The Best And Worst Dressed Cities In America

By Cavan Sieczkowski | May 30 2012 10:18 AM

Photo: Wikipedia

No. 10

Kansas City, Missouri: Jean Harlow might have been a sex symbol of the 1930s, but her city is No. 10 on America's worst-dressed 80 years later.

Photo: IBTimes

Advocacy Group Rips Apple For Anti-Gay App

An anti-gay app for the iPhone is creating a whirlwind of controversy as an advocacy group is imploring Apple to take it down.

Truth Wins Out, a gay rights group, has gone to the Internet to get Apple to take down a new iPhone app that promises to cure people of their homosexuality. The app is from religious group Exodus International, which is a self-described refuge for people looking for help in their journey out of homosexuality.

The anti-gay app has received a 4+ rating from Apple, which means it doesn't have objectionable content. However, Truth Wins Out begs to differ, saying Exodus is notorious for using scare tactics, misinformation, stereotypes and distortions of LGBT life to recruit clients.

If Apple does not respond, we will take steps to ensure that Apple meets the victims of 'ex-gay' ministries and learns how their lives were destroyed, said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen in a statement. It is astounding that Apple would allow an app from an organization that promotes gay exorcisms, demonizes LGBT people, and is rejected by every respected mental health association in America.

Truth Wins Out has already collected 100,000 signatures against the app, in no more than a week's time. The therapy, offered by Exodus International, has been rejected by every major professional medical organization, says Truth Wins Out. The gay rights activist organization says by creating an iPhone app, Exodus is especially targeting youth.

In light of the recent wave of LGBT youth suicides, this tactic is particularly galling as it creates, legitimizes, and fuels the ostracism of LGBT youth by their families, Besen said.

It wouldn't be the first time Apple removed an app for being anti-gay. The Manhattan Declaration created an app, which highlighted its beliefs against gay marriage. After only 7,500 signatures, Truth Wins Out said Apple removed the app, and it must do the same here.

Apple doesn't allow racist or anti-Semitic apps in its store, yet it gives the green light to an app written by an anti-gay extremist group that targets vulnerable sexual-minority youth with the message that they are 'sinful' and 'perverse,' Truth Wins Out's director of communications and development John Becker said in a statement. This is a double standard that should not stand.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Photo: Reuters

No. 8

Portland, Maine: Portland was once home to actress Anna Kendrick, whose style surely does not belong on any worst-dressed list.

Photo: Wikipedia

No. 7

Atlanta, Georgia: Chloe Moretz might be a budding fashionista now, but her hometown ranks No. 7 on the worst-dressed list.

Photo: Reuters

No. 6

Dallas, Texas: Piper Perabo escaped a fashion "don't" when she left Dallas, where she was born.

Photo: Wikipedia

No. 5

San Antonio, Texas: Suzy Parker was an American model and actress active from 1947 into the early 1960s, who became the signature face of Chanel. Worst-dressed she never was.

Photo: Wikipedia

No. 4

Orlando, Florida: Carrot Top does not help Orlando's fashion cred.

Photo: Reuters

No. 3

Baltimore, Maryland: Anna Faris' hometown of Baltimore, Md., is No. 3 on the worst-dressed list.

Photo: Reuters

No. 2

Salt Lake City, Utah: Julianne Hough might have been born and raised in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, the No. 2 worst-dressed city, but she is a red carpet stunner now.

Photo: Reuters

No. 1

Anchorage, Alaska: Sarah Palin's hometown of Anchorage tops the "Worst Dressed Cities in America" list.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Well style is a bit more subjective.

Travel + Leisure released its annual America's Favorite Cities list, which compiled the results of readers' opinions on U.S. cities' best and worst drivers, most and least attractive people and everything in between. The poll even measured the best and worst-dressed cities in America.

So which cities came out as the best dressed?

New York topped the list as the No. 1 best-dressed city in America, which should come as no surprise since the Big Apple is renowned as one of the fashion capitals of the world (along with Paris, Milan and Tokyo). The myriad of stylish dwellers is dazzling for those who have visited NYC. From the well-heeled Ladies Who Lunch of the Upper East Side to the bohemian glamazons of SoHo to the alternative hipsters of Williamsburg, NYC is nothing short of fabulous.

The No. 2 best-dressed city, Charleston, S.C., might not seem like a style hub, but the city boasts its own Fashion Week and is the hometown of dapper political satirist, Stephen Colbert, who ranked as the first-ever male on Maxim's Hot 100 list this year.

Here is the complete Best-Dressed List:

1. New York City
2. Charleston
3. Los Angeles
4. San Juan, P.R.
5. Miami
6. San Francisco
7. Savannah
8. Austin
9. Dallas/Fort Worth
10. San Diego

Now, onto the worst-dressed cities in America.

Topping the No. 1 spot on Travel + Leisure's Worst-Dressed Cities in America list is Anchorage, Ala. Anchorage is the home of former vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, whose outfits on the campaign trail were certainly nothing to scoff at.

But for Miriam Jones, a paleoclimatologist who spent time during a two-year research stint in Anchorage, the worst-dressed label comes as no surprise.

It's not uncommon to see oversized parkas with fur-lined hoods and bunny boots, Jones told the Huffington Post. And people aren't alarmed when a person wearing a ski mask enters a room. In Alaska, fashion comes second to functionality. Men sport beards and flannel not for irony, but for necessity. Frostbite is a nasty threat.

It's more important to get out and do things and meet with friends, then I think to focus on being fashion-appropriate and savvy for every event, Kris Natwick, membership director for the Anchorage Downtown Partnership, told The Associated Press. You're not going to wear high heels out when it's been snowing six, eight, 10, 12 inches. You're going to dress appropriately for the weather.

Not everyone is taking the results lying down.

I think it's a little ridiculous, to be honest, Hillary Walker, assistant manager at lulu e. bebe fashion boutique in Anchorage, told The AP. I think dressing well is about feeling comfortable, experimenting, expressing yourself through your clothing. I think people in Anchorage do a great job with that.

Check out the top 10 worst-dressed cities in America in the following slideshow and some of the famous red carpet faces born in the cities. Did your city make the list?