Leo gets Stoned, Kirsten and Orlando get Frenched

Maybe you can't judge a book by its cover.

But you can judge a film by its premiere party star power.

Tuesday's night party in New York for Martin Scorcese's  "The Departed" drew a Hollywood icon (Lauren Bacall), a music legend (Billy Joel) and  two Rolling Stones (Mick and Ronnie).  Listen for some classic Stones tunes in Scorcese's return to his "Mean Streets" beginnings. Along with the cast, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson, this party was a pretty big bill to top.

But writer/director Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" party – sponsored by Chanel - at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood came in a close second.

The reigning queens of the night were definitely Sofia - in a Chanel Spring '07 pleated chiffon dress - and her movie muse, Kirsten Dunst, in a Christian LaCroix halter gown.

Penelope Cruz came glued to her "Volver" director Pedro Almodovar. Geoffrey Rush caught up with Angelica Huston, who later chilled on the patio with her husband and Jason Schwartzman. Will Ferrell was there and so was Courtney Love, who is starting to do a Thanksgiving Day Parade float imitation again (shock!).

I think I saw Samantha Mathis (where the heck has she been anyway?) in the crowd. Mike White and Robin Tunney seemed to be in good spirits.

One of the first to arrive was Maria Bello, followed by LA's ultimate cool trio Donovan Leitch, Kristy Hume and Ione Sky and famed fashion photog Ellen Von Unwerth.

Also in the party: Mischa Barton, Drew Barrymore, Milla Jovovich, The Strokes, and Bow Wow Wow.

Dunst kept close to her patio table for most of the night, closely guarded by her PPP (Protective Personal Publicist) Steven Huvane.

No sign of a hot date for the "Marie" star. But guess who arrived late and snunk in under the radar? Her rumored on-again/off-again beau, Orlando Bloom.

Perhaps now that Bloom's ex-girlfriend Kate Bosworth has dieted down to bare bones, his eyes are back on the slightly meatier Dunst, who at least has a BMI that might permit her to model in Madrid.

Much like  "Marie Antoinette," the most impressive aspects of the party were not the actors but the astonishing set, costumes and props.

The Chateau was transformed into a tiny Versailles with a ballroom, crystal chandeliers, Louis XIV chairs, period rugs, huge gilded mirrors and  bouquets of pink roses/ gardenias.

Perrier Jouet was flowing and a decadent dessert banquet was piled with white chocolate boxes containing tiny berries, pastel-colored French macaroons, meringue, tarts, pink and lavender cupcakes and petite cotton candy.

The only thing missing was a few white powdered wigs, which, come it think of it, would have looked better on Bloom than that wierd flat hat.

This isn't the first time the Chateau – which was actually inspired by a Loire Valley chateau -  has been cleared out and transformed.

"I remember we cleared the lobby out for our very first party," recalled Marmont's owner Andre Balazs. "It was for Sofia's 17th birthday party."

How tres, tres appropriate.

By the way, the mystery of where those pink Converse shoes came from has been solved.

Seems Io Bottoms, who plays a lady-in-waiting in "Marie," bought the pink Chucky's in Paris for Kirsten to wear during rehearsals and down time on the set.

"They cost about 80 Euros," she explained, "They were a gift for Kirsten."

Then Sofia's bro, Roman Coppola, slid the funky modern shoes into that shot of Marie Antoinette's fancy French period footwear.

So now you know.

Photo Credits: Mick, Leo and Ron get satisfaction at the New York premiere of "The Departed."
Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.

Photo Credits: Long live the Queens! Kirsten and Sofia party hearty at the Chateau Marmont.
Eric Charbonneau/WireImage
Photo Credits: Penelope Cruz, a buzzed about Oscar possibility, makes the scene at the Marie Antoinette party at the Chateau.
Eric Charbonneau/WireImage
Photo Credits: Better than her 17th birthday party? You betcha. Sofia's table awaits her at the Marie post party.
Eric Charbonneau/WireImage

Diamonds - a staple of Hollywood award season attire - are having a rough time lately.

De Beers recently mounted a massive PR campaign to educate consumers about how good diamonds are for Africa and the efforts to control and/or eradicate the sale of "conflict" or "blood" diamonds.

Now the international diamond cartel has hired some hot new corporate communications guns, including one exec head-hunted from a global pharmaceutical company called AstraZeneca.

Judging from that company's recent problems, I'd say De Beers got themselves an expert corporate spinner to help them fight the negative publicity expected from Warner Bros's "Blood Diamond" (Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly) that focuses on the link between diamonds and bloody civil wars in Africa.

