Sandra Day O'Connor has a penchant for pearls and prim cardigan sweaters befitting the first female nominee to the Supreme Court. If confirmed, the Arizona judge will don the same unisex black judicial robes worn by her Court brethren, possibly as early as the first Monday in October. Each justice is expected to supply his or her own robe, but O'Connor's epochal appointment perhaps suggests the time has come for some kind of sartorial breakthrough. In that spirit, PEOPLE asked irreverent California designer Rudi Gernreich to spruce up O'Connor's working wardrobe. "I'm poking fun at the judicial system," stresses Gernreich, "not at women." For Justice O'Connor's morning sessions, he proposes an informal outfit in stitched denim (below, left). After lunch, he suggests the Justice slip into a dressier black satin robe (center), appropriately embroidered on the back. Since off-the-shoulder evening gowns are de rigueur this season in Washington, Gernreich proposes a "night court" robe in black taffeta with judicial scale earrings. "It's splendid a woman was finally named to the court," says Rudi. "But I wish we were in England. I would love to add a wig."
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