New-Age Junkies
Sunday might’ve been Earth Day for the masses, but for Jorge Hansen and Suzanne Deputy-Hansen being green is a daily ritual. It has to be. As parents of the hip label Recycled Revolution, the duo comb junkyards seeking inner tubes for backpacks and license plates for purses. Out of bottle caps, seat belts, candy wrappers and other cast-off stuff they create unique belts. “All recycling is,” Hansen says, “is being resourceful and getting the most out of something so it doesn’t have to be tossed. We just happen to be doing fashion accessories.” Items range from $39 to $160.
Sew Romantic
Great pick for a hot summer: the simple, flowing peasant dress in cotton or georgette. It’s a nostalgic style that fits any body type and any budget. Crafties can stitch up a version with Simplicity pattern 8233. The company marks this year’s retro rehash and its own 65th anniversary with a ‘30s-style dress pattern at vintage prices: $1.65.
Under His Skin
Elvis, Jackie O and Magic Johnson have worn him. So have hundreds of other fans who have loved his signature colorful leathers since 1967. He’s Michael Hoban--the “Sultan of Leather”--and he takes his trunk show to his Los Angeles shop, North Beach Leather, today and Saturday . “This is my favorite collection so far,” he says. “I also made it more affordable.” With a line that has a style and color to fit almost every taste, what does he say is the must-have piece for every wardrobe? The leather jacket aside, “a pair of black leather pants. Mine, of course.”
Dry Idea
What makes the perfect work jeans? Dickies’ Cathy Kawalek and her team talked to blue collar workers nationwide to find out. After all, one-fourth of the 136 million jeans sold annually are for the job. The result: aside from adding wallet-sized pockets and a rise high enough to prevent that unsightly plumbers butt, they reinvented denim. Dickies paired with Phillips Fibers to create Steel Indigo. The new blue made of a 30% “high-tech synthetic” and 70% cotton “wicks away” wetness. “It means the guy wearing these is going to stay drier,” she says.
