New Role for a Thatcher
We can only assume it was a labor of love. There were Mark Thatcher, son of England’s prime minister, and his bride, Diane, shopping with determination at Giorgio in Beverly Hills last week. He “counseled her” on what to buy, public relations manager Mary Carley tells Listen. Thus counseled, she selected a short, black strapless dress by Jean Louis Scherrer and several Giorgio private-label gowns. “They expect to be very social when they go back to London,” Carley says. For our part, we expect them to smell very nice because their purchases included Giorgio cologne and bath goodies (gel, moisturizer, dusting powder) for her and the new V.I.P. cologne for him.
Joey Mills’ Mascara Secret
Michelle Royer, newly crowned Miss U.S.A., told Listen one of her best beauty secrets. It’s something she discovered during a photo session with Francesco Scavullo, after she won the crown. Makeup artist Joey Mills was applying her makeup for pictures and informed her that his favorite mascara can be found in local drug stores. It’s by Maybelline, it’s packaged in a pink and green tube, and it’s not to be confused with the cake mascara variety. When Mills recommended it, he didn’t know that Maybelline was one of the sponsors of the beauty contest, Royer says.
Green Duds for Dudley
The next time you see Dudley Moore, he might be wearing hospital greens. Listen hears from “Moonlighting” costume designer Robert Turturice that he will style the clothes for “Like Father Like Son,” a feature film now being shot in Los Angeles. Moore plays a surgeon in the movie, but he does get out of his medical digs for one flamboyant change of clothes, when he and his teen-age son magically swap personalities, Turturice says. For that, Moore will wear “something wild in fuchsia and turquoise from Melrose Avenue,” the designer promises.
Two Landlords From Japan
Listen has learned that Japanese investors have snapped up two commercial buildings in the Beverly Hills business triangle in the past couple of months. One is the Jerry Magnin store on Rodeo Drive, which investment associate Michael Zietsman of Jones Lang Wootton, U.S.A., says Magnin sold for more than $7.5 million. Zietsman told Listen the 6,000-square-foot property is being leased back by owner Magnin, who declined to comment on the matter for Listen. The second property is the 27,000-square-foot La Colonnade building at the corner of Camden Drive and “little” Santa Monica Boulevard, which houses Merrill Lynch and Sharper Image, Arlequin and other retail stores. Peter Smith of Chesshire Gibson Fowler, an international real estate consultant firm, says a British development company sold the property to Chiyoda Trading of Tokyo for more than $16 million. Smith notes that Beverly Hills investments are in keeping with the Japanese interest in stable, prestige properties. “There is a push right now for the annual-report-style building--the building that looks good and has good, national tenants,” Smith says.
Watch the Fur Fly
This could be our favorite points system. For just 250,000 points (that’s the equivalent of $250,000 in accumulated purchases from one or more of the Neiman-Marcus stores), the specialty chain will extend an invitation-for-two to join their annual “N-M Fur Book Shoot,” a photography expedition to obtain photos for the yearly fur catalogue. Rest assured, for that kind of money there’s nothing ordinary about the journey. In previous years, the photos have been shot in such intriguing locales as the North Pole, the Soviet Union, the jungles of Thailand and the snow-capped Andes. If that sort of thing doesn’t appeal, the same number of points on the InCircle program will bring tickets to the XV Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada, with Time magazine serving as host and guide. It takes 3,000 points to start an InCircle membership, and from then on the prizes start rolling in. Among them: caviar, chocolates, crystal, engraved stationery and a first-class, luncheon-for-two weekend in what the press release calls “one of the 17 Neiman-Marcus cities nationwide.” They don’t call this Neiman-Marcus country for nothing.
De Ribes Goes International
Vive le bargain. The Vicomtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, according to a recent announcement, will lower her prices this fall. Her luxury ready-to-wear collection will start at $500 rather than $1,300. In hopes of attracting a broader consumer base, De Ribes will be adding separates to the line, and along with the reduction and expansion comes a name change. The company is going from Jacqueline de Ribes Ltd. to Jacqueline de Ribes International, which, we are told, reflects the success of the American operation. In less than two years, sales are reported to have climbed to the multimillion-dollar level and encouraged De Ribes to introduce her ready-to-wear designs--once available only in America--to Europe, on a limited basis.
Opening in Dallas
Aida Grey is at it again. The longtime skin-care consultant to First Lady Nancy Reagan has expanded her empire even farther, this time to deep in the heart of Dallas. Listen heard from Ms. Grey that she’s now franchised in the land of the panhandle. We phoned Texas for a full report. “I’m a client answering the phone,” said a customer who happened to be poised in the marble reception area. Then Paul Neinast, who owns the salon-gift gallery-jewelry boutique where the Grey salon is nestled, got on the line. He said actress Susan Howard, from the other “Dallas,” was the big star at his opening night.
Antonio’s Drawn to L.A.
Another art coup for Los Angeles. This time it’s the original drawings and paintings of Antonio, the fashion illustrator who has made the designs of Missoni, Chloe, Yves Saint Laurent and Armani, among others, come to life on the pages of national and international magazines. His unique works, which blend the real with the imagined, will be on exhibit--and for sale for the first time in America--at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica through April 4. Just for the occasion, the first in a series of 22 original Antonio serigraphs has been produced and will be available for purchase.
