A Head Above Lacroix

Actress Jane Seymour caught our eye the other night at the highly touted Christian Lacroix fashion show Saks put on at 20th Century Fox. She was wearing dark silk flowers and a bit of velvety netting entwined in her simple chignoned hair. Funny thing. When we looked around the room, every other long-haired woman in sight was wearing some variation on the same theme. Listen spied more chignons and French twists bedecked with jeweled combs, velvet and silk flowers and tuille or net than we can remember. Maybe it was the women’s way of saying hello to Lacroix, who seldom sends a model down a runway without a faux blossom or two, if not a whole garden sprouting from the top of her head. So they like the way he dresses hair, but we wondered how the audience liked the way he dresses bodies. So we asked around and got mixed reviews. Everybody loved to look at the clothes. (What’s not to love? They’re as playful as puppy dogs.) Some said they would definitely wear the clothes--if only they could afford them. (This is four-digit fashion.) And then there were those few women Saks and Lacroix are counting on, who can’t get enough of the stuff. We let Patricia Kennedy, the city’s newest acclaimed clotheshorse and a regular at the couture shows in Paris, speak for that group. Nay-nay, she said to rumors of impossible problems of any sort, adding: “The clothes are divine to wear.” At the time, she was carrying the train of a Lacroix evening dress--a knee-grazing, embroidered-silk event with yards of train trailing happily behind it. She wasn’t wearing flowers in her hair. But she turned around to show us a full bouquet of long-stem pink roses hugging her at the waist. (Oh, yes: Seymour’s hair ornament and her black-and-gold lace dress were designed by Fe Zandi of Beverly Hills.)

Auld Lang Syne Time?

Is it that time already? Jessica Uribe, manager of Charles Gallay’s boutique on Rodeo Drive, tells us Heather Locklear has purchased her New Year’s Eve outfit: a two-piece, rubber-lace dress by the master of sexy French clothes, Azzadine Alaia. The skirt is flared and hits about mid-thigh; the top is long-sleeve, turtleneck and see-through enough to require a cashmere tank top underneath. Locklear must have been craving cashmere, because she also stopped in the Gallay Sunset Plaza store for some cuddly, wraparound cashmere sweaters by Italian superstar Romeo Gigli.

Creating Her Own Dynasty

Listen wonders what actress Linda Evans plans to do with the little antique box she just picked up at Polo/Ralph Lauren. Owner Jerry Magnin tells Listen that Evans bought the 19th-Century tortoise-and-sterling-silver jewelry box on a recent stop at the Rodeo Drive store. The following week, Magnin tells Listen, Evans returned for something simple to wear. She purchased a classic black velvet dress--with mink collar.

Furnishing Celebs

If you don’t think singer Sting has a whimsical side, witness a recent purchase he made at the Malibu-based gallery Tops. Owner Judy Walker tells Listen that Sting picked up a three-door, peach-and-pale-blue cabinet by Taos artist Jim Wagner that had primitive images of bluebirds in flight. No idea where Sting plans to put it. Actress Whoopi Goldberg, in town for last weekend’s AIDS benefit, also dropped by Tops to indulge her fetish for fetishes. This time she picked up a fetish pendant made of boar’s tusk, a carved turquoise spirit mask and a ruby laser rod. The piece was made by Taos artist Will Powers, says Walker, and “anytime she (Goldberg) sees something unusual of his, she grabs it.”

Baubles, Bangles and Cher

We can only think that Cher is mad about jewelry. The actress-singer was recently seen shopping at Glitz in Century City, where she quickly surveyed the merchandise and selected two pairs of antique-finish earrings: a large hoop and a triangle with rings attached. She added an “armful” of faux marble bangles made of glass and ceramics, according to assistant buyer Betty Floura. That, however, wasn’t the last of it. About a week later, Cher’s secretary was back for duplicates of the earrings. And then came public exposure: The entertainer was seen on MTV recently, promoting her new film, “Suspect,” with a triangle dangling from each ear.

One Show, One No Show

We’ve been hoping to catch a glimpse of Joan Collins and Vanna White modeling their new fashion collections (lingerie for Collins, special-occasion dresses for White) on their TV shows. But in White’s case, anyway, we’ll be watching a long time before that happens. Some contract stipulation says she can’t appear on “Wheel of Fortune” wearing any of those little strapless, short-skirted dresses she launched this fall, says spokeswoman Sue Calden. Anybody who wants to see them close up will have to buzz by Nordstrom. But it’s a different story for Collins. Just the other day she pulled off a coup that Alexis (her character on “Dynasty”) could be proud of. She was dressing for a TV scene where she was supposed to wear lingerie, but nothing looked right, Listen hears from Collins’ spokesman Jeffrey Lyon. So, he says, “she suggested she wear her own lingerie.” Collin’s lingerie collection just landed at local Target stores, and she’ll wear two outfits, one peach-colored peignoir, one black-and-white print robe, on her show Dec. 9, Lyon says. Add the lingerie listing to Collins’ fashion empire, which now includes her own jewelry collection, eyeglass collection, and soon, sunglasses too.

Sound of the Future

If fashions do move from East to West, California trendies may soon be sporting the latest accessory seen on New York subway riders: hand-crocheted Walkman earpiece covers. Listen is not sure if these pastel-hued accouterments improve the stereo.

That’s the Way His Tie Is

Walter Cronkite stopped by the other day and had a few words to say about fashion. Neckties in particular. He’s wearing his (a deep blue silk foulard) tied tight against the collar of his shirt (a powder-blue-and-white pin-dot style without a button-down collar). Somewhere in the conversation, he started yanking at the tie as if he was going to slide the knot halfway down the front of the shirt. Then he asked: “Have you seen how they’re wearing them now, tied so loose?” A Don Johnson dishevelment came to mind and we got the picture. It’s definitely not Cronkite’s look.

Hidden Treasures

Big hunks of found treasure don’t sell as briskly as jewelry--or so the theory goes according to Jack Magne. The New Orleans salesman was just in Los Angeles to spread word of his new venture--a jewelry line made from melted-down silver ingots found in the 17th-Century Spanish galleon Neustra Senora de Atocha. Explorer Mel Fisher discovered the shipwreck off the Florida keys in 1985. Magne’s firm, Treasure Marketers International, acquired coins and silver blocks from that treasure hunt and plans to “liquidate” them by making them into small pieces of jewelry. “The trouble with treasure is that the marketability is not that great,” Magne told Listen, noting that museums and collectors usually get the goodies rather than the public at large. The new Galleon line, as the jewelry’s being called, was designed by a Florida sculptor and will be sold with certificates of authenticity. No word yet on what L.A. stores will carry these pendants, rings, necklaces and earrings, which Magne says will range in price from $65 to $135.