Already, the city of West Hollywood has banned the sale of dogs and cats, as well as the declawing of cuddly felines. Now the city inside the city of L.A. is home to a new campaign that would ban the sale of fur.

"West Hollywood is so progressive, we knew this was a great city to take the reins and make this a cruelty-free zone in terms of banning fur," said Shannon Keith, campaign organizer for  Fur Free West Hollywood.  

The campaign kicks off at noon Jan. 29 with a rally at Matthew Shepard Human Rights Triangle Park. West Hollywood City Council candidate John D'Amico will issue the event's rallying cry. D'Amico, who has embraced the fur ban as part of his campaign, is running for one of three open seats on the West Hollywood City Council in a March 8 election.

"Critical thinking and honest-to-goodness good ideas make the world a better place," D'Amico said. "As far as my participation and being associated with Fur Free West Hollywood, I am an animal welfare advocate. Fur Free West Hollywood is about thinking of creative and exciting new ways to be in the world -- to really expand how it is we exist and the kinds of people we can be when we think carefully about the world we’re living in."

Campaign organizers are currently compiling a list of stores that sell fur within its boundaries. A phone call to WeHo fur seller Maxfield was not returned in time for this post.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Fur Free West Hollywood

After a couple of recession-inspired years that saw brides-to-be paring back, not only on their "I Do" arrangements but with gowns that were more streamlined than princess-like, glamour is back in bridal.

And with it, the tiara.

"Tiaras are a good way to finish your overall wedding-day look, and to do something different and express your personal style," said Ellen Heisler, senior associate fashion editor for Brides magazine in New York, which has flagged tiaras as a trend.

"They don't have the stigma they used to have of being a little too proper or serious," she added.

Just as tiaras are making a comeback in fashion, with Natalie Portman and other stars wearing them on the red carpet, they are beginning to show up in bridal, which is increasingly influenced by celebrity attire. The upcoming nuptials of Kate Middleton and Prince William of Wales is likely to add to the trend.

In bridal, Heisler said, tiaras falls in two camps. There's "the simple, more delicate smaller piece that is tucked into the hair and looks really elegant and beautiful and effortless," said Heisler, referencing the San Francisco line Haute Bride.

The other side is more elaborate -- "the cool girl tiara," as she calls it, such as those from Erin Cole Design in Costa Mesa. "They're a little bit bolder, heavily encrusted with little crystals, or they have these chunkier crystals in them that feel different and fresh. They're not fussy or too stiff. They're fun and playful."

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo credits: Haute Bride, Erin Cole Design

There are no parabens, petrolatums or phthalates. No sulfates or synthetic colors. 

So it's somewhat of a surprise that natural personal care products, which trumpet the ingredients they don't include far more than the ingredients that they do, often cost a lot more than traditional ones.

The new In-Kind line is designed to change that perception. Developed by  national food and drug retailer Safeway, In-Kind recently introduced 30 products that use natural ingredients, such as grapefruit and mint extracts and coconut and rosemary oils.

Items range from body washes and shampoos to facial cleansers and soaps. They cost $3.99 to $12.99, which is at least 20% less expensive than comparable brands, said Joe Ennen, Safeway's senior vice president of consumer brands.

The goal, Ennen said, was to take an aspirational product category and make it more affordable -- "to deliver department-store quality at grocery-store prices."

Available at Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Dominick's and other stores in the Safeway chain, each product is 90%-95% natural, meaning it doesn't contain petrochemicals, pesticides and other ingredients that may irritate skin or damage the environment.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: In-Kind natural personal care products. Credit: Safeway

Faster fashion and selling styles directly through Facebook top the list of 2011 fashion trends, according to "Life and Style: Things to Watch for 2011," a new trend-spotting report from New York market research firm JWT.

Shoppers can expect even shorter lag times between runway and retail in the coming year, said Ann Mack, director of trend-spotting for JWT, a global outfit that counts Ford Motor Co., Nokia and Microsoft among its clients.

