For Faye, There’s Always Shopping

What has Faye Dunaway been up to since her unceremonious dumping last month by boy composer Andrew Lloyd Webber? She’s spent at least one afternoon shopping. The diva par excellence turned up at the Elizabeth Lucas Collection--a Santa Monica vintage clothing store--the other day and proceeded to scoop up several items for herself. She also picked up a shirt to give Johnny Depp, with whom she just made a film. “It was the best shirt in the store,” said Lucas of the rare large, flecked two-tone gabardine style that once hung in her ex-husband’s closet. Dunaway went for a double-breasted, cream-colored Palm Beach dinner jacket, a fedora, a gray and white checked gabardine shirt and Mexican huaraches. “She looked,” Lucas said, “fabulous.”

Color Him Curious: “So that’s why Geena Davis looked so bad as a blonde, “ Mr. Inside Out announced triumphantly. “It didn’t go with her skin tone.”

He’d been flipping through our copy of Time-Warner’s new Makeover magazine and was mesmerized by a critique of famous brunettes gone blond.

“Madonna makes a terrific blonde,” he informed us. We thought we spied him peering at our neglected mop. A little knowledge is a terrible thing, isn’t it?

Makeover, on the stands this week, is filled with before and after pictures of celebrities and ordinary people who yearn to look extraordinary. Wonder how Mr. Inside Out would look with a few highlights?

Pushy, Pushy: Why spend a mint on a Wonderbra when $8 will buy a set of pushup pads from Frederick’s of Hollywood. Flat-chested women can try out the cleavage--see if it is all it’s cracked up to be. We think pushup bras are about as attractive as a king-sized pillow stuffed into a standard-sized case. But, as usual, we seem to be out of sync with our fellow female shoppers. Sooooo, ever mindful of our duty, we offer a further bit of advice for looking as bosomy on the beach as you might at a dinner party: Frederick’s summer catalogue sells bathing-suit-compatible pads. These ingenious devices stay put with Velcro. More important, though, they’re made of a water-repellent fabric. Undergarment-cum-flotation device.

Invasion of the Pseudo-European Nerds: That’s the only possible explanation for all the sandals we’ve seen on the streets lately, coupled with the white sweat socks. The final delicious touch? They’re rolled down, doughnutlike, at the ankle. Whether they know it or not, these guys may well be in the fashion vanguard. At the recent menswear shows in Milan, English designer Katherine Hamnett dressed all her models in white socks and sandals. But to be “funky and cool and twist things up a bit,” Hamnett’s models had toenails polished black underneath.

La Dolce Vida: It was a Fellini-esque spectacle of high fashion and high camp. Top models cautiously teetered down Rome’s Spanish Steps Tuesday while over-the-hill pop stars lip-synced the lyrics to decades-old hits. All for the benefit of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s private television channels. Claudia Schiffer made it down all 137 slippery marble steps in Valentino’s snug black evening gown and spike heels, which is, of course, what makes her a supermodel. The three-hour show, which included designs by Missoni, Lancetti, Byblos and Max Mara, was broadcast live to 13 countries. “There are billions of people out there watching us,” said Gerry Scotti, who co-hosted the show. “My legs are trembling with excitement.”

From the Mouths of Models: “Just because you’re wearing lipstick, doesn’t mean he has to.” (Cindy Crawford in a radio spot for Revlon’s “revolutionary” new non-transferable lipstick. . . .

“I got these arms compliments of my personal trainer, Sylvester Stallone. He’s given me back my body--and made it better.” New, more muscular mother of Sly’s baby, Janice Dickinson, in W.

Around Town: Time to start scouring the local thrift stores for fall’s most coveted texture--mohair. We spotted a hairy knit mini-dress for $5 at the West L.A. Goodwill store. . . . Instante, Gianni Versace’s secondary line, and Versace Jeans Couture will open for business at Two Rodeo Drive just in time for Christmas. . . . Betsey Johnson, Todd Oldham and other youthful designers will re-imagine the Playboy bunny costume for the ‘90s (our mind reels) at an AIDS fund-raiser at the Playboy mansion in September.