But someone else has joined the fray.

Last week the Kalahari Bushmen of Botswana took out an unprecedented large ad in Variety, asking for help from DiCaprio. In the ad, Bushman Roy Sesana wrote: "Friends have told us that you are in a film, "Blood Diamond," which shows how badly diamonds can hurt. We know this. When we were chased off our land, officials told us it was because of the diamond finds. Please help us, Sir. We know you are a famous and respected man, and that if you speak up for us many people will listen. We just want to go home, and hunt and gather and live in peace like we have always done."

And on behalf of the Bushmen, Survival International has asked Linda Evangelista to step down as the new face of De Beers. Don't laugh. SI already has Colin Firth and Julie Christie on the Bushmen's side. Christie has said, 'Diamonds as the cause of misery and suffering are not a thing of the past. The Bushman evictions in Botswana are a clear demonstration that local people are still suffering because of these stones." And SI already convinced supermodel Iman to step down as the face of De Beers a few years ago.

That said, Iman is married to David Bowie and is very wealthy in her own right. Good luck getting Linda to turn down that big fat spokesmodel contract. The early '90s era supermodel, who once bragged that she didn't "wake up for less than $10 grand a day," now has a.. how shall I put this, slightly less stellar modeling career. 

Gosh, this Hollywood diamond war is getting so exciting. Will the Bushmen of Kalahari make a trip to Hollywood? Can the displaced tribe and their celebrity supporters  persuade A-list actresses to boycott the bling and not wear dazzling diamonds to awards shows?

Hey, these dudes have already taken out an ad in Variety. I'd say anything is possible.

Photo Credit: Leo and Djimon star in "Blood Diamond," the movie about conflict diamonds financing bloody civil wars that has De Beers execs shaking in their designer boots.
Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures.

Attention, Golden Globe and Oscar voters. Want to have a great awards show? Give one to Annette Bening.

But a word of caution.  Leave room in the broadcast.The speech might run a little long.

The three-time Oscar nominee ("Being Julia," "American Beauty," "The Grifters") wrote and delivered the most amusing and self-deprecating acceptance speech at the recent Premiere magazine "Women in Hollywood" Icon awards.

Hers was hands down the highlight of a long night that also honored Icons Sofia Coppola, Cate Blanchett, and Sally Field as well as Evan Rachel Wood with the Chanel Spotlight Award for Emerging Talent.

A past Icon, Gwyneth Paltrow, who appears with Bening in "Running with Scissors" ("I'm completely jet-lagged and a breast feeding mess"), introduced her idol by gushing about being in awe of Bening, adding "I have never worked with an actor who has as much force as she does."

Bening then demonstrated her admirable force.

"When I heard that Nora Ephron had written a speech for a past recipient, I felt so jealous because I knew it was probably very witty and funny," said Bening. "Then I thought, That's okay. I can write the speech myself because I know Nora and I've read her new book, "I Feel Bad about My Neck," which is so inspired, funny and poignant."

In "Neck," Epron mentions ""The Golden Notebook." So Bening read Doris Lessing's book that divides the author's life into notebooks; one a diary, another about writing, another fictionalizes her life and one on her politics.

"The last notebook integrates all aspects of her life and I thought, 'Self-integration. That's a good thing to talk about.' Then I thought, 'But I don't really understand it.' And then I thought, 'But that doesn't matter because I'm a celebrity!"

The room sputtered and roared as Bening went on about a a recently conducted study on narcissism and celebrities that she'd read about in the LA Times.

'The headline of the article was Celebrities: Legends in their Own Minds." Bening recalled. "And I thought, 'Well, that's appropriate. So it's okay if I talk about integration of self, even if I don't understand it, because I'm a celebrity and am a legend in my own mind."

"The article went on to ask if the industry creates the narcissism or if we come in narcissistic to begin with," Bening said, pausing for "Rest assure, we bring it with us!"

The study also addressed the issue of men being more narcissistic then women. "As you can imagine, in my household,that's a very touchy subject," Bening admitted. "So Warren and I decided to sit down and discuss it. In front of a mirror, of course. And well, all I can say is that it got very ugly."

Best runner-up speech? Angelica Huston, who introduced her friend Sofia Coppola:

"Sofia and I share so many things in common.We have Oscar winners in three generations of our families, we're fans of rock and roll, fascinated with Japanese culture and tend to wear black clothing. We both had grandfathers who sang opera, and adventurous groundbreaking fathers who gave us starring roles in their films which were met with a volley of hurtful criticism at a vulnerable time in our lives when we had not yet grown into our noses."

