Just for Fun : Accessories Are Whimsical, Chic and Accessible

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That old saying couldn’t be more true than with some of L.A.’s designers, who are making accessories that look like sight gags: brooches from bottle caps, buttons to wear in your hair, Chinese-food carryout containers converted to purses and sunglasses with surfboards gliding across the frame. They’re all part of a campaign to get a bit of whimsy into every wardrobe.

Thank jewelry designers, such as Remi Rubel, who take decoupage images and frame them in flattened bottle caps or link bottle caps together to form necklaces, pins and earrings. They are all for sale at New Stone Age, a shop in Los Angeles.

And then there is Emma Dahan, who makes buttons to wear as ponytail clips; Fred Segal sells them.

But not everybody likes buttons, some people want bows. For them, there are a number of choices to tack onto hatbands, waist bands, T-shirts or shoes. One brand, Shoe Beaus, sells at Nordstrom, selected stores, for $10 to $18.

Then there are do-it-yourself bows to make at home from tissue paper or tinfoil torn into rectangles, then twisted around a ponytail or a long braid.

But that isn’t all of the season’s zaniness. There are handbags that look like Chinese-style takeout cartons. Industrial Revolution in Los Angeles sells them for a comparative pittance--$3.50.

And there are even wet suit purses, from Body Glove, available at Saks. And lunch-box purses, from a hardware store, no less--Koontz Hardware in Los Angeles--for $22.

For a pricier perk, $250 to be exact, Deanna Hamro makes a silk evening bag that blooms with big, purple- and-green flowers, for Bullocks Wilshire.

Music lovers can relate to the hand-painted, sometimes with polka dots, wooden bangles by Erwin Pearl, $50, that clack and clank when worn in pairs. They’re available at Neiman-Marcus.

And in an effort to carry the fun right down to the feet, L.A. Gear has introduced the Santa Fe high-top sneaker. It’s all fringed around the ankle, the way Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring (of “Howdy Doody” fame) would want it. Santa Fes sell for $47 at Sneakerland in Woodland Hills.

But the “California girls” scarf is the sort of rib-tickler to send to the gang back home. It’s fun art; blondes with scooped-up hair and sunglasses, and a kiss in each of the corners--$85 at Chameleon in Los Angeles.

Shades have always been fun; now they have some culture too. The shop at the Museum of Contemporary Art is selling sunglasses, $25, with a miniature surfer and miniature windsurfer. It’s a small world.