Bruce Jenner isn't the only man who admits having plastic surgery

Olympic athlete and Kardashian patriarch Bruce Jenner famously had cosmetic surgery in the 1980s, wasn't happy with it and had it redone to better effect in 2009.

Now it turns out that it's not just men in the public eye who are having a little work done.

More men in general are having cosmetic procedures, surgeons report. It's partly because of the tough job market, where looking younger seems to provide an edge. And sometimes it's because a wife or girlfriend is having a little something done. Yes, more couples are nipping and tucking together,  Susan Carpenter reports in Sunday's Image section.

The effects can be subtle. My colleague John Glionna, the L.A. Times Seoul bureau chief, shocked everyone in the office awhile back when he visited the home office for the first time in, well, awhile. What we noticed was his newly blond and spiky hair, a real change from his previous auburn, combed down 'do. And he looked younger in some inexplicable way.

What we didn't know then was that he also had had his eyes "done," having the bags removed. He writes about it in this Sunday's Image section.

Tempted? Writer Alene Dawson offers some tips for how to ensure you get the results you're looking for when you have a cosmetic procedure, and don't end up with the kinds of regrets some celebrities have said they felt afterward. 

Or having to have it redone, a la Bruce Jenner.

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Photo: Bruce Jenner in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show last year. Credit: Peter Kramer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images.

A time-traveling fashionista boards the Titanic

The 100th anniversary of the Titanic's legendary sinking is fast approaching, and with it, Titanic mania. There are memorial cruises, commemorative postage stamps and, of course, the re-release of James Cameron's classic movie in 3-D.

And then there is fashion. In her illustrated young-adult novel, "The Time-Traveling Fashionista on Board the Titanic," author Bianca Turetsky imagines the gowns, coats and shoes that might have been worn that freezing April night when the world's largest (at the time) luxury liner sank to the bottom of the Atlantic and killed 1,496 of its 2,208 passengers.

In the book, a young woman tries on a sparkly pink, empire-waist gown inspired by a real turn-of-the-century designer, Lucy Duff-Gordon, who survived the Titanic disaster. It's through this gown that a woman from the present is magically transported to the past, where she was traveling as a first-class passenger with a closet full of amazing clothes.

It was only in researching her book that Turetsky learned about Duff-Gordon. Not only was she a top fashion designer of the era, selling items under her brand, Lucille, but she was one of the few survivors of the Titanic disaster who was lucky enough to find space on a lifeboat.

"She made these emotional gowns that tried to capture the spirit of the woman who was wearing them, which was what I was trying to say about vintage clothing: It carries the spirits of these women with them," Turetsky said.

The real Duff-Gordon and the fictional Louise are both in the book sporting Lucille fashions, which, in the novel's illustrations, were inspired by the "Titanic" movie, a Titanic museum exhibit and the many books Turetsky read on the subject.

Turetsky has long been attracted to the Titanic  because "it's dramatic and glamorous and sad," she said. The allure of the era's fashions were their shapes and details.

"It was the beginning of women being less confined," Turetsky said. "There were still corsets, but women had a little more freedom with their dresses."

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Photos: Illustrations from "The Time-Traveling Fashionista on Board the Titanic" by Bianca Turetsky. Credit: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

'The Hunger Games' inspires tattoos, Mockingjay pendants

At least for some people, "The Hunger Games" strikes up an appetite for stuff related to the book series and film that opened Friday. 

Writer Susan Carpenter reports in an article in Sunday's Image section that there was a wealth of "Games" related merchandise to be found, even before the movie hit the screen. Some are predicting that the tie-ins, including jewelry, nail polish, companion books and even an archer's bow like the one employed by young heroine Katniss Everdeen, will be bigger than the onslaught that came with the "Twilight Saga" series.

I can't wait to see on Monday morning which of my colleagues comes to the office with a Mockingjay pendant or tat (preferably of the temporary variety).

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Photo: A cardboard Mockingjay pin is shown on the shirt of an audience member at a screening of "The Hunger Games" in Grand Rapids, Mich. The pin is similar to the one worn by character Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, in the film. Credit: Katie Greene / Grand Rapids Press / Associated Press

Fashion focuses on water savings for World Water Day

It's World Water Day Thursday. What will you be doing to preserve and conserve this precious resource? Several fashion brands will be celebrating the 19th annual event pioneered by the United Nations with challenges designed to bring awareness to crucial water issues.

Employees at Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco are wearing the same pair of jeans five days straight without washing them as part of the company's weeklong World Water Day Challenge. To aid its employees in sticking with the program, the company has set up cleaning stations around its office for spot-treating denim.

