Hang time

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Published: 12:00am, 23 Jul 2006

A clothes hanger might be one of the most ordinary things you can think of: generally a functional but nondescript twist of wire, or sometimes a heftier affair made of wood or heavy plastic. But there are options if you'd like to jazz up your closets.

Charming hangers for children's clothing are a popular idea, probably because of the need to give kids the motivation to hang up their clothes. One line sold by several sources, including Best Hangers (www.besthangers.com), Hangers Direct (www.hangersdirect.com) and Hangers.com (www.hangers.com), updates a basic 25cm wooden hanger with a spinning decorative ball attached to the neck (below). Sets of 12 are available in patterns of animals (four each of teddy bears, ducks and cats), hearts or sports balls for US$34.95, or US$35.95 for a combination style with clips for pants or skirts. These sellers also have a children's version of the classic padded satin hanger, US$28.95 for a dozen. For that tiny bundle of joy, Simply Christenings (www.simplychristenings.

com) has a gift box containing a pair of padded baby-clothes hangers, which are lightly fragranced, lace-trimmed and embellished with teddy bear charms (#19.95/$285).

But why let the kids have all the fun? CyBear Toys (www.cybeartoys.com) has hand-carved and hand-painted wooden hangers in wonderful animal designs, in both children's and adult sizes. The adult version (US$9.95 each), alas, appears to be available only in giraffe, but the children's size (US$6.75 each) also comes in lion, tiger, elephant and zebra.

For those in search of more sophisticated styles for grown-ups, take a look at the Orgo clothing hanger, designed by Karim Rashid. This plastic construction of hypnotic curves, sold in sets of two in orange, pink, blue or green, is available from a number of sites including the Karim Rashid Shop (karimrashidshop.com; US$35), contemporary design retailer Nova 68 (www.nova68.com; US$37.50) and Scandinavian companies Designonline.se (www.scandinaviandesigncenter.com; 199 krona/$215) and Royal Shopping (www.royalshopping.com; 199 krone/$265).

Sweden's Designonline.se and Denmark's Royal Shopping also carry the Fafner hanger (right) by Hans Edblad. A sleek, minimalist creation of polished aluminium, they sell for 150 krone each at Royal Shopping and 320 krona for two at Designonline.se.