By Belinda Luscombe

THAT'S NOT A STUDENT BODY

Paul McCartney composed Stella May Day for the occasion, but With a Little Help from My Friends may have been more appropriate. Daughter STELLA MCCARTNEY, who's graduating from a London design school this year, already knows enough about fashion to persuade friends NAOMI CAMPBELL, Kate Moss and Yasmin Le Bon to wear her clothes in a student show for parents and industry types. Her collection, described by one critic as "part Penny Lane, part Rita, Meter Maid," must have satisfied the paparazzi, who stomped out as soon as her segment was over.

SEEN & HEARD

Two months after he disappeared in Chechnya, humanitarian Fred Cuny, known in aid circles as the "Master of Disaster" for his ability to bring relief to war-torn areas, has been awarded a $305,000 "genius grant" by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. "We presume he's alive," says MacArthur spokesman Ted Hearne. "We are holding the award for him until he gets back." Cuny's family cannot even use the money to find its recipient.

First, Pamela Anderson got a tattoo to advertise her upcoming movie, Barb Wire. Now Nike chairman Phil Knight has his own indelible self-promo. It's a "swoosh"-the Nike logo-on his left ankle. He was needled into it by young bucks at the shoe company, many of whom (no doubt counting on never being fired) also sport swooshes.

HELPING HANDS

Never wildly popular, LEONA HELMSLEY has moved further up the list of ignoble Americans, following reports in the New York Daily News that she hasn't been doing her own community service. Helmsley, 74, allegedly had the domestic staff at her Arizona home stuff envelopes and wrap presents for volunteers at a local hospital. Helmsley was convicted of tax evasion in 1989 and served 18 months in prison, but still has to complete 250 hours of community service. Neither she nor the U.S. probation office would comment on the report.

ONE THAT WON'T GET AWAY

When a film makes more than $650 million at the box office, movie executives don't get as sick of it as ordinary people do. Which may explain why Paramount paid more than $1 million for the rights to WINSTON GROOM'S new book, Gump & Co., despite the fact that Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis have expressed but wan interest in taking part in a Gump sequel. The book, in stores in August, follows the life of Gump and son after 1980. While Groom insists the recent fracas over his lack of royalties from the original Gump film was a "misunderstanding," this time he'll get his cut before expenses.