It’s a moment in time when there’s little going on in the media – unless celebrities create their own buzz. And when they do, it’s often in the form of changing their looks – dramatically. For example, the lovely Emma Watson of the “Harry Potter” series – another one coming coming this Christmas – cut her hair in the shortest short cut we’ve ever seen!! And this girl, with her former beautiful thick honey colored hair, is also the star of the Burberry ad campaign! We wonder how the people in charge of advertising at Burberry will think of this! She’s barely recognizable. We wonder how this will help her career – ? Paris Hilton showed up a la Jayne Mansfield or Marilyn Monroe at a new fragrance launch. A blonde bubblecut?? This is a hairdo that looks like it took rollers to create. It’s extremely NON contemporary and retro – but of course, it’s meant to be sexy. Whatever. – MG

When there are so many stars and SO many gowns and dresses showing up over a ten day period, somebody is just bound to get it wrong. We’d be disappointed if they didn’t! But it seems certain celebrities always overdress, while others, known for their great style, just make a choice out of left field – and sometimes pay a price in the media. They get a fashion scolding. Well, as the saying goes, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. But on the other hand, poor Mischa Barton can’t seem to catch a break. What happened? When she was a big tv star on “The O.C.,” she used to look really cute, fresh and young. In the last few years, she always looks like she’s trying way too hard. In his Marchesa embroidered cream duchess satin carousel cocktail dress, she looks like she’s about to tie the knot, as opposed to attend a black tie ball. White froufy gowns almost always look too bridal – and this white is just too hard on her skin. Not only that – she doesn’t seem like the marrying type. On the other hand, Paris Hilton is a girl who CAN wear white and make it sexy – but this one-of-a-kind Jean Fares Couture white chiffon strapless with a diamond-encrusted bodice (he’s a young Lebanese designer) doesn’t hold up to the other great designer gowns that showed up at this event. It’s just – too simple. And not that flattering. Never trust a new designer at an event this big. As for Marion Cotillard, the French star – who’s in Dior ads – always looks ravishing, so this giant bow front baggy gown is an aberration. It hides her great figure and makes her look a bit like a moving mountain. Marion – got back to sleek and tight!

Fresh from showing the Chanel cruise collection in St. Tropez – about an hour away from Cannes – Karl Lagerfeld popped into the Cannes Film Festival rather quietly, hosting the likes of Chanel Rouge Coco lipstick model Vanessa Paradis and her longtime man Johnny Depp – and what appears to be new couple, Paris Hilton and Adrien Brody. The party was held at Club VIP in Cannes, and of course, Vanessa wore a backless semi-sheer black Chanel dress, which was totally sheer from the knees down. Meanwhile, Paris and Adrien have turned up together at a lot of Cannes nightspots and parties – and of course, Paris IS single now. Perhaps not for long. But did Karl invite Paris? Word is, he actually invited Adrien, who brought Paris along as his date. But it was Johnny we think was the best dressed person at the party!

While it mostly long fluffy gowns or short metallic cocktail dresses at Cannes this week and last, there were a few standouts that did it VERY differently. Just because a few movie stars go full-on glam, doesn’t mean EVERYONE has to. Michelle Williams, here with Ryan Gosling who co-stars in the upcoming “Blue Valentine” with her, keeps her blonde hair gamine short, and wore a black and white sleeved bubble dress by Suno, with her cork wedgies by Stella McCartney. She’s like an under-dressed American Carey Mulligan. Marion Cotillard showed up for the big Chopard jewelry event in a Lefranc Ferrant sparkly jumpsuit with her Chopard jewels. It’s so sort of wrong – that it’s right! Or at least, she makes it right. On her, pretty much everything looks good. And leave it to Paris Hilton, who attended the Chopard party with her sister Nicky, to wear a rather L.A.-looking blue gradient strapless gown that does NOT look designer. It just looks rather tacky. But, as usual, Paris stands out from the crowd – and Nicky looks quiet chic.

This past weekend in L.A., there was yet another major charity ball – there almost always is one, except for July and August – this one being the 17th Annual Race to Erase MS at the Regent Century City. This is the charity ball set up by Nancy Davis, that aids kids with diabetes. esigner Tommy Hilfiger co-chaired it with her – he’s often sponsored the accompanying celebrity fashion show that’s staged at the event. In fact, Tommy did it up Hollywood style this past weekend: he also attended the big Douglas Friedman photo show opening at Jean de Merry on Friday night – which brought out an amazing crowd, including Randolph Duke, Rupaul, Robert Verdi, veterans of L.A. Design weekend who’d been attending seminars – and loads of major players. Paris and Nicky Hilton, who grew up with the Davis family in Beverly Hills, both got decked out for the Race to Erase in long silver grey dresses and looked like perfect ladies – but Avril Lavigne, shown with Nancy Davis, came in a t-shirt and her punk makeup. And this is a girl with a clothing line! Some girls just have to rebel, no matter what the location. – Merle Ginsberg

