Basket CaseTom Hanks, Steve Bochco, John Candy,...
Basket Case
Tom Hanks, Steve Bochco, John Candy, Don Henley and Michael Keaton are all giving the same holiday present this year--gift baskets. Tinseltowners are flocking to Marmalade, the 5-week-old shop in Santa Monica that assembles custom-tailored baskets for an average price of $100. Shoppers also can order intricately designed tins or brocade stockings filled with everything from chutney, jam and tea to pate, cheese, creole sauces and breads and more. Porcelain fish, farm animals (all sizes), and carved dolls produced by cottage industries can be added, for a price.
DO THEY GIFT WRAP? Last week, Heather Locklear took advantage of the promise of delivery before Christmas at Kreiss Collection in West Hollywood. She chose custom furniture right off the floor, to fill every room in the nest she shares with hubby, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue fame.
WHAT A CARD: What’s gold-colored plastic, fits in your wallet and gets flashed a lot in Beverly Hills? The recently issued city gold card, of course. But don’t expect it to get you very far at Gucci. It’s a bar-coded library card used in the new automated book checkout system. In an amusing bit of reverse snobbery, the children’s cards are platinum.
HOW GOOD IS YOUR CREDIT? Looking for something sparkly to put under the Christmas tree? Considered a tiara? There are very few available in the world, but one is at Fred in Beverly Hills. Sure, it’s pricey at $2,205,000 but it has a 137-carat emerald centerpiece and comes with a matching necklace that boasts 50 carats of diamonds. At the more affordable end of the wish list, Listen has also noticed the hottest rings of the season, which double as watches, sell for a mere $23. The tiny timepieces by Digits are modeled after some famous status watches by Cartier, Rolex and the like. Hecht’s in Washington, D.C., held the record for sales, 500 in one day, until Robinson’s put them on the shelves in their Los Angeles-area stores. Two thousand were snatched up in a day and a half.
PHOTO OP: When baby Paulina, daughter of Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones, got her first haircut she was taken to Cowlicks, the Calabasas children’s hair salon where the management videotapes the event. Salon spokeswoman Jane Baker says some children are so taken with their snip scenes they bring their tapes back time and again to record their entire haircut history. The price for a shampoo, cut, blow dry and video documentation is $19 for girls, $17 for boys.
COMPETITIVE EDGE: There is a new kind of golf wear on the market designed to improve your game via sports psychology. The design of the clothing uses color and graphic motifs to reinforce attitudes that have been identified with improving performance. One shirt, in a soft purple with a geometric pattern, is to remind a player to stay focused. A red and black shirt with angular graphics stimulates aggressiveness. The psych-out shirts, called Mindset, will be available in the spring.
WHEREFORE ART THOU: Romeo Gigli’s New York “image director,” Ellen Carey, was at I. Magnin over the weekend for the opening of Magnin’s new Gigli boutique. She had a few choice observations about East Coast versus West Coast style. “They wear more color here,” she noted, explaining that Magnin stocked up on marigold-color Gigli outfits while the free-standing Gigli boutique in New York carries more subtle shades of eggplant. And, of course, “People in L.A. are much more body-conscious. They wear all-Lycra Gigli outfits. In New York they’d cover Lycra leggings with a long, silk top.”
