From In Style's Kwala Mandel in Los Angeles: I have to hand it to her—Mandy Moore has already accomplished more than most of us (she’s got the whole actress-singer-model-designer spectrum covered). But at the launch party for the cute and cozy knit dresses from her fashion line, Mblem, she mentioned that she keeps a “life list” of even more things she wants to do.
Among them? “I want to take flying lessons,” said Moore, who was dressed in a vintage-inspired Mblem dress with gold bangles and snakeskin Christian Louboutin heels. "I've been skydiving, so that will be the next step. I need to get on that."
Mandy Moore
For the stylish soirée, she and her friends took over the second floor of the hip new restaurant and club Social Hollywood. Several rooms were stocked with flickering candles, glasses of champagne, mojitos, crabcakes, chicken and steak satay, and smoked salmon.
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From In Style's Glynis Costin and Karen Levy in Los Angeles: Marie Antoinette might have been distraught at the Chanel-sponsored party Tuesday night for Sofia Coppola’s film about the storied French queen. Well, at least she would have been thirsty at some point. Things were so hopping at the post-première fête that, late into the evening, the Perrier Jouët champagne ran out. Quel dommage! The young queen, portrayed by Kirsten Dunst, drank the stuff as if it were water.
And indeed, the film, screened earlier at Arclight Cinemas, seemed to have inspired revelers to sip the night away. Along with gorgeous costumes, decadent desserts, fabulous shoes and towering hairdos, champagne was practically another character in the film.
Maria Bello, Glynis, Karen and Ali
It definitely inspired us, our fellow In Style-er Ali Forman and our pal the talented actress Maria Bello, with whom we hung out at a back table. It also made us walk around the Chateau Marmont proclaiming (what else?) “Let them eat cake!” And, of course, we did—along with marshmallows, lemon tarts, brownies and mini-cupcakes from Joan’s on Third. (Hey, we didn’t have any dinner!)
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I've gotta give it up for Fergie: "London Bridge" is not only a ridiculously catchy hit but also the best song about a bridge since Simon and Garfunkel's groovy ode to the one on 59th Street. And there's plenty more where that came from on her brand-new solo CD, The Dutchess.
Fergie
Photos by Kevin Mazur/WireImage
I remember when I first interviewed Fergie—before her hip-hop makeover—back when she was known as Stacy Ferguson and was a member of the adult-contemporary vocal trio Wild Orchid. I never imagined that the former child star of Kids Incorporated (which also featured a young Mario "Dancing With the Stars" Lopez) would go on to date Hollywood hottie Josh Duhamel and record such a fierce CD! She's become the Duchess of Funk, in my opinion. But clearly she felt more like a queen when friends toasted her reign on the Billboard charts at Tenjune in the Meatpacking District—she donned a tiara for the occasion!
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From In Style's Kwala Mandel in Los Angeles: I wasn’t the only one who felt a little like Alice in Wonderland at Quincy Jones’s Bel-Air estate the other night, at a party he hosted for rapper-producer Jermaine Dupri’s 34th birthday.
Everyone seemed a little awestruck, from Serena Williams to Penélope Cruz, who showed up at midnight in Chanel with her Volver director, Pedro Almodóvar, after attending an earlier screening of the film. In fact, even Quincy's daughter Rashida looked blown away by the sprawling grounds and by a white-carpeted tennis court that had been transformed into an outdoor living room and tented dining area. "I can’t believe these are the same tennis courts I used to make out on when I was younger!" she said.
Kwala and Sanaa Lathan
In my initial navigation of the maze of cobblestone pathways and hedges, I somehow managed to miss the tennis court altogether (how do you miss a tennis court?) and found myself standing before Quincy’s looming front door.
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And here I thought that New York was going to settle down after Fashion Week wrapped. But the other night was jam-packed with some of the best things in life: movies, music and models.
