Pros that they are, Chris Evert Lloyd...

Pros that they are, Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova oblige most questions from the press. But when Listen caught up with them in Manhattan Beach at the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles tournament last week, they did seem a little taken aback when asked how they feel about their appearances. Navratilova, who beat Evert Lloyd in Sunday’s final round, confided her toughest beauty problems are “thin hair” and “a big foot. I’m a Size 10 1/2. The biggest size they usually make is 10, so I’m out of luck in most stores.” Navratilova, 29, said she feels more attractive with time: “I do look better, the older I’m getting. I couldn’t have looked this good, no matter how hard I tried, 10 years ago. I was a little, chubby 18-year-old. People are surprised how well I can look when I’m dressed up and made up. They almost don’t recognize me.” Evert Lloyd, 31, said the years agree with her also. “I know my style more now,” said the athlete, who favors padded shoulders, belts and the color pink. “Whereas before, I was groping. I wore jeans and a silk shirt all the time.” She said she used to look in the mirror and say: “I’m a 5. Now, instead of being overly critical of how I look, I know that if I have energy and I’m working out, then the rest can take care of itself. I know I’ll have a glow, and I know everyone has an individual beauty.”

Celebrities in Virginia Slims crowd: Olympic gymnast-turned-actor Mitch Gaylord showed up in the press tent wearing black Levi’s and a muscle-flaunting Nike tank top. Actor Michael Warren of TV’s “Hill Street Blues” sported green-and-white Fila shorts and shirt with a Boston Red Sox cap. And actress Kate Jackson of TV’s “Scarecrow and Mrs. King” was spotted in a faded denim jacket and cream-color slacks.

How to emblazon your name in the consumer’s mind? The people at Soft Sheen Products thought an entire summer of rhythm and blues concerts couldn’t hurt. The manufacturer of ethnic hair-care products started its “Care Free Curl Summerfest” in Atlanta in June and brings the corporate-sponsored show to L.A.’s Universal Amphitheatre Sunday at 8 p.m. and to the Inglewood Forum Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. Different artists will play different nights, but the company spokesperson describes them all as “trend-setters in fashion and hair care.” The firm tells Listen this fourth annual concert is possibly “the largest black music marketing event ever done by a black-owned company.”

It’s no wonder jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane is in an elegant mood. He tells Listen: “After spending the summer going to the Duchess of Marlborough’s balls at Blenheim Palace, Prince Lowenstein’s ball at Osterley Park (the former country house of the Earl of Jersey near London), where all the ladies wore real tiaras, and to Princess Gloria Thurn und Taxis’ ball at Regensburg Palace in Germany, my fall and holiday collections will be--if nothing else--opulent.” Besides his Rodeo Drive location, KJL is opening a new boutique in the Beverly Center on Oct. 1.

Giorgio Armani gave a new definition to the phrase fashion forward and came up with a new way to give his menswear designs more longevity. At his spring/summer 1987 show in Milan recently, the designer jumped ahead a couple of years and showed T-shirts and sweats bearing the logo “Emporio Armani ’89.”

Model Maud Adams found fashion accessories for her next camera session during a yoga class. “She took a bracelet I designed right off the arm of my business associate,” Bonnie Zabel says. The bracelet, a stretch-band design made of small safety pins interspersed with turquoise beads, is one from Zabel’s Bonnie Z collection. She tells Listen they are available at Flair, a boutique in Encino, as well as Judy’s. They sell for about $18 and are constructed by workers at the Foundation for the Junior Blind.

American college students remain on a conservative roll, according to a new fashion survey conducted for Levi Strauss & Co. called “The Levi’s 501 Report.” The poll found that TV’s most visible preppy, Michael J. Fox, is the celebrity most admired by students for his fashion taste, and that the top campus fashion favorites are oversize sweaters, big shirts and plain blue jeans. Students claimed to wear jeans about 70% of the time. The national poll was conducted among 7,700 undergraduates on 25 campuses last spring.

In the competitive world of marketing, it’s no longer enough to call the iron an appliance. The household appliance firm of Black & Decker is “repositioning the iron as a fashion accessory,” according to a call Listen received this week from a company spokesperson. To help spruce up the iron’s image, the company has issued a brochure called “Self Expression Makes Good Impressions,” which includes ironing instructions and grooming tips. The brochure is available free by writing Good Impressions Brochure, P.O. Box 70-JAF, New York, N.Y. 10001. Also on the wrinkle front: An aerosol fabric relaxant called Wrinkle Free is being test marketed in California this summer. Developed by Very Incredible Products Inc. of Costa Mesa, Wrinkle Free looks like a tiny can of hair spray, and it comes with assorted promises that it will smooth fabrics, restore pleats and remove static or cigarette odors from clothing. The product is $5 and is now at some department stores.

Watch for this on “60 Minutes”: Anchorwoman Diane Sawyer phoned L.A. sweater designer Judy Graham to investigate a hot story. She was looking for sweaters, one cardigan and one pullover, just like the set she saw a friend wearing. Graham, who uses the Topaz label, says Sawyer ordered two sweater sets, including one in “TV blue,” a color wardrobe shoppers often buy for prime-time stars. The cardigan, $225, is almost knee length, with dolman sleeves. The pullover, $165, is hip length. Graham says they are available at Regine on Melrose Avenue.