Levi's is encouraging individuals outside the company to also go waterless by washing their jeans in cold water and only cleaning them every two weeks instead of weekly. Levi's, which began selling low-water Water<Less jeans in 2011, says that if all of its 13 million Water<Less products were washed every other week, it would save 14 years of drinking water for 60,000 people.

Whether it's forgoing laundry, a shower or tooth brushing, the outdoor action brand Teva is challenging individuals to give up water in one area of their lives for World Water Day.

“Teva has a long-standing passion for clean water, the source of both life and our recreation,” says Will Pennartz, Teva lifestyle marketing manager. “It is our responsibility to help in the protection of these playgrounds for future generations.”

In 2011, Teva launched its Pair for a Foot program, which aims to protect one linear foot of river, lake and ocean shoreline for every pair of shoes sold. Teva works in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation, Ocean Conservancy and other environmental groups to assist with water cleanup efforts.

United by Blue is even more hands-on. The entire staff of the Philadelphia-based T-shirt and bag company will be spending the day on the banks of the Delaware River for World Water Day, collecting trash. Over the course of two hours, they are likely to retrieve about 300 pounds of garbage -- from disposable diapers to soda cans and plastic bottles, the latter of which will be shipped to a California recycling facility that will turn these so-called ocean plastics into containers for Method brand cleaning products.

In almost two years, United by Blue has collected 83,000 pounds of trash from rivers, oceans and lakes as part of its business model: For every item sold, the company guarantees it will pull one pound of trash from polluted waterways.

"Waterways and oceans are 71% of the planet," said Brian Linton, founder of United by Blue, which is sold online, at Urban Outfitters and, beginning next month, at select Nordstrom's. "We live on a blue planet, so everything is united by blue. You and I and the frog and the fish and the bird and the bacteria, we all need water to survive."

Like Levi's and Teva, United by Blue is also issuing a challenge: to give up single-use plastic bags and bottles.

"One of the most common plastics we find is the plastic water bottle," said Linton. "Asking people to think more about single-use plastics is a great way for people to tackle the water pollution issue without too much effort on their part."

Fourteen billion pounds of trash end up in the world's oceans each year, Linton said. According to the United Nations, 1 in 8 people on the planet lack access to clean drinking water.

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Photos: United by Blue T-shirt, Levi's Water<Less jeans, Teva shoes. Credit: United by Blue, Levi Strauss & Co., Teva.

Luxury resale comes to TV with VH1's 'House of Consignment'

Consignment shops have long been considered the domain of the dowdy. But "House of Consignment," debuting on VH1 Wednesday, takes thrift upscale.

In a program that fuses all the glamour and fashion-forward freneticism of "The Devil Wears Prada" with the surprise and auctioneering of "Storage Wars," "House of Consignment" follows Corri McFadden, founder of eDrop-Off, a luxury consignment business in Chicago that resells gently used, high-end designer items through a dedicated portal on EBay.

Missoni, Prada, Versace -- you name it. EDrop-Off sells more than 2,000 such items each week, and "House of Consignment" shows viewers exactly how.

The fast-paced and upbeat show tags along as McFadden visits client's closets, which are packed, in many instances, with millions of dollars worth of Hermes, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta and other exclusive designer items.

"Some of these closets, the merchandise just sitting on the floor could send an entire city to college. It's crazy," said McFadden, who applauds her clients' vulnerability for allowing her into a space that is so personal and letting her guide them through the purging of rarely, if ever, worn items.

McFadden, 29, is a charismatic and high-energy businesswoman in hot pink lipstick and heels who started eDrop-Off with $37 and an idea when she was a senior in fashion school. A self-described hustler who used to sell lollipops to her classmates during elementary school, she's raked in more than $5 million in profits with eDrop-Off, which takes a 40% cut of its consignment sales. The consigner gets 60%.

"House of Consignment" is an outgrowth of an article about McFadden that ran in Chicago Social magazine in 2010. A production company approached McFadden about doing a reality show, a pilot was shot and VH1 bit.

"Our audience is women in their late 20s. They love the idea of women following their passion and designing a career for themselves," said Jeff Olde, head of programming for the cable television network, which has had a lot of success lately with "Single Ladies" and other shows about "very strong, unapologetic and wholly unique women making their mark in the world. Corri is the embodiment of that."

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Photo: EDrop-Off founder Corri McFadden and her staff. Credit: VH1

Target says it will stop selling sandblasted denim by year's end [Updated]

Most people who wear distressed denim didn't do the distressing themselves. They bought it that way off the shelf. It's an effect often created with sandblasting, a technique that blasts crystalline silica onto blue jeans using high-pressure machines.