"We live in a world of instant gratification," Mack said. "People are living life in real time, and they want things as soon as they see them."

It follows, then, that another major trend is selling directly to consumers through Facebook, or f-commerce, as it's being referred to. Victoria's Secret already sells directly through the hugely popular social-networking site, and JCPenney announced last week it would follow suit.

"We're expecting f-commerce to take off in the next year, allowing Facebook visitors to shop without leaving the site, and this will enable brands to add a social influence to the transaction and bring a concrete return on investment to social media," Mack said.

High-end temporary tattoos, such as the ones offered by House of Deréon, will become one of the hot accessories on the runway and the beauty aisle, giving "a non-commitment spin to an otherwise permanent choice," Mack said.

And nail polish will ascend to an "it" accessory, she said. Look for unusual takes, such as leather nails, intentional chipping and color matching to items not normally associated with fashion, including cars.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Beyoncé. Credit: House of Deréon

Between the helmet and gloves, jacket and pants, the boots, as well as the actual motorcycle, riding can get expensive. Proper gear alone can run upward of $1,000.

But a new consignment shop in Long Beach hopes to change that. Yellow Devil Gear Exchange, opening Friday, sells new and slightly worn gear for less than half of what it would cost at regular retail.

"I'm trying to price it so it's a really good deal, especially for people who can't afford to buy new," said Yellow Devil founder Jessica Prokup. "I'm trying to make really good gear accessible."

Yellow Devil sells new and used jackets, pants and boots from major brands such as Harley-Davidson and Vanson. Women's jackets are priced $55-$99 used, $150-$240 new. Men's jackets are $99-$189 used, $125-$300 new. Boots are $25-$40 used, $85-$200 new.

Prokup also sells helmets for $65-$235, but they are all new -- sourced either from salesman samples or overstock from stores. Prokup, who is also a motorcycle safety instructor, wants to be sure the helmets she sells have not been dropped or damaged in any way and are still effective.

Sourcing most of her materials from riders, Prokup consigns items for 90 days. Together, they determine a price. If the item sells, Prokup takes 40%. If the item doesn't, it's returned to the owner.

A personable 35-year-old with an easy smile and warm demeanor, Prokup has been a motorcyclist for 10 years and has been involved with the industry just as long. Originally from the East Coast, she was a motorcycle magazine editor, then director of emerging market communications for the Motorcycle Industry Council in nearby Irvine before deciding to strike out on her own.

On Tuesday, Yellow Devil Gear Exchange was still a work in progress. The mannequins in its front plate-glass window were unclothed. The blue leather couch in its main room was stacked with jackets. And the room of casual and off-road wear was cluttered with boxes of motocross boots.

Prokup was moving hangers of jackets from one rack to another in front of a striking piece of wall art featuring a vintage race bike canted over on a track, putting the finishing touches on a store she is opening Friday -- the same day the International Motorcycle Show kicks off in Long Beach.

The seed for Yellow Devil was planted at an International Motorcycle Show two years ago, when Prokup, who was working for the Motorcycle Industry Council at the time, was in charge of the Women's Studio -- an area that allowed women to try on gear and sit on bikes in front of full-length mirrors.

"That's what made me want to do a store," she said. Originally, her idea was something upscale and in L.A. But "with the economy, that was totally not a reality anymore, if it ever was," she said.

Consignment made a lot more sense.

"There are a lot of kids riding around Long Beach in shorts and T-shirts and sneakers. I don't know if they're choosing not to wear gear or if they spent all their money on their bikes, but if they come in here and see this nice gear that's more affordable, maybe I can convince them to wear it," said Prokup, a safety advocate who named the shop for her twin loves -- motorcycling and Long Beach.

The vintage bike in her store logo was called the Cyclone, as was a vintage roller coaster that helped put the South Bay city on the map. The bike's nickname was the Yellow Devil. It was a serendipitous inspiration for this innovative and timely shop.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Jessica Prokup, owner of Yellow Devil Gear Exchange in Long Beach. Credit: Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times

They cut and color, wash and rinse -- and send hundreds of gallons of soapy water down the drain each day. Now the  270 students at the new Paul Mitchell the School in Costa Mesa send the wastewater generated from their classwork to a filtration system that purifies 500 gallons of spent water daily and reuses it to flush the school's toilets. 

