The fall momentum has given retailers, beleaguered by a year of sharp sales declines and steep discounting, more confidence heading into the critical holiday shopping season.

Among the most active names were department-store operators Kohl's Corp. and Macy's Inc. Trading in Kohl's rose to four times the normal level, with investors picking up 14,000 calls that allow them to buy the company's stock and 19,000 puts that allow them to sell it, according to Trade Alert.

[...] another former haute couture house is seeking ready-to-wear immortality with new backers and a fresh designer. Madeleine Vionnet popularized the forgiving bias cut and dispensed with buttons, zippers and hooks in favor of draping and wrapping fabric in comfortable forms; she dressed both Garbo and Dietrich.

[...] what's driving sales of these garments? "It's like this competitive thing we have with other women," says Mary Pantier, a 40-year-old yoga instructor in Erie, Colo., who accidentally flashed her Spanx, worn under her workout ensemble, while in a downward-dog pose in class. The great-grandmother of shapewear, the corset, was "the most controversial garment in the history of fashion," says Valerie Steele, director and chief curator at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, who wrote a book about the rigid, uncomfortable garment.

Sales during the month, traditionally a time of fall clearance, were better than expected for many retailers, according to analysts' estimates. Although October sales patterns typically don't predict holiday sales trends, retail executives point to signs of pent-up demand and a gradual return of shoppers.