Five Ways to Watch the Time
DEAR HOT SHOPPERS: If you’ve had a hard time finding your way around the dial of a number-free, pop-art Swatch watch, wait till you catch the latest in timepiece anarchy from TimeTables.
Created by Drenttel Doyle Partners, the innovative New York design firm best known for the graphic design of Spy magazine, the faces on these insidious tickers have ditched the familiar 1-through-12 dials. In their place, the watches have dials from other familiar devices: a fuel gauge (pictured), a rotary-dial telephone, an oven timer and the shutter-speed dial from a 35-millimeter camera.
The best-selling watch in the five-style line (sold exclusively in New York for the last year and recently introduced throughout the country) is called “Rush Hours,” which features the numbers and colored symbols of the New York City subway system’s IRT line.
“They’re kind of a wink at the idea of telling time,” explains Drenttel Doyle Partners President William Drenttel. “ ‘Round the clock delight is what we’re after . . . not too serious, not too slick and not too expensive,” adds creative director Stephen Doyle. “These watches are just for fun. When people put ‘em on, they smile.”
TimeTables watches sell for $85 at By Design in the Beverly Center. They’re also available at museum gift shops and design boutiques nationwide.
DEAR HOT: I hate panty hose, one of the necessary evils of modern work life. Is there anything out there that doesn’t make you feel as if you’re wearing Baggies on your legs?
DEAR HOT SHOPPER: The problem with most panty hose is that they are still in the polyester-leisure-suit phase of development. By that we mean that they are made of nylon, a durable but uncomfortable synthetic fiber, especially when smashed against the skin like sausage casings for hours at a time.
If you want to wear panty hose, the only improvement we know of is Calvin Klein Hosiery’s line called Real Silk, made of silk and just enough Lycra so the panty hose don’t bag around your knees. They’re available at the I. Magnin at 3050 Wilshire Blvd. for $18 a pair--high for nylon panty hose but extremely reasonable for the silk variety, which we’ve seen elsewhere at considerably higher prices. We can also suggest silk stockings with a garter belt, but as far as we’re concerned, comfort is the least critical factor in this arena.
DEAR HOT: I’m 14 years old and spend a lot of time at the mall with my friends. Sometimes we shop, sometimes we see a movie, and sometimes we just hang out and eat. But I don’t understand why the store people treat us rudely. They watch us like hawks, and when we want to buy something they act as if they’re not even interested in helping us. We may not have a lot of money to spend, but so what? Why do we have to be treated so badly?
DEAR HOT SHOPPER: Sorry that you’ve gotten such a raw deal at the mall, but some of your peers have been getting a bad rap lately for such things as shoplifting, traveling in unruly packs and generally obnoxious behavior. Even though you have this nasty image problem working against you, it’s not impossible to turn things around. When you go into a store with your friends, act like adults, not like kids on spring break. Don’t run around and giggle loudly, ripping things off the racks and leaving dressing rooms in shambles.
If you need help from a salesperson, ask politely, and when you’re helped, remember to say, “Thank you.” No store likes rude shoppers, no matter what age they are. And when you’re all grown up with a shiny new credit card of your own, you’ll be way ahead of those who never learned to shop with class.
