Unthemed Monday

I don't think today's puzzle is themed, but I think Jim Hyres put in some interesting and unusual words for the long ones.

Shrinking Arctic Mass - polaricecap
Vary large ham -showboater
Texas' official flower -bluebonnet
Competition on an indoor ring -rollerderby

Well, since there weren't any new words, let's go on a google adventure!
Ionia - Ancient Turkey
Gregg Shorthand - A phoentic writing system developed by John Gregg
And since I'm not one into astrology, I need to learn the signs:
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
Maybe what we need is a handy mnemonic....

(The cru's tratclif helped me out here with the theme. There is indeed one as the last part of each clue is a kind of apparell. I am shamed that I totally missed this.)