"We have all sorts of green initiatives in place, but this is the biggest and coolest thing we're doing," said Cynthia Butler, director of the 14,700-square-foot campus that opened last month in the SoCo Shopping Center.

In addition to repurposing the wastewater from its wash sinks and laundry room with a gray water recycling system, Butler said the new school runs a recycling program that benefits a reforestry campaign and also uses less energy-intensive LED lighting to reduce CO2 emissions.

Designed by Gray Water Recycling Systems in Redondo Beach, the school's gray water system is the first to be used at a Paul Mitchell school. It is designed to divert 400,000 gallons of wastewater each year from the sewer, and, as a result, to reduce the need to import fresh water for toilet flushing.

Once the city of Costa Mesa approves the quality of its treated gray water, the school hopes to use its excess gray water to irrigate the shopping center grounds.

According to Buzz Boettcher, who designed the gray water system, the wastewater from the school's wash sinks and laundry room is filtered with silica, anthracite coal and activated carbon. It is then disinfected with UV light and a copper ionization process that kills algae and bacteria without the use of chemicals. The hair products used at the school, Butler says, are all biodegradable.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Buyers of the 2012 Ford Focus will receive two pairs of blue jeans in the deal. The jeans just won't be wearable. They'll be recycled and shredded into the car's carpet backing and sound-absorption materials, saving 4 pounds of virgin cotton with each vehicle.

"The good news is these jeans didn't end up in a landfill, nor did we use the water, fertilizer and land to grow [new] cotton," said Carrie Majeske, product sustainability manager for Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich.

While the denim is post-industrial, rather than post-consumer, waste, i.e. it was never sold in stores or worn, it is being repurposed rather than scrapped. Specific denim manufacturers were not disclosed.

Already, Ford incorporates recycled soda bottles and milk jugs into plastics used in its cars, as well as post-consumer recycled carpeting that is turned into automotive parts.

"We’re looking to use things that would otherwise be wasted," Majeske said. "One of our key goals is to use more recycled or renewable materials without compromising performance or durability."

If production numbers for last year's Focus are any indication, Ford will be saving more than 3.4 million pounds of denim from the landfill next year alone.

Perhaps the automaker will come up with a solution for even more fashion castoffs. If only jeggings could be recycled into stereo speakers.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Ford Motor Co.

Fashionistas who've known the horror of a chapped nose, or who merely fear the flu, have a new option for covering up. They're called fashion face masks -- FDA-approved N95 breathable medical masks that have been upfitted with fabric, sequins -- even monogramming.

The latest addition to a line of fashion medical accessories from the Miami-based line Sling Couture, fashion face masks debuted this fall and retail for $9.95 apiece. They last for about four uses.

"When you look better, you feel better, you heal better," said Sling Couture founder Robyn Tauber. Tauber knows of what she speaks. She started the company two years ago after getting hit by a truck while walking on a pedestrian path and suffering a fractured arm.

"The doctor gave me an ugly, uncomfortable sling that actually made my fracture worse," Tauber said. "The cast was heavy. It kept slipping out. The fabric was bad. I felt like a freak wearing it. Everybody was staring at me for the wrong reasons."

So, taking the opportunity of a black-tie party she'd been invited to, Tauber found some comfortable black fabric and sequins and asked a seamstress to sew it into a more fashionable, and comfortable, couture sling.

"Everywhere I went after that for months, hundreds of people walked up to me wanting to take pictures and to buy one," said Tauber, a former Fendi retailer who's been so successful with this unconventional line of fashion accessories that it's now her full-time job.

In addition to face masks -- available for men and women in 11 different styles -- Sling Couture also makes fashion slings and cast covers.

No joke.

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Sling Couture