Satin

You don't have to be a June bride to enjoy a historical retrospective of wedding dresses on exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In fact, most modern brides would feel downright dyspeptic in the tightly corseted, crinolined wedding dress popular in 1860 or the wasp-waisted gown in silk faille and satin from 1894.

The Milk Bar is the most beautifully art-directed club since Jack Rabbit Slim's from "Pulp Fiction." Too bad many of the people who frequent the 2-week-old Beverly Hills club appear to be choreographed themselves. Perhaps it's a location foible--the Milk Bar is poised in the toniest part of a tony city.

There's nothing subtle about a satin shirt. It's right at home in a gangland hangout or in a sleazy cocktail lounge. Cowboys croon in them. Mobsters look slick in them. And now young guns--who would rather look like a dangerous honey-bunny from "Pulp Fiction" than an Armani-wearing "American Gigolo"--are wearing them for dress-up. At a recent L.A.

What you don't know can hurt you. That's the message for consumers in 1995 from the California Department of Consumer Affairs. "Too many people don't realize how many laws we have to protect them," says Joanne Corday Kozberg, secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency. Among the department's New Year's gifts is a 25-minute video, "Rebuilding After a Disaster." It explains why you should hire a licensed contractor for projects costing more than $300. Useful to any homeowner, the tape is available for $2.99 at HomeBase stores, which underwrote the cost of the project.