Ashley Marie Manzo/Taxidermy Her Bones

​When Ashley Marie Manzo was a child, her father took her to Necromance, the Melrose Avenue store filled with specimen jars, bones and macabre trinkets. She loved it, but many years had passed before she visited the store again. Then, three years ago, she returned to the shop.

"I fell in love with it all over again," says the up-and-coming artist from Boyle Heights.

Manzo bought a frog in a specimen jar and it launched an obsession. She began scouring swap meets and web stores for more animal remains. Now, the 21-year-old says she's acquired about 17 specimen jars, 30 skulls and 100 bones.

"Other people collect comic books," says Manzo. "I collect skulls and bones."

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Nanette Gonzales

Joey, left, and Anthony Hernandez in their downtown factory

​Sift through the sale rack at your local Forever 21 mall store and you may come across a T-shirt with a picture of a girl staring into shards of a mirror. Retailing for $14.90, it is a seemingly edgy but ultimately innocuous shirt. It has no particular brand affiliation, no band or product or company to promote: It's an enigmatic graphic tee in a sea of throwaway, enigmatic graphic tees. It could have bubbled into the world fully formed from the collective teenybopper consciousness.

Instead, the tee came from the Rule Garment Manufacture factory in downtown L.A. It was created -- designed, manufactured and printed -- six months ago by one of the factory's owners, 26-year-old Joey Hernandez. Forever 21 ordered 3,000 pieces, and they have moved briskly. "It's sold 40 percent so far," says Joey, sitting at a computer in his factory's office. "You get no credit as a designer, but you get paid."

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Courtesy Margo Leavin Gallery

William Leavitt's set design for "The Particles (of White Naugahyde)"

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From a pseudo-sitcom and beachside choreography to feminist nostalgia and midcentury design, this week's list feels particularly well-rounded. (Also check out our preview of Pacific Standard Time's Performance and Public Art Festival, which begins this week).

5. Italy in Westwood
Galleria del Deposito ran for six years, from 1963 to 1969, in an old coal depot in Italy. It showed fantastically geometric, sleekly graphic work and produced a staggering number of limited-edition serving trays (along with ceramics and prints). Eccentric L.A. artist and dealer Eugenia Butler distributed these wares in L.A.; since the nonprofit Los Angeles Nomadic Division is currently bent on proving Butler's brilliance, you can see a selection of work from Deposito at the Italian Cultural Institute in Westwood. The highlights are the brash, fluorescent capes and tunics graphic artist Eugenio Carmi made with fashion designer Rudi Gernreich. 1023 Hilgard Ave., Wstwd.; through Feb. 2. (310) 443-3250, nomadicdivision.org.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Hollywood version

The girl with the dragon tattoo's strong woman "punk" aesthetic, recently marketed by H&M

​Has anyone actually seen the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo line of clothing from H&M? There was all this hype -- the usual billboards, bus posters, the like -- and now... nothing. You might have blinked and missed the whole thing. Or that would-be punk chick with the just-too coiffed hair might be wearing it. It's hard to say.

The line, called "the style which will define the streets this winter" by H&M, is already absent from its website. And those weird billboards and bus stop advertisements have disappeared too. Kinda like a hacker, no? In and out before you knew you were under attack. It's like Lisbeth Salander herself objected to the whole thing and went in and deleted the look from the mainframe.

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Courtesy Gagosian Gallery

​"A polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots become movement... Polka dots are a way to infinity." --Japanese polka dot artist, Yayoi Kusama

As British artist Damien Hirst unleashes more than 300 of his Dot artworks today, with simultaneous openings at 11 Gagosian galleries worldwide, including Gagosian Beverly Hills, we revisit the influence the humble polka dot has had on art, film, fashion and the universe.

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Lina Lecaro

​The barrage of blogs tallying the year in trends and fashion has begun, and of course, we are totally participating. We do it every year, after all.

And while we try to note the obvious, we also strive to call out the stuff you're not likely to see on the other blogs, stuff we note while nightlife traipsing and stuff that inevitably moves from street to mainstream the following year. Like, did anyone else note the "tranimal" trend last year, but us? Nope. We wrote about it and then Gaga brought it into the mainstream, or tried to, soon afterward.

So yeah, there's some obvious inclusions here, but as always, we strive to spotlight the more cutting edge staples seen in Los Angeles. There were looks to love and/or laugh at. Sometimes both at the same time. And that, friends, is fashion, especially in L.A. and most especially after dark: a little frivolous, a bit freaky, but always a ton of fun.

So here, the top 11 fashion trends of 2011 (seen mostly at social functions, clubs and Trader Joe's in Silver Lake and Hollywood). Which look did you do and which ones are totally done? Read on...

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Adam Gropman

​The L.A. Public Library's Silverlake branch wants to raise a lot of community awareness and a little extra funding. That means they're probably gonna throw a bake sale or a car wash or maybe a used book clearance event, right?

Are you kidding me? This is Silverlake! They hold a beard and mustache contest. Obviously!

A fairly diverse, if hipster-leaning, crowd of more than 250 people congregate in the spacious, modernist structure Tuesday night, some standing in rows two or three deep around the edges, many sitting in neatly arranged chairs facing the makeshift "stage" -- an area on the floor in front of a low bookshelf -- while a spectacle both epic and humorous unfolds, free to all entrants.

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(c) 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA

Detail of an orange dress by Rodarte, in LACMA's new exhibit

​It is the most unusual of pairings -- a 14th century Italian monk and two fashiony young sisters from Los Angeles, 2011. Yet the devout Fra Angelico was the perfect muse for couturiers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, the good friar's frescoes inspiring an entire collection of gowns now on display at LACMA.

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rustyzipper.com

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By now, even Grandma has probably heard (but doesn't care) that the Ugly Christmas Sweater is done.

Such sweaters have moved from being worn sincerely to being worn with irony, and soon they'll move into not being worn at all.

But what will take their place in yuletide ubiquity?

Here are a few nominees, and guidelines about the manner in which they should be worn: Sincere, Zany, or Ironic.

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Shannon Cottrell

Sebastian Masuda on stage for the 6%DOKIDOKI fashion show at Royal/T.

​See more of Shannon Cottrell's photos in "Rune Boutique World Debut Party @ Royal/T."

Rune Naito was a Japanese illustrator whose depictions of cute, fashionable girls during the mid-20th century made him a legend. Sebastian Masuda is a fashion designer and art director whose brand 6%DOKIDOKI has helped define Japanese street fashion since the 1990s. Stylistically, the two artists are quite different. The Rune aesthetic is steeped in 1950s and '60s fashion and beauty trends, where 6%DOKIDOKI embodies the colorful, hyper-cute style of the present day. But, despite the differences, Masuda explains that the two have quite a bit in common.

"[Rune] wasn't just drawing pictures or just making cute stuff, he was making things that could be a part of girls' lifestyles and girls' lives in general," says Masuda through a translator.

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