Another 15 Minutes of Fame

Holly Woodlawn is about to graduate from L.A.’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Woodlawn spent a brief moment in the spotlight as one of Andy Warhol “superstars,” her constellation frozen in the past somewhere between Candy Darling and Viva.

Transformed into a cult star by Paul Morrissey’s underground classic “Trash” (1970), the sequin-dripping club queen partied with New York’s best--and worst.

To say Woodlawn survived an era that was fatal to many is an understatement. She fairly bursts with enthusiasm for the gladioli in her Silver Lake garden, divulging her unorthodox beauty secrets (“lots of olive oil”) and details of a film project based on her autobiography, “A Low Life in High Heels,” with equal abandon.

Madonna, she claims, wants to play Holly’s sidekick, underground legend Candy Darling, who died young of cancer.

But others involved in the project are tight-lipped. “Don’t mention Madonna’s name at all,” says one. OK, so Harvey Fierstein has “expressed interest” in writing the script. Pedro Almodovar has “expressed interest” in directing. We are expressing interest in seeing the film, if it ever gets made.

“I just want a cameo,” says Woodlawn with a sigh. “Maybe as some mad countess who throws a wild party.” She could design her own costume.

Lowbrow and Lovin’ It: Gravel-voiced cruise-ship touter Lauren Bacall will soon set sail as fashion doyenne Diana Vreeland in “Pret-A-Porter,” director Robert Altman announced at Cannes this week. Our hopes of adding it to a personal fashion filmography faded, though, when Altman described the film as “not so much a satire on the fashion industry as a satire on the human industry.”

We prefer our fashion flicks straight up, even melodramatic. Spare us the morality tale and give us a good old career-girl tale like “Lucy Gallant” (1955) or “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” (1951).

Even an unqualified dog like “If the Shoe Fits,” which we enjoyed on cable recently, can qualify for our perverted list. In it, Rob Lowe warms up for the smarmy characters that would become his forte, playing a mannered, egomaniacal and hopelessly heterosexual designer whose collection hits the skids. Humbled, Le Lowe finds redemption in the love of a good but ugly footwear designer.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

Mass Agoraphobia: Now that it’s chic to lock ourselves away at home, retailers are hustling to get a foot in the door.

Add Nordstrom to the steady parade of merchants exploring interactive cable television systems. The Seattle-based company announced this week that its customers will be able to view specific items via television by late 1994.

Meanwhile, the junior clothing chain Casual Corner offers a word of advice for work-at-home wardrobes: knits. “Easy to wear and easy to care for.”

Hmmm. Does the word duh have any meaning for you?

Facial Topiary: Remember those magnet toys that let you put a beard on a mean ugly face using a magnet and iron shavings? Well, don’t look now, but someone’s been doing that to some of the hippest guys around. A tiny square here, an Abraham Lincoln-esque wedge there.

Although Idiosyncratic Facial Hair Syndrome isn’t new, it is newly visible to people too old or lazy to engage in club crawling. Instead, check out the cover of Spin magazine. No, Porno for Pyros front man Perry Farrell isn’t the member of some Orthodox Jewish group, we assured a friend. He’s just super groovy.

On the House: None of us probably minds spending a fortune on creamy white moisturizers that make ridiculous claims and contain multisyllabic, genetically engineered ingredients. But $10 for a jar full of stuff we’ve got in our kitchen?

That’s what you’ll pay for Bath & Body Works’ Moisturizing Honey Mask. Winner of the Ohio-based company’s “Generations of Beauty” contest, the mask is an old family recipe submitted by Debra Clark. Bath & Body is donating 25% of profits generated by sales of the product to charity. But why not make it yourself and donate the whole $10?

Here’s the recipe: Blend 1/4 cup of clover honey, 1 tablespoon of oatmeal and 1 pureed apricot. Smear on clean skin twice a week. Rinse after 10 minutes. Bon appetit.

The Hair Club: With her new, short haircut, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s role as style setter threatened to eclipse her role as policy-maker this week.

Watching her stride across the Tarmac in a chic, short black suit and chin-length, highlighted hair, we were reminded of Tina Brown, Jane Pauley, Martha Stewart. . . .

And why not? New York stylist Frederic Fekkai cut them all. Hillary’s haircut cost $250, CBS “This Morning” anchor Paula Zahn divulged on the air Wednesday morning. She ought to know. Fekkai cuts her hair, too.