Reeling: Oscar drama in a dress
March 8, 2002

By CHARLES EALY / The Dallas Morning News

New York fashionistas are worried that Sissy Spacek and Kate Winslet will be black holes of style on Oscar night.

Everyone acknowledges, of course, that both nominated actresses have oodles of talent. But fashion mavens at Women's