03/23/2001
By Chelsea J. Carter / Associated Press
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Fashion commentator Brenda Cooper emerges from the elevator at the Raffles L'Ermitage hotel with a mission: Room 500.
From the dimly lit hall, the fashion commentator opens the door to the room. Gone are the suitcase stands, the fresh towels – even the beds.
In their place are cases of diamonds, towering stands of perfume, a bathroom made over into a spa. On one side, manicures. On the other, racks of dresses – high cut, low cut, luxe crushed velvet or see-through sheers.
Stylists and celebrity assistants arrive by the half-dozen, crowding in for the biggest fashion show in town.
During the week before Oscar Sunday, hotels across Beverly Hills and along the tonier avenues of Los Angeles are filled with fashion designers, urging their goods on anyone with a chance of appearing in the award-show limelight.
Designers rent hotel suites, fly in their most winning sales staffs, set out bonbons and coffee, offer makeup and manicures. For major stars and minor celebrities, the hotels of Los Angeles are Oscar's Mall – where the shopping is plentiful and the price is usually free.
The Academy Awards pageant can mean millions in free publicity for the designer whose gowns hang from the most glamorous shoulders.
Just ask Randolph Duke, who last year clothed best actress Hilary Swank.
"Look, it costs $50,000 for a full-page ad in Vogue. You can't pay for the kind of exposure you get at the Academy Awards. One picture on the red carpet is priceless,'' Duke says.
For designers, the battle is fierce to dress the top stars – but even the lesser-knowns are outfitted for free in borrowed jewels, gowns and shoes.
A commentator like Cooper might still be able to win TV time for their clothes, and in Room 500, they want to make sure she leaves with something to wear.
Cooper, who will be describing Oscar fashion for ABC and CBS, slips on a green Diane Von Furstenberg jacket. She eyes a handbag with diamond and emerald clasps. Maybe she'll borrow it for the hotel's rooftop runway show later in the week, she says. She decides on a sequined shirt, fox cuff and diamond necklace – which comes complete with a security guard to follow her around while she wears it.
In the hallways, packs of Hollywood stylists and personal assistants talk on cell phones, describing their finds to their celebrity employers – names all hush-hush, of course.
In the hotel lobby, designers station "spotters'' to pounce on big-name clients they can try to woo away from others.
"This reminds me of being on the floor of the stock exchange with people doing deals in the corners,'' said Halston design director Craig Natiello. "That's how important this is for the fashion world.''
The professional shoppers stalk room to room, loaded with designer bags and hunting for more. Halston's in 619. J. Mendel Furs has room 611.
Room 500 – a suite – is Van Cleef & Arpel jewels, Vivienne Westwood perfumes and Diane Von Furstenberg dresses.
Cooper gets the treatment. The sales assistants purr: She looks lovely, wonderful ... fabulous!
"I just love this!'' she says. "Where else but here could you get to do something like this?''
Few of the big stars actually step inside the hotels – they send their stylists and assistants to do the shopping. Or they slide into temporary boutiques that designers set up in private homes.
"I can attend to the needs of a particular customer quietly here,'' designer Duke says at an estate he rented a few miles from the Oscar shopping hub. "A lot of my customers are looking for privacy. They want to keep the secret until they are seen on the red carpet.''
And of course, there's status at stake.
"It's becoming like Sears,'' Duke sniffs of the hotel scene. "Who wants to go fight for things off the rack?''
Many stars wait until the last few days to decide what to wear; some don't make the final selection until the morning of the ceremony, going on how they feel that day.
At the hotels and events staged to entertain the stylists, rumors and bold claims swirled along with the hemlines.
Psst – Lara Flynn Boyle gave up her Halston! Susan Sarandon's wearing Lolita Lempicka! Oscar nominee Marcia Gay Harden had her hair highlighted!
Julia Roberts? The best actress nominee prompted the hottest rumors sweeping a hotel rooftop party.
"You didn't hear this from me,'' whispered one man. "But Calvin Klein made 25 dresses for her – only for her – to choose from!''
No one, of course, knows the fashion winners until they step onto the red carpet.
Shopping for the truth?
Tune in Sunday.
