style council: Screw Yourself for Charity

Remember those little rubber bracelets Lance Armstrong first made popular? Then suddenly there was a rubber bracelet for everything, from supporting the troops to wiping your ass good. Well, now rich folks can show their charitable sides too, but you know, with class. Rubber chafes. In the 70s jewelry monarch Cartier created the LOVE bracelet. The wrist ornament was designed to be screwed tight to your wrist and never taken off. Sounds more like shackles than accessory to me, and maybe servitude rather than love, but Richard Burton and Liz Taylor screwed one on, so did Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen. Now, 30 years later Cartier has launched a new LOVE line with a Charity Bracelet, it features a mini rose gold original LOVE shackle bracelet tied to a silk cord, the color of the cord reflects the charity you support. It seems ever since somone tied a yellow ribbon round an old oak tree, charity has been color coded. And of course, these wrist trinkets aren't without their celebrity endorsements, Michael Stipe's black bracelet says you support Gulf Coast Recovery, Sarah J. Parker's blue says you care about UNICEF. Salma Hayek, Scarlett Johansson, Spike Lee and Liv Tyler all chose colors and charities. For every one you purchase $100 dollars will go to the corresponding cause.

Now, it's hard to poke fun at any kind of charity really, but the bracelet retails for 475 clams, why not donate ALL that money to charity? And if you have 475 smackers to spend on a silk chord, you probably can donate a helluva lot more. Looks like arm chair activism is out and arm band activism is in.