Usher Shops 'Til He Drops

Friday July 29, 2005 06:00 AM EDT

Usher

John Spellman / Retna

Usher is taking time off from performing, but he hasn't slowed down his partying – or his shopping. The Grammy winner recently hit the grand re-opening of Atlanta's Club Vision, where he took over the VIP section with friends including Mary J. Blige, in town recording her new album. Usher, sporting an Atlanta Braves baseball cap, orange polo and jeans, danced with Blige while her manager husband, Kendu Isaacs, looked on, and finally called it a night at 4 a.m.

The next day, the singer – who recently vacationed with model girlfriend Eishia Brightwell in Saint-Tropez – headed to Atlanta's Phipps Plaza shopping mall in the upscale Buckhead district. At Barneys, he eyed a motorcycle jacket from Dolce & Gabbana's fall collection, remarking, "That's hot." He bought the $1,795 coat after trying it on straight off the mannequin. Also in his shopping cart that day: $115 Rogan jeans, $165 Co-Op seersucker pants and a $125 Inner-City Raiders vintage t-shirt.

Soon, Usher had a fan club surrounding him: a group of kids asked him to sign autographs, and he spoke on a woman's cell phone to her teenage daughter. "He wasn't really trying to be bothered, but he was cool, nice and willing to give to everyone," says a source.

Wide Blue Yonder
Sky High star Kelly Preston and husband John Travolta have been spending time this summer at their Florida vacation home with their kids, Jett and Ella Bleu. "We swam with the dolphins in Discovery Cove, which was cool," Preston told us at the opening party for her cousin's boutique, Skyla, in Westwood, Calif. "The kids loved it. And John has ultra-lights, those little planes that have a lawnmower engine, so he loves taking them up."

Preston also raved about pals Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, her costar in 1996's Jerry Maguire. "I love Katie," she said. "When I first heard that they had gotten together, I thought, 'Oh my gosh, that's perfect.' She's such a smart and talented girl. She's perfect for him. They both really hold their own."

Caught in the Act
• Colin Farrell, partying with about 15 Miami Vice castmates and crew members at Miami hot spot Pawn Shop. Farrell and his posse, who came in through the kitchen and chilled in the VIP section designed to look like a trailer home, downed Coronas, Jack Daniels shots and other cocktails and danced to tunes including Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby."

• Jewel and a friend, eating lobster and filet with black truffles at West Hollywood restaurant Il Sole, where Kimberly Stewart and a pal had dinner the same night.

• Keanu Reeves, pumping gas at a 76 station in Beverly Hills.

• By ISOUL HARRIS, CHRIS GARDNER, JON WARECH and MARISA LAUDADIO