My first stop was the IFC Center for a special screening of Showgirls. After seeing all of those heavy dramas at the Toronto Film Festival, I was really in the mood for a camp classic. (I remember once interviewing the movie's star, Elizabeth Berkley, at the Venice Film Festival and gushing to her that this hilarious morality tale about fame happens to be one of my favorite films of all time. "Yeah, a lot of guys tell me that," she deadpanned.)
After the movie, screenwriter Joe Eszterhas did a Q and A with Michael Musto in which he mentioned that Showgirls: The Musical will be coming to Broadway (I can hardly wait!), shared some dishy tales about Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone (Joe also wrote the screenplay for Basic Instinct), and then signed copies of his new book, The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God! As it turns out, the devil wears Levi's, not Prada, and he's a total sweetheart.
The Victoria's Secret party venue
Photos by Mark A. Neston
So a hardcover book was my unlikely accessory at the Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Makeup party at a raw loft space on the West Side. The loft had undergone an extreme makeover for this event, which featured Very Strong martinis, Very Yummy appetizers (ice-cream lollipops and cotton candy!) and Very Stunning supermodels like Gisele Bündchen and Karolina Kurkova.
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From In Style's Glynis Costin in Los Angeles: The highlight of a ladies' luncheon held by Aerin Lauder in honor of Gwyneth Paltrow and Sheryl Crow was undeniably when Paltrow brought out baby Moses. At least, that was the highlight for me.
Gwyneth just looks so beautiful as a young mom. I don't want to sound corny, but she was glowing in her silver Prada dress as she held her son, just over five months old. Everyone oohed and aahed over both of them, and Crow even jumped out of her seat, saying, “I’ve got to see this little guy.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
Photo by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
The luncheon—a beautiful, intimate affair held on the terrace of the Greystone Mansion in L.A.—was to celebrate Paltrow's limited-edition Pleasures collection for Estée Lauder and to honor Crow for her work in the fight against breast cancer. To mark the occasion, Estée Lauder made a donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).
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The last time I found myself in such a cool Manhattan apartment, it happened to belong to Sting and Trudie Styler! So I couldn't resist snapping some shots of Pat Field's place—especially given that after her End of Fashion Week party began to clear out, at around 2 a.m., I wound up helping Pat move the living room furniture back into place.
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From In Style's Mark Morrison in Los Angeles: What do the initials of the new CW Television Network—the long-anticipated merger of UPN and the WB—stand for? Well, after attending the fledgling network’s launch party at Warner Bros. Studios on Monday night, I'd have to say the letters stand for crazy and wild.
Kristen Bell and Tom Welling
Michael Caulfield/WireImage
Waiting to get in, I bumped into hard-working CAA agent Tracy Brennan, there to catch up with her client Kristen Bell, the petite blonde better known to TV fans as savvy high-school sleuth Veronica Mars. Tracy barely looked up from her BlackBerry as a Warner Bros. shuttle dropped us off on the green carpet—that’s right: green, not red.
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I missed nearly all of New York Fashion Week while I was at the Toronto Film Festival—but perhaps not the coolest part. I arrived back in town just in time for superstar stylist Pat Field's annual End of Fashion Week bash. “This is definitely more interesting than any of the other Fashion Week parties," Robert Verdi—Eva Longoria's personal stylist and BFF—told me during David Dalrymple's House of Field show. (He did add, though, “Marc’s was pretty good, too.”)
DJ Donna D'Cruz, Pat Field and James
Photos by Mark A. Neston
The runway action was happening far away from the Tents at Bryant Park; the party was held on the upper level of Field’s club-like apartment on the Bowery, close to CBGB. That punk-rock haven's days may be numbered, but the old-school East Village spirit was alive and well at Pat’s place, a.k.a. HOBO (Home on the Bowery).
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While Sundance was epitomized by the quirky crowd pleaser Little Miss Sunshine, the highlights of the Toronto Film Festival were not about looking on the bright side. The only movie that made me laugh out loud was Christopher Guest's For Your Consideration, which is about a small film production that's doomed by blog-fueled Oscar buzz. (I saw a screening of the hilarious Borat before I left for Toronto, so that one doesn't count for me—especially since a publicist told me I was forbidden to blog about it until October!)
