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BEACH
A summery signifier of logo madness, DKNY’s fiberglass-and-foam surfboard is $470 at DKNY (655 Madison Avenue, at 60th Street; 212-223-3569).
Flip-flop aficionados can clop down Hampton streets in Hawaiian-ish silk-and-rubber lei thongs; they’re $12 at Hotel Venus (382 West Broadway; 212-966-4066).
Wild Planet’s Aqua Light Mask with built-in headlights is a gotta-have-it for underwater divers of the mini kind; it’s $14.99 at E.A.T. Gifts.
Boston Warehouse’s cleverer-than-thou paper lanterns are battery-powered and glow for up to three hours; they’re $7.50 each at E.A.T. Gifts.
Fashion-forward toddlers are sure to make a splash in assertively cheery puckered nylon-and-Lycra pom-pom bikinis; they’re $65 at ABC Carpet & Home (888 Broadway, at 19th Street; 212-473-3000).
Here’s news for the stiletto crowd: Emporio Armani’s neoprene cell-phone holder slides around a sun-tanned arm; it’s $28 at Emporio Armani Boutique (601 Madison Avenue, near 57th Street, 212-317-0800; and 110 Fifth Avenue, at 16th Street, 212-727-3240).
Can You Imagine has shrunk the streetwise boom box to kid-size. The teeny plastic FM radio is $8.50 (batteries included) at E.A.T. Gifts (1062 Madison Avenue, near 80th Street; 212-861-2544) and S. Feldman Housewares (1304 Madison Avenue, near 92nd Street; 212-289-7367).
TRAVEL
Flight Gear
Nifty travel stuff to help you stay cool, calm, collected – and have fun, too – on your escape from New York.
Far from merely luxurious, Chinese quilted silk Dragon slippers in zippered pouches are downright essential. They’re $50 (in men’s and women’s sizes) at Shanghai Tang (714 Madison Avenue, near 63rd Street; 212-888-0111).
Oregon Scientific’s jazzy little must-have of the moment, the digital camera, has internal flash memory (with room for fifteen color images), built-in focus, an LED indicator, 160-by-120 pixels, and all the necessary software; it’s $85 at Flight 001 (96 Greenwich Avenue; 212-691-1001).
Fly with it, drive it, whatever, TheMobyStick telescopic fishing rod is compact enough to stash anywhere yet gets points for high performance. It’s made of Portuguese cork and carbon-fiber mesh and has titanium-silicon-carbide rings; it’s $99.95 (reel not included) at Paragon Sporting Goods (867 Broadway, at 18th Street; 212-255-8036).
Boccie is sure to be deemed sufficiently hip now that Cynthia Rowley has tarted it up with a silk-taffeta-and-leather travel bag. The balls are classic (wood-and-resin), and the set is $175 at Cynthia Rowley Boutique (112 Wooster Street; 212-334-1144).
The Go-Go Hoop is a must-have for the peripatetic pigtail set. A foldable hula hoop, it has an interior nylon bungee cord that keeps the plastic sections in place; it’s $10.50 at the Children’s General Store (2473 Broadway, near 92nd Street, 212-580-2723; and Grand Central Terminal, Lexington Passage, 212-682-0004) and E.A.T. Gifts (1062 Madison Avenue, near 80th Street; 212-861-2544).
Stow a week’s worth of Hamptons garb in Malle’s heavy cotton-canvas travel bag; the necessary complement of flip-flops and sandals easily fit in the shoe compartment underneath. It’s $370 at Flight 001.
For traveling light, don’t leave home without Hok2’s Squeeze ‘n Shave razor. The set comes with three tubes of gel and three Gillette Trac II razors; it’s $15 at Flight 001.
CITY
City Cum Laude
A swank collection of wheels, deals, and heels for staying put in style.
Capitalizing on the increasingly blurry divide between his and her jewelry, Danish designer Mads Kornerup has filled his new shop with cool unisex pieces. Kornerup (a sometime fashion collector of antique jewelry) time fashion collector of antique jewelry).Jot down ideas and keep track of significant numbers, things, people, and places in cotton-canvas-covered Noteworthy Journals; they’re $35 at J.Crew (all locations).
Barely there yet still eye-catching, this lacquered-steel chair from France is kid-size; it’s $49 at the Terence Conran Shop (407 East 59th Street; 212-755-9079).
A snappy English-cowhide document case is sure to lighten up even the most onerous work load; it’s $1,030 at Alfred Dunhill (450 Park Avenue, at 57th Street, 212-753-9292; and 846 Madison Avenue, near 69th Street, 212-879-8711).
The pack rat’s fave shoe store has come up with street-chic dotty mules of polished calf; they’re $140 at Via Spiga (765 Madison Avenue, near 65th Street, 212-988-4877; and 390 West Broadway, 212-431-7007).
The latest crop of scooters, the Troter, comes from France; it’s electrically powered, folds for storage, and though its maximum speed is only 14 miles per hour, for our traffic-clogged city streets that ought to be fast enough. It’s $1,695 at Peter Elliot (1070 Madison Avenue, near 81st Street; 212-570-2300).
Marc Berthier’s aerodynamic nylon-and-plastic Sport Kite can soar to new heights; it’s $55 at Mxyplyzyk (125 Greenwich Avenue; 212-989-4300).
Sonia Rykiel’s new cotton tote looks so swank, but don’t be fooled: It can handle twice what you’ll need for a day of sunning in Central Park; it’s $415 at Sonia Rykiel (849 Madison Avenue, near 70th Street; 212-396-3060).
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