STYLE: CREATURE COMFORTS

After a decade of cocooning, we’re answering the call of the wild. But today’s seaside, park or mountain experiences are nothing like the hard-ground-and-dehydrated-food days of pre-yuppiedom. When once a towel sufficed for a day at the beach, now we bring along our creature comforts-- all of them. Trek across the sand with a chaise, matching towel, umbrella, ice chest, stereo, pool float or boogie board, sunglasses, sandals, sunscreen, cellular phone, reading material and a portable television for Sunday ball games. Even in the great outdoors, we can have it all.

*

Picnics are no less complicated than beach outings. Start with an attractive ground cloth to set the mood, contrasting cushions, a fashionable hamper or two (best if they’re insulated to keep food hot or cold), double-capacity thermoses for both soft drinks and coffee. The fashionable picnic features bright colors and fruit or vegetable motifs for plates and platters. And don’t forget the candelabrum to lend drama and romance.

*

If you can’t catch-and-release it, wear it. Trout motifs are this generation’s duck prints. Caps, shirts, ties, aprons and mitts create the appropriate outdoorsy fashion statement, while the well-dressed camp table sports trout platters, dishes, pitchers, teapots and napkin rings. Tents are light, roomy and increasingly high-tech; they’re also faster and easier to set up and dismantle than earlier models. The latest portable stoves are equipped for more than one type of fuel, handy when supplies are limited. Rough it? Never again.