Despite Guest's wacky cautionary tale, I can't help recommending some other must-see flicks, coming soon to an art house or multiplex near you: I also laughed a lot during Douglas McGrath's Infamous, which has the same depressing ending as Capote but also plenty of witty quips from Truman and his high-society swans (plus Gwynnie as Peggy Lee).
Emilio Estevez and Demi Moore in Bobby
Photo © The Weinstein Company, 2006/Sam Emerson
In general, happy endings were few and far between, and body counts were high: My favorites included Pedro Almodóvar's Volver, starring Penélope Cruz; Little Children, with Kate Winslett, Jennifer Connelly and Patrick Wilson; Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel, which features Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and an impressive cast of foreign actors; and Bobby, Emilio Estevez's star-packed picture about the assasination of the beloved presidential hopeful—there were so many celeb cameos that I simply lost count after Ashton Kutcher turned up as an acid-dropping hippie.
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From In Style's Ali Forman in Los Angeles: A happy birthday it was last Saturday night for Jessica Meisels, who celebrated her 30th with about 250 hipsters at L.A.'s Stone Rose (that's the hot spot—run by Rande Gerber, Cindy Crawford’s handsome husband—where our bureau chief recently spotted George Clooney).
Alas, George wasn’t there on Saturday, but there were plenty of other recognizable faces. Meisels is a partner at Fingerprint Communications (a PR firm that puts together events such as the Polaroid Beach House in Malibu), and her fêtes are usually pretty fun, not to mention star-sprinkled. So I was psyched to stop by, even though I was exhausted from a week at the Toronto Film Festival.
Paris Hilton, Jessica Meisels and Nicky Hilton
Photo by Chris Weeks/WireImage
The evening had started at 9:00 p.m. with a sit-down dinner at the adjacent Simon L.A. restaurant for a much smaller group that included Paris Hilton (who had only two in her entourage: manager Jason and publicist Eliot) and sister Nicky. (The two heiresses presented the birthday girl with a large Yves Saint Laurent shopping bag.)
Each course was paired with a different Veuve Clicquot champagne, and next to every floral arrangement was a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Rosé. There were Polaroid cameras on the tables so guests could capture every fun moment—or faux pas!
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From In Style's Karen Levy in Los Angeles: Calling all paparazzi! Sure, you all stalk Robertson Blvd. with your long lenses, hoping to catch glimpses of Paris, Lindsay or Nicole stepping out of Kitson or dining at the Ivy. But try heading over to La Brea Ave. and you might see Eva Longoria and Rachel Bilson. Where? Shopping at one of this street’s newest and hippest boutiques, Iconology.
Formerly a mecca for antique-furniture shoppers, La Brea is now home to trendy clothing shops like Sugar (which was recently featured in In Style) and vintage vendor The Way We Wore. Of course, American Rag, which has been here for a while, is an L.A. classic, and Yellow is a personal favorite. My point is that more and more of these cool clothing shops are turning this street into a real fashion destination.
Iconology
The other night, I stopped by Iconology’s trunk show and fête for L.A. designer Rory Edelman, creator of the Rory Beca line. Edelman was there along with Iconology owners Michelle Dalton Tyree (a former fashion-magazine editor) and Jacqueline Dalton, her sister, who is herself a designer. An L.A. native, Edelman was adorable, as were her feminine clothes, modeled by her own sister.
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I was surprised when one of my first celebrity interviewees at the Toronto Film Festival, the remarkably fresh-faced and perky Rachel Bilson, confessed (in between stuffing her face with a croissant) that she got only two hours of sleep the night before she flew here. Now, after three back-to-back In Style events, I know just how she feels.
Aside from our blowout with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, In Style hosted fêtes for two films that are bound to be contenders come Oscar night: Little Children, which was directed by Todd Field, the Academy Award-nominated writer/director of In the Bedroom; and Bobby, which was helmed by one of my favorite Brat Packers, Emilio Estevez.