Photo Credits: Bening brings down the house at the Women in Hollywood Icon awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel
Jeff Vespa/WireImage
Photo Credits: Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who's the most narcissistic of them all in the Bening/Beatty household?
Gred Deguire/WireImage
Photo Credits: Evan Rachel Wood, Annette Bening, Sally Field, Sofia Coppola and Cate Blanchett do a group shot at the Premiere WIH Icon Awards.
Jeff Vespa/WireImage

Everyone's been buzzing about the jaw-droppingly gorgeous  gowns in "Marie Antoinette" designed by Oscar-winning costume designer Milena Canonero ("Chariots of Fire, "Barry Lyndon"). And with good reason.

But for weeks, I've been trying to find out more about the pink Converse tennis shoes seen for a split second in a shot of a batch of French period shoes lined up in Marie A's closet.

I kept my eyes peeled at an early screening and sure enough, there was a pair of pink Converse sneakers hiding among Manolo Blahnick's  stylized reproductions of 18th century French footwear. Then I saw a photo in W magzine of Kirsten Dunst wearing pink Converse sneaks under her "Marie" costume on the set.

But repeated calls (I was officially pestering) to a publicist kept drawing a big fat blank.  "I've asked but the studio keeps saying the shoes aren't in there," my source kept insisting.

But they are there. Or they were there. At a Q&A earlier this week, someone asked director Sofia Coppola about the pink tennis shoes and she explained that it was her brother Roman, her second AD on the film, who put them in the shot.

So why won't anyone at the studio talk about it? Will the tennis shoes be cut out? No! Say it isn't so!

My theory is that if the studio IDs the shoes as Converse it may cause a product placement issue. Maybe it would ruffle Blahnick Co's fur, who may been told they would receive sole shoe credits for their work with Canonero to create what looks like period 18th century footwear.

Whatever. I love the pink Converse tennis shoes hiding in Marie's closet. And I couldn't have been happier to hear just now that the shoes are still in the film, which premieres next Tuesday in LA.

The modern pink footwear creates a funny, girly, rebellious moment in a frothy film about a young girl who just wants to flirt, shop and party in 18th century France. And the sneaks also work with the film's punky pink ads and the pink-themed court parties, pink champagne, pink wigs, and pink pastries.

More importantly, the shoes are also an bright pink emblem of Sofia's creative and independent spirit. You go, girl.

Long live the pink Converse tennis shoes!

Photo Credits: Kirsten Dunst stayed comfortable wearing pink Converse tennis shoes under her royal gowns. You never see them on but there is a funny shot of the tennis shoes that remains in the film.
Leigh Johnson/courtesy of Sony

Greystone Mansion was the site of a grisly murder/suicide back in 1929.

But yesterday the historic house was haunted only by the frightening new fashion trend - A-line, bubble and sack dresses - at a chic gathering of Hollywood ladies including Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow, Estee Lauder model/actress Carolyn Murphy, Sheryl Crow, Nicole Richie, Monet Mazur, Gabrielle Reese, Bridget Wilson-Sampras (Pete's wife), Laura Dern and Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon.

"There's a ghost here," whispered Murphy, who had once done a fashion shoot in the enormous mansion, as she posed for photos in a black bell-shaped Bottega Veneta dress. Why ring the bell? "I like this dress because it has huge pockets."

Pockets and breathing room must be why so many of the gals at Aerin Lauder's private luncheon for Paltrow. turned up in tent and bubble dresses. Even Richie, who certainly doesn't have to worry about looking fat in anything, wore a baggy turquoise sack dress. Talk about gilding the skinny lily.

Paltrow bucked the For Whom the Bell Tolls trend with a silver satin Prada dress. She was last to arrive after a personal app at Saks Fifth Avenue (where she'd worn beige Alexander McQueen) to meet fans buying her limited edition Pleasures fragrance collection. Proceeds went to Lauder's Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which has raised $140 million since '93.

Most of the luncheon chit-chat on the patio overlooking Beverly Hills was – duh - about babies. Bridget's got two boys, Gaby's got a daughter, 2, and an 11-year-old. Laura's got a boy, 5, and a girl, almost 2. And it was a veritable coo-fest when Gwyneth brought out her adorable (just over five months) bundle of boy, Moses, to squeals from the lunch bunch, including Crow's mom, aunt and cousin.

