Trademark Roles

What’s in a name? Money, if the name’s a celeb and it’s affixed to a product touted on the telly. Connie Stevens has been pitching her Forever Spring skin-care line on the Home Shopping Network for more than a year now, bringing in $30 million, says spokesperson Kevin Sasaki.

The success of her women’s line has prompted Stevens to expand with a three-step treatment for men called Kiyak. Susan Lucci of ABC’s “All My Children” joined the ranks of big-haired pitch women recently, debuting a shampoo line on the QVC cable shopping channel. She’s also readying a skin-care line for the fall. And Victoria Principal has teamed up with Aida Thibiant to produce skin-care treatments called the Principal Secret. It’s being marketed by an “infomercial” (a commercial thinly disguised as entertainment) that will air within two weeks on three L.A.-area independent stations: KCOP, KTLA, and KCAL.

* FROM THE HALLS OF HIGHER LEARNING: Though people headed for Las Vegas’ Chicken Ranch go there to take their clothes off, the infamous brothel hopes customers will put some on. The legal bordello has developed a line of active sportswear through a subsidiary, Glendale-based CRI Marketing. The T-shirts and sweat shirts target the college market, explains Robert Wortham, president. “Our logo--’University of the Chicken Ranch’--looks very collegiate. We hope it becomes an “in” thing to wear, like the Hard Rock Cafe stuff,” he says. The clothes are available at souvenir shops in Nevada. Wortham hopes to add dressier sportswear by February.

* NEXT, CANDLES AND MACRAME PLANT HANGERS?: In honor of the U.S. Postal Service’s 20th birthday (commemorating the year the organization became self-supporting), postal clerks will now peddle stamp jewelry at area post offices. There are brooches, lapel pins, pendants, necklaces, money clips and earrings (pierced only.) The gold-tone ornaments feature facsimiles of Apollo, American Indian and Love stamps, among others. Prices are in the $3-to-$4 range. The marketing effort is aimed at increasing the agency’s revenue, says spokesperson Christine Dugas. Maybe the baubles can stave off the 30-cent stamp.

* DESTINATION KNOWN AND UNKNOWN: Would you wear a black-and-white polka-dotted skirt to a wedding? If your name is Finola Hughes, you would. Hughes, the Emmy Award-winning actress on “General Hospital,” purchased the Franco Moschino skirt at Shauna Stein in the Beverly Center and planned to complete her attire with a Moschino blouse and jacket already in her closet. But store owner Stein couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) say where Geena Davis plans to wear her new olive-crepe riding jacket and walking shorts by the same designer.

* FLY THE DESIGNER SKIES: One way to get an Armani outfit for free is to join Alitalia. The airline’s flight attendants now sport Armani-designed uniforms. Standard issue includes a raincoat, skirt, jacket, blouse, sweater, scarf, handbag and belt. Ground attendants are even luckier. If need be, they can request an Armani maternity dress to add to their designer wardrobe.

* A JEWEL IN THE TOWN: The message was: Platinum, as in a dress made of platinum and a bracelet made of brushed platinum inlaid with gold and diamonds. These were the riches shown when the Italians came to town last week for the International Gemological Symposium. “We have discovered new ways to work with it so it can be lighter and therefore more affordable,” says Vilma Vigano, managing director of the Platinum Guild International.