At our intimate cocktail party at Flow for Little Children, Field told me that his film was intended as a “satirical melodrama.” My take? Depserate Housewives with a Ph.D. Kate Winslet, looking blonder and hotter than ever, kicked back with a glass of bubbly and the company of her buff co-star, Patrick Wilson, who is like a walking Men’s Health cover. He shows off his acting chops, abs—and much, much more—in this movie. Remember Fatal Attraction’s kitchen-sink sex scene? This movie similarly romanticizes the laundry room!
Bobby co-stars Christian Slater and Joy Bryant
And last night at 65 Degrees Grill & Pasta, we toasted Estevez’s Venice Film Festival hit, which he wrote, directed and co-stars in. He plays the long-suffering husband of (real-life former fiancée) Demi Moore.
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From In Style's Angela Salazar in Los Angeles: “What band’s hits include ‘Losing My Religion’ and ‘Man on the Moon’?” reality-TV genius Mark Burnett asked me, pulling the question from those printed on his stack of gold-embossed napkins. Luckily, I know my pop culture and answered confidently, “R.E.M.!” I didn’t win $2 million, but I did earn an approving smile and a “Very good!” from Midas himself.
Angela and Mark Burnett
I was standing in the VIP area of Hollywood hot spot Les Deux, sandwiched between Burnett and Tori Spelling during this little bit of trivia. We were there to celebrate the launch of Gold Rush, an online reality-TV-style competition in which the contestants can win more than $2 million in gold. Burnett’s latest venture with AOL lured such stars as Wilmer Valderrama, Felicity Huffman, Kristin Cavallari, Sofia Milos and Clifton Collins Jr. to Les Deux’s jam-packed patio.
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An endless downpour of rain didn’t put a damper on the annual HFPA/In Style party at Toronto's Windsor Arms Hotel. It just meant that indie-movie darlings like Alessandro Nivola found themselves accessorizing their outfits with golf umbrellas so that they could smoke without getting soaked on the outdoor patio.
James McAvoy and James
Photo by Anna-Lea Boeki
Meanwhile, it was a hot scene inside the party, what with all of the high-wattage guests arriving: Oscar nominees like Viggo Mortensen, Laura Linney, Joan Allen and Liam Neeson; cute young Hollywood stars like Scott Caan, Scott Speedman and Giovanni Ribisi; and daring directors such as John Waters and Darren Aronofsky, whose epic love story The Fountain I had just seen.
“I hope it made you feel something!" Darren said (no worries, it did). Surprisingly, the conversation then turned to New York Fashion Week—the director's pal Narciso Rodriguez designed the chic ensembles Rachel Weisz wears in The Fountain. I have to say, it’s rare that I meet an artsy-intellectual auteur who enjoys talking about high fashion, but Darren’s my man!
Unfortunately, Weisz's co-star Hugh Jackman couldn’t make it to Toronto. "He’s on tour as the Boy from Oz, dancing around in hot pants for crowds of, like, 15,000 people in Australia," Aronofsky explained. Now that sounds like a party!
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"I’ve made love to Brad Pitt—it’s not so good." Does this quote come from A) current paramour Angelina Jolie; B) ex-wife Jennifer Aniston; C) ex-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow; or D) Ocean's Thirteen costar Matt Damon?
Matt Damon
The answer, surprisingly, is D for Damon! Matt shared this revelation at the One X One Gala benefit and concert at the Carlu in Toronto. And though—of course!—I later partyhopped between the Entertainment Weekly blowout at Flow (where I spotted Rachel Bilson and blog god Perez Hilton) and the Motorola bash at Club V (where sexy Alessandro Nivola was kicking back with an entourage that included Holly Wiersma, the most glamorous producer in Hollywood), this fund-raiser was the hottest ticket of the Toronto Film Festival.
