Where the Boys Are
L.A.’s menswear look is traveling around the world. Sophia Loren’s sons, Carlo Ponti Jr., 18, and Eduardo Ponti, 15, recently hopped down to Bell Gardens, no less, to visit Zeppelin, which sounds like a band, but it’s really a clothing firm. The youngest Ponti was about to leave for boarding school in Switzerland and needed some new school things, he said. He bought denims and heavy-duty sweater tops. Older brother Carlo, who’s at college in Los Angeles, went for cotton sweaters, coordinating pants and shirts. We asked Harvey Turell, head of the 11-year-old firm, how he connected with the Pontis. “At a party,” Turell answered. “I just happened to be there with a catalogue.”
Baubles, Bangles, Billboards
Congrats to Little Richard. He’ll appear on the Butler & Wilson Christmas billboard in London. In the past, the billboard has been the exclusive terrain of customers such as Shakira Caine, Faye Dunaway, Catherine Deneuve and Charlotte Rampling, all wearing B&W; jewelry from their personal collections. Richard won’t let the girls down; he’s wearing about 15 pieces from his personal collection. A spokesperson for the local Butler & Wilson on Sunset Boulevard describes the baubles as silver-plated, with colored crystal stones fashioned in exotic shapes of ballerinas and animals.
Baby, Look at Him Now
Loni Anderson and Burt Reynolds’ adopted baby boy, Quenton, is hardly 3 weeks old, but he’s already into vintage fashion. The showpiece of the newborn’s wardrobe is a 100-year-old christening cap and gown he received from costume designer Robert Turturice, a friend of the family. “Christening gowns are Robert’s traditional gift to new mothers, because they can be handed down through the family generations,” explains Julian Siminski, a spokesman for Turturice. Quenton’s lace-trimmed cotton gown is from the Elizabeth Lucas Collection in Santa Monica.
Get the Picture
Meet Jody and Mimi, daughters of Los Angeles photographer Jim Britt. They’re the laughing girls with braces on their teeth in the Comme des Garcons clothing ad running in Vogue, Vanity Fair and Interview. Jody and Mimi don’t have braces on their teeth anymore, however. The photograph was taken in 1976 and was included in a 1984 People magazine layout on sisters. We’re told that after Comme des Garcons’ art director Tsuguya Inouye came across the story four years later, Britt was contacted and paid $13,000 for use of the photo. We also hear that a New York orthodontist ordered a print for her office.
Batting 1.000
Add Lou Brock to the list of jocks who put their name on a clothing label. The retired St. Louis Cardinal and baseball hall of famer hopes to hit a homer with a line of baseball-inspired activewear he’s introducing in Los Angeles this weekend. It’s a collection of T-shirts, tank tops, shorts and warm-up suits that carry major league logos and original baseball graphics Brock helped design. For this new venture, the Lou Brock Signature Series, he’s teaming up with Velva Sheen of Cincinnati, Ohio. K-Mart and Mervyn stores will carry the activewear collection next spring.
Non, Miserable; Qui, Chic
Actress-singer Karen Fineman, who plays Cosette in the L.A. production of “Les Miserables,” has come up with a way to keep busy backstage. She makes bracelets and sells them to private clients. They’re wide, stretchy bands of multicolored beads designed to fit any size wrist. So far Fineman’s most impressive sale went to Bruce Springsteen, who ordered several of her bold-scaled baubles to wear on stage. Carrol Gettko, a spokeswoman for Fineman, says the jewelry will be carried soon at the Dolce Vita in the new Brentwood Gardens shopping center.
Antenna Do
Don’t sock it to anyone else, sock it to your hair. That’s the message from Antenna, the London salon where, we’re told, Boy George, Cher, Tracey Ullman and Daryl Hannah have had their hair done. The latest look is called “stubbs.” “It’s for men waging war on society. They can direct their violence toward their head instead of toward others,” a spokesperson for Antenna tells us, explaining that monofibre extensions are added to a center patch of hair, then everything else is shaved.
Learner and Lowe
Rob Lowe took his shades off long enough to have lunch at Mason’s in Brentwood, where Deborra-lee Furness, Australian star of “Shame,” was dining in an opposite corner. Lowe wore smoky blue, knee-length walking shorts, a button-down blue print shirt and loafers with no socks. Furness, who’s quickly learned the L.A. dress code, wore a white T-shirt and sweats that stopped just below the knee.
