About the Size of It
Soviet chic takes on new meaning this week when a new fashion magazine finds its way past the Iron Curtain. West Germany’s Burda Moden, which is the world’s largest fashion and pattern monthly, is coming out with a Russian-language edition and will celebrate that fact with a bash in Moscow complete with entertainment by the Bolshoi Ballet and an appearance by Soviet First Lady Raisa Gorbachev. Glancing through the new issue, Listen found ads by such Western companies as American Express and Cartier. The biggest change for the Russian audience? Other than language--the pattern sizes, which had to be expanded for the larger Russian figure. The new Burda will arrive in Russia four times a year, at $8 an issue.
Tight-Fittin’ Jeans
They might be called Malibu pants, but they’re actually from New York. And if you want to see them in action, catch “The Cosby Show” when Tempestt Bledsoe wears a pair. The slim-style jeans are by Zena, which also supplies other young members of the cast with trendy denim. According to a company spokesperson, trendy denim these days means the textured, frosted variety, as well as the color black and a new ultra-narrow leg known as the Santa Fe. And if it’s shape you’re after, there’s an hourglass silhouette to the skirts and dresses worn by Sabrina Le Beauf on the show. Or there’s the super-tight silhouette of a miniskirt sported by Cosby’s “daughter,” Lisa Bonet.
‘Mini-thon’ at Broadway
You supply the baby and the bottle, the Broadway supplies the milk or juice. But that’s only part of the deal for the upcoming Baby Games. Slated for this weekend and next, they’re co-sponsored by Oshkosh B’Gosh and will be divided into three main events: the five-yard crawl for babies 6-to-9 months, the five-yard crawl with knock-the-blocks for little champs 10-to-18 months and the five-yard crawl with roll-the-ball for toddlers between 14-and- 18 months. All it takes to enter is a baby, a parent and a completed registration form brought to the children’s department 30 minutes before each event. Times and places are: noon Saturday at both the South Coast Plaza and the Santa Monica Mall branches; Sunday, 1 p.m. at the Glendale Galleria and March 15, 1 p.m. in the Escondido store. The expectation is “kids swarming all over the place,” according to a spokesperson who witnessed last year’s Baby Games. Keeping them happily in line at the various sites will be former Rams player Pat Haden, sportscaster Fred Roggin, newscaster John Beard and San Diego TV weatherman Clark Anthony. To round out the fun and games, the Broadway is donating $4,000 to the Starlight Foundation, which grants wishes to terminally, chronically and critically ill children.
Reliving the ‘40s
“What’s new for spring?” was Rod Stewart’s question as he sailed into Fred Segal on Melrose Avenue recently. He soon found out that new was the ‘40s look reminiscent of something Robert Mitchum might have worn, and he bought it: a toast-color, double-breasted rayon suit with baggy trousers. Then, a fresh start with white, Western-style dress shirts and two high-fashion work shirts in mint green and navy chambray. He found a sand-color wool topcoat by Hugo Boss irresistible, but that still left him without something spring-like on his feet. For them, nothing but the best: crocodile slip-ons, which were so expensive, according to menswear manager George Grimball, that the rock star looked at his bill and said he had a mind to wear the shoes and nothing else. We’ll be on the lookout.
Backstage Brrrrrrr!
Gina Furth, hair stylist for the mother-daughter, country-singing duo, Naomi and Wynonna Judd, says backstage at the recent Grammy presentations went like this: “It was a freezing cold night, and the dressing area was like a barn with no heat, but everybody was running around in their skimpy little stage clothes.” In her opinion she was the only one sensibly dressed. “I wore my Reeboks and my coat.” Furth says the new blond streaks the Judds wore in their hair that night was all their own idea. In their business, she contends: “You’ve always got to do something new.”
Giant Economy Size?
It’s not every man who’ll pay $500 for a bottle of cologne. But then there’s Sammy Davis Jr. When Giorgio offered the item, a liter size, limited edition, crystal bottle of the boutique’s new VIP Special Reserve men’s fragrance several months ago, Davis was the first customer, Listen hears from Katy Sweet of the boutique. The $50 price for a typical bottle pales in comparison, even though luminaries Neil Simon and Walter Matthau are among those who paid that much for a bottle. Sweet says William F. Buckley Jr.’s wife, Pat, will be a host at Saks Fifth Avenue next month when the scent is officially introduced there.
Winter Whites
Listen spied Dudley Moore stopping in for an early supper at a restaurant just off the Venice boardwalk, and he was dressed for the part. He wore black jeans and a white denim jacket, fitted at the waist, full at the shoulders.
Getting a Dressing Down
Princess Di “regretfully” has been dropped from the International Best Dressed List, after six straight years on that vaunted turf. A terse statement on the matter arrived in Listen’s mailbag, citing Diana’s “mannequin attitude” and “patriotic desire to parade British fashion, which dilutes her impact as an example of personal leadership in contemporary dress.” Apparently not affected by such shortcomings is Diana’s younger brother-in-law, Prince Edward, who did make the list of the world’s best-dressed men. Barbara Walters, Diandra (Mrs. Michael) Douglas, Anjelica Huston, Anna (Mrs. Rupert) Murdoch and socialites Mercedes Kellogg, Anne (Mrs. Sid) Bass and Sybil (Mrs. Donald) Harrington are among those named to the new 1986/1987 list. New York publicist Eleanor Lambert conducts the annual poll among fashion designers, editors and assorted fashion watchers worldwide.
