Teeny Take
Paulina, the New York-based fashion model, fell in love at a recent photo session on a Caribbean beach. Listen hears from Don Langer of the new Caribe sun-care products (that’s what the pictures were promoting) that Paulina liked the swimsuits she wore that day. They’re teeny bikinis by Ipanema, meant to be rolled down to even teenier. She liked them so much, she got a couple for herself, Langer said. Not only that, she liked the sun-care products, so she got all of them too. Look for the sun-care products in local chain drugstores; they’ll carry them this summer.
Quick Hair Style
The artful scrunch on the coiffure of Donna Rice pal Lynn Armandt in the current issue of People is the work of Hisato, a stylist at New York’s Bruno Le Salon. Hisato told Listen he had never even heard of Armandt, much less Donna Rice--in fact he barely knew who Gary Hart was--when he got a call from People, asking him to hurry on over and mousse Armandt’s hair into submission for what they told him would be a cover shot. Brown and brittle was Hisato’s pronouncement on the state of Armandt’s auburn, collar-bone-length hair. “Too much sun,” he theorized.
Wrapping Up a Lecture
“Issey was very nervous--he’s not used to giving lectures,” June Kanai told Listen after her world-famous boss, Tokyo-based designer Issey Miyake, talked about his craft to local fashion students and members of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Costume Council in the museum auditorium. Miyake was well received, especially when he told the crowd that after spending a weekend in Los Angeles, he saw little need to discuss clothes. Californians look so beautiful and healthy, he said, they really don’t need to wear any. Miyake’s next stop is Santa Fe, N. M., Kanai said, where he’ll soak up local color before heading back to Japan.
And the Winner Is . . .
Well, we don’t know who the winner is yet. But the nominees for California designer of the year, a title bestowed annually by the Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the California Mart, are: Christine Albers, Karen Alexander, Esprit, Guess by Georges Marciano, Kevan Hall, Nancy Heller, Nancy Johnson, Carole Little, Leon Max and Jessica McClintock. The envelope (please) arrives Sept. 21 during a black-tie gala at the museum. As for what’s inside, as soon as we know, you’ll know.
Gift Rapper
Not to ruin a surprise, but Listen discovered what heiress Patty Hearst Shaw is giving her dad, newspaper executive Randolph Hearst, this Father’s Day. Beverly Hills gift wrapper Bonnie Fleming tells Listen the daughter is sending Hearst “a large crystal ball. She didn’t know what to get him,” Fleming says. Fleming was asked to wrap the gift, which she decorated with a huge white bubble bow and fortune cookies. The package is en route to Hearst in San Francisco, but not without a price tag. “This wrap is going to cost her $35,” says Fleming. “I’m not cheap.”
Surf’s Up
It’s not every store that lets you shop to the sounds of surf competitions instead of rock ‘n’ roll. But then there’s Op. Listen stopped in at the company’s new beachwear boutique in Westwood to check out the merch, because we’d heard they were “marketing a life style” right there on the premises. We saw oversize and undersize T-shirts, flowered surfer’s jams and skintight Lycra surf trunks, minis, jeans and canvas tote bags. That’s life. “People have a stereotype image of what the California style is,” Op’s marketing vice president Jerry Crosby tells us. “It starts with surfers and beachwear and goes on to interpretations you can wear everywhere else.” Crosby says there will be other Op stores around the country, all opened by Ocean Fashions Ltd., the single licensor. There’s already one in Dallas. And Crosby says another wave of Op is about to break in the Midwest. “People in Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, who buy it are buying a life style,” Crosby says. We know what he means.
Crimes of the Hair
Jessica Lange had a problem. To get the right look for her role in the movie “Crimes of the Heart,” she bleached her hair ‘til it broke, Listen hears from Lange’s regular hair stylist, Vern Pingatore. Not only that, Elaine May had a problem too. She’d been out in the Sahara sun too long while she was directing “Ishtar.” “Her hair got fried,” Pingatore says. He turned Lange’s hair from bleached blond to a natural-looking honey color, he says. And May’s hair is now the color of “chestnuts with root beer highlights,” Pingatore says. He wasn’t around for the thank-you notes. He tells Listen he’s been out of town attending the ninth annual dinner of the Pittsburgh Beauty Academy Assn. Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted.
That’s Big Time!
Listen got impulsive last week and headed to the unveiling of some jeweled Piaget watches, priced $50,000 to $300,000 at Tallarico Precious Jewels in Beverly Hills. This international collection of timepieces was brought to town to celebrate Hollywood’s 100th anniversary. Of course, they were also for sale--for all of three days. Piaget officials insisted that’s all the time it should take to tempt a prospective buyer. A six-figure watch, Piaget vice president Everett Raschotsky said, “is an impulse item. The longer they (shoppers) wait, the longer they’re probably not going to buy it.” Listen wasn’t that impulsive--but others were. Tallarico’s Denise Boertje reports two of the jeweled watches were sold by Monday.
