Jewel of a Find
Anne Bancroft found a cache of quasi-crown jewels when she was in London filming a British TV series. Strolling down Fulham Road she came across Butler & Wilson, one of Princess Di’s favorite stores for faux jewelry (which she mixes with the real thing). Bancroft liked what she saw so much that she picked out all her jewelry for the TV show then and there. A few days later, several members of Frank Sinatra’s entourage stopped in while ol’ Blue Eyes was in town and wanted to buy a dozen or so diamante “London” pins. When the store ran out, the clerks searched for some extras in Butler & Wilson’s L.A. outlet, but finally found them in Glasgow, Scotland.
HAT ATTACK: Dyan Cannon’s favorite summer hat goes on display this Sunday when the designer, Lori Henle, opens her millinery shop at 1354 W. Washington Blvd., Venice. Cannon ordered 12 copies of the same style--big rolled brim and a bubble crown--in every color, type of straw and featuring a variety of trims, including a man’s tie.
WEARING RED: Cinnamon-colored silk is hot right now with the entertainment set. At the Traffic store in Beverly Center, singer Donna Summer was seen adding a men’s washed silk shirt in burnished mahogany to her wardrobe, while Axl Rose of the heavy-metal group, Guns N’ Roses, bagged a lightweight rust silk jacket.
3-D BRIEFS: Nicholas Graham, the irreverent San Francisco-based designer of novelty men’s lounge wear and underwear, recently introduced Undo-Vision, a collection of 3-D printed underwear carrying the Joe Boxer label. If nothing else, you’ll know it by the 3-D glasses, Undo-Visors, included in the package.
ALL TIED UP: If you are one of the 10% of men who don’t know how to tie a tie and rely on clip-ons, there’s a new tie on the market for you. The EasyTie by Wemco ($15 to $18.50) is a pre-knotted tie that fastens like a pretied bow tie with fasteners at the back. The knot slides to adjust for different neck sizes and to accommodate that two-inch droop that proclaims, “what a day I had today.”
HAPPY FEET: The concept “looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker” by Easy Spirit shoes, is soon to face off with Nike. The Maine-based Nike is launching its own version of user-friendly shoes, the Tensile Air pump, through its Cole-Haan shoe division. Men’s and women’s styles, featuring the infamous inflatable cushioning sole found in Nike’s athletic shoes and ranging in price from $210 to $265, will be available at Cole-Haan’s soon-to-open Rodeo Drive Boutique.
DISTRESSED TO THE MAX: The No. 1 selling Western-style hat for the Charlie 1 Horse Hat Co. is the “Cavalry.” It’s an 1800s government issue-style hat that comes with optional sweat stains, trail dust and bullet hole through the crown for the truly distressed look. The hat has a suggested retail of $170 and can be found in black, tan and gray at Howard & Phils in Santa Monica and Thieves Market stores citywide. For an extra $10 you can add the 7th Cavalry insignia.
COLOR IT BINGO: Bingo chic has a stranglehold on the city with avid players making their own outfits to match the color of their “dabber” (the special pen used by Bingo players). Picture a bingo hall where all of the women are dressed in blinding pink and green shorts to match pink and green dabbers. The accessory of choice for these fashion-obsessed is a rhinestone pin, which spells out B-I-N-G-O.