"He looks like a Raphael painting," said Crow's mom. And she was right. At a glance, Paltrow, gazing lovingly at the wavy-haired cherub in her arms, looked a modern day "Madonna of the Chair." Crow, Dern and Reese took turns cuddling little Moses but he gave the most smiles to a familiar face, Paltrow's power-publicist, Steven Huvane. Smart kid.

Sorry, i can't show you pixs of Paltrow's latest pride and joy.  Although she smiled for photos with all the luncheon guests, she was very strict about her no-baby-photos rule.

Hopefully not as strict as Tom Cruise, thank God, who held little Suri hostage for that Vanity Fair cover.

When not oogling Moses, Crow talked about the ongoing fight for a cure.

"Every day women walk up to me and introduce themselves to me. They're usually young women, two and three-time survivors of breast cancer."

These women have a harder time because their kind of cancer grows faster and is more difficult to treat. "What we used to advise about mammograms and family history doesn't apply to these young women," says Crow.

Although she'd done fund-raising for cancer for three years, Crow says it wasn't until her diagnosis that she felt the real impact of the disease.

But the diagnosis is something she's now grateful for.

"It was a bit of a show-stopper," she admitted. "But it's those catastrophic moments in life, whether you've lost your house to Katrina or a loved one to throat cancer (Paltrow's dad Bruce died of the disease in 2002), these are epiphanic moments that really transform you, where you meet and re-define yourself. Those moments decide the rest of your life."

But if Paltrow, Reese and Durn have anything to do with it, Sheryl won't be living the rest of her life single.

"We've all got lists of guys but we're only letting the best ones meet her," said Reese. The stunning Amazon babe – wearing a hot pink top and white slacks – mock-groused about no one else wearing the nauseating hue.

"Everyone's in black! I thought everyone would be wearing pink for breast cancer. But no, the butchest girl here and I'm the only one in pink."

Hey, coulda been worse. Could have been a pink bubble dress.

Photo Credits: Carolyn's a real tent-pole event, Nicole wins the sack race, Gwyneth bucks the bell-shaped trend and  Sheryl rings everyone's chimes.
All photos by  Greg DeGuire/WireImage

There are some major A-list actresses in town this week.

Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love") is being feted by Aerin Lauder at an intimate garden party luncheon tomorrow.

The bash will be held on a private Beverly Hills estate and celebrates Paltrow's Estee Lauder limited edition Pleasures line of fragrance, bath salts, body spray. etc.

What's the big deal about a bath line? Glad you asked.

On Wednesday, 100% of proceeds of the net sales of her limited edition Pleasures line (at Saks Fifth Avenue in BH) goes to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

On the luncheon VIP guest list, Annette Bening, Sheryl Crow, Nicole Richie (huh?), Carolyn Murphy, Gabrielle Union, Aisha Tyler and Laura Dern.

Later that night, Gwyneth will present an Icon award to Bening at Premiere's Women in Hollywood awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Judi Dench will also hand out an Icon award to Cate Blanchett, who's in two Oscar-buzzed-about films "The Good German" and "Babel." Angelica Huston will toss an Icon to director Sofia Coppola ("Marie Antoinette") and Rachel Griffiths will present one to Sally Field (we still really like you!)

Evan Rachel Wood will receive the Chanel Spotlight award for emerging talent from Edward Norton. But he's not the only guy on the guest list. Warren Beatty, Ludacris and Phillip Seymour Hoffman will add some testosterone to the evening. 

By the by, Chanel is not only sponsoring the Premiere WIH awards. They're also bankrolling next Tuesday's big fashionista film of the season, the LA premiere of "Antoinette" at the Arclight Theatre, followed by a fabulous after-party at the Chateau Marmont.

Word is that the party will be - like the film - "decadent, punked out, outrageous and totally over the top, very Marie Antoinette." Expect a French Court ambiance, perhaps with white powdered wig-wearing servants serving pink champagne and piles of colorful cakes and cookies. Let them eat cake! Rock on!

I think it's safe to say that after the "Antoinette" party, Chanel will have totally made amends for that silly Reese Witherspoon/Kirsten Dunst vintage dress mix-up last year. Time to move on.

Hey, wonder if Lindsay Lohan will wander by the "Antoinette" post party. She's been bunking at the Chateau, is a big fan of Chanel and was even Herr Lagerfeld's date at the recent Council of Fashion Designers of America awards.

