Accessories

When actress Natalie Portman walked this year's Oscar red carpet, raspberry tasseled Tiffany earrings swinging, jewelry aficionados took notice. Tassels and fringe are popping up all over, on earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, rings — as well as purses, scarves, belts and shoes. Today's tasseled-themed jewelry is a bit Art Deco, a bit hippie '70's revival, a bit ancient Egypt and a touch old-world Venetian, all threaded together with a 21st century sensibility. "Tassels are very feminine and also very tactile," says London-based jeweler Carolina Bucci, who regularly uses them as a signature part of her collection, when asked why they reappear in fashion so often.

After nearly a generation on the endangered accessories list, the old-school tie bar — the narrow piece of decorative metal (also known as a tie clip) that slides horizontally across a necktie and holds it flat against a gentleman's dress shirt — is enjoying a bit of a renaissance. "The tie bar trend is huge," said Macy's men's fashion director Durand Guion. "It's been trending strongly for us — as a nationwide store — for about the last two years. " J.P. Graytok, owner of the Collar Co. , a Somerville, N.J.-based e-commerce site that focuses on men's furnishings, describes a similar experience.

There may be no better time to escape the city for a sun-drenched jaunt to the desert than spring. Flowers are blooming, temperatures are moderate, and music and art beckon with two major festivals — the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival April 15 to 17 and the Stagecoach country music fest April 30 and May 1. This is all on top of the year-round lure of golf, tennis, pools and spas. And for the serious shopper? There's a small but mighty fashion scene to be found in Palm Springs and its southeastern neighbor Palm Desert that includes the same sartorial trappings available in the city (Gucci, Trina Turk, Sephora)

Anyone hunting for an educated representation of indie fashion in L.A. would be wise to swing by the new Thvm boutique, which opened last week in downtown's Historic Arts District. Brian Kim and Olga Nazarova, founders and designers of the denim-centric Echo Park label Thvm Atelier (formerly known as, and still pronounced as, Them Atelier) launched the shop. They've corralled their favorite brands inside a 100-year-old former paint factory, an industrial space sporting a weathered patina that needed little refining, Kim said.

If you walked the floor of the recent Magic and Project fashion industry trade shows, you probably noticed two major themes for fall 2011 casual wear: the Old West and a continuing interest in classic American work wear. The worn-in, vintage look of work wear has been extremely popular for men for several seasons, especially with the revival and hipsterization of labels such as Pendleton and Woolrich. Now that look is marching into fall for women's accessories, unisex knits and denim.

You don't need to be a Mayo Clinic researcher to figure out that being glued to an office chair all day makes people fat, but that's what it took to start a revolution. A few years ago, the clinic's Dr. James Levine theorized that raising one's metabolism through low-level, daylong movement could burn at least as many calories as a conventional workout at the end of an inactive day. He proved it by grafting a treadmill to a desk ? his test subjects got healthier and walked off dozens of pounds without breaking a sweat at a 1 mph pace.

If you can stop texting, tweeting and typing long enough, you may notice that some stylish people are taking communication into their own hands. Whether it's a $3.50 ballpoint disguised as a tube of lipstick at Bookmarc, Marc Jacobs' (relatively) new Melrose store, or a $275 platinum-plated pencil sharpener from Graf von Faber-Castell, writing instruments, journals and stationery have emerged as an essential accessory for artistic self-expression. And the timing couldn't be better, since many of us must now face our list of holiday thank-you notes.

Connie Pentek Designs at a glance Business: Founded in 1992, Connie Pentek Designs creates and sells European-inspired home accessories, as well as a line of whimsical dolls. Owner: Connie Pentek Employees: 1 full-time; 1 part-time Revenue: $50,000 (2009) Goal: To concentrate on the more successful doll products, revise marketing and update websites. Source: Connie Pentek Designs

When Google took the wraps off its foray into online fashion retail a few days ago, anyone who hadn't sat through one of the nearly hour-long Web demonstrations couldn't have been faulted for thinking Boutiques.com was just another in an increasingly crowded field of "curated retail" sites. (At launch, the site focused on women's clothing and accessories only ? with the goal of eventually expanding into menswear.) It is ? and it isn't. Aiming to serve up clothing and accessories based on personal preferences (the way Pandora suggests new music based on the music you like)

With Novemberfest now upon us, I'd like to remind you that you cannot bring food into our house without someone lunging for it: a sandwich, a blintz, a side of pork. What usually happens is you'll be sitting there reading the paper ? contentedly mumbling to yourself the way semi-sane people do ? and someone will stroll by and just take a huge bite of whatever you're eating. Particularly vulnerable are the Bay Cities sandwiches (on Lincoln in Santa Monica). Los Angeles is not really a great sandwich town, so when the lovely and patient older daughter brings by a gloppy Bay Cities sub, it's like the first day of deer season in Duluth.