Cool as that makes the blue jeans look, it has decidedly negative consequences for the garment workers who make them. Breathing the air in close proximity to sandblasting can cause the incurable lung disease silicosis, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign, a Netherlands-based advocacy group dedicated to improving working conditions in the global garment industry.

Even with strict safety standards and protective gear, garment workers are still at risk from sandblasting, according to Patty Reber, director of raw materials development for product design and development with Minneapolis-based Target Corp.

On Tuesday, Target announced that by late 2012 it would stop carrying any products that have been sandblasted during the manufacturing process. Target, which operates 1,762 stores, has teamed with the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to investigate responsible sourcing solutions. [Updated Feb. 29, 2012, 7:51 a.m.: The original version of this post said Target and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition were investigating sandblasting alternatives. The two organizations have partnered to identify sustainable and responsible sourcing solutions, generally, but not specific to sandblasting.]

Target's announcement follows Levi Strauss & Co. of San Francisco and Swedish-based retailer H&M which, in September 2010, collaborated to implement a global ban on sandblasting in all of their future product lines. The International Textile Garment and Leather Worker's Federation found that 7,000 garment workers in Turkey had been exposed to crystalline silica and 40 of them died between 2005 and 2009; the Turkish government banned the use of crystalline silica in 2009.

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Photo: Distressed denim blue jeans. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Pirelli puts a new spin on rubber with PZero motorcycle boots

Italian tire maker Pirelli is putting a different kind of rubber to the road with a new biker boot from its 10-year-old fashion brand, PZero.

Inspired by the company's performance tires and designed in collaboration with high-end shoe designer Diego Dolcini, the reimagined classic motorcycle boot contrasts matte and shiny surfaces into a slender, high-heeled slip-on.

Available in black, burgundy, blue, green or white, the boot's sole and heel are both rubber, as are the buckles. The borders and straps are patent leather. The classic Pirelli logo appears in relief on the ankle.

The biker boot is merely the latest fashion offering from Pirelli, which, in 2002, began capitalizing on the brand's sex appeal with its PZero sub brand, making raincoats, boat shoes, jackets, T-shirts and bags.

While the new PZero biker boot represents "extreme femininity for the concrete jungle," according to PZero news materials, they probably shouldn't be worn on an actual motorcycle. They are mostly made of rubber, after all, and could easily melt on a hot exhaust pipe.

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Photo: Pirelli PZero biker boots. Credit: Pirelli PZero

 

With ThredUp, recycle kids' clothes by leaving them on the porch

A new service launching Wednesday through the online swapping site ThredUp makes recycling kids' clothes as easy as leaving them on your doorstep. Through ThredUp's new concierge program, customers go online to request a free, prepaid, ready-to-ship recycling bag, which they fill with outgrown clothing and leave outside for pick-up by UPS or the U.S. Postal Service.

A form of consignment, clothes that are sent through the ThredUp concierge are inspected, sorted and recycled for resale through ThredUP's secondhand marketplace online. While the amounts paid to the sender vary by item type, brand, size and season, ThredUp Chief Executive James Reinhart says senders can earn as much as $5 per item. Payments are processed through PayPal.

Only kids clothes and shoes are accepted, and the items cannot be stained, ripped, faded or pilled. Anything that can't be resold is donated to Goodwill rather than returned. Even the plastic bags used for shipping are recycled, Reinhart said. Each bag can hold about 30 pounds.

A six-week pilot of the concierge service with ThredU users recycled almost 40,000 items, two-thirds of which were in good enough condition to resell. With its public launch, ThredUp anticipates recycling more than 10,000 clothing items per day.

ThredUp launched in April 2010 as a site for moms to swap children's things with other moms. It now has more than 250,000 members who have exchanged 2 million items.

"We've had a lot of success with our peer-to-peer business, but we kept hearing from lots of folks who love the idea of being able to recycle and get new stuff, but they wanted an easier way to do it where we did more of the work," Reinhart said.

Throughout the U.S., almost 13 million tons of textile waste are generated annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Of that, just 15% is recovered for reuse or recycling.

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Photo: Mother Meg Reinhart and daughter Evelyn with the ThredUp concierge bag. Credit: ThredUp.com

 

Bench & Loom trades in classic masculinity [Updated]

Jared and Brooke Zaugg have a deep appreciation for the classics. It's an aesthetic the San Francisco-based couple honed in the years they ran the Legend of the Motorcycle, an annual showcase of exotic, two-wheeled machines that, according to the Zauggs, "have been giving men instant sex appeal since 1869." Now the husband-and-wife pair are bringing their same taste for history to a new online men's clothier, Bench & Loom, launched Thursday. [Updated Nov. 11, 2011, 11:45 a.m.: The original version of this post said the company's name was Builtwell. The company has since changed its name to Bench & Loom, citing unexpected confusion regarding the company's name.]

