Dressed Up for a Notable Exit

The audience gasped at actress Andie MacDowell’s dress with the dip-to-the-hip backline at last weekend’s Golden Globe Awards show. And to think, they were almost denied the thrill. Isaac Mizrahi, who designed it, says MacDowell phoned him after she saw the dress at Barneys in New York, went back to buy it, only to discover it had been sold. “She had to borrow the sample,” says Mizrahi who keeps an archive of his designs. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Julia Roberts and Kirstie Alley went to designer Richard Tyler’s store where Roberts got a pin-stripe suit with miniskirt and Alley a tuxedo-look pantsuit. In Beverly Hills, Michelle Pfeifer and a horde of other Hollywood celebrities shopped at the Giorgio Armani boutique. She chose a beaded mini-dress over shorts. Demi Moore, Andy Garcia, and Steve Guttenberg wore tuxedos. Cybill Shepherd, Faye Dunaway, Dana Delany, Christine Lahti and Mary McDonnell (Stands With a Fist in “Dancing With Wolves”) also chose Armani formal wear for the black-tie event.

WORN IN THE U.S.A.: Arsenio Hall, Frank Sinatra and Burt Reynolds are proudly displaying their patriotism on their $895 red, white and blue North Beach Leather bomber jackets with the U.S. flag on the back. The jacket--designed by Michael Hoban, co-owner and designer of the 11-store chain--has been available since September. Since Operation Desert Storm began, sales on the style have doubled, a company spokesman says.

TIMED TO A T: On a more affordable patriotic plane, sales of flag T-shirts are booming, sportswear store owners say. Pacfic Eyes & T’s in Long Beach anticipated the trend and ordered several styles retailing for about $15. They now account for 50% of all shirts sold in the store, manager Brett De Mott reports. Huntington Beach entrepreneur Joe Kaufenberg is supplying shops with T-shirts reading Operation Desert Shield on the front and Operation Desert Storm on the back. They are about $15 in several stores including The Undershirt Inc. in Long Beach. One dollar of each T-shirt sale is earmarked for the purchase of personal radios to be sent to troops overseas, Kaufenberg says.

THE BEVERLY HILLS COUNT: There was a twist to the usual champagne opening at Via Spiga II, a woman’s clothing store on Little Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills (no connection to Via Spiga shoes). The champagne bore the label, Comte de Dampierre. The Comte (or Count) de Dampierre, formerly of Geneva, happens to own the boutique with his bride the Countess Anai. The Count also happens to make Cognac, gold fountain pens and luggage, all bearing his family crest, and all soon to be available in his new hometown Beverly Hills.

MAKING SCENTS: Cher doesn’t have a bottle yet, but Carol Burnett does. That’s the word from Bob Mackie on two of his famous clients and the fragrance he is about to launch in Southern California. In industry lingo, the fragrance, called Mackie, is “a floriental,” which means it has both floral and Oriental notes. The designer hopes it will fare better than did Bob Mackie, the scent he introduced in 1985, which he says “disappeared” due to lack of publicity. He hopes to save Mackie from a similar fate by personally promoting the $225 one-ounce bottle of perfume and five other products in the line. (Industry analysts say sales of celebrity and designer scents tend to decline without the personal touch.) You can catch Mackie in action at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills on Wednesday and at Robinson’s in the Del Amo Fashion Center on Feb. 9.