Mikhail Baryshnikov is in a tight spot....
Mikhail Baryshnikov is in a tight spot. The ballet legend is throwing his leg into the bodywear industry with a collection that will debut for spring. Called Baryshnikov Bodywear, the line will be manufactured by Marika Bodywear, a San Diego-based firm, and will include leotards, tights and cover-ups.
Morgan Brittany usually looks the trim brunette. But not while filming “LBJ,” a new movie based on the life of Lyndon Johnson. The erstwhile fixture on “Dallas” told Listen she wore a strawberry-blond wig and a new buxom body for her part in the three-hour NBC movie airing next winter. “They made me a body, basically, and I wore it under my clothes. I had these wonderful curves that were everywhere. You put that hair on top, and it was instant transformation into a 1930s sexy woman.” In a film that covers 30 years of Johnson’s life, Brittany will play Alice Glass in a liaison with LBJ (Randy Quaid). And for the record, Brittany says she hasn’t been blond since playing Baby June in the movie “Gypsy.” That was 1962.
Out of Africa: We hear from super-skin-care specialist Aida Grey that her latest beauty-care salon is not the one in Ireland, in Spain, or even in Nairobi, Kenya. It’s much closer to home. She’s just set up her 98th storefront in La Jolla, Calif. That gives Grey’s celebrated customer First Lady Nancy Reagan one more place where she can pick up a supply of Reagan Red lipstick.
Rita Coolidge stopped in at the L’Aspect boutique in the Beverly Center, looking for something to wear for her opening last week in Las Vegas, we hear from Edward Alvarez of the store. After a quick look around, she bought a black leather skirt and camisole with rhinestone and sequin details. “She was only here for about half an hour,” Alvarez says. “I wish all my customers were that easy.”
Heather Locklear and new hubby Tommy Lee of the heavy metal band Motley Crue were recently spotted in Robinson’s, Fashion Island, Newport Beach, where the TV actress picked up a few basics at the cosmetics counter. Salesperson Lynn Hall tells Listen a casually clad Locklear, who has been on “Dynasty” and “T.J. Hooker,” bought some Lancome lip gloss and matching his-and-her terry cloth robes.
From time to time we’ve wondered just how far reaching is the impact of Hollywood and Beverly Hills. After a bit of touring, we’ve extended the borders as far as Dakar, Senegal. There, at the home of a UNICEF director, we came across a large bottle of Giorgio cologne. And if that wasn’t enough to impress us, we later found ourselves cast in a lively conversation about “Dynasty,” the nighttime soap. This was orchestrated by Mrs. Massamba Sarre, wife of the U.N. ambassador from Senegal, who lives in Dakar and spends much of her time in New York. Her hometown friends tell us they watch “Dallas” on local TV but rely on her for “Dynasty” updates from the United States.
We were lounging by the pool at the Oakwood Garden Apartments near Universal Studios when we met a cast member of “Nicholas Nickleby,” one Karen Archer (Madame Mantalini, owner of the dress shop in Dickens’ play), whom we recognized, just barely, when she started reading a script. We were dying to know what she thought of our city so we asked--point blank. Turns out she wishes she had more time for the sun, tries to get to the beach with her twins and husband David Colling (Newman Noggs on stage) at least once a week, and that Johnny Carson made her night when he plugged her show on his show, after attending a performance. Ooooh yes, as for what Madame Mantalini wears when she’s playing Karen Archer, we can report that she arrived poolside in pink-and-white striped short shorts with a pale green bikini underneath.
Donna Karan isn’t a die-hard perfume wearer, but America’s designer of the hour could learn to be--especially if that scent has her name on it. Listen hears Karan is in the “talking stages” with fragrance-industry execs and has an eye toward developing a signature perfume by 1988. Since going solo a few seasons back, this queen of the bodysuit has added shoes, belts, jewelry, furs, hats and other accessories to her clothing line. What’s been lacking is fragrance, says Patti Cohen, Karan’s fashion director, who promises that Karan will invent a “classic” scent for the “international woman on the go . . . . Donna Karan would never do a feminine, feminine type of smell.” No such promises come from the people at Victoria’s Secret, where the word is that this intimate-apparel chain also will create a signature fragrance. Officials with the Limited, of which Victoria’s Secret is a division, greeted questions about a new perfume with “no comment.”
Conflicting reports are circulating in Paris, according to Listen’s Paris Ear. One report is that Givenchy will soon close his couture operation. Another says he will not close because the City Fathers won’t allow it. “To close Givenchy couture would be too big a blow to the French fashion industry, and some think Paris civic leaders and politicians will do everything possible to keep him open,” the Ear explains. The heart of the problem, we hear, is trouble with the unionized work force. Givenchy was not available for comment.
Tango dancers (and aspiring tango dancers): You’ll have another chance to get in step when New Leaf by Shamir, an L.A.-based dress-design firm, premieres its latest fashion video, “Tango Rock,” this fall. Performed under the lights in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s newly refurbished ballroom, choreographed by the inimitable Miranda and Royo, the dancing duo currently showing tango-linos all around town how it’s done, this video is a dance-instruction dream about a boy who meets a girl and has a fashion romance, says New Leaf President Marvin Birstock. The show will be aired at any number of specialty stores around the country. And the “costumes”--black velvet bustiers, metallic sheaths and glittering chiffon skirts from New Leaf’s holiday collection--will be available this fall at Nordstrom and Saks.
A new week means a whole new head of hair for actress Catherine Mary Stewart. She’s now sporting her third major coiffure correction this year. It started with “Sins,” a TV miniseries in which she appeared wearing a black bouffant do. Next came “Scenes From the Goldmine,” a feature film that just wrapped. Now, we hear from Stewart’s coiffure-count reporter Brenda Feldman, she’s wearing a short, brunet style for the character she’ll play in “Nightflyers,” her next feature film. This girl deserves an honorary chair someplace. We recommend the “hair-obics” hall of fame.
