Blithe Spirits Create Their Own Happy-Go-Lucky Chic

Don’t worry, be happy. There’s a way to have lighthearted chic for a song.

You like that very expensive Christian Lacroix jeweled-cross jacket on the cover of November Vogue? No problem, says Landa Zellars, store manager of the Home Silk Shop on La Cienega Boulevard. “We’ve had jewels like that since last December.”

They also have a supply of teddy bears, which Lee Hogan Cass, fashion director of the Broadway, suggests using in a tres different way: “Make a stole out of a long piece of plush fabric, the kind bathrobes are made of, and put little hand-puppets or any stuffed animals along the edge.”

Not your thing? Never mind. The Broadway has Gasp jeans ($62) covered with little Guatemalan worry dolls. Or you can paint and decorate your own T-shirt. A kit ($28) from B. J. Designs comes with the shirt and nontoxic, washable latex paints. “Then you add jewels or buttons,” Cass suggests.

Now, it might not be backless, but this Lycra-stretch motorcycle jacket ($98 by Jeanjer, at the Broadway in December) is tight and it’s loaded with zippers and studs.

Jeweled-decorated zippers are a very hot item at the moment, Home Silk’s President Murray Pepper says. His store has the fake jewels, the zippers and the tool that’s needed to link the two.

Have a charm bracelet lying about the house? Take a hint from Maud Frizon whose black suede, gold-tipped flats ($365 at Bullocks Wilshire, Los Angeles) come with a gold-plated charm bracelet that goes around the ankle.

Also at Bullocks Wilshire: $38 polka-dot silk shorts for men, which, if worn by a woman, “could put new life into jogging,” says a store spokesperson.

Put silk flowers ($6.75 to $19.75) on a velvet headband and you’ll have “a great floral headpiece,” suggests Shannon Henry, assistant manager of American Rag, Cie., on La Brea Avenue.

Hanging with the store’s vintage clothing are little black dresses ($16 to $39) that could be covered in second-time-around men’s ties ($6 to $20). For something witty and new, there are extremely wide-leg polka-dot pants ($99.75) shown with a round-collar, reverse-color polka-dot blouse ($78.75). If that’s too pricey, there’s a tight cotton-Lycra dress by Weston ($50) with very noticeable ruffles around the hips, down the skirt and on the sleeves.

And if things still don’t seem like fun, think hands. Cover them in unusual gloves, such as American Rag’s black ones trimmed with purple and black stripes. Or decorate your own with buttons, bows, tassels, crests, fake jewels--or all of the above.