THE WORD ON WHAT’S HIP AND WHAT’S HYPE

Waist Away

Cowgirls and those who want the look get it by cinching an oversized sweater or jacket with a Western-styled belt. And well-heeled cowgirls are doing it with sterling silver belt buckles crafted by New Mexico-artist Douglas Magnus ($479-$1,000 at Out of Santa Fe in Newport Beach). Magnus’ Milestone buckles are cast in luffa stone molds that produce just one buckle each. This makes the buckles unique, so each is numbered. They do, however, share the artist’s signature and a heart-line stamp.

Small Wonder

Now there are colorful clothes to brighten the world of tiny, premature babies. Teeny Tees are the first thing a preemie can wear, says Melinda Wilson, who gave up neonatal nursing to run the Preemie Store and More in Fountain Valley. Nurses must monitor skin color, so babies can’t be completely covered, but a a short-sleeved Tee ($4.50) helps babies keep warm. And the shirts’ pastel or bright colors with prints of airplanes, trucks, cars, bunnies and kittens give parents a way to pamper babies still living in incubators. T-shirts are made of a cotton-polyester blend that is softer than 100% cotton, Wilson says.

Freis Frame

She’s not a rock star, but she’s going on a world tour, and she’ll appear here for the first time. She’s Diane Freis, the designer known for one-size-fits-all feminine dressing, and she making one of her rare trips away from her Hong Kong headquarters. Her collectors will gather at Neiman Marcus in Fashion Island Newport Beach Sept. 18. to greet Freis, who will show her ’92 fall and holiday collections.

Flashback

You didn’t hold on to your patches that proclaimed “Love,” “Soul” and “Groovy”? Too bad. Because now there’s a new generation of the peace-and-love posse who are crazy about iron-on patches of the past. “It’s this retro love thing that ravers are all into,” says Kyrie Pagalidis , owner of Hard Times in Orange who has sold more than six dozen sets this summer. The patches ($8) are by San Francisco-based Bust and Move Adventures, and ravers apply them to their over-sized duds. But it’s techno they’re listening to, not Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow.”