Who wears the pants in Hollywood? Fashionable femmes who are skirting traditional formal attire for the latest trend: beaded trousers. "It's a new way of approaching lavish evening wear," says designer Domenico Dolce, who, like partner Stefano Gabbana, counts among his fans Whitney Houston and Salma Hayek. Star Trek: Voyager's Jeri Ryan liked the versatility of the spangly pants she sported at December's VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards. "I didn't want to wear something really formal," she says. "I wanted to wear something more rock and roll!"
"People feel safe wearing pants," explains Hollywood stylist Jeanne Yang, who garbs actress Madeleine Stowe. With bejeweled trousers, "there's comfort without sacrificing dressing up." But the style is definitely not watercooler wear. As designer Randolph Duke notes, "I haven't seen many people wear beaded pants during the day."
DOUBLE VISION
At December's VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, Heather Locklear had the gumption to don a florid Jean Paul Gaultier design, the lower half of which hung from garters. Then this month, French ingenue Virginie Ledoyen wore the same getup to the New York City premiere of her film The Beach. Our opinion: Once was definitely enough.
A Furry Kerfuffle
Prince Edward's wife, Sophie Wessex, apologized for her "error of judgment" after animal-rights activists protested her wearing a fox-fur hat. Hmm: Why is it an "error" to wear fox, but not to hunt one?
behind the seams
Among the flashes from New York Fashion Week: Supermodel Rebecca Romijn-Stamos experienced a first—watching the catwalk rather than walking it. "This is my first fashion show as a guest. You could say I'm a virgin," she cracked on her way to the Badgley Mischka show....
Music mogul Sean "Puffy" Combs, who moonlights as a designer and won raves for his debut Sean John men's collection, wasn't above checking out the rest of the talent. He showed up a few days later at designer Marc Jacobs's show and left his front-row seat to scurry to director Francis Ford Coppola and shake his hand....
Brazilian designer Fause Haten got model-of-the-moment Gisele Bundchen to forgo her hefty 4-figure fee and sashay down the runway gratis. Well, almost: Haten gave the cover girl an amethyst crystal said to possess spirit-calming properties....
Helen Hunt, platinum blonde? That's right: Hunt recently got a Pamela Lee-esque dye job for her role in the upcoming flick Pay It Forward. The actress's longtime hair guru Darrell Redleaf-Fielder did the honors....
Just days before her world tour—beginning in Belgium on Feb. 14—Mariah Carey decided she needed a slew of daring new costumes. Deploying an army of seamstresses, New York City designer Pamela Dennis threw together 12 outfits while L.A.'s David Cardona whipped up beaded hot pants, sexy tube dresses and a dazzling gold satin boxing robe emblazoned with Carey's initials....
If you see Aerosmith's Steven Tyler stepping out with ink stains on his pants, don't think the rocker had an accident with a fountain pen. The outrageous trousers are the brainchild of L.A. designer Henry Duarte, who spent 30 hours doodling on the $3,200 vanilla-leather pants.
- Contributors:
- Steven Cojocaru.
