In case you’re wondering where Dick Shawn...

In case you’re wondering where Dick Shawn sits out stints between his stand-up comic performances, Listen caught sight of him in Brentwood. It was late afternoon, and Shawn was ordering coffee--black, to match his silky baseball-style jacket and his wrap-around sunglasses. We found him in the Westside Delicatessen on San Vicente Boulevard. But he didn’t stay long enough to make us laugh. In fact, all we heard him say was: “Don’t fill the cup too full.” The coffee was to go.

Film director Robert Altman, in Paris this week to research a movie with a fashion-biz setting, got an insider’s view when Fred Hayman of the Giorgio boutique invited him to a party introducing the Giorgio fragrance--a native of Beverly Hills--to the French. Hayman staged his introductions at the American Embassy in Paris after a dinner of such all-American favorites as Virginia-baked ham and Hollywood cobb salad. The California contingent present at the party included L.A. retailers Lee Hogan Cass of the Broadway, Sarah Worman of Robinson’s and Herb Fink of Theodore. Among the guests who hail from the Eastern outreaches of Rodeo Drive, Listen spied American Ambassador to France Joe M. Rodgers as well as French President Francois Mitterrand’s nephew, Frederick, and the Duke and Duchess DeLa Rochefoucauld. Hayman, who says his “extraordinary fragrance” is one of the world’s best sellers, tells us that he now intends to make Giorgio the No. 1 fragance in Paris, the perfume capital of the world.

Not to be outdone in party planning, French designer Jean Paul Gaultier staged a big bash of his own for the opening of his first Paris boutique. Cotton candy, carrousels, magicians and mimes--and tons of French pate--were all present. But the highlight was the fashion array Listen caught sight of on the party guests. One young lady in a red jersey body stocking had huge, papier-mache cones on her chest. Many young men wore simple skirts with their elegant, Gaultier jackets. And many girls were so slim, short-haired and free of makeup that they were hardly distinguishable from the boys. Now we know where J.P. gets those free-wheeling fashion ideas of his . . . or is it the other way around?

Photographer Lord Patrick Lichfield, in town to promote J.C. Penney’s “Best of Britain” sales campaign, had only kind words for the famous people he’s captured on film. Brooke Shields and Britt Ekland, for example, are so beautiful “they’re impossible to photograph badly.” Then there’s Princess Diana. With no pun intended, Lichfield observes: “She’s perfectly remarkable. She’s managed to maintain a mystique. Anyone else in her position would have overexposure by now.” Some of Lichfield’s famous photographs were done while he was working for Vogue magazine in New York. During those days he exchanged his long hair and casual clothes for a fashion plate appearance that landed him a spot on “that absurd list”--the best dressed Hall of Fame. Lichfield says he found the honor just a tad disappointing: “I thought there was an actual place called the Hall of Fame.” Lichfield is about to follow up his “The Most Beautiful Women” book of photographs with a second volume. Included among the first round of beautiful women is Lichfield’s wife, the countess of Lichfield, who “works” for Princess Anne as a lady in waiting. If you think being a member of the royal family is all fun and games, Lichfield can set you straight. “The royal family has an extremely difficult job. It’s quite terrifying meeting people and always being sure to say the right thing.” Lichfield the photograper considers himself lucky. “I’m self employed and out of the limelight.” His photographs are on exhibit at Penney’s Torrance store through Sunday.

Burt Reynolds should get a kick out of Loni Anderson’s new boots. They have what looks like his portrait appliqued on their sides. Gail Scanlon of the Shoe Store in Studio City tells Listen that Anderson found the footgear during one of her frequent visits to the shop. The “Burt” boots are red, white and blue with a black mustache, by Paradox, and they sell for $196. When Anderson first saw them she hesitated about buying them. But, Scanlon says: “Loni went home and told Burt about the boots, and he asked her why she didn’t buy them.” It seems that’s all the encouragement she needed.

‘Prince meets the Peppermint Twist.” That’s designer Ellene Warren’s description of the outfits she’s been styling for actresses Tracey Bregman of “The Young and the Restless” and Lisa Hartman of “Knots Landing.” Actually, Warren says, the clothes are an update on early ‘60s fashion shapes. Bregman, who plays a rock star on TV, sports a go-go dress and fingerless gloves in an upcoming show. Hartman sings in blue, bejeweled go-go boots and a hip-hugger pantsuit. But the piece de rock ‘n’ roll resistance , Warren says, is a dangle earring that extends below Hartman’s hips. The better to limbo lower.

It seems actress Barbara Howard of “Falcon Crest” is taking fashion tips from her weight-training instructor. She and her coach, Tim Green, popped into L’Aspect boutique in Beverly Center after a session at the gym. Howard liked Green’s fashion coaching well enough to chose a silk print dress in fuchsia and black, designed by Rudy LaSalle. “She said she was going to a party hosted by Morgan Fairchild,” store manager Edward Alvarez explains.

Yes, that was Natalie Cole who popped into the Somper Furs store on Rodeo Drive recently. She was shopping and settled on a full-length black mink cape, reports Somper president Edd Jacobs. Cole said she was going to wear it over a Reagan-red satin gown to dinner at the White House.