This fall, the classic “Little Black Dress” is a bigger deal than it always has been. All of the fall cocktail looks were shown in black, and it’s not just for New York anymore. Everywhere all over the world, cocktail means “Little Black Dress.” It all started with “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and that Givenchy killer dress that Audrey Hepburn made iconic. But then – it never ended. And what’s funny is – you can never have enough of them. Since you wear them all the time, they need to be different – one tight, one flowy, one ruched, one longer, one in lace (THE fall statement this year). How does a girl afford a number of LBD’s? By cheating a little. Express, which has gotten new designers in the last few years, is now hipper than Banana Republic. They have some real fashion icons every season, and for fall, it’s 6 new styles of the LBD: the Contoured Tank Dress, the girly embellishment of the Ruched Bow Dress, or a hint of romance with the 2-in-1 Lace Back Dress. And the best news of all? There all under a hundred bucks. For that price, you could snag all of them. And wear them with Louboutins and no one will know the difference.

Here’s another good idea for a Christmas gift: the re-release of the DVD version of the classic Audrey and Humphrey Bogart movie “Sabrina” – oh, the Edith Head designed outfits!!! – (with a little help from an uncredited Hubert de Givenchy).

But this version has a featurette attached to it called, “Audrey Hepburn: Fashion Icon,” with interviews on it from Isaac Mizrahi, Cynthia Rowley, Trina Turk, Eduardo Lucero and the faculty of L.A.’s Otis College Fashion Faculty. It was produced by Paramount Home Entertainment for the Centennial Collection DVD series, a two disc set of the 1954 classic, which just came out. The doc was filmed on location at the Otis Design School.

There are a number of startling moments in the new Brad Pitt/Cate Blanchett movie, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” but some of them belong to Cate  Blanchett’s amazing wardrobe, created by costumer Jacqueline West, who has also worked on “Henry and June,” “Quills,” “The Banger Sisters,” and Terrence Malick’s “The New World” – as well as on his new movie called “Tree of Life,” with Sean Penn and Brad Pitt.

Blanchett plays Daisy, who meets Benjamin Button when she’s a child and he’s a very old man – because he is growing backwards – the conceit of the film based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Eventually, the two are the same age – and fall in love. Daisy becomes a dancer with the famed George Balanchine, and when she meets Benjamin for the first time when they’re both young adults – she wears a startling red dress with short sleeves, tight bodice, and a longer tea-length full skirt that literally stops traffic. Later on in the film, a la Audrey Hepburn, she wears black slim pants, flats, and a short yellow swing coat. Her costumes are always close to the body and very dancer-like, and she carries them with incredible grace and lithe-ness. We expect Ms. West will get an Oscar nomination for the costumes in ”Benjamin Button”  - and designers will keep an eye on Ms. Blanchett’s wardrobe, which will no doubt inspire some looks in the upcoming fall collections, to be shown this February and March in NY and Europe.

Can you imagine how many actresses have wanted to play the legendary and iconic Coco Chanel? Mira Sorvino nearly got the gig in a mini-series that never saw the light of day. Demi Moore tried to develop a movie about Mademoiselle Coco, but it never got off the ground.. Katharine Hepburn played her in the 1969 musical on Broadway, and got a Tony nomination. Juliette Binoche and Audrey Tatou have taken meetings. But finally, Mademoiselle Coco IS, in fact, coming to the small screen – on September 13th, Saturday night, at 8pm in a three hour original movie for Lifetime television (the future home of “Project Runway.”) “Coco Chanel” stars MacLaine as the older Coco, reminiscing about her long career – and Czechoslovakian young brunette actress Barbara Bobulova, who’s worked mostly in Italian and French television, as the young Coco. whose lovers helped her raise the financing to open clothing shops after her mother had died when she was 6, and the young Gabrille Chanel was raised by aunts and nuns (who taught her sewing). It was her stint as a cabaret singer that set Coco up to be in a position to meet the rich men who eventually financed her and allowed her to become the diva designer she was destined to be.

Lifetime’s website – Mylifetime.com – has a number of nifty Chanel tie-ins: for instance, you can enter a contest on there to win a two thousand dollar Chanel quilted bag (which Mademoiselle created in 1956, not long after her big money maker, Chanel No, 5 perfume. And there’s a timeline of her achievements and creations, and a history of stars who’ve worn Chanel on the red carpet, and highlights from varied great Chanel collections.

Shirley MacLaine is actually interviewed, and she admits that Audrey Hepburn – with whom she starred in the film “The Children’s Hour,” told her she should play Coco Chanel 47 years ago. “I disagreed,” MacLaine admits, “because Chanel was little and scrunched-over and very short. And Audrey said, “No, the spirit of the woman matches your spirit.” I found Coco to be everything between generous and rude. I didn’t know what Audrey meant [about matching spirits]. But it turns out she was right. I couldn’t wear Chanel suits and pearls and hats during the day now. I don’

t have that kind of lifestyle, but her clothes were meant more to express her personality. Remember, she was an orphan. She was poverty-stricken. She was always afraid that it would happen to her again, and her need to stay a woman in charge is what was behind these clothes. I DID wear Chanel knockoffs when I was in my twenties and thirties- but now my personal taste runs more to plain, simple lines. But I actually did attend a Chanel collection once, in my twenties or thirties. I could even have met her. But seems to me, if I had met her, I would have remembered it.”

Meanwhile, MacLaine has one more living person she’d like to portray – Georgia O’Keefe – and says she’s working on it. In the meantime, when you look at her photos as CC from the movie – with her bob darkened and pearls and black jackets – she does seem to have captured the spirit of the woman.

GIVENCHY COUTURE AT PARIS

Audrey Hepburn was the muse of Hubert de Givenchy – he designed pretty much every outfit she ever wore, off and on the screen (though costumer Edith Head took credit for many of them). If Audrey were alive, she certainly would applaud new Givenchy talent Riccardo Tiscci, whose ready to wear is chic, modern and edgey – and whose fall couture collection, shown in Paris this week, was an amazing combo of urban, edgey and absolutely luxurious. For day, he showed mostly short looks in grey or black jersey, pairing dresses with fur or leather, and adding much-oversized grey or black boots to the short looks – a striking contrast to shorter skirts. Where can we buy those boots, I want to know? Please, Barneys, order them now!!! They made the short hemlines look a lot less baby-doll – and almost tough and strong. For night, Tiscci showed screaming color: violet satin, or a bright pink, in short satin dresses matched with same-color tights (electric!)– or long black lace sheer dresses, that were sexy and elegant at the same time. Let’s pray somebody wears one of these lace numbers to the Emmy’s or the Globes- take note, all you L.A. stylists in the crowd. Tiscci is the brightest new talent in the Paris firmament. – Merle Ginsberg