FASHION : Little Items Can Have a Big Impact on Style : Selecting the right accessories--from wallets to jewelry and scarves--is a sure way to update your image.
If you want to know what’s hot and what’s not when it comes to accessories, you can wander around department stores, visit specialty shops or hang out at a writers conference for a week. I did all three and came to the conclusion that, as usual, I am riding the caboose on the fashion train.
At the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, I was conspicuous with my bulging fanny pack stuffed with wallet, note pad, pen, hotel key, business cards, microcassette recorder and extra batteries. Everyone else had backpacks, tote bags or wallets on a string. Pam Tumey, manager of Accessory Lady at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, confirmed my suspicions.
“Wallets on a string have taken over the fanny pack. We sell them by the trillions,” she says. “When we first got them they were just itty-bitty, but now--while they’re still smaller than a handbag--they’re bigger than they were and can carry a lipstick and other things.”
The wallets on a string designed to hold a cellular phone are so popular that Tumey has to keep restocking them. But for people determined to cart around everything but their portable shower, large tote bags are in good supply. You can find them in straw, canvas and even gold lame fabrics. Colors are bright, patterns bold.
On another note, Tumey says that shoulder-duster earrings have lost favor--shoulder duster meaning earrings so long they touch your shoulder.
“Now it’s more the romantic, artsy-looking earrings, small with a neat necklace to match,” she says, tactfully ignoring my dangling earrings swinging in the breeze. “Romance is in because of movies like ‘Age of Innocence.’ Period movies like that influence people. We have all the romantic [styles of] jewelry right now.”
Hair fashions also reflect the romantic mood these days. Tumey points out that “girls are wearing their hair longer--that ‘60s thing where they’re parting it in the center and pulling it back with barrettes.”
During my shopping foray, I saw all kinds of vests, using materials from brocade to quilted denim. Most department stores and specialty shops carry them in a wide range of prices. Target stores have some spiffy-looking brocade styles at the low end of the price scale.
If vests are considered accessories, I wondered what else falls into that category? “Accessories go head to toe, from shoe clips to pantyhose all the way to hats and belts,” Tumey says.
An occasional emcee at fashion shows around the county, she conducted one for the Christian Women’s Club in Camarillo that focused on accessories. Members brought their own clothes to model, and Tumey demonstrated ways to accessorize the clothes to create a newer or dressier look for evening.
Scarves, for example, can dramatically change the look of an outfit, especially if you know what to do with one. Because I usually opt for the Girl Scout look--triangle scarf over the shoulders with a poor excuse for a knot--I parted with $2 for a booklet put out by Accessory Lady titled “Ways To Wear Scarves.”
Complete with illustrations, it shows you how to maneuver squares and oblongs into elegant, swashbuckling styles. With scarf clips, you don’t even have to be adept at knot tying.
It seems angels, moons and stars are everywhere these days. At the writers conference, people wore angels on their ear lobes, shirt collars and jacket lapels. Other tidbits: Sterling silver jewelry is still very hot. Tumey attributes that trend, as well as the studded cowboy-style shirts, to the Western influence.
The writers conference, a microcosm of society with its fashion trends or anti-trends, gave me a great opportunity to polish off another column and reconnect with my right brain. As for fashion smarts, I’m thinking of moonlighting at Accessory Lady to soak up some style. Got to get off this caboose before someone catches on.
