones, fluid and relaxed silhouettes were the main ingredients of a group of flamboyant outfits opening the show. Joan Smalls sported a yellow ribbed bodysuit tucked into a transparent neon green skirt trimmed in fuchsia satin; Gigi Hadid wore a cropped white T-shirt paired with a draped skirt in a bright color combination. Bella Hadid took the catwalk in a pair of pink cargo pants and a triangle bikini top and sporty colorful windbreaker. The athletic attitude also informed the feminine frocks and skirts enriched with drawstring details and elastic waistbands, while an extravagant touch was introduced via the traffic-stopping feathers embroidered on cropped denim pants and a covetable black T-shirt dress. Artisanal craftsmanship is an iconic element of Gurung’s design aesthetic. This season it was beautifully shown on beaded and sequined frocks revealing degradé effects and sarong skirts trimmed with tiny, precious fringe.
Unveiling men’s wear for the first time, the designer created a charming dialogue between the two lineups, which looked totally coherent.

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Sander Lak’s spring collection was a departure from what he’s been doing at Sies Marjan in the last few very strong seasons. Interestingly, he said spring was about finally feeling at home. “I’ve lived in 20 countries and this is the first time I feel at home,” Lak said after the show. “It’s very new to me. It’s like a first love.” How exactly that translated into the clothes he didn’t quite articulate, but in general the collection was more based in reality than his previous wildly colorful, fantasy-driven lineups.
Lak didn’t drain the color out of everything, but he did paint outside his proverbial lines to embrace white, the rare color on the spectrum he hasn’t used much. He infused white looks with an optic starkness and textural treatments, crinkling a spare, long shirtdress, and cutting a coat and cargo pants from paper-coated fabric that had a cool chalky texture. They were some of the most interesting pieces in the lineup, though some of the other neutrals Lak proposed, including drab green workwear and twists on classic Breton stripes — usually a crowd-pleaser — felt flat.
The palette of unusual, intriguing tones for which Lak is known picked up as the

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Transcending time and trends was the main goal behind Amy Smilovic’s spring collection.
The designer delivered a chic collection in which the wearable, uncomplicated pieces were peppered with charming colors and sophisticated details.
There were plenty of options for city women on the go: a blue top tucked into a black leather midiskirt; the relaxed, slightly oversized suits; the wrap dresses with soft belts to tie at the front, and the asymmetric lightweight shirts matched with cigarette pants and sartorial blazers.
While most of the looks were worked in solids — including sorbet tones juxtaposed with bolder hues of orange, yellow, blue and green — the collection also included color-blocked designs, such as a feminine dress with plissé inserts, a front pocket and a half belt with a metallic buckle cut in an organic shape, as well as a soft, graphic floral print splashed on simple, feminine frocks.

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Breakfast at Le Coucou — a delightful way to start a Sunday morning, particularly so during the frenzy of New York Fashion Week. Laura Vassar and Kris Brock chose the restaurant, one of their favorites, as the venue for their spring Brock Collection show, imagining throughout the design process how the clothes would look in the setting.
The answer: Clothes and space looked made for each other, the undone gentility of the exposed brick walls reflecting the subtle touch of toughness beneath the collection’s prettiness. In their show notes, the designers said they had considered “this notion of raw American romance.” “We wanted it to be a breath of fresh air, and for [it to] feel alive and courageous,” Vassar said backstage post-show. “Reading about and looking at Georgia O’Keeffe’s work and how she approached it — expressing that [which] she couldn’t find words for, a feeling of wanting to do something vibrant and alive.”
For the Brock duo, vibrant and alive is synonymous with romantic and sexy-pretty. Here, they imbued their lingerie-derived signatures with a casual attitude in washed, rumpled fabrics. Wallpaper prints had a vintage feel while ikat patterns most specifically referenced O’Keeffe’s Southwest. The designers love a corset construction,

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