The Big Bang
Lately Hollywood's prettiest peepers are earning some fringe benefits. Liv Tyler, Renée Zellweger and Kate Hudson have all chopped the fronts of their mops. "I wanted a new look, and I love them!" raves Dawson's Creek star Katie Holmes of her new bangs, courtesy of Manhattan clipper Oscar Blandi. Desire for change—but not too much—is driving the trend, says Blandi: "Cutting bangs one of the fastest solutions to having a different look without cutting all the length off."
Indeed, whether wispy and short or soft and long, today's bangs look "whimsical and fun," says hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai, who counts Ashley Judd and Sharon Stone among his clients. Even better, notes Cindy Crawford's cutter Stephen Knoll, "it's a great way for women to disguise frown lines on their foreheads."
So go for the look, but wit the scissors with care. The most of-the-moment cut is "not a straight line across, bi more feathered," says Knoll—especially for the round of face. Bangs, explains Fekkai, "could make your face really round." And pumpkin season is over.
behind the seams
Displaying a flair for drama never quite captured in her small-screen performances, animal lover Pamela Anderson recently gave her emotionally charged all as she ripped into a woman sporting a red-fox coat at Los Angeles International Airport's Starbucks counter. Anderson's searing soliloquy—noteworthy for its stunning "How does it feel to wear dead animals?" crescendo—sent the shocked fur wearer storming off and the tight-jeans-clad crusader back to the Java line with model beau Marcus Schenkenberg....
Look for Ben Stiller to skewer the fashion biz in the comedy Zoolander, shooting now. In an obvious send-up of designer John Galliano's controversial spring 2000 "hobo chic" couture collection for Dior, cheeky Stiller's film includes a fashion-show scene featuring a line called Derelicte with models swathed in tattered sleeping bags and refrigerator boxes....
When I bumped into Sex and the City's Kristin Davis (she plays Charlotte) at a swank party for jeweler Cartier in L.A. recently, the actress was working a new and seriously edgy look in a sharp Richard Tyler leather trench coat. "I'm in my anti-Charlotte stage," Davis boomed, referring to her nice-girl TV character. Now that Davis is on hiatus from the show, she's getting in touch with her inner bad girl. "It's all leather all the time," she said with a laugh....
Seen: Pierce Brosnan at Beverly Hills maternity store A Pea in the Pod, suggesting that six-months-pregnant fiancée Keely Shaye Smith pick up a slew of bright sweaters "for walks on the beach."...
Sigourney Weaver at Palm Beach boutique C. Orrico, where the fashion plate snapped up matching Lilly Pulitzer lily-pad-print dresses for herself and 10-year-old daughter Charlotte.
DOUBLE VISION
The equine-patterned silk dress Ghloé designer Stella McCartney created and wore last month rode on to grace actress Kate Beckinsale at a recent premiere. Horses are McCartney's favorite animal, says a Chloé spokesperson, "and reminiscent of her mother, Linda, who was a very good rider."
startalk
What are the most uncomfortable shoes you've ever worn?
Martha Stewart
"My wedding shoes. They were the worst. They were too tight and too pointy. I still have them."
Sharon Lawrence
"I wore a pair of really high spiked heels that tied around the ankle. I was at a garden party and I kept falling through the grass like a golf tee."
Spice Girl Emma Bunton
"I've fallen over on some platforms and cracked a bone in my ankle, which wasn't very funny."
Faith Ford
"The shoes I had to wear on Murphy Brown were uncomfortable. They all had over-3-in. heels and were pointy."
Later host Cynthia Garrett
"You know something? A pair of Manolo Blahnik pumps or any shoe by Jimmy Choo is a major amount of suffering, but they're so fabulous you have to do it."
Another Clinton Wears the Pants
Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a nod to her "six black pantsuits" in her victory speech. No wonder. Tailored to her pear shape, the suits (including two from Oscar de la Renta that are similar to ones that sell for $3,500) transformed her into a power figure. "Rather than looking at her hips, your eye goes up to the head," raves trend analyst Tom Julian. But will the look work in skirt-filled D.C.? No matter, says Washington Sen. Patty Murray: "I have two words of advice for Hillary: Be comfortable."
what was she thinking?
Actress Justine Bateman may have joined the ranks of thespians turned fashion designers, but she won't admit it—at least not when it came to the ensemble she wore to an L.A. fashion show. The outfit—especially the scarf flowing from her waist—had fashion pros puzzled. "I don't know what that's all about," says L.A. stylist Alison McCosh. "Is it like a tail?" She had kind words for Bateman's "sleek and simple" top and pants. But that hat? "It's a bit dated," says McCosh.
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