A Little Black Magic Doesn’t Hurt

DEAR HOT: I have recently escaped Washington, the land of gray suits, strings of pearls, sensible shoes and grown women named Muffy. I find myself in a bit of a culture shock, albeit a welcome one. The L.A. crowd I hang out with now is vastly different from the one I associated with in D.C., obviously. These people go to see performance artists who do weird things with canned vegetables. They frequent crowded coffee houses till 4 a.m. and watch foreign films with no subtitles.

I love my new friends, but I’ve also noticed that they wear almost nothing but black. I’ve wanted to ask them why, but figured they’ll think I’m incredibly brainless. While I like the look, I’m not sure it’s for me. I’m not sure that I want to alter my wardrobe , but I also don’t want to stand out looking like a dweeb. And I didn’t even know that at my age I’d still have to deal with peer pressure.

--GEEK OF THE WEEK

MISS STEIN SUGGESTS: You can hardly hang out with a crowd like that in an Adolfo suit and not be mistaken for a Tipper Gore wanna-be. But face it, peer pressure never goes away. If your new friends wear nothing but black and you want to fit in, then the answer is . . . wear black! There are many reasons why black works, especially for this crowd: It almost never shows dirt, you don’t have to worry about matching patterns and it makes pale, pasty skin look even paler and pastier. Try it for a month or so and watch how much more readily you are accepted into your new clique of friends. Why, they’ll probably even ask you to participate in their next nihilistic poetry reading.

MISS KRIER BEGS TO DIFFER: The question is this: Do you want to look like your life is a party, a fiesta filled with fun and joy and delight? Or would you rather go around wearing mortician’s clothes just because they happen to be fashionable?

The colors you surround yourself with both reflect your inner state and influence it. Thus, my preference is for almost any color except black.

Of course, it’s up to you to decide what’s right for you, but if it were me, I’d ditch the Munsters look and get on with the party. If you want to be up-to-the-minute fashionably correct, switch to an all-white wardrobe, which the usually black-garbed Miss Stein neglected to tell you is the new, chic neutral anyway, according to many fashion authorities. As for peer pressure, it can go away. All it takes is moderately enlightened friends who appreciate you no matter what color your wardrobe, skin or attitude.

DEAR HOT: It’s hot. I want to look cool. But I don’t want to invest large bucks for a Madonna/I Dream of Jeannie hairpiece; in other words, something that’s hip today, gone tomorrow. I don’t mind her retro-sitcom look, or even the trashy stuff, but anything the material girl wears gets so popular it’s in and out of style in less than a year.

--MADONNA NADA

DEAR NADA: There’s one fun, cheap, new accessory that doesn’t have the stam of Madonna-style that you might want to try: great, little, nerdy-looking sunglasses. Some of the best-priced ones on the market are from a new MTV/Riviera line. Don’t worry, the MTV logo’s safely stuck on the inside of these glasses (those pictured here sell for $18 and are available at The Broadway). Much of the MTV collection consists of small, dark, wire-rimmed or faux tortoise shell glasses. Back in the ‘60s, these frames were favored by hippies. Today, the style is showing up on young urbanites such as Arsenio Hall, who sometimes wears a similar version on his talk show.