Fashion : Jackie Takes Another Look at Hollywood Wives

Six years ago, author Jackie Collins invented the term “Hollywood Wives” in her book of the same name. Fashion asked her to update her view of the type. As avant-garde Italian designer Franco Moschino said at his spring, 1989, clothes show, while his long-legged models strode the runway pouting as hard as they could: “No more shows. Fashion shows are out of fashion.”

Yeah! My sentiments entirely. Women are fed up with eyeballing super-thin, super-tall, super-young models on whom a plastic garbage bag would look sensational.

After all, fashion is merely a state of mind. And the women who follow it slavishly usually end up looking ridiculous at best, or like a small army of clones at the worst.

I remember the inspiration to write “Hollywood Wives.” I was sitting in a glamorous Beverly Hills restaurant one lunchtime, and I glanced around. Immediately I was struck by the individual groups of women who all looked exactly the same.

Identical dresses, shoes, jewelry, purses, even hair styles and manicures. Dedicated followers of fashion. The Hollywood wives. The definitive power behind the men. But not an original looker among them.

Part of the Language

And so a book was born. And a brand name. Hollywood wives, it seems, is now part of the language.

Since I published the book in 1983, the look has changed, but not all that much. It starts with blond hair. From very yellow to blond with platinum streaks. And the makeup looks as if it is professionally done. It’s always impeccable.

Today’s Hollywood wives are into Chanel, from head to toe. Chanel bags, shoes, and they’re all fancied up with Chanel jewelry, most of it from the Chanel boutique on Rodeo Drive. I also see them shopping at Fred Hayman. Lina Lee is too hip, but they do go to Torrie Steele.

Obviously, these women don’t dress alike by accident. They want it that way. Maybe it makes them feel secure that they aren’t making any fashion mistakes.

What they don’t seem to understand is this: Fashion is a joke played upon women, usually by men. Ever since 1947, when Christian Dior inflicted his new look on the world, the media have been hooked and the women confused. Long skirts, short skirts, midi lengths, micro minis. High necklines, low plunges, backless, topless. Fashion dictates and females follow, whether they want to or not.

However, now, as we head toward the ‘90s, and not a moment too soon, women are finally saying: “Hey, wait a minute. We can wear whatever we want, and get away with it.”

Lucky Santangelo, the heroine of two of my books, “Chances” and “Lucky,” has never followed fashion rules. She has always looked exactly as she pleases. A strong, sexy, uncompromising woman, now she reappears in “Lady Boss,” the book I am currently writing. Lucky strides through her new role as owner of a major Hollywood studio, wearing black leather trench coats, form-fitting pin-stripe silk suits and drop-dead white dresses. Lucky dresses to dazzle--feminine, sexy and most of all, assured.

She likes huge, gold earrings, a mane of wild, tousled black hair and a square-shouldered jacket over an animal-print blouse, all balanced on extremely high, sexy heels. Her look is a combination, sexy and tough.

And frankly, that’s the way I see fashion going. Women can do anything they want. Power dressing is in. Female executives do not have to play down their sexuality. They don’t wear frills and flounces either. Female studio dynamos look great. They no longer feel the need to dress the way business mores dictate.

I love the fact that today everyone feels free enough to do what suits them. There are no rules anymore. Adolfo or Guess, Armani or the Gap. Who cares?

And men are looking almost as good as women. The Hollywood husbands are breaking out in stylish Italian suits or merely looking casually hot in faded denim work shirts and old jeans. The pressure is off.

In fact, what’s in fashion today is anything you like. Anything except furs, which are definitely out.

“Furs are worn by beautiful animals and ugly people,” Franco Moschino says. Well, that may be taking it a little too far, but fake is definitely in.

Right now, animal prints are a hot item, along with ethnic jewelry, Jean Paul Gaultier Western wear, Chanel shoes, hand-knit sweaters, riding pants, body-skimming dresses and cinch belts--all the better to show off those worked-out, worked-on Hollywood bodies.

Oh yes, and pants are here to stay. Wide, narrow, loose, tight. And if you live in L.A., you have to include shorts and tanks and T’s--all the great casual gear.

But most of all--individuality is the thing. If it feels right--wear it! Because when you get down to it--fashion is you. And that’s what is really important. Being yourself and loving it.

Hollywood Wives, Jackie Collins style

Then (1983)

The hair: color at Menage a Trois, cut at Jose Eber.

The makeup: Aida Thibiant or Aida Grey.

The Manicure: red nails from Jessica’s Nail Clinic.

The cosmetic surgery of choice: silicon implants.

The shoes: Charles Jourdan pumps with dangersously high heels.

The dress: Yves Saint Laurent, Adolfo.

The diamonds: Tiffany’s pear-shaped solitaire.

The dining room: Ma Maison.

Now (1989)

The hair: color at Yuki, cut at Umberto or Joseph Martin.

The makeup: do-it-yourself, after professional instruction.

The manicure: pink and white two-tone, French manicure from Jessica’s or one of several spinoffs opened by ex-employees. Among them, Artistic Nails.

The cosmetic surgery of choice: liposuction.

The shoes: Maud Frizon, flats or dangerously high heels.

The Dress: If not Chanel, Valentino or Emmanuel Ungaro.

The diamonds: Cartier emerald-cut solitaire on a diamond baguette band.

The dining room: The Bistro, or Bistro Garden if the sun umbrellas are up.