Flair

Ancient Rome produced many world wonders--from aqueducts to grand, columned structures. One that survives to the present is the sudarium . It saved the runny-nosed Romans the burden of heavy laundry bills that came with dirty toga sleeves, and comes down to us as the handkerchief. The long march of civilization has brought us to the dress coat--and its many, many pockets. They serve as key depositories and cloth piggy banks for small change.

First published more than 20 years ago, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy's autobiography has been reissued with a brief introduction by four of her surviving children. Completed when the author was 84, the book is primarily a personal history fleshed out by diary notes, letters and a generous selection of photographs.

The AMC drama "Mad Men," which paints a gin-soaked, cigarette-stained, ulcer-inducing picture of Manhattan's advertising industry circa 1960, is a period-perfect re-creation of the past, colored by the emerging trends of the present: When those hard-driving executives leave their masculine Modern office suites, they go home to the feminine Colonial Revival homes of suburbia. Call it an antidote to the midcentury minimalism that has become so prevalent in Los Angeles home design today.

One warm Friday night in late spring 10 years ago, Kristin Denise Smart and three other young women started walking from their dorms at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They were headed for the neighborhoods of apartment complexes and overpopulated "Animal House"-like bungalows that border the campus. They were looking for a party. It was Memorial Day weekend. Kristin's first year away at college was coming to a close. The 19-year-old from Stockton would have considered that something to celebrate.

With summer in full swing, it's time to hit the beach — for sunning, yes, but also for shopping. There's a new level of sophistication in shopping along the coast. Locally owned boutiques with a curated point of view are changing the flavor of beach towns from beer-soaked spring break haunts to chic retail and dining destinations. The style renaissance is fueled in part by the success of Venice's Abbot Kinney Boulevard, which this spring was dubbed by GQ magazine the chic-est street in America.

Leona and Harry Helmsley emerged from a silver stretch limousine under slate-gray skies a little more than a week ago to be fingerprinted, photographed, booked and arraigned among drug dealers and thieves in the Manhattan criminal courthouse. Clad in a fire-truck-red coat-dress with blue velvet lapels, Leona Helmsley held her head high, linked arms with her husband and smiled at the mass of reporters outside the courthouse. Asked for comment, they replied only, "Good morning."