Silk

'Secrets of the Silk Road' Where: 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays. Through July 25. Price: $16 to $20 Contact: (714) 567-3600; www.bowers.org

Today it's rare to see a piece of celebrity-worn apparel - on screen or off - that can't be identified and even purchased with a few mouse clicks. From politician Sarah Palin's eyeglass frames (Kawasaki 704s) to film protagonist Jay Gatsby's bow tie (Brooks Bros.), the power of the Internet has made the world one great, big clickable catalog. But what if the jacket you covet was the one Amelia Earhart was wearing on her 1932 solo flight across the Atlantic? Or the dress of your dreams was last seen on Josephine Baker in a 1940 wartime photograph?

"The Good Wife" meets "Law and Order: UK" in "Silk,"  the six-hour, three-episode series debuting on PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery!" on Sunday night.  As host Alan Cumming helpfully explains in the first-night intro, "Silk" refers to the prestigious position of Queen's Counsel -- in British court, these high-ranking barristers wear gowns of silk (also those crazy wig hats.) Applying for silk is one Martha Costello (Maxine Peake), a passionate defense barrister who, like any good television lawyer, has made the law her life.  Idealistic yet pragmatic, Martha firmly believes that providing a strong defense for even the most larcenous, mendacious and generally suspicious of the population is the keystone of justice.

You dream of a getaway to Tahiti (or perhaps it's just a day trip to Topanga). You conjure visions of sun and surf, swaying palms and fragrant blooms. Luckily, you can dress the part. Michael Kors' vision for spring? "A modern pinup at the beach. " At the spring 2014 shows, his offerings included a grass green and white blossom-print bikini top paired with a matching pencil skirt for the ultimate in casual luxe. FULL COVERAGE: Spring fashion Fausto Puglisi used palm trees in prints on long skirts and kicky dresses.

"Silk" is a shaggy worm tale about a young Frenchman's instant obsession with a once-glimpsed Japanese woman beginning in 1862. Based on Alessandro Baricco's bestselling novella, it stars Michael Pitt as Herve Joncour, the unenthusiastic French army officer and mayor's son who bags his military career to work for local silk magnate Baldabiou (Alfred Molina) and marry devoted schoolteacher Hélène (Keira Knightley).

If you don't think you have a novel in you, you'd do well to ponder the idea that one of the primary American literary forms of the past quarter century has been the T-shirt. Think of it as the short-short-short story of the age. One person's philosophy expressed in cotton casual wear. Initially, the shirts lacked content. You had to take what you found in the stores, and true self-expression was minimal.

First, Bob McAdoo was released and now Jamaal Wilkes has been waived. I hope the Lakers know what they are doing. Granted it was a business decision but that does not make it any easier to watch one of the NBA's finest and most consistent players being told he is no longer needed. And after he had worked so hard all summer to rehabilitate himself after the knee injury. As far as class, dignity and intelligence are concerned, Jamaal is without peer. I will miss seeing Silk in a Laker uniform but have no doubt he will come back to haunt his former teammates with his 20-foot layups.

In the '30s and '40s, classy men--Gary Cooper and Clark Gable, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers--spent their leisure hours sipping brandy at home, wearing silk dressing gowns or smoking jackets. Often as not the robes came from A. Sulka in New York. This fall, Sulka opened a shop at Rodeo Two in Beverly Hills, and is making a push for relevancy in the real world today.

Many of us may fret about losing our electronic gadgets. John A. Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is working to build electronic devices that vanish on purpose. In a study published this week in the journal Science, Rogers and colleagues described how they assembled a toolbox of tiny biodegradable components made of silicon, magnesium and silk that can completely dissolve in the body. In a conversation with The Times, Rogers explained the virtues of such "transient electronics" - and why someday you might want your smartphone to disappear too. What do you mean by "transient electronics"?

The pocket square, that flourish of breast-pocket plumage that once belonged to the old school, has become a sartorial signature for a whole new generation of men, from the Hollywood celebrities and folk rock musicians who walk red carpets and grace magazine covers, to NFL players and the average guy on the street. At a pre-Super Bowl news conference in New Orleans, it was Baltimore Ravens' linebacker Terrell Suggs' suit, tie and pocket square ensemble that earned honorable mention in media reports.

