Makeup Beat

“She was born Mary Frances Reynolds on April Fools’ Day, 1932, and since then Debbie Reynolds has entertained the world acting, singing, dancing, and making people laugh. Today Debbie is involved in a number of activities, entertaining and public speaking, aside from film and television work. Numerous awards include an Academy Award for Best Actress for The Unsinkable Molly Brown, a Golden Globe for The Debbie Reynolds Show on television, a Golden Globe for the motion picture Mother, and a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for In & Out. In 1997 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy. A bundle of energy, charm and beauty, Debbie Reynolds remains a highly talented and versatile singer and actress, a celebrated American fixture, a genuine personality, and one who stands today as a symbol of sweeter times, still enriching the lives of millions with her laughter.”

I was thrilled to meet Debbie at the birthday party Tova gave for Ernie Borgnine. Ms Reynolds kept us all laughing and entertained with her bawdy jokes and special songs to the birthday boy. Even Connie Stevens sang to him. You remember both Connie and Debbie were once married to Eddie Fisher. Such a special evening….one I will never forget.

New York-based fashion designer Adrian Alicea will present his latest collection at Couture Fashion Week in New York City on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. The fashion show will be held in the legendary Grand Ballroom of the world-famous Waldorf Astoria hotel on the city’s legendary Park Avenue.

The “Falling In Love Collection” for Fall/Winter 2010 marks the solo launch of Mr. Alicea of the Nico and Adrian New York label. The distinctive ensembles incorporate the designer’s original and edgy style in a fresh couture approach. The collection is inspired by the very essence of love and a wide variety of elements shine through: the designer’s love of world travel, flashes of shades of red, pink and gold, animal prints and exotic furs, the sleek lines of modern architecture combined with the soft flowing movement of the fabrics of dance – from flamenco to ballet. It’s all about the mix.

A native of Puerto Rico, Mr. Alicea is a gifted designer, creative director, and photographer who has traveled the world extensively and has spent many years moving in the chic fashionista circles of Paris, Japan, Brazil and New York. He began his career as an international model and dancer and that experience lead him to co-found the Nico and Adrian fashion house in 2001. The successful team’s designs have been featured on the covers of Vogue Italia and Vogue Russia, among others. Their innovative and provocative creations have captured the attention of supermodels and Hollywood celebrities including Linda Evangelista, Patricia Velasquez, Omahyra, India Arie, Lil’Kim and Paris Hilton.

Model Azmarie photographed by Rudy Weislein. Styled by Joann Berman. Makeup by Charles Douglas of Rouge Makeup Studio. Creative direction by David Frank Ray.

Natalia Vodianova photographed by Paolo Roversi

I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Lisa Rinna during my recent trip to Hollywood, and she is just as beautiful and sweet in person as she is on film.

“The King” would have been 75 today….may he rest in peace.

In fashion, thin has always and forever been in. Until, maybe, kind of, now. For a while.

The shift has been under way for quite some time (more on that later) but hits its apotheosis next week, when V magazine — the most avant-garde and directional of any American fashion book — releases its “Size” issue. By real-world standards, of course, the plus-size models celebrated within are absolutely normal, healthy-looking girls. But because fashion isn’t the real world, the issue is, in its way, revolutionary.

But are plus-size models a trend or a category?

“For V magazine, the pinnacle of pure creative art, to do an issue on plus-size models — they are basically becoming spokespeople for this issue,” says plus-size model Crystal Renn (5-foot-9, 36-31-41), who wrote a classic of the model-memoir genre, 2009’s “Hungry.”

“They are saying, ‘This is the way things are going.’ ”

There is nothing remotely ironic or dismissive about any of the spreads in the 128-page issue; some cohesively evoke the glamour and voluptuousness of ’80s-era editorials starring corn-fed superstars such as Christie Brinkley and Cindy Crawford. All of the models, pictured here, wore stretchy tops, bathing suits, and, in some cases, nothing. The size 12 Renn appeared in a separate shoot by Terry Richardson, in which she is shot opposite a size 2 model, both wearing the exact same clothes in the exact same sample sizes. Renn wore, among other designers, Ralph Lauren and Versace — “That’s saying, ‘Hey! You can’t hide from this!’ ” she says.

“Crystal was the seed that prompted the idea,” says V magazine creative director Stephen Gan, who describes himself as “one of those die-hard fashion people who lives in a bubble.” After meeting Renn over lunch during Fashion Week last fall, he found himself moved. He says he is not usually moved. “When someone as gorgeous as she is was talking about how her agent would tell her to keep losing weight . . . and she ended up nearly dying . . .”

Then Gan saw the trailer for “Precious” and, again, felt oddly compelled by star Gabby Sidibe, who weighs about 300 pounds. “That trailer — I got all choked up,” he says. He admits being surprised by his new reaction: “I don’t want to sound like a fashion person . . . but for the last three months I have been obsessed with bigger girls!”

