FASHION : The Lacy Basics of What’s Cool Down Under
The world, it seems, is divided between women who wear lingerie and women who wear underwear. Restaurant designer Barbara Lazaroff, proud member of the lingerie set, recounts a horrifying sight: her pregnant girlfriend clad in tattered cotton panties.
“When I was pregnant, I wore my La Perlas,” Lazaroff says triumphantly. “And they only go up to Size 4.”
Decorated with vintage girdles floating amid crystal chandeliers, the Chic & Cheap Emporium in Beverly Hills is a lingerie person’s nirvana. Raquel Welch recently treated herself to Italian “peek-a-boo” tights and net body stocking. Fox Network brat-woman Shannen Dougherty bought a black lace bra with matching thong and a black velvet bra with panties. And on New Year’s Eve day, says store publicist Deborah Kelman, Sharon Stone followed her most basic of instincts and purchased a cream-colored antique silk teddy.
The Beverly Hills store also carries a selection of never-been-worn lingerie from the ‘30s and ‘40s, some of it still in department store boxes.
* SHOPPING SAGAS: The setting: L.A. Eyeworks, the ultra-trendy eyeglass store on Melrose. The situation: a man was eager to get his glasses in a hurry; he asked the saleswoman if they could be ready the next day.
“I’m sorry, we just can’t do that,” came the reply.
The man asked if he could pay extra to have them rushed, and the saleswoman shook her head. “Elton John’s order just came in.”
That’s sort of on par with being behind Sinead O’Connor at the barbershop, or waiting for a shoe salesman to finish helping Imelda Marcos.
* END OF AN ERA?: The fashion magazines have crowned a new crew of hot models, and the healthy all-American look is yesterday’s news. Models like the waifish, eyebrowless Kate Moss are so flat-chested that even topless, they look innocent. Certainly the buffed-out, blockbuster-hopping Cindy Crawford could take on any three of these Olive Oyls in a wrestling match with her thigh muscles alone. So where does that leave the well-endowed Claudia Schiffer wanna-bes of the world? They were out in force at the inaugural balls, where Dossier spotted more cleavage per square foot than has been seen since the Johnson Administration.
* FULL COURT PRESS, EASY ON THE STARCH: Magic Johnson has signed on as a financial partner in the hip-hop sportswear company Cross Colours, owners/designers T. J. Walker and Carl Jones announced this week.
“He’s going to have a big presence if it works out the way we want it to,” says Walker. That big presence would feature Johnson wearing Cross Colours’ new Classics collection--for mature hip-hoppers--in an ad campaign.
Johnson, who is among the throng of inauguration revelers and couldn’t be reached for comment, had his Cross Colours consciousness raised when the designers donated jackets to the basketball great’s annual Mid-Summer Night’s Magic Benefit.
The signing of Johnson comes amid rumors of Cross Colours’ financial difficulties, which Walker has denied. The company, he concedes, had been plagued by some late deliveries, but consolidating their four warehouses into one in the City of Commerce has solved the problem.
* LOCAL EFFORT: L.A. may have sent more than its share of celebrities to the inauguration, but our town’s contributions to the wardrobes of the new President and First Lady were downright paltry--unless you count Mrs. Clinton’s footwear. L.A.-based A’Mano Shoes, which has made dressy shoes since 1951, supplied taupe suede pumps, suede flats with gold stars and dyed-to-match pumps with Louis heel and gold crescents.
* TAKE US TO YOUR LEPRECHAUNS: A production team from what is billed as “Irish television’s top beauty and fashion show” descends on L.A. today. The crew supposedly will shoot someone “enjoying” life in Beverly Hills, says Jessica Vitti, manager and vice president of Aida Grey skin care salon, where some filming will take place.
