Can we ask about sequin bike shorts?

"No questions about Lance." Really? Because my first question to designer Tory Burch was going to be, "Is Lance Armstrong with you?" It's what inquiring minds — or my celebrity-weekly-addled mind, anyway — want to know.

But fine, we'll play by the rules and talk about fashion. What does Tory Burch think when she contemplates her closet in the morning? "I don't really give it that much thought," said the very petite and impeccably turned-out designer, who made a personal appearance at the downtown Nordstrom store April 27. "I just sort of get dressed."

On this day, she had just sort of put on a sequined tunic top under a striped seersucker jacket with a pair of jeans from her new line of denim. Sequins "make your face brighter," she explained when I expressed doubt about wearing sequins before noon on a workday. (Please note theme of this week's column: sequins!)

So here's a cute story: As we were riding down the escalator to greet Tory's adoring public, Bruce Nordstrom came running down the stairs to present Tory with an inscribed copy of his book, and he said something really sweetly self-deprecating as he handed it to her, which caused Tory to coo to Pete Nordstrom, "Your father is the cutest man!" To which Pete replied, "Really? The cutest man — that's not a title he has had before." ...

SHE WEARS SEQUINS on "Dancing with the Stars," but the only thing sparkling on Julianne Hough during a recent visit to Seattle — with dancing partner and local hero Apolo Anton Ohno — was the 1.3-carat princess-cut diamond on her left hand. "I proposed on Christmas Eve," said her cutie-pie fiancé, Zack Wilson, who had nothing better to do than talk to me (and baby-sit Julianne's metallic clutch) while the press flocked around Julianne and Apolo.

The nice thing about interviewing not-quite celebrities is that you can shamelessly ask them about their personal lives and they don't know any better than to answer. Julianne and Zack, who is also a dancer, met in Salt Lake City when she was 9 and he was 14. They started dating a year ago and haven't set a wedding date. In person, Julianne looks exactly like Christina Aguilera. But they weren't even the cutest couple in the room. The cutest couple in the room were Christine Chen's parents. ...

THE BEST LOCKUP in the world is in Hong Kong, according to Dan "Sequins" Mathews, the outspoken vice president of PETA (" 'Sequins' was my middle name in my 'Rocky Horror' days," he says, and I'm not even making this up), who has been arrested plenty in his crusade for animal rights.

Why Hong Kong? "They brought us some special vegan food," Dan said on a recent Seattle book-tour stop. He chronicles that story and others in his new book, "Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir," but he's managed to steer clear of the SPD. So far, anyway. "I hear the police are dolls in Seattle. I wouldn't mind taking a walk on the wild side." ...

AT A CASUAL luncheon at the Lawrimore Project hosted by Shari Behnke and Kim Richter, a dozen or so members of the Seattle arts scene dined on Uwajimaya fare served on red plastic plates and paper napkins printed with Christmas trees, which were on sale.

The guests: Peter Boal from PNB; Lisa Fitzhugh, Arts Corps; Laura Penn, Intiman Theatre; Fidelma McGinn, Artist Trust; Lane Czaplinski, On The Boards; Billy Howard, Howard House; Jim Wilcox, Greg Kucera Gallery; Jacob McMurray, Science Fiction Museum; Patty Isacson Sabee, EMP; John Behnke, who always invites himself to his wife's parties; and Scott Lawrimore, of course.

It was quite an interesting table. But my attention was taken by my drinking glass, which must have been a mistake. It read: "The most profound things are inexpressible."

Girl About Town appears every Sunday in Northwest Life. Pamela Sitt: 206-464-2376 or psitt@seattletimes.com