The Down Sides of Wearing a Ball Cap

Even though baseball season won’t start until well after the Super Bowl clock has died, ball caps remain a hot casual accessory. Whether they have the logo of a team or a fashion designer and are worn with jeans, sweats or a coordinating glittery letterman’s jacket, they look great. Except . . .

Women are doing strange things with their cap’s bill, including tilting it off to the side.

“Most women wear the bill in front, and now it’s popular to wear them in the back,” says Tiffany Rawlings of Electric Chair in Huntington Beach. “Wearing them off the side may be an individual preference, but it doesn’t look very good.”

You may want to stick with the bill facing forward or back. If you wear it to the back, like a catcher, don’t use an adjustable snap cap. The plastic strips will be prominent and will leave an unattractive indentation in your forehead. Instead, go for a sized cap.

Slip-sliding away: About a decade ago, the big material for wallets, purses and belts was eel skin, a smooth, slick surface that was an inexpensive alternative to supple leathers. But pull out your eel-skin wallet at a chic gathering now, and you’ll likely get some stares.

“Eel skin is definitely out. It was a novelty for a while; now it’s just looked at as cheap,” says clothing consultant Alex Fryer of Costa Mesa. “It was a real ‘80s look.”

Even so, if you want to hold onto your slippery wallet or belt, do so. Eel isn’t enough of a faux pas to make you toss a perfectly good wallet. But if you are shopping for a new leather accessory, look for the alligator-print cowhide, a hot pattern for the new year.

Leather weather: With winter here, everyone seems to be pulling out their leather jackets, pants, skirts and accessories, creating an unusual odor in many offices and public places. Those who sit next to leather wearers often report that a rank, powerful smell is emanating from otherwise attractive cowhide clothing.

“It’s a problem that we’re seeing a lot of now. It’s caused in part by our very wet spring,” says Tom Graffio of Factotum Shoe & Luggage Repair in Laguna Beach. “People put their damp jackets or skirts in the closet in April, and now they’ve got mildew.”

Your reeking leathers have to be cleaned with a mildewcide before they’re able to go out in public.

And now’s the time to get them ready for the rains. Have a protectant applied to the surface and do what you can to keep the raindrops off.