Let's hope that wrist La Lohen fractured last Friday night in New York is better so she can come out and play with some professional actresses.

Photo Credits: She's baaack! Paltrow's in town for a Breast Cancer luncheon and the Premiere magazine Women in Hollywood awards.

Jeff Vespa/WireImage

Photo Credits: Cate Blanchett - seen here at the Babel premiere in Cannes - will be all glammed up Wednesday to get her Icon Award at the Premiere magazine Women in Hollywood Awards.

Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage

The 2007 Awards Campaign Season has officially begun.

And just in time for all those Guild, BAFTA and HFPA Q&As, comes  a leather line - Blur- so soft and light that A-list actresses are already tossing the sweater-soft jackets over trendy tent dresses and  trapeze tops.

Blur leather is the latest LOC (leather of choice) for award winning actresses Nicole Kidman, Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett and Sandra Oh. But it's not all young fashionistas. Even Jane Fonda has a Blur jacket. Go to the Blur website to see photos of these actresses and more.

Bologna-born designer Claudio Cristofori designs and creates these edgy leather jackets by dying them in wooden barrels, natural drying and hand polishing. Each intricately detailed piece – shirts, cropped motorcycle jackets, long trenches and blazers -- has wrinkles, colors and imperfections that are totally unique, something all stars appreciate.

And turns out that Blur owner Farshid Javaheri is married to Hollywood's hottest hair colorist, Negin Zand, who works at Sally Hershberger's celebrity-strewn salon on Melrose Place, where you're likely to stumble over Kim Basinger, Meg Ryan,  Britney Murphy, Rene Zellweger, and Ashley Scott getting colors, cuts and extensions. Not coincidentally, many of Negin's regulars include some of those same sun-kissed babes who are also into Blur leather.

Javaheri notes: "In the same way that Negin does hair color - high and low lights - but doesn't damage the hair, Blur's distressing techniques also don't destroy the leather, just makes it smooth and comfortable, kind of like a cashmere sweater."

Blur's been featured in  O, Lucky, WWD, Angeleno and Instyle. And the lux leather line is sold at chic boutiques like Max Field, Fred Segal, Tracey Ross, Madison, Traffic and Curve. It's available online too. And Blur just started making bags and newly single Jessica Simpson was one of the first stars to snatch one.  And here's the real scandal: she bought it at an actual store. Go figure.

When stars are willing to actually pay for something, you know it's good. "Sex and the City" style-setter Sarah Jessica Parker loved her Blur Panama crop jacket so much that she called to order five more in different colors. And she declined the offered freebies and paid for her leather jacket collection.

We salute you, SJP!

Photo Credits: Here's the Blur jacket that Emmy and Golden Globe-winner Sarah Jessica Parker literally can't get enough of. AND she paid!
Courtesy of Blur Leather.
Photo Credits: Sarah Jessica Parker took off her Blur jacket for the launch of her new Lovely fragrance in New York. Love the return of that wild sexy hair, SJ.
WireImage/Dimitrios Kambouri

Living in Lindsay Lohan's fast lane must be exhausting.

Car wrecks, late night clubbing', perpetually late for work, getting publically chastised for tardiness by fellow actors and a studio head. Plus she's been rushed to the hospital this year more times than I can count.

Now comes word that Lohan was rushed to the emergency room AGAIN after falling and fracturing her wrist in two places in New York Friday night. 

According to Access Hollywood, she fell at that darn slippery Milk Studios  while wearing flat Channel (Um, I think they mean Chanel) boots. Darn. There goes her Jimmy Choo defense.

Apparently, Thursday night wasn't much better for the actress, who stars in Harvey Weinstein's buzzed-about Oscar contender film, "Bobby," and who reportedly isn't half bad in it.

Page Six sez Lindsay got into a nasty, profanity-heavy public fight with her mother Dina at an Upper East side restaurant. At her mom's birthday party.

After the very public Mom meltdown, the Post reports that Lindsay was - at one point - in tears during the Calvin Klein party as she mixed with the party's hostesses Drew Barrymore and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Does anyone else think that if Lindsay Lohan were a regular girl, folks might use words like "intervention," not "exhaustion?"

Good, I thought it was just me.

Photo Credits: Lindsay hotfoots it to a fashion bash at 7 World Trade Center after a screaming fight with Mommy Dearest... at her mom's B-day party. The next night she took a tumble at a party in Milk Studios. Blame it on these shoes, Lindsay. Seriously. Everyone will buy it.
WireImage/James Devaney