L.A. designer Gilbert A. Chagoury must have some money behind him – the young designer staged a show at the Pacific Design Center last night, uses the word “couture” for his collection, and brought out Paris and Nicky Hilton, “Entourage’s” Perrey Reeves, and actress Carla Gugino is the world’s longest weirdest earring – only one of them – we’ve ever seen. She was clearly channeling the eighties, we think – this is a very Cyndi Lauper/Pat Benatar kind of look. Looks to us like Chagoury has good connections – but does he have the chops to make it in the highly competitive world of Hollywood fashion? We will see. Meanwhile, our favorite look at the event was worn by “United States of Tara” writer (and “Juno”) Diablo Cody, in a leopard coat over her pregnancy bump. Chic.

It’s always a little strange when one celebrity wears another celebrity’s clothing line! Paris Hilton was spotting shopping in L.A. yesterday in a pair of 6126 by Lindsay Lohan “Mr. President” leggings!!! She paired them with casual separates and created a cool “bopping around town” look that is distinctly Los Angeles. And there was not a hint of pink anywhere. Meanwhile, 6126 is expanding for fall and becoming a full clothing line designed by Lindsay Lohan – who didn’t exactly get high marks when she was contributing to French luxury label Ungaro – but a casual legging and LA style clothing line is much closer to what she understands. The Fingerprint Communications pr office in L.A. is handling 6126 and doing private showings to editors and VIP of the fall collection downtown at the end of this week. We peaked at a 6126 fall lookbook with the new clothes in it – and it was very rock n’ roll, very sexy, very lioness in leggings with big hair. Well, we don’t want Paris couture from Lindsay Lohan, now, do we?
If you’re interesting in fall 6126, here’s the contact info:

Office: 310.276.7500 | Fax: 310.276.7965

“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” was always just a matter of time – n’est pas? Casting seems to have begun about a year ago, but now it’s official: Paris Hilton’s two aunts will be on the new Bravo reality show show, Kim and Kyle Richards. They’re Paris and Nicky’s mom Kathy Hilton’s young sisters, and what could be more Bev Hills than that! They’ve both been actresses, but Kim is 45 and twice divorced, and Kyle is 41, married – (more…)

Thursday night November 12th was a one of a kind night in Los Angeles: there were fashion and art events all over town, and people were popping around like it was fall in New York. We saw some very colorful crowds, and unlike the usual L.A. scene, which is: different ages and mindsets segregate to certain places, people from 20 to 80 were piling into the same parties and galleries. Is L.A. getting homogenized? Even – dare we say – cultured? We can’t really go that far – but it was certainly a cultural utopia for one night.
First stop: the Dana Davis pop up shoe emporium, in the old Lambertson Truex space on Melrose Place. What a fabulously old Hollywood crowd: Jerry Bruckheimer. Anjelica Huston. Kathy and Paris Hilton. Barbara, Nancy and Dana Davis, all dressed to the nines. And the fabulous return to town of Sandy Hill – who left Santa Barbara last spring, went on hiatus, and tells us she’s living in Venice, and very happy to be back in the L.A. area. We’re thrilled to have her back. The woman is a force of nature – an amazing athlete, entertainer, hostess, and cultural doyenne. Jamie Tisch, Shell and Craig Cardon and a nice mix of fashion and entertainer types were on board to greet Dana, buy shoes, and say hi to Peter Bacanovic, Nancy McNamara and Nancy Lucas, all working their event karma magic. We also got to see the fabulous gallerist Ray Azouley, who owns the Obsolete Gallery in Venice – and who is, bar none, the best dressed man in Los Angeles.
We moved on to the Lead Apron gallery opening next store, which featured a show called The Geography of the Imagination. Lots of hipsters moved through these doors, including The Police’s Andy Summers. Then the art/fashion/music crowd convened on the new Prism Gallery on Sunset. An art gallery on the Sunset Strip is pretty wild – and this one has three floors and a terrace. It’s owned by a 22 year old, and drew a crowd as diverse as French Vogue’s Carine Roitfeld (her son Nicholas is an advisor to the gallery), Tracey Ross, and Chrome Hearts’ Richard Starck, who came with his teenage daughter. Nadine Johnson from NY coordinated the event, and it was simply packed with great looking guys and girls looking arty and interesting – and possibly even smart. The evening ended up at Bar Lubitsch, always a great scene, where Costume National’s designer/owner Ennio Capasa presented the band Child, and got to chat with Cameron Silver and Jeff Snyder, Andy Slater, and other L.A. scenesters. At the end of the night, we wanted to go to a Cuban Chinese diner and eat french fries like we were in New York – but instead, this being L.A, we went home and got our beauty sleep. While watching Jimmy Fallon, of course. – MG