Styles & Scenes

Who showed at the LA shows?

Why was Mischa Barton at the the Bebe Spring 2007 runway show at  Smashbox? And why was she smiling?

Because she's currently the face of the U.S. fashion label, that's why. So basically, she's gotta be there, wearing a Bebe B/W silk dress.

In fact, if Keds has a runway show, she'll be there too.  She also appears in their ads.

But other than  Miss Mischa, there were very few (okay, none) of the young  actresses featured in fashion magazines as cutting-edge trend-setters at the Mercedes-Benz Spring '07 Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios. No Nicole Richie. No Mary-Kate and Ashley. No Kate Bosworth. No Scarlett Johansson. No Kirsten Dunst. No Charlize Theron, who attended last year.

And there was certainly no one shopping for an Awards Season '07 wardrobe.

Rock and Republic's show at Area, unlike last year's event which featured Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders and a real runway show (not just video of their NY event) and stars like Posh Spice and Katie Holmes, didn't even attract the promised guests like Paris and Nicky Hilton.

But it did draw Nick Cannon, Frankie Muniz, Kelly Hu, Jeremy Piven, Eric Benet, Brittany Snow, Dominique Swain, Jonathan Silverman, Elisha Cuthbert, and Paris’s party pal Kim Kardashian.

Paris, Nicky, Justin Timberlake, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy did turn up at Social Hollywood for the William Rast show and party. Justin, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and will.i.am from the Black-Eyed Peas even performed for the packed house. It was so hot, fire marshalls even closed it down. Woo-hoo! Good times.

The Dressed to Kilt show on Saturday boasted Patricia Arquette, Thomas Jane, Linda Hamilton, Natasha Henstridge, and Kimberley Stewart. Sofia Milos was one of Sue Wong’s front row faces on Sunday night. Louis Verdad's overcrowded show also drew Alexis Bledel, Randy Jackson, and Garcelle Beauvais. Diana Ross turned up at Meghan’s collection and Angela Bassett was watching Dina Bar-El’s show.  And Daniella Clarke’s Frankie B runway show was watched by… Taryn Manning.

Kevin Hall's Thursday night show was attended by Joely Fisher, Milos and the Oscar-nominated "Sideways" babe, Virginia Madsen and Sinbad.

Sinbad?

Photo Credit: Mischa models Bebe. Why? Because she has a darn good contract with the company, that's why.
Amy Graves/WireImage

Scarlett Johansson fleshes out new Reebok role

What do Scarlett Johansson, Allen Iverson and Donovan McNabb have in common?

Inexplicably, the four-time Golden Globe nominee (“Match Point,” “A Love Song for Bobby Long,” “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” “Lost in Translation”) will join the Philadelphia 76er and the Philly Eagles quarterback in endorsing Reebok.

Okay, guys. Who made this brilliant marketing call? And who was the runner-up, Patricia Arquette?

No question the talented buxom blonde actress oozes sex appeal onscreen. Just ask Scarlett's "Match Point" director Woody Allen. Their second film, “Scoop,” opens July 28 and he told reporters last year that the pillow-lipped starlet is so divinely sexy that she’s been “touched by God.” 

But let’s face it. Johansson's voluptuous image is way more bedroom than weight room. She just doesn’t fly as a fitness role model. Certainly not when compared to buffer babes like "Charlie's Angels" Cameron Diaz, "X-Men"s Famke Janssen, "Fantastic Four" femme fatale Jessica Alba or even Tomb Raider Angelina Jolie. 

Miss Scarlett won’t be appearing in Reebok's "When Did I Know" campaign or in the “I Am What I Am” campaign which has featured the equally uninspiring and unathletic-inclined actresses Maggie Gyllenhaal and Christina Ricci.

Wonder if Reebok knew that a few years ago Ricci's former Hollywood trainer - who shall go unnamed - fired her, making her the only actress client he's ever dumped, because she smoked cigarettes between workouts and missed her morning training sessions due to late night partying.

Come to think about it, the only Reebok poster actress who made sense was Lucy Liu. She'd at least been a believable kick-butt babe in films like “Charlie’s Angels” and “Kill Bill” and looks like she might wear Reebok sneaks and duds somewhere other than a photo shoot.

Anyway, Miss Scarlett's multi-year contract will have her posing for "Scarlett “hearts” Rbk," a "fashion-forward athletic-inspired footwear and apparel collection" aimed at the international sportswear company's young female customers. The line will debut in spring 2007 in high-end department stores and boutiques.

According to new prez/chief executive officer Paul Harrington, Reebok will make marketing changes after being gobbled up by Adidas earlier this year. So expect fewer music figures like Nelly, Jay-Z and 50 Cent and more pretty Hollywood faces like Johansson.

There is one consolation to their latest choice.

At least Reebok chose a healthy-looking actress with a body fat level over 10% and didn't sign up one of Team Anorexia's bony babes Nicole Richie, Kate Bosworth, Mary-Kate Olsen or Keira Knightley.

Photo Credits: Woody Allen admires Scarlett's astonishing athletic achievements at the LA "Match Point" premiere.
WireImage/Eric Charbonneau

Photo Credits: Wonder if Reebok saw Scarlett's graceful sprints on the set of "The Nanny Diaries" before they signed her to a multi-year contract?
WireImage/James Devaney

Stars get waisted at Prada party

With the Emmy awards and Emmy parties on the horizon, it’s no surprise so many stars turned out for Miuccia Prada’s “Waist Down” exhibit of her artistic skirts at her Beverly Hills boutique.

Ben Kingsley, Dustin Hoffman, and Joaquin Phoenix  gave a heavy-weight acting awards feel to the super-chic skirt-loving crowd that included Angie Harmon, Heather Graham, Molly Sims, Eva Mendes, Michelle Trachtenberg, Patricia Arquette, Michelle Rodriquez, Paris and Nicky Hilton along with skinny-mini Mary Kate Olsen, looking tres goth, smothered up in black with ruby red lips.

Also at the party: Hilton's main social antagonists Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie. Perhaps their angry rifts are cooling due to some kind of Hollywood nuclear weapons disarmament treaty. Or maybe it was the free frocks.

Richie arrived before Lohan and was seen briefly eyeing the huge seafood buffet before deciding against sustenance and heading upstairs to the VIP area with melted green plastic walls that looked like they were stolen from the set of “Aliens.”

But even though she resisted a jumbo shrimp, Richie is not, I repeat, not anorexic. She probably wasn't hungry because she'd just eaten dinner the night before.

Other stars simply couldn't resist the  sea-faring temptation. Surprise-surprise, Courtney Love made a lengthy pit stop at the seafood bar to refuel with handfuls of jumbo shrimp, lobster claws and giant crab legs. TV fashion pundit Steven Cojocaru was also eating high on the hog and looking eerily more like his idol Joan Rivers every minute.

Longtime Prada lover Lyle Lovett came with a young girl who looked she could be his daughter but was probably his fiancé, April Kimble. “I love Prada, especially the techno pants. I wear them on stage when I perform,” he revealed.

Former supermodel-still-turning-actress Amber Valletta gleamed in a gold Prada lace top and gold satin short-shorts. "I think her hot pants-wearing days are done," whispered one onlooker.

The big question of the night was: will we see mucho Miuccia Prada at the Emmys?

“I really don’t know,” answered Prada prone supe- stylist Rachel Zoe, who arrived at the same time as some of her Prada-clad clones, er girls, including Joy Bryant, Richie and Lohan.

“Miuccia is very specific about who she dresses so we’ll just have to see. But it would be very fun!”

The Rem Koolhaus-designed boutique is a perfect party pad with skyhigh ceilings, low white sofas, and a wide sweeping staircase up to the second floor where you can peek down and check out which guy is a potential Hair Club for Men client.

The Prada skirts exhibited - full skirts splattered on walls and spinning suspended from the ceiling - sure made for fun festive décor. Not to mention all the plasma screens showing past fashion shows. By night's end, none of the small Prada skirt souvenir pins scattered around the store were left. Guests, stars and even stylists were lining their Prada purses with handfuls of the party souvenirs.

One source thought that there just might be an Emmy party in the works for the special store.  But another insider made mock of that idea, “Miuccia would not allow a party to be held here that she was not totally in charge of.”

So we’ll just have to see. But, like Zoe said, It would be very fun. And the marvelous "Waist Down" exhibit will be on display until, fittingly, August 27, the night of the Emmys.

Photo Credits: Angie Harmon fixes Lindsay Lohan's hair when she arrives late at the Prada party. What are friends for? Limos can be so  hard on the hairdo.

Photo Credits: Molly Simms and Eva Mendes get cozy for the cameras in fabulous free Prada dresses.

Photo Credits: Rebecca Romjin and Courtney Love share  - hopefully - some diet tips. Bottom's up, girls. Let's also hope that's just sparkling water in Love's champagne flute.

All from WireImage/Michael Caulfield

Badgley Mischka's new mini-models

Now we know why Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were front and center at the Badgley Mischka fashion show in New York last week.

They weren’t just trolling for fancy frocks to wear to Vanity Fair's hot Oscar after-party at Morton's in West Hollywood, Calif.

Seems the twins have been hired to be print models for designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka’s new ad campaign.

The poor little rich girls will also appear in the designers’ fall ad campaign which may have a certain rags-to-riches theme conveyed by mussed-up elegance. Think ever-so slightly wrinkled gowns with tousled hair. Ooh, genius. And their contract may even include some personal appearances for the designer line.

Darn. So that’s it for that whole dumpster chic fashion trend — long, baggy unmatched layers that looked stolen from a homeless shelter — that Mary-Kate single-handedly launched two years ago. Guess I’ll have to donate all my hip dumpster duds to the Salvation Army. Wow, irony.

But the designers reportedly aren’t worried about the Olsens’ ongoing penchant for mixing vintage with modern, a trend prevalent among young fashion-forward thinking girls. Hey, as long as you’re selling expensive dresses, who cares if your customers wear vintage leather jackets with 'em?

In a press statement about their new modeling gig, Ashley is quoted: "We have been fans of Mark and James for years and were honored when [we were] approached to appear in the ad campaign. When I wear Badgley Mischka, I feel sexy and feminine."

And even richer than she already is.

Photo: Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, feeling sexy and feminine, with Mark Badgley and James Mischka during New York Fashion Week. And no, we can’t tell who's who in the pairs either.
(Djamilla Rosa Cochran / WireImage)