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"You're the first actor I've ever met who is actually taller in person than I would expect," I told Adrian Grenier. The Entourage star—sans entourage—was at the Toronto Film Festival to promote Shot in the Dark, a documentary he directed about the search to find his father. (This is sort of like the hot young actor’s answer to Lace II, that awesome Phoebe Cates miniseries from the eighties, except that it’s sweet and not trashy.)
Adrian Grenier
I usually try to be kind and shoot stars from above rather than below, but that was impossible with Adrian—and anyway, he’s such a good-looking guy that even I can't take a bad picture of him. Before this impromptu photo shoot, he was having a mojito and puffing away on the outdoor patio of a chic eatery called Amber.
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From In Style's Karen Levy in Los Angeles: Working at In Style, I’ve been to my share of movie premières. But every once in a while, one comes along that really brings back the glamour of Old Hollywood—even if just for a little while. Well, last night was one of those evenings.
Ben Affleck, Adrien Brody, Diane Lane and a smattering of other stars, in fact, seemed almost in retro character for the opening of their latest film, Hollywoodland, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Diane Lane
The invitation had called for "glamorous attire," and most of the guests obliged. The usual L.A. sprinklings of jeans and sandals were nowhere to be found, replaced by sexy cocktail dresses and suits—some guys even wore top hats! Brody accessorized his own look with a black cane.
Watch and jewelry maker Chopard, which sponsored the event, had lent diamonds to some of the stars, including Lane, who paired her earrings with a chic new short haircut, a silver Roberto Cavalli dress, Jimmy Choo shoes and a Sonal Adhikari crystal handbag. (Brody and Affleck sported Chopard watches.)
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It's Fashion Week in N.Y.C., and so I've gone on the Tapeworm Diet Plan—you can eat anything you want and still fit into a sample size!
But seriously...I'm actually skipping the stylish circus that comes to town twice a year and flying to the Toronto Film Festival in search of Oscar Buzz. The other night at the MAC bash, hair guru Danilo told me that I'm going to regret missing a private performance by Gwen Stefani that's bound to be bananas, as she would say: her L.A.M.B. line's super-fresh looks for spring.
"Gwen's got a new baby, a new album and a new house," Danilo told me, but that's where he drew the line, aside from adding that the collection is "so fabulous," natch. Good for you, Gwen—you've somehow managed to find the one flamboyant celebrity hairdresser who doesn't gossip!
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It's not every day that I get to impersonate a world-famous photographer! But since Ellen von Unwerth was a no-show for a dinner that benefited the MAC AIDS Fund, the MAC flacks kindlly offered me her seat—right across from burlesque phenomenon Dita Von Teese and in between Vogue editor Sally Singer and famed choreographer Fatima Robinson. (Hey, Ellen—you missed an incredible meal!)
James, Dita Von Teese and Fatima Robinson
Photo by Melissa Dishell
I first met Dita backstage at the Victoria's Secret show in New York (which, coincidentally, Fatima had choreographed), right after she artfully disrobed and swirled around inside a giant martini glass. The other night, she was stylishly covered up in vintage Dior, and we talked about her plans for New York Fashion Week (Marc Jacobs and Zac Posen—wise choices).
Some people might think that Dita is all doom and gloom because she's married to Marilyn Manson, but in fact she has a wicked sense of humor (as does her husband), and we had a fun chat about our favorite Wham! videos and her Cher-like taste in stage costumes (think: ostrich feathers and thousands of Swarovski crytsals).
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From In Style's Mark Morrison in Los Angeles: Flashbulbs were popping outside the historic Pasadena Playhouse last Friday on the opening night of August Wilson's classic play Fences, starring Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Kadeem Hardison and Orlando Jones. Anticipation outside the theater was running high because of the Fishburne-Bassett pairing.
I mean, we saw them do Ike and Tina Turner together in What's Love Got to Do with It, not to mention their stellar teamwork in Boyz n the Hood and the recent Akeelah and the Bee, so this seemed like a not-to-be-missed performance.
Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett
Photo by Craig Schwartz
I craned my neck to see who was on the red carpet, half expecting Oprah, Halle or Keanu. No such luck—but I did spot Dennis Hopper, Eriq LaSalle, JoBeth Williams, Dawnn Lewis, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Michael T. Weiss and Harold Perrineau (on a break from TV's Lost).
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From In Style's Angela Salazar in Los Angeles: Aussie designers Sarah-Jane Clarke (“sass”) and Heidi Middleton ("bide") are perfect models for their clothing line, sass & bide. Both arrived at the screening party for their short film tuesday’s child the other night looking svelte in pieces from their Seeds of Babylon Resort 2006 collection. Worn over black leggings and with ultra-high heels, their cool outfits reminded me why savvy celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Mischa Barton, Kate Moss and Sarah Jessica Parker are all sass & bide devotees.
January Jones, Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke
Photo by Donald Norris
As guests starting filling the back patio of Siren Studios on Sunset Blvd., Sarah-Jane told me that she'd had her second child (a boy) just 10 weeks ago and that Heidi is currently pregnant with her second baby. Sarah-Jane attributed her trim appearance to her loose-fitting top—though I suspect good genes may run in her family. Still, I started seriously considering maxing out my credit card to attain such figure flattery.
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My friends think that stars are constantly sashaying around In Style's New York office. But honestly, that's not the case. In fact, what's really clogging our hallways lately is merchandise for the December issue's annual gift guide—I literally tripped over some pretty fabulous finds on my way to our weekly update meeting this morning.
So we were all thrilled to hear that Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, one of my favorite rapper-actors, wanted to drop by for a meet and greet. I first met Chris at Puffy's $20 million-and-worth-every-penny Bali-esque mansion in Miami, but dozens of my female colleages and interns were very eager to make his acquaintance. I was impressed by Chris's work in both Hustle & Flow and Crash, and I wanted to know if there were any more Hollywood movies on the horizon.
Chris and James
Photo by Portia Hawkins-Bond
"Nothing confirmed yet—I'm being very selective. You can't just do anything after a film like Crash," Chris said in between posing for photos with my smitten coworkers. Of course, this being In Style, the big question was beauty-related: We all wanted to know why he had traded his signature braids for a sexy short haircut. "I'm 28 now, and I wasn't going past 30 with braids. I've had them for years, so I've done every style of braids you can imagine," he said. "Plus, I just got a new pool, and I wanted to be able to jump in it without them. And it also has a little bit to do with a few film roles I'm negotiating."
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If Puffy is one of the first stars to arrive at a party, then you know it's going to be hot. He was soon followed by the likes of Nicole Richie, John Legend and Amerie, as busy Beyoncé multitaksed by simulatneously celebrating her birthday (she turns 25 on Monday), her new album (appropriately titled B'Day) and her latest Moonman (for winning Best R&B Video at the Video Music Awards) with a blowout at boyfriend Jay-Z's 40/40 Club.
Amerie
Even the décor was buzz-worthy: Live bees swarmed inside a pair of glass cases flanking a dancer dressed as—well, you can probably guess. It actually took me a while to get the joke: Friends call Beyoncé "B." in the same way that the members of Madonna's inner circle knowingly refer to her as "M."
The night also served as a Destiny's Child reunion of sorts: Both Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams were in the house, and of course they were singing B.'s praises (though without harmonies, unfortunately).
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From In Style's Karen Levy in Los Angeles: One of the best parts of my job is checking out new stores. So when I got invited to the opening of the newly relocated Lisa Kline Men, I happily headed over to Robertson Blvd. to check it out.
Karen Levy and Lisa Kline
Just three stores down from Kline's original men’s store (she turned that one into a kid’s emporium, which means she now has three shops on Robertson), the new location is three times bigger but still retains the elements that made Lisa Kline so popular among locals and celebrities. (Her regulars include Leonardo DiCaprio, Usher, Ryan Phillippe, 50 Cent and Jeremy Piven).
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