Featuring storied fashions from the past that have been in production for decades, the site sells handmade leather jackets from the 179-year-old French tannery, Chapal, and quadruple-ply worsted wool sweaters from the almost century-old Portland atelier, Dehen.

The Dehner strap tank boots the site sells are the same military design General George S. Patton ordered for his tank operators during World War II. The Junghans Max Bill Chronoscope Automatic timepiece dates back to the Bauhaus era. The Levi's denim pants and peacoat are classic designs produced in modern times through the San Francisco manufacturer's vintage division.

 

"All the clothes have details or nuances that make them special -- the way they clasp, the special buttons. They find a way to add flair or uniqueness to something that would ordinarily be standard," Brooke Zaugg said.

Prices on the site are, likewise, exotic, ranging from $80 to $800 for most items, $1,500 to $3,800 for select luxury pieces and as high as $250,000 for the Brough Superior motorcycle replica sold in Bench & Loom's "specialty shop." While every product is priced as one would expect for such longstanding craftsmanship, the goal, said Jared Zaugg, is to expand the site with more $200 to $300 items.

The details of the craftsmanship, and how each item came to be, are all part of Bench & Loom, which seeks to tell the stories behind the fashions that were each selected for authenticity and purpose. The back stories of individual manufacturers are told on the site's Livewell blog and in its workshop section.

"We wanted to create a site and design it in a way that appeals to men and the way they shop," Brooke Zaugg said. "It's very different from a website for women. It's curated, simple."

And it's also a place for customers to engage with the classics and be a part of the Bench & Loom story. Shoppers can participate in the site's Phoenix Project -- an area that highlights a classic film and lets visitors vote on what clothing item they'd most like to see revived. The James Dean film "Giant" is the currently selected feature. Bench & Loom is asking visitors to choose the jacket they'd most like to see reproduced.

"People can vote, and the jacket that's most wanted is the one we'll manufacture," Brooke Zaugg said.  

The site is also highlighting "Men of Character," who, for its opening month, is Ernest Hemingway. "He had a great style, but he lived purposefully and accomplished great things that real men would aspire to," Brooke Zaugg said.

The character section features quotes, photos, even a video clip of the author -- and a couple of the items he may have used to fly fish in Idaho or to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, including a 100% wool gentleman's sporting coat and a traditional bota bag. 

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Photos (from top):  2011 Brough Superior Pendine ($250,000), Gilded Age double-breasted cardigan ($398), Cherchbi Squires Holdall ($1,155), Junghans Max Bill Chronoscope Automatic ($2,250), Dehner Strap Tank Boots ($425). Credit: Bench & Loom

Sleevecandy's 'accidentally ironic' thrift-store T-shirts

The way Reed Hushka sees it, the biggest problem with thrift shops isn't the lack of cool clothes but the hit-or-miss selection and sizes at individual stores. "I live in Chicago," Hushka said, "but my perfect T-shirt might be sitting in Austin, Texas."

And so a business was born. Calling them "accidentally ironic" and "ridiculously unique," Hushka is now exploiting his taste for questionably themed, collector and vintage T-shirts with the online business, Sleevecandy.com, which Hushka founded earlier this year in Evanston, Ill., with three grad-school classmates from Northwestern University. Whether the shirts were made by a corporation or a community group, Sleevecandy sells all the ridiculously awesome T-shirts its shoppers are able to find at Salvation Army stores in Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit, where 30% of each T-shirt's sale price is donated back to the national charity.

Just half a percent of all the T-shirts sold by the Salvation Army are ridiculous or interesting enough for Sleevecandy, the 28-year-old Hushka said. And not all of them are fit to be resold. To make sure they're clean and in good condition, the shirts are washed at a Chicago warehouse and inspected for stains and holes before being photographed, tagged with search words and uploaded to the website, where they're sold for $16 to $52 a pop. The upper end of the price range, Hushka said, are usually of an '80s vintage and reference a major force in pop culture, such as Coca-Cola's switch to a new formula.

The site has about 2,200 T-shirts for sale at any given time. Some go faster than others. An "Exxon Mobil Helping Hands" shirt sold within a few days. A "Striving for the Best -- Summer Camp 1996" "has been on the site forever," Hushka said.

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Photos: T-shirts found at Salvation Army and resold on Sleevecandy.com. Credit: Sleevecandy.com