Who, <i> Moi</i> , Dread Putting on Makeup?

Some women wake up in the morning and dread the ordeal of putting on their face. “Can you believe it?” asked Olivier Echaudemaison, rolling his eyes in the couture department of Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.

We bit our tongue and feigned ignorance of dread in any form, cosmetic or otherwise. After all, here was a guy who’d been making women beautiful since he was an 18-year-old assistant to the famous hairdresser Alexandre de Paris. Over the years, he’d gone from coiffing such regal heads as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the Duchess of Windsor to applying makeup to equally regal faces, namely those of Princess Anne, Princess Margaret, Princess Caroline and the reigning family of Bahrain.

If anyone understood the will to beauty, it was Echaudemaison, who for the last 15 years has served as international creative director for Paris-based Givenchy Beaute.

“Forget the sponges! Forget the spatulas! Blend with your fingers! Don’t make it so difficult!” he exhorted. He instructed us to stroke the softest pink blush we’d ever imagined. “Think of it as 10 minutes a day in which to learn and to have fun.” Or else?

“To be naked in front of people,” he said with sudden solemnity, “that is not fun.”

We weren’t naked, cosmetically speaking, but still, Echaudemaison couldn’t resist adjusting our face. As quick as you could say, “Charge it!” he unrolled his black leather makeup brush satchel and turned our slapdash, working-woman-with-three-kids sort of look into a going-out-to-lunch, eyes-wide-open, are-we-having-fun-yet? face. And you know what? We did.

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Scarlett O’Hara Would Have Loved It: Los Angeles fashion designers can rest easy--Sally Sirkin Lewis is the only double designing threat in town. On Valentine’s night the Pacific Design Center hosted Totally Cupid, a fund-raiser for AIDS Project Los Angeles that showcased evening gowns created by interior designers. What they lacked in fashion talent they made up for in exuberant use of yardage and whimsical design. Full-skirted ball gowns with enough fabric to swag a bay window ruled the catwalk.

Sirkin Lewis’ black silk blouse and voluminous skirt in an oversized orange and black check was an artful blend of great design and unusual fabric. “Mine really was more couture,” said the designer. “It was out of place.”

Other fabrics that made the transition from upholstery and window treatments to the runway especially well were Clara Igonda’s and Josephine Carmen’s silk organza skirt with peach velvet bustier and Linda Chase-Carlson’s brocade cape-coat trimmed with heavy upholstery fringe. What didn’t work? Well, a faux mouse fur stole comes to mind . . .

The event raised more than $20,000 for APLA. The evening gowns, which are available through silent auction, will be on display at the Pacific Design Center for the next 30 days.

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Each Other’s Valentine: Who said love was better the second time around? Bono? Well, he needn’t bother to tell it to Mickey Rourke and Carre Otis. The bruising, brooding lovebirds have been visiting celebrity-heavy Drai’s restaurant three times a week, reports owner Victor Drai. And, he insists, the happy couple will soon remarry. Why it seems like only yesterday the actor was stalking the model on the runway in New York. And she was said to have banned him from her shows. But time heals all wounds, Bono once said. “Their act is clean,” says Drai. “They are madly in love, like two little pigeons.” Coo coo.

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Oscar Time: The huge Oscar event Tuesday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire had nothing to do with Academy Awards. It was, instead, the big Oscar de la Renta fashion show for the Colleagues, L.A.’s AAA-list social ladies who raise money for Children’s Institute International. More than half of the lunching ladies wore Valentine’s Day red, which gave a very deja vu Reagan Red spin to the day. Nancy Reagan herself arrived in a red Valentino suit, honoree Lee Annenberg in De la Renta’s spring coral, honoree Walter Annenberg in a natty red sports jacket, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a red tunic and skirt whose designer she diplomatically declined to name, Barbara Davis in pink Chanel, co-chair Anne Johnson in rose Genny and Gayle Wilson in red Escada.

De la Renta said he hadn’t paid attention to Academy Award nominations announced earlier that morning, as stars have not been part of his crowd. “There is one I want to dress,” he confided. “Sharon Stone.” Perfect for the actress (and too racy for any of the women at Tuesday’s lunch): Oscar’s fuchsia taffeta ball skirt and matching bra top.

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Lunching Ladies, the Prequel: On Monday, another set of ladies--this time at the Bistro Garden in Beverly Hills--gathered over lunch to honor former I. Magnin salesman par excellence Jack Miles, who’s moved to Saks Fifth Avenue. Miles’ move portended good things for Saks, since his customers are so loyal that they have been known to follow a favorite shoe salesman from store to store. Saks President Rose Marie Bravo said her store is laying claim to many parts of the Magnin turf, and expects to increase her local business from $38 million to $75 million this year.

“We claimed the Magnin building, of course,” says Bravo. (It becomes a Saks men’s store with some space dedicated to women’s petites and large sizes.) “We claimed some of their women’s exclusives, like Chanel and Sonya Rykiel.”

But who, we wondered, would inherit the exquisite Jil Sander boutique that opened just a year ago at I. Magnin. Even though Sander is sold at Barneys New York, the feeling around Beverly Hills is that the woman whom some have called the next Armani will open her own boutique. Stay tuned.

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She Wore Red Velvet: The gown Roseanne wore to wed her former bodyguard, Ben Thomas, Tuesday in Nevada was designed by L.A.’s own Richard Tyler. Tyler, you’ll recall, also designed her costumes for the MTV awards show. Roseanne’s long-sleeved wedding gown layered claret silk velvet with embroidered roses and cascading ribbons over a long white silk charmeuse A-line underdress with cap sleeves. The groom wore charcoal gray formal attire.

* Inside Out is published Thursdays.