Los Angeles-based designer and 2013 CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund runner-up JC Obando showed his fall 2014 collection in grand style Thursday night at the Academy Mansion on the Upper East Side during New York Fashion Week. And as models glided through the flower-filled halls, wearing the designer's floating, silk separates, it conjured images of bohemian socialites and artistes entertaining at home. There was no inspiration statement or run of show because, as Obando, who launched his label in 2007, explained, "When you create a brand, you no longer need show notes to explain who you are. You reach that point in your career.

Ross William Ulbricht was indicted Tuesday on charges that he operated the billion-dollar Silk Road website where customers used Bitcoins to buy and sell drugs. The indictment for Ulbricht, 29, who authorities said was known by his Internet moniker "Dread Pirate Roberts," includes a new charge, of engaging in a "continuing criminal enterprise. " The count carries a maximum life sentence and a mandatory minimum term of 20 years, said Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Ulbricht was also indicted on previous charges of conspiracy to commit computer hacking and conspiracy to launder money.

NEW YORK - The federal government has arrested one of the biggest names in the bitcoin community in the latest crackdown on digital currencies and their illicit use. Charlie Shrem, chief executive of digital currency exchange BitInstant, stands accused with a Florida man of laundering money through a notorious drug-trafficking website. Shrem is also vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit group aimed at promoting the digital currency. He and codefendant Robert M. Faiella of Cape Coral, Fla., are accused of selling more than $1 million worth of bitcoins to people attempting to buy and sell illegal drugs on the Silk Road website, which the FBI shut down in October.

The chief executive of a Bitcoin startup backed by the Winklevoss twins was arrested Monday and charged with laundering money through a notorious drug-trafficking site. The Department of Justice said that it had charged Robert M. Faiella and Charlie Shrem with selling $1 million worth of Bitcoins to people attempting to buy and sell drugs on the Silk Road black market website. PHOTOS: 10 ways to use the sharing economy Shrem is CEO of BitInstant, a Bitcoin exchange that counts the Winklevoss twins as its investors.

Just over a month after the illicit drug-dealing website Silk Road was shut down and its alleged founder arrested, the site relaunched Wednesday morning. The new Silk Road promises better security and is offering much of the same fare as its predecessor -- heroin, ecstasy and prescription medications purchased using the online currency Bitcoin , which is designed to be untraceable. Authorities arrested Ross William Ulbricht on Oct. 1, accusing the 29-year-old of building an illegal drug empire on the deep Web, that part of the Internet not reachable by standard search engines.

Disney princess-inspired gowns by Versace, Valentino, Missoni and Oscar de la Renta are now up for bid online in a Christie's benefit auction. Online bidding for the 10 "princess dresses," which started Oct. 18, is in advance of a live auction scheduled for Nov. 13, which will raise money for the London-based Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity .  The dresses, which were originally part of a holiday 2012 Harrods window display,...

"It's lights, camera and action, baby! A pimp always has to dress his best." Kenny "K-Red" Red, 35, sits on the white marble steps below the Capitol building, a mountainous structure that symbolizes capitalism, prosperity and uniquely American virtues.

Come next ski season, the classic fur parka will be one step closer to extinction. Nils Skiwear of Fountain Valley has removed fur collars from its entire 1990-91 line of ski jackets to avoid a fur fight with animal rights activists. "It was a hard decision. We had a group of jackets with fur collars that were extremely successful, and fur had a lot to do with the appeal of the product," says Richard Leffler, executive vice president of Nils.

The once-obscure Bitcoin has been making news all year. There have been stories about the wild swings in the virtual currency's exchange rate, moves by financial regulators to shut down some Bitcoin-related businesses, and the attempts by its boosters to gain more mainstream credibility. But this week, the Bitcoin community was hit with a story potentially bigger than all the others: the seizure of the illicit Silk Road website and the arrest of its founder, Ross William Ulbricht, a 29-year-old former physics student from San Francisco.

For two years, the FBI tracked the elusive founder of Silk Road, an Internet site that peddled heroin, ecstasy and every known type of prescription medication. The manhunt ended with the arrest of an unlikely suspect: Ross William Ulbricht, a 29-year-old former physics student from San Francisco. Prosecutors on Wednesday described Ulbricht as a criminal mastermind who built an illegal drug empire that they estimated had $1.2 billion in sales over the last three years, earning him $80 million.