Over-the-Counter Remedies
When dermatologists started shying away from treating psoriasis in favor of giving botox and collagen injections, they also started enjoying the kind of celebrity status usually reserved for star hairstylists. Now doctors are bringing their clinical creams out of the medicine cabinet to department-store beauty counters: Dr. Fredric Brandt debuts Brandt, a line including antioxidant cream for collagen-enhanced skin, at Bergdorf Goodman this month; the laser-treated can pick up Dr. Jennifer Biglow’s Z. Bigatti Labs Re-Storation skin treatments at Henri Bendel; and devotees of Dr. Howard Sobel can firm up with DDF’s Retinol Energizing Body Lotion at Sephora. Even hairdressers are turning to their favorite skin doctors for a second opinion: Salon AKS has had its product line endorsed by Dr. Dennis Gross. Move over, Frédéric Fekkai.
BETH LANDMAN KEIL
Dolly Llama
Pack away your pashmina and ship off your shahtoosh: This season’s must-have accessory is turning out to be llama. Banana Republic features the furry four-legged friend wrapped in a scarf for its winter cashmere campaign, and Holland & Holland’s latest spread shows a llama hoofing about with a mink messenger bag and leather totes. Shoe designer Steve Madden has picked up on the Peruvian pet, too; his “it” animal sashays about with a model on Bleecker Street in his television spots. As with any trend, of course, there are some people who say they were there first. “They look so snooty,” explains Jo Ann McGrath, editor of Llama Life II magazine, “that anything looks good on them.”
SUNY SEHGAL
Trouser Pressed
You’ve been panting over your roommate’s Daryl K boot-cuts ever since she took to slinking around your apartment in them. Now you can get your own: The downtown trouser guru has created FIR (Gaelic for “man”), a clothing line for her male fans. The capsule collection is only eighteen pieces strong, and the leather jeans and cotton-and-fur hoodies have already sold out. If you miss the rest, you can always head to the women’s racks–where male shoppers have been observed covertly slipping into the larger sizes.
DAVID AMSDEN
Millennium Watch
Now that you’ve committed yourself to a high-ticket party and a ball-gown skirt for celebrating the last hours of 1999, the only challenge is to find the right top. Cashmere sweater sets were over by the end of last season’s charity circuit, and so were those damn shawls. Here’s something everyone else won’t be wearing: Zitomer’s “millennium vest,” a form-fitting mink bustier ($800). Sure, you may regret the extravagant purchase while you struggle to keep the strapless top above waist level as you boogie on the dance floor, but at least it’ll keep you warm later, when you’re searching the city streets for an empty taxi.
B.L.K.