A Star Dresses Up Her Part
It wasn’t hard to wardrobe the NBC movie “A Mom for Christmas.” The female lead, Olivia Newton-John, found everything she needed in the holiday collection of Koala Blue, the clothing company she co-owns. Company spokeswoman Elizabeth Hansen swears the entertaining entrepreneur did not force the issue. We’re told: “The wardrobe people came down and we got real lucky.” Newton-John starts out as a department store mannequin, swathed in an emerald-green fake fur coat ($345). She is brought to life by a little girl’s wish (for a mother, not the coat). The show airs Dec. 17.
SWEET SMELL OF ENNUI: Typically, cologne sells at 10 times the rate of perfume, we’re told by Josef Schreick of Aramis fragrances. But Sensual Desert Nectar might be another story. Since the launch last month at Robinson’s, this “pearlized humectant” that looks more like body lotion than perfume, to be slathered on “shock sites,” not mere pulse points, is selling 3-to-1 against the companion cologne. So what’s wrong with perfume? “People are bored with the familiar,” Schreick sniffs.
SPLITSVILLE: Menswear designer Jef Huereque and restaurateur Mario Tamayo have severed their working relationship and closed their highly publicized men’s haberdashery, Modern Objects, located “on the not-so-trendy end of Melrose,” as the co-owners once described it. The small boutique around the corner from Tamayo’s restaurant, Cafe Mambo, sold selected pieces of Huereque-designed sportswear. For the present, Huereque is doing custom work out of his home and designing clothes for M.A.C., a store in San Francisco. Tamayo, who also owns the Atlas Bar & Grill, assures Listen his retail days are not numbered: “I’d like to open another store selling limited-edition menswear.”
MODELS NEED NOT APPLY: Opportunities abound these days for people who yearn to model. C&R; Clothiers is looking for a few good men, real men, not professional models, to participate in their latest advertising campaign “What a difference a day makes.” Entry forms are at any C&R; store and must be returned by Dec. 24. Jockey is looking for women with great legs to be featured in its national ads for women’s hosiery. On Dec. 13, representatives from Jockey will be at the May Co. in South Coast Plaza conducting a regional “Legs Search.” And Oil of Olay is on the hunt for 10 women to be photographed for its “I Look Great For My Age” campaign. Entry forms are in the January issue of Ladies Home Journal.
THE ART OF THE DEAL: Bernard A. Portelli, formerly a hairstylist to Washington luminaries (including Elizabeth Dole and talk show host Larry King), has broken new ground in the fragrance business. He has the rights to distribute the French fragrance Les Fleurs de Claude Monet in the United States (3.5 ounces of parfum, $65). The light floral scent was inspired by the gardens in Giverny that belonged to Monet. Until recently, the fragrance was available only at the Impressionist artist’s home and museum. It made its debut last week in the gift shop at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
