Actress Lee Meriwether was desperate. The erstwhile...

Actress Lee Meriwether was desperate. The erstwhile regular on the “Barnaby Jones” TV series is producing her first play, “The Artful Lodger,” in Los Angeles, and she needed a mauve-color evening dress. We hear from Edward Alvarez of L’Aspect boutique in the Beverly Center that Meriwether was searching out a gown fit for a Southern-belle character with overdone tastes. “We just happened to have one,” Alvarez tells Listen. But he adds that it wasn’t overdone enough to fill the bill. “So we gaudied it up by adding a few too many rhinestones,” Alvarez explains. A glitzy necklace, bracelets and earrings sent the outfit over the top.

What does a mermaid wear for an encore? Basic black, for one thing. Actress Daryl Hannah, the mermaid in the recent movie “Splash,” stopped in at the Grau boutique recently and chose a black sweater. “She said it would be for her new movie,” Lisa Kramer of the store says. But the mystery mermaid said no more. Griffin Dunne, who plays an urban oddball in Martin Scorsese’s latest movie, “After Hours,” made a mystery of his appearance at Grau as well. “He came in and hovered in the corner for so long I was beginning to wonder about him,” Kramer confesses. It seems Dunne was taking his time deciding what to buy. “I tried on a few things for him, and he bought a kimono-style blouse for his girlfriend,” Kramer tells us.

Do you know what the model mother-to-be wears these days? Forget maternity togs. Listen spotted super-duper model Christie Brinkley--also known as the expectant Mrs. Billy Joel--buying boots at Manolo Blahnik in New York and wearing a miniskirt, above-the-ankle suede boots and a long, long cable-knit sweater. For the record: Little Joel or Joelene is due in January.

In case you missed him a couple of weeks ago in Milan, designer Luciano Soprani is making his first-ever appearance in Los Angeles Wednesday, along with his entire spring, 1986, fashion collection for men and women. Soprani is showing his designs under the big top that has been temporarily installed for the event behind the Torie Steele boutique. You can call the store to reserve a seat.

Who was that tall blond man with one Hawaiian shirt, two brown leather sandals and a pair of khaki shorts on his person the other afternoon at the Brentwood Country Mart? It was the dance-despising Rev. Moore from the movie “Footloose,” the spaced-out Dr. Emilio Lizardo from “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, “ the killer from “Blow Out,” as none other than John Lithgow was seen playing daddy to a pair of tiny companions, one boy and one girl.

If you can’t afford an original Erte sketch, how about a sweater? The nonagenarian artist is introducing limited-edition knitwear for Magifrance Ltd. The first collection will feature 12 designs, all numbered and signed by the famed Russian-born Art Deco illustrator. Actually the sweaters are truly unique looking. One is a sort of Japanese kimono cardigan. Another is a wildly dramatic cape with panther spots and fringe. Each garment is hand finished with embroidery, silk and beads. Not to be forgotten is a certificate of authenticity, which accompanies each sweater. Now for the prices: The suggested issue price will be $750 to $1,500 per garment. The sweaters will be sold through select department stores and art galleries starting in about a week.

Not just the beautiful people, but the beautiful athletic people turned out to spend a black tie evening with Willy Bogner, the former Olympic skier who now devotes his talents to fashion design and film production. Highlight of the night was a show of the latest Bogner fashions for on and off the slopes, presented as a technological spectacular that had models stepping out of film scenes. German-born Bogner, whose family has been creating ski wear since 1932, included a retrospective of ski fashions with a spoof on the-way-we-were in decades such as the ‘60s. Among the wholesome crowd breaking training with sips of champagne and nibbles of caviar were avid skier Steven Ford, of the Gerald Ford clan, John Eaves and Suzy Chaffee. He’s the free-style skier and James Bond stunt man, she’s the free-style ski champion. Together they star in Bogner’s soon-to-be-released sports musical, “Fire on Ice.”

‘She used to dress much more conservatively,” actress Anne Archer’s business associate, Deborah Kelman, confides. Then, about a year ago, Archer decided to update her hair style to something stylishly spiky. Lately, Listen hears, the actress is working on her wardrobe. For a round of celebrity luncheons and black tie dinners, Archer’s first stop was the Maxfield boutique where she put herself together in a suit with an asymmetric jacket in unmatched prints and a skirt with fanny draping, designed by London’s Culture Shock. For the dinner, Archer chose a black velvet dress by Thierry Mugler, with vampire points on the wrist-covering sleeves and big rhinestones at the waist. Kelman tells Listen: “If there were any more to this dress you’d have to call it kitsch.”

What do real women wear under their work clothes? Jockey International would have us believe its their Jockey-for-Her underwear. After receiving photographs from thousands of eager participants, the company selected five females--including Los Angeles construction worker Rosalyn Keathley--to model a line of bikinis, hipsters, briefs and camisoles in a national advertising campaign. Why are these “real” women (a surgeon, a corporate executive, a mother, a recent college graduate) willing to pose in their undies? Will their brief appearances affect their personal and public lives? Will the ads turn out to be as controversial as Jockey’s previous campaign for men featuring pro baseball player Jim Palmer? Sorry, the answers won’t be known until Tuesday when the women meet the press at (where else?) the Jockey Club of New York’s Ritz Carlton Hotel.

He probably doesn’t know it, but after Channel 7 newscaster Harold Greene left the Vidal Sassoon salon in Beverly Hills last week the female members of the staff voted him the best-looking male redhead in Los Angeles. What Greene does know, according to Sassoon stylist Janis Buller, is that he caused a stir in the reception area where he was “mobbed” by women wanting his autograph. No mob scenes, however, when sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury dropped in for a trim. He had let his beautiful silver hair grow long in Europe while he completed “Death Is a Lonely Business,” Buller explains. She also says that the “really friendly” Bradbury never drives a car, doesn’t like to fly and travels to Europe by sea rather than by air. He is also (and his hairdresser ought to know) “probably the best movie critic in the world. He sees just about every film, and if he says it’s good, you can count on it being good.” Buller and Bradbury were obviously so busy talking about cars, ships and planes she didn’t get a movie recommendation this trip.

When “Capitol’s” Clarissa McCandless (otherwise known as Constance Towers) and Sen. Mark Denning (Ed Nelson) tie the knot Nov. 15, the bride will be decked out in a dramatic jersey gown by Holly Harp, we hear from Chris Anders of the shop. Since this is Clarissa’s second time at bat, so to speak, the color choice is off-white. The dress has a low, V-neck, dolman sleeves and lots of pearl and crystal beads. As for maid of honor Sloane Denning (Deborah Mullowney), she’ll be a vision in lavender velvet, courtesy of the show’s costume designer Susan Clare. Get out your hankies.