Mr. Blackwell Is at It Again
Gray-haired fashion godfather Mr. Blackwell was still primping upstairs when the TV cameras and matronly fans began gathering in the baroque living room of his Hancock Park home Tuesday morning for the announcement of his 40th annual Best & Worst Dressed Lists.
“There must not be any other news in town today,” one woman said, glancing at the two dozen or so media types munching on danishes.
At last, Blackwell made his grand entrance, spattering cheek kisses on several taut faces as he made his way to the microphone.
“The stars are looking incredible,” he said. “If they continue this way, they will destroy me. I’ll be a has-been!”
He started off with the best: Gwyneth Paltrow, Sophia Loren and Oprah Winfrey “not because she starts trends, but because she does what’s good for her.”
“But every pretty garden has some weeds,” Blackwell said, before socking it to the Dixie Chicks. “They look like a trio of truck-stop fashion tragedies trapped in a typhoon.”
He skewered Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston (“Brad Pitt looks better in a dress than she does!”), Sarah Jessica Parker, Fiona Apple and bubble gum queen Britney Spears.
“Here’s the one I’m really going to get in trouble for,” he chuckled. “Martha Stewart. She dresses like a centerfold for the Farmers Almanac!” Oohs and aahs emanated from the crowd.
“I’ve seen a lot of queens, but Queen Elizabeth is the worst!” he continued. “And Celine Dion--in her backward tuxedo there’s no way of knowing whether diva Dion is coming or going!”
The grand pooh-bah of dress disasters, Cher, took top honors. An easy out, if you ask me.
Those who have qualms with the list can take it up with Blackwell online at 6 p.m. Monday at https://www.estar.com.
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Infused vodkas were all the rage for a minute (Bar Marmont is famous for its pineapple version), and now, sake is poised to take over the flavorful trend.
Westwood’s new lounge-restaurant, Tengu, is infusing sake with strawberry, hazelnut, pineapple, raspberry, mango and other flavors. The cocktails are served in tall glasses not much wider than a flower stem.
Tengu co-owner Anton Posniak, who was formerly a bartender at Garden of Eden in Hollywood, loves playing mix master, creating new flavors almost every night.
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Italian clothier Benetton, known for its controversial ads, is at it again with a new campaign that focuses on death row prisoners in the United States.
The “Looking Death in the Face” campaign is packaged with the February issue of Talk magazine. (Benetton’s artistic director, Oliviero Toscani, is the creative director of Talk.)
The stand-alone supplement features Q&As; with more than 20 men on death row, some of whom maintain their innocence, including Leroy Orange, who was sentenced in 1985 to death by lethal injection for murdering four people in Chicago.
“I dream about going to the shopping mall with my grandkids,” Orange says. “There are three of them. They are pulling me down the mall, down the aisle, saying, ‘Come on, Granddad.’ ”
Benetton says it hopes to put a human face on death row.
A worthy cause. I just hope the magazine supplement doesn’t become a face book for the freak shows who fall in love with men on death row.
Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.
