The Cat’s Meow
It is important, when embarking upon the all-important search for designer jeans, to learn a new term, whisker, which is to denim today what stone-wash was in the eighties. Whiskers are the horizontal wear marks that appear on the thighs of well-worn jeans – and now brand-new ones – and Scott Morrison (pictured), founder of Paper Denim & Cloth, is the city’s authority on the topic. “I have a really bad habit of staring at people’s jeans,” admits the 29-year-old ex–professional golfer, who makes jeans in four different washes: one-, two-, three-, and four-year, based on the premise that if you were to wear a pair of jeans every day for a year, that’s the shade you’d get. “It’s not an exact science,” he cautions. “But when you get it right …” Judging from the cultish way in which Paper Denim & Cloth jeans are being coveted, he’s getting it right. So what’s next? Morrison is feeling inspired by an old photograph of an Exxon worker. “We’re working on greasy rust stains,” he says, “natural yellowing.”
Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves
En garde, Nicky and Paris! Danielle Steel’s teen daughters, Vanessa and Victoria Traina, are poised to become this season’s stylish, underage sisters of choice (full-page photo in Vogue, shopping sprees at Manolo, etc.). But luckily, New York’s favorite table dancers are busy diversifying:
PROJECT
Jewelry
STATUS
The Hilton sisters designed a line of crosses fashioned from Swarovski crystal in the colors of their favorite charities (pink for breast cancer, red for AIDS, and so on). Now being shopped to retailers from the Apropo showroom.
PROJECT
Handbags
STATUS
The sisters are currently on tour in Japan (where they’re very big) as spokesmodels for Samantha Thavasa handbags. When they get home, Nicky will hunker down and contribute ten designs to the fall line.
PROJECT
Perfume
STATUS
Two scents, Uptown (musky) and Downtown (floral), have been in the lab since last summer. The girls were invited to be presenters at last June’s FiFi Awards, where Paris burned herself backstage with a curling iron.
PROJECT
The Big Screen
STATUS
Paris is all set to star in an upcoming movie called L.A. Knights. “It’s like a female Swingers,” explains her publicist, “and she’s like the Vince Vaughn.”