Monday, Jan. 31, 2000
People
By Michele Orecklin
Moss Dries Out
A victorious team's practice of pouring Gatorade on its coach is a bit tired, but recent attempts to launch a new beverage tradition are not going well. Last week Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowl receiver RANDY MOSS was fined $40,000 for squirting water at an official during the NFC divisional playoffs. Losing to the St. Louis Rams in the fourth quarter, Moss grew angry when field judge Jim Saracino failed to call interference on a pass Moss tried to receive. Standing on the sidelines later, Moss squirted the ref with a water bottle. Moss's agent said he will appeal the fine. Perhaps if Moss had just offered to pay for the dry cleaning, this whole situation could have been avoided.
DOWN AND OUT AND YET SO CHIC
If fashion--particularly of the haute-couture variety--is all about fantasy, then last week's Christian Dior show proved particularly effective, offering the woman who can afford a $25,000 dress the chance to look as if she slept in the gutter. For his Spring/Summer 2000 collection, Dior's renegade designer JOHN GALLIANO created clothes that were exquisitely tailored to look utterly tattered. Seams were torn just so, and sleeves were ripped to hang around the knees. Banishing expensive baubles and beaded purses, Galliano instead accessorized his models with used tea bags, bottle caps and empty liquor bottles. The designer said he drew inspiration from the tramp balls aristocrats threw in the 1920s as well as the homeless he sees each morning during his runs along the Seine. Most fashion critics praised the collection. It must offer great comfort to the Parisian indigent to know they're the height of chic.
DON'T MESS WITH THE TRESS
When a good show goes bad, there has to be someone to blame. Usually the head writers take the fall, but this season the WB is pointing its finger at the coiffeur. While conceding that college drama Felicity got off to a "rocky start creatively" last fall, network executives suggested it could have been series star KERI RUSSELL's drastic haircut that did the real ratings damage. According to entertainment president Susanne Daniels, when Russell lopped off her much- ogled tresses earlier this season as part of a story line that had her breaking up with her boyfriend, she provoked a reaction so "overwhelmingly negative" that audiences stopped tuning in. Rather than chiding viewers for their superficiality, Daniels promised Russell would regrow her mane. "Nobody is cutting her hair again on our network," she said. Given the time it will take Russell to regenerate her locks to their prime-ratings length, the show should right itself again in five seasons.
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE BOBS
Though they don't hold the same political opinions, former Kansas Senator Bob Dole and current Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey share much else, including newly announced plans for the future.
Bob Kerrey
BACKGROUND War hero and onetime presidential candidate from a Plains state
RELATIONSHIP HIGHLIGHT Dated the strong-willed and now professionally eclipsed Debra Winger
UPCOMING POLITICAL SEASON To pursue his "spiritual side," he will not seek re-election
THIS MAY BE DISAPPOINTING TO Democrats, who would like to gain control of the Senate
Bob Dole
[BACKGROUND] War hero and onetime presidential candidate from a Plains state
[RELATIONSHIP HIGHLIGHT] Married to the strong-willed and now professionally eclipsed Elizabeth Dole
[UPCOMING POLITICAL SEASON] To pursue his satirical side, he will become a political analyst for Comedy Central
[THIS MAY BE DISAPPOINTING TO] Newt Gingrich, who could have used a new gig