Footloose and Shoe Free
Designer Pamela Barish pared down the guest list for her Monday-night fashion show at her Venice studio, and she pared down her clothes as well.
The result was a self-assured, tightly edited collection for spring ’95 that had a little something for everyone: shapely knee-length shifts; jumpsuits; loose-fitting evening pajamas; sexy hip-huggers; an iridescent turquoise trench coat to die for.
But her single greatest accomplishment may have been to put all the models in black fisherman sandal-style jellies. “Where did she get those?” whispered a woman who’d seen one too many stiletto-induced accidents.
The trim, brunette designer skipped shoes altogether, wearing nothing but a fresh coat of black-red nail polish on her toes and a white satin pantsuit for the traditional post-show stroll down the runway. Now that’s pared down.
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More Than a Woman: We got a box of human hair in the mail the other day. Not just any human hair, but Jose Eber’s Secret Hair. Plus a video in which women who swear by the legendary stylist’s “hair enhancement system” show how easy it is to give the pinhead look the old heave-ho.
Why, just tucking four or five pieces of fluffy hair into her own thinning mane “makes life worth living,” trills an attractive older woman. But our twentysomething daughter thought not: “She looked better before,” muttered Ms. Cynicism, as only a girl with thick glossy hair could.
What’s so wrong with wanting to beef up a flaccid bouffant? Or clip on a row of spiky bangs? “Shake your head, darling,” Jose says, verging on a chuckle, to a newly big-haired woman. Oh, and send about $150--for five chunks of hair. Look for the Secret Hair infomercial or call (800) 641-6611 for more information.
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Deep Thoughts on Big Parties: Even the most stylish, meticulously planned party of the year can falter. Take last week’s Fire and Ice Ball, the sumptuous fund-raiser for the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Fund at 20th Century Fox. While the beautiful people slipped into the dark and gusty night via limousine, the beautiful but unchauffeured waited more than an hour for their deliverance from valet Purgatory. We wound our Armani chiffon scarf (a prescient party favor!) a bit tighter at the throat and staggered into the wind in search of the elusive autos. Actor Michael York had the same idea, but turned back after a few minutes, the wimp. Finally, an official-looking guy coaxed us into his heated car (he could have been a serial killer) and back to our starting point, where our humble station wagon awaited. Home, James.
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Shopping Stud: Jack San is a happily married, retired corporate executive who lives in the San Fernando Valley and runs an escort service--for women shoppers. “Expertise in apparel, men’s gifts, jewelry, automobile, real estate, investments and more. No sex--just shopping,” reads his ad in a local magazine. (That last line is about the most alluring come-on we’ve heard in ages.)
San explains he’s always been the guy people came to for consumer advice, but the idea for his second career took root six months ago when a friend was the victim of an unethical jeweler. “The woman selected a beautiful marquis-cut diamond that had one carbon spot. But when she returned to the store for the gem, she had me look at it and I found seven. Unfortunately, women get taken advantage of in the marketplace.”
San charges $150 for two hours--the minimum--and $50 an hour thereafter. He still helps his wife select evening gowns and cocktail dresses on the house. “She gets the freebies,” he laughs. To arrange a shopping date, call (818) 366-5559.
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Mixed Messages: Miss USA--26-year-old Lu Parker--showed up at the Sears store in Torrance this week. No, she wasn’t looking for a Craftsman tool kit or our favorite, a power saw bit clock. Parker was there to promote perfume and, it seems, share her thoughts on the damaging effects of pushing young girls into beauty pageants simply to fulfill a mother’s fantasy. Parker said she wouldn’t put a daughter of hers in a pageant unless the girl specifically asked, reports Associated Press. “But I’m not going to take them and put them in a pageant when they don’t understand the ethics in the pageant and that not everybody can win the crown.”
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Mystery Solved: The daughter of legendary French couturier Madame Alix Gres apparently stalled reporting her mother’s death a year ago to thwart self-serving condolences from designers who were largely unsympathetic when she was alive. “All those who have profited from her would again find the means to draw on her money,” Anne Gres told the French newspaper Le Monde, which disclosed the death Tuesday. She went so far as to fabricate quotes supposedly from Mme. Gres and published Nov. 1 in Women’s Wear Daily. Le Monde discovered the cover-up through a document in a district mayor’s office in Paris.
* Inside Out is published Thursdays.
