The New : Miami Vice-Inspired Cameras Focus on Color

Now you won’t have to say “cheese” to look like you’re smiling when your picture’s being taken because, most likely, if the camera taking your picture is pink, purple, yellow, gray, red or blue, you’ll want to smile anyway. Colorful cameras are the latest thing in the trend of coloring merchandise.

“Le Clic,” a new compact automatic camera, comes in zingy pastels and looks more like a fun toy than a camera. It’s name is stamped boldly on its front in big, playful letters and it hangs from a black-and-white strap with big, plastic, color-coordinated tassels.

“It looks like a Barbie camera. It’s cute. It’s plastic,” said a young employee at Saks Fifth Avenue in Woodland Hills, where the camera is selling like hot cakes.

“People are buying it to match their clothes, like a fashion hat or something.”

One young woman, an administrative assistant based in Sherman Oaks, slings a pastel yellow Le Clic around her wrist like a pocketbook. “I’m going traveling this summer,” she said. “And I’m going to wear my favorite yellow jump suit. I think it’s a rare pick that my camera can match. Everyone’s going to say, ‘Where did you get that cute camera?’ ”

If primary colors are more your thing, you can spend twice as much money ($88 to Le Clic’s $40) on a yellow, blue or bright red Canon Snappy-S, a pocket-sized number that comes in its own snappy carrying case.

“It’s really selling well with the youth market,” said a clerk at The Ritz camera store in Northridge. “Young people just seem to like those bright colors.”

But perhaps the truly outrageous cameras are best matched with the true eccentrics. An Encino woman recently received a Carrege, a white, pink and silver designer camera put out by Minolta.

“It’s so gloppy and tacky, it’s just remarkable,” she said. “I love it.”