This season, it's hip to show off your hips by encircling them with a low-slung, often beaded, belt. "Women love a great piece that they can throw over anything to make it special," explains Italian designer Stefano Gabbana, whose Dolce & Gabbana line features crystal-and rhinestone-encrusted versions. "I love them," raves D&G devotee Whitney Houston. "They work well for me onstage, or if I'm going out, I can put them over a pair of jeans."
Whether snugly tied or left artfully dangling, the quasi cummerbund "draws attention to the waist in a flattering, figure-forgiving way," says couturier Valentino, whose fans include Ashley Judd and Goldie Hawn. "It's a finishing touch without the need for jewelry."
Indeed, these sparkly bands "look like royal sashes," notes stylist Vincent Boucher, who has dressed Christina Applegate and Christine Baranski. "It's a modern-princess type of thing." Perfect if you're a fashion queen—or just want to look like one.
behind the seams
On New Year's Eve, a pregnant Annette Bening decorated her low-key black ensemble with the best accessories: her three kids—Kathlyn, 8, Ben, 5, and Isabel, 2—who parked in her lap for most of the night as she and hubby Warren Beatty celebrated at Universal Studios president Ron Meyers's small gathering in Malibu....
Leonardo DiCaprio also adopted a less-is-more philosophy on the big night, sporting an all-black outfit of a long-sleeve jersey, baggy pants and knit cap at his millennium bash for 700 of his closest pals (including Winona Ryder, Matthew Perry and Tobey Maguire) at a 30,000-sq.-ft. mansion he rented in L.A. Dateless Leo spent much of the night armed with a video camera, perhaps to capture the image of Keri Russell, whose demure off-white dress stood out in a sea of black....
It's easy to splurge when Johnny Depp is around to save the day. That's what Vanessa Paradis, Depp's significant other and mother of their daughter Lily-Rose, 7 months, found out recently when she went to pay for a slinky $3,500 dress at L.A.'s Horn boutique—and her credit card was declined. Oops! The bill was quickly settled when a Depp handler called the shop and used Depp's own clean-as-a-whistle plastic for the purchase....
With that classic lament—"I've got nothing to wear!"—Courtney Love sent her stylist scurrying to L.A. vintage clothing boutique Decades on the very morning of her Man on the Moon premiere. The actress, who I hear "wasn't turned on" by the pile of new dresses that top fashion houses had sent her, ended up choosing a sleek black, side-slit 30-year-old number by '60s avant-garde designer Rudi Gernreich, inventor of the topless bathing suit....
Salma Hayek favors the sleek look too. At bedtime. A former fan of flannel pj's, Hayek reveals she's on a fancy French negligee kick. "Putting on a beautiful silk nightgown makes me feel pretty," she purrs. "It's something that I do just for me."...
what was she thinking?
Says Anna and the King costar Bai Ling of the perilously slit Bradley Bayou she wore to the film's premiere: "I wanted to show a different side of me." The front side, apparently. Ling insists that the sliver of a dress, which looked like it may have been worn backward, "covered everything." But she admits her boyfriend, singer Chris Isaak, painted on the faux-tattoo serpent after he fretted that the gown might be too revealing. Isaak also helped prevent any, er, fallout. "He was there holding me," she says, "and the dress."
winner's circle
Mixing a vivid Versace snakeskin coat with a pair of Bella Freud trousers and Prada heels, Madonna recently outshone the moon over Miami. Arianne Phillips, the fashion plate's stylist, gives her client all the credit: "She doesn't let designers dictate her style."
presto change-o
Guess her next perfume won't be called Silver. Elizabeth Taylor, who had let her hair grow out white (with platinum highlights added) after her 1997 operation for a brain tumor, showed off newly dark tresses at the White House Millennium celebration. "I was kind of missing the color it used to be," La Liz explains. "It's not quite as dark, but hell, next week it may be pitch black. You never know with a woman."
star talk
If paparazzi didn't exist, what would you wear all the time?
Lisa Ling, The View cohost: "I would not wear any makeup because I hate it!"
Emme, model: "Athletic wear: sweats, leggings, big baseball cap, running shoes, big sunglasses. I would look like a fashion emergency."
Celine Dion: "Not being with paparazzi [during my break from performing] will give me the chance to dress up even more in my own wardrobe! I love putting hats on and changing nail polish every day."
DOUBLE VISION
Actress Jennifer Tilly gave us a case of déjà vu recently when she sported, within weeks, identical leaf-appliquéd Prada skirts, first in brown, then in pink. "It's hard for me to decide," laughs Tilly, who has bought in multiples before. "Sometimes I say, 'Wait a minute, I'm a movie star. I'll take both.' "
- Contributors:
- Julie K.L. Dam,
- Steven Cojocaru.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
