Circular Thinking
In these chaotic times some stars, including Kirsten Dunst, Bette Midler and Chloë Sevigny, are seeking simple solutions with clothes made of eyelet lace. "It's very romantic and so easy to wear," says Oscar de la Renta, who features the lace in his Spring/ Summer 2002 collection. L.A. stylist Lisa Michelle dressed Dunst in a Chanel eyelet lace frock for a premiere, calling the fabric "Victorian, sexy and sweet." The cool cotton "is a throwback to our childhood," notes actress Sarah Wynter, who recently donned designer Lisa Ho's eyelet gown because "I was so sick of seeing people in hip-hugging jeans," she says. "A white dress seemed rebellious." Ex-ER star Maria Bello, who wore a Rosa Cha eyelet top for an event, agrees. "Women want to dress a little softer," she says. Still, eyelet can benefit from a firm hand. "When it is pressed and starched," says de la Renta, "it looks wonderful and feels crisp." with Amy Baumgartner in Los Angeles

behind the seams

Sarah Michelle Gellar is being coy about when she'll tie the knot with Freddie Prinze Jr., but I can tell you one thing: She has already crossed "get gorgeous wedding gown" off her To Do list. The job of creating the dress, I hear, has gone to Australian designer Collette Dinnigan. Seems that Buffy got slayed by her ultrafeminine duds when the actress was in Australia shooting Scooby-Doo earlier this year. The lingerie loving Gellar even geared up for the honeymoon, scoring scads of Dinnigan's lacy unmentionables during the trip....

Renée Zellweger is already thinking about her Golden Globes gown. I hear that the Bridget Jones's Diary star has asked Gucci's Tom Ford to come up with sketches for a creation for the Jan. 20 event. She also included a few tiny dos and don'ts. Ms. Z is looking for a fitted frock in navy, red, black or brown. And Tom, don't bother showing the glamor girl anything in nude or pastels. She's not interested....

Talk about togetherness: Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton have taken to getting his and hers biweekly at-home manicures. During a recent house call, their manicurist painted the couple's digits with subtle neutral colors from OPI's Sheer Romance collection. Then Thornton decided to spice things up by having the nail doctor add a bold black racing stripe down the center of each of his toenails....

When Laura Bush and her Secret Service agents arrived at the Anthropologic boutique in Manhattan's SoHo district recently, the First Lady apparently didn't want to interrupt anyone's browsing. So rather than shutter the entire establishment, Mrs. Bush's agents sectioned off the area where she shopped and let the other customers hit the racks in the rest of the store....

Eager to celebrate the success of Gwyneth Paltrow's Shallow Hal flick and her recent turn on Saturday Night Live, Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein ordered a dazzling trinket for his golden girl from New York City designer Scott Colee: a delicate 18K white gold, diamond-studded choker with ruby beads. Once the $3,300 piece was ready, Weinstein dispatched a messenger to deliver it to Paltrow's Manhattan digs.

star talk

If you could dress like any movie character, who would you choose?

Just Shoot Me's Wendie Malick
"Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's. I love her simple, elegant cocktail dresses. Her style proved less is more."

Halle Berry
"Eliza Doolittle at the end of My Fair Lady. I need a dress like hers for the Golden Globes."

Model Amber Valletta
"Liz Taylor in Cleopatra. Her clothing was so ornate and sexy."

Rob Lowe
"Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy. He's a classic."

DOUBLE VISION
Chanel's frilly, funky silk dress recently graced both American Pie 2's Natasha Lyonne and The View's Lisa Ling, but the fact didn't chill Ling. The frock did. "It's very sheer," she says. "When the wind blew, you could see my underwear. My mother threw my trench coat over me a couple of times."

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Do you have questions about star style? E-mail Steven at seams@people.com