And then he asked Karl Lagerfeld — formerly overweight, and outspoken about his dislike of fat people — to shoot a fleshy drag queen named Dirty Martini. Lagerfeld, says Gan, was “charmed” and agreed; Gan was shocked.

That said, it was little less than a year ago that Beth Ditto — the 200-plus-pound frontwoman for the Gossip — was seated front-row at every Paris fashion show that mattered, and was embraced by Lagerfeld himself. Ditto became an icon in Europe, posing for the premiere issue of UK fashion mag Love.

Since then, there have been other indicators that the emaciated aesthetic is shifting, Glamour magazine’s recent unretouched photo of model Lizzie Miller, belly flab visible, among them. (“I’d be inclined to give that a bit of retouching,” says Gan, who says his models are unretouched.)

So perhaps it ends where we began: A model who is a size 8, like Renn, is overweight by fashion terms, normal by real world terms, and never the twain shall meet.

“How do you say this in a way that’s not hurtful to anyone?” Gan asks. “In this world, when a girl’s called ‘beautiful,’ sometimes my reaction to that is: In what terms? In fashion terms? Beauty pageant terms? Real people terms? I wish I could just say, ‘She’s beautiful,’ and leave it at that.”

maureen.callahan@nypost.com

In fashion, thin has always and forever been in. Until, maybe, kind of, now. For a while.

The shift has been under way for quite some time (more on that later) but hits its apotheosis next week, when V magazine — the most avant-garde and directional of any American fashion book — releases its “Size” issue. By real-world standards, of course, the plus-size models celebrated within are absolutely normal, healthy-looking girls. But because fashion isn’t the real world, the issue is, in its way, revolutionary.

But are plus-size models a trend or a category?
V MAGAZINE
Photos: A-plus

“For V magazine, the pinnacle of pure creative art, to do an issue on plus-size models — they are basically becoming spokespeople for this issue,” says plus-size model Crystal Renn (5-foot-9, 36-31-41), who wrote a classic of the model-memoir genre, 2009’s “Hungry.”

“They are saying, ‘This is the way things are going.’ ”

There is nothing remotely ironic or dismissive about any of the spreads in the 128-page issue; some cohesively evoke the glamour and voluptuousness of ’80s-era editorials starring corn-fed superstars such as Christie Brinkley and Cindy Crawford. All of the models, pictured here, wore stretchy tops, bathing suits, and, in some cases, nothing. The size 12 Renn appeared in a separate shoot by Terry Richardson, in which she is shot opposite a size 2 model, both wearing the exact same clothes in the exact same sample sizes. Renn wore, among other designers, Ralph Lauren and Versace — “That’s saying, ‘Hey! You can’t hide from this!’ ” she says.

“Crystal was the seed that prompted the idea,” says V magazine creative director Stephen Gan, who describes himself as “one of those die-hard fashion people who lives in a bubble.” After meeting Renn over lunch during Fashion Week last fall, he found himself moved. He says he is not usually moved. “When someone as gorgeous as she is was talking about how her agent would tell her to keep losing weight . . . and she ended up nearly dying . . .”

Then Gan saw the trailer for “Precious” and, again, felt oddly compelled by star Gabby Sidibe, who weighs about 300 pounds. “That trailer — I got all choked up,” he says. He admits being surprised by his new reaction: “I don’t want to sound like a fashion person . . . but for the last three months I have been obsessed with bigger girls!”

And then he asked Karl Lagerfeld — formerly overweight, and outspoken about his dislike of fat people — to shoot a fleshy drag queen named Dirty Martini. Lagerfeld, says Gan, was “charmed” and agreed; Gan was shocked.

That said, it was little less than a year ago that Beth Ditto — the 200-plus-pound frontwoman for the Gossip — was seated front-row at every Paris fashion show that mattered, and was embraced by Lagerfeld himself. Ditto became an icon in Europe, posing for the premiere issue of UK fashion mag Love.

Since then, there have been other indicators that the emaciated aesthetic is shifting, Glamour magazine’s recent unretouched photo of model Lizzie Miller, belly flab visible, among them. (“I’d be inclined to give that a bit of retouching,” says Gan, who says his models are unretouched.)

So perhaps it ends where we began: A model who is a size 8, like Renn, is overweight by fashion terms, normal by real world terms, and never the twain shall meet.

“How do you say this in a way that’s not hurtful to anyone?” Gan asks. “In this world, when a girl’s called ‘beautiful,’ sometimes my reaction to that is: In what terms? In fashion terms? Beauty pageant terms? Real people terms? I wish I could just say, ‘She’s beautiful,’ and leave it at that.”