SENSE OF STYLE / FASHION : There’s No Place Like Home

Any woman planning to spend the holidays with her family of origin should remember that mothers have a special license to criticize clothes, hair and makeup that is denied to anyone who didn’t give you life. Don’t expect Mom to understand minimalism (“That suit would be so much more attractive with a nice, bright scarf, honey”), basic black (“I can’t understand why you want to look like a Sicilian widow”), vintage (“Mamie Eisenhower used to wear dresses like that, and she looked dreadful in them”), or those Robert Clergerie oxfords you were thrilled to find on sale (“They’re making orthopedic shoes in such nice leathers these days.”).

We’d suggest receiving all comments with a nod and a smile. After all, they’re coming from the woman who held your feverish head in the middle of the night when you threw up. Who cares if she shares your taste?

Dress Code: “Welcome to Premiere magazine’s second annual women in black luncheon,” honoree Nora Ephron said. She neatly summed up the uniform chosen by the majority of the stars, producers and film executives gathered at the Four Seasons earlier this month to celebrate Premiere’s special Women in Hollywood issue. If truth be told, there was some brown and navy in the room, but there were so many dark pantsuits, most worn with collarless white shirts, that we wondered if a guard at the door barred anyone who didn’t conform. Probably not. A few fitted skirt suits snuck in, but they seemed to be lost on the wrong coast.

Sharon Stone struck a blow for individuality by adding silver driving moccasins and a chunky gold pendant to her outfit, and closer inspection revealed that Michelle Pfeiffer (another honoree) wore narrow pants in a tiny Black Watch plaid with her navy jacket. As much as the look--spawned by Armani and now delivered by Jil Sander, Ann Demeulemeester, Helmut Lang, Calvin Klein and others--has become a show biz cliche, it’s hard to slam women who manage to look modern, attractive, relaxed and even sexy while they’re making multimillion dollar decisions. (It figured that there wasn’t a helmet-head in the bunch, just lots of shiny, straight, well-cut hair.) Perhaps Hollywood’s busy, best-dressed women revert to the tried and true for the same reason a studio makes a sequel: Why not repeat what works?

Class Act, Gift-Giving Division: The news weeklies love to run exposes that tsk tsk over all the free loot designers dump on fashion editors to win their favor. Maybe graft runs rampant in New York and Paris, but it hasn’t been a source of moral dilemmas around here. Our favorite holiday card came from Ralph Lauren, informing us that a contribution was made in our name to the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research.

Lauren has been sending out similar cards in lieu of gifts since 1987. Is that really all Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour got from Ralph? Yes, Dolores Barrett, vice president of public relations for Lauren confirmed. “Giving a contribution to a worthy charity provides an opportunity to make a difference and to share in the true spirit of the holidays,” she said. “Ralph Lauren is committed to this idea.”

Warning Label: Just because a new makeup color is touted as The Next Big Thing doesn’t mean it’s meant for everyone. Vamp, for example, Chanel’s popular nearly black nail polish, should come with a warning label: “This product is hazardous to the appropriate image of any woman over 24.” In the absence of such helpful advice from the manufacturer, we offer an easy do-it-yourself test: If it would look just right on Juliette Lewis, do you really want to wear it?

* Sense of Style is published Thursdays.