Shopping in Camp Springs

Like the olive in a martini or the MSG in Funyuns, accessories are more than a simple garnish on your fashion plate: they're the essential spice that kicks couture into gear and makes even last night's wrinkled dress look stylish today. Whip your toes, wrist, collarbone, and elbow nook into shape with today's Groupon: $25 get you $50 worth of shoes, handbags, and jewelry at ShoeFly, the award-winning house of accessories that area shoppers voted Best Indie Shoe Store and Best Boutique for 2009. Though your Groupon is not valid for online purchases, you can get your hands on sale items and style-savvy finds at any of ShoeFly's convenient locations in DC, Arlington, and Bethesda. Stuff your sartorial stockings with today's Groupon or grab a pair of Fryes to stuff your stockings into.In 1798, a young American named Wilton Chamberlain invented what closely resembles the modern shoe, made out of ultra-plush designer leather and fastened with rope made from copper pipe. As Wilt invested more time perfecting the shoe, he began experimenting with designer fabrics and alchemy, eventually creating expensive shoes that could be worn to galas, balls, and outdoor rock concerts.

One can convey secret messages of love, friendship, and heartbreak through the symbolic colors and species in a flower bouquet. Send coded messages to fellow spies with an enigmatic mix of white daisies and pink roses in a cube vase ($32.95+), plus a small box of chocolates ($9.99+) to provide sustenance during a stakeout. Pair a dramatic yet simple arrangement of red tulips in a clear glass vase ($35) with three Mylar balloons ($14.99), or a pale pink glass vase with carnations, monte cassino, and lisianthus ($29.95+) with a medium stuffed animal ($19.99). Otherwise, use your Groupon to make an extravagant statement with a dozen red roses ($95) or an exotic arrangement of miniature bronze callas, with equisetum stalks styled in the vase ($234.95+) fit for an elegant spa. Ask Convention Floral about its flower-of-the-week special on seasonal flowers.

Unlike the vendors who in ancient times ran to the morning trade ships to view the latest fashions from across the sea, Treat is set in modern times and has plenty of affordable products for everyone. Between sea-foam green walls, the spacious and well-lit boutique organizes a well-edited stock of discount designer fashions on brilliant white shelving. Treat's inventory is updated every week or two, just like your mom's Facebook profile, with new dresses and tops from designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Nanette Lepore, Milly, Vince, Trina Turk; denim from Joe's Jeans, J Brand, Seven for all Mankind; shoes from Bettye Muller and Loeffler Randall; and handbags from Kooba, Hayden Harnett, and Marc Jacobs.

La Muse gives customers a gift option that doesn't require careful strategizing with a claw crane and a decapitated piggy bank's worth of quarters. Operating under the mantra of "Gifts with Purpose," La Muse offers an inventory of heartfelt, handcrafted items, including jewelry, personalized gifts, quote- and saying-adorned gifts, and home décor, all from American artists. Wrap wrists in copper cobras with the bracelets of Sergio Lub ($22–$52), bring life-affirming levity to the walls of your man-cave with the mixed-media art of Kelly Rae Roberts ($14.99–$39.99), or class up catapulting coffee grinds into filter forts with a stainless-steel and tumbled-glass coffee scoop ($15.99) from Laurel Johns. Other items include bath and body products, area photographs, and comical figurines and pictures.

Dalton Brody provides an upscale boutique atmosphere nestled in a cozy storefront of mottled stone and regal green awnings. The shop is stuffed to the rafters with crystal and glassware, painted serving trays, candles, handbags, picture frames, and much more. Fill your home with the mingling aromas of lavender and rosemary from a petite air essence incense-like air freshener ($45), or dappify the gentleman of your choosing with a pale-green American–sailboat tie ($75). For the homosapien who has everything, leather money clips ($38) come in a variety of grains and colors, while a small photo album bound in gentle green-and-pink floral tapestry ($34) will hold a variety of memories, images from the future, and souls. Dalton Brody also stocks numerous gifts for new moms and their babies; perk up a nursery with a pink piggy bank ($52) coated in white polka-dots.

The Denim Bar serves up frothy mugs of stylish designer denim to the mid-Atlantic's chic shoppers, with an array of men's and women's jeans and more. Gents can comfortably cover regrettable calf tattoos with a pair of Naked & Famous slim guy jeans in black selvedge ($125), while ladies can gussy up gams with Acne Hex in Prod skinny jeans ($149). Other designer brands on tap at Denim Bar include AG, Nudie Jeans Co., Citizens of Humanity, 4 Stroke, and Sugar Cane & Co. For customers desiring non-denim duds, Denim Bar also offers apparel that hasn't been mined from the earth's natural jeans deposits. Bedeck your torso in the spirit of modal jazz with a Friend or Foe John Coltrane T-shirt ($48), or coax catcalls from cumulus clouds with the Three Dots Desert Night bandeau dress ($115). An assortment of accessories rounds out the Denim Bar inventory, with socks, sunglasses, and jewelry tempting fashionistas and stylesters alike.