The Bride Wears Beene
Our usually reliable source says Geoffrey the Great (alias New York designer Geoffrey Beene) will be ensconced in the Beverly Hills Hotel this weekend, while fitting what might be the most sumptuous wedding dress of the L.A. year. Beene’s imaginative way with clothes is world-applauded, and the lucky local bride will have the gown in time for her September nuptials to a bridegroom whose name we also can’t reveal. (Hint: It’s the same last name as a major Chicago department store.) Beene will celebrate his 25th anniversary in business next year.
In the Market for Live Radio
Venice artists Billy Al Bengston and Robert Graham stopped off at 72 Market Street Sunday night to check out a live radio show the restaurant now airs on KCRW. And so did Listen. We noticed Bengston wore his bedroom slippers--the black velvet type with the crest on the toe. Graham was a little more formal: He wore a black tweed jacket. But the big fashion news was mutton-chop sideburns. David Crosby wore them, along with blue denims, to sing oldies like “Guinnevere” and “Wooden Ships” and a couple of new songs too.
Designs on Glasnost
We love to look at Raisa Gorbachev’s picture in the paper. The pleasant face, the stylish clothes, the perky hats. But would we want to dress like the wife of the Soviet party general secretary? We’ll get the chance--and so will you--in September, when designs by Vyacheslav Zaitsev, who makes Raisa’s clothes, will become available in the United States. An announcement this week in the Moscow newspaper Soviet Russia says the Soviet Fashion House, where Zaitsev is chief designer, has signed a three-year contract with Intertorg Inc. to supply designs to America. Zaitsev has been a designer for the Soviet elite for many years but has gained new prominence since the photogenic Raisa became First Lady of the Soviet Union.
Guess That’s the Girl?
If you tell yourself you could sing it better when you hear a song on the radio, May Co. can give you your chance. The store has set up a recording booth in its Guess? jeans boutiques where you can make a cassette of yourself singing Madonna’s latest single, “Who’s That Girl?” to background music supplied by the store. While you’re at it, you can take home a movie poster, Madonna’s record and two tickets to the “Who’s That Girl” movie if you make a Guess? purchase. The recording booths will be set up at May Co.’s West L.A., Mission Viejo and South Coast Plaza stores on Saturday and the South Bay and Sherman Oaks stores on Sunday. Check the stores’ junior departments for times.
Salon Cuts Loose
So you want Anne Archer’s autograph. You’re hoping to run into John Lithgow on his way to a haircut. Don’t wait around in front of their beauty salon anymore because it won’t be there. The Joseph Martin salon is closing its Beverly Drive doors Saturday afternoon and reopening in--would you believe--the Rodeo Collection. Salon spokeswoman Tania Saunders says the big move will be complete Tuesday.
Dyeing for a Change
The “graying of the baby boomers”--as the people at Grecian Formula call it--will undoubtedly spawn myriad new marketing tacks. And this granddaddy of men’s hair coloring plans to get in on the ground floor. Combe Inc., which makes Grecian Formula, is introducing a hair-color line designed for the mind-set of the mid-30s male. A spokesman describes Just For Men as a wash-in, no-fuss, permanent color “for men who don’t want to wait for a gradual process.” Those impatient boomers. Introduction of the dye, which comes in three colors, corresponds to a Combe survey of 1,000 men, which found that most men think of themselves as younger than their years and want to adjust their appearances accordingly. Almost half, 48%, said they would be willing to cover their gray hair. So what are we waiting for? Does he, or doesn’t he?
Scent of Suzanne
We have heard of Calvin Klein’s Obsession, Elizabeth Taylor’s Passion and now Suzanne de Lyon’s Animale. Who, you may ask, is Suzanne de Lyon? We asked too and learned from spokeswoman Susan Meyer in New York that Suzanne is formerly French, but presently Texan. Houston, to be exact, where she’s also known as Mrs. Jack Frame. Not only that, Meyer says, Suzanne is in her mid-30s, holds a master’s degree from Drexel University, is an importer of crystal and an exporter of frozen foods and is sole owner of the Animale fragrance firm. If you would like to greet the woman and the scent, visit I. Magnin Beverly Hills on Sept. 11. They’ll both be there.
Model Children
You’ve got till Oct. 30 to enter your little ones in a Sears “real kids” fashion-modeling contest. The store is looking for folks 1 through 6 to pose in McKids playwear to be featured in a catalogue. Entry blanks are at the store and in the Sears back-to-school catalogue. Young winners plus three members of their families get to go to Chicago for the photo session. The entry form due date is easy enough to remember. It’s the night before the only day of the year when kids get permission to be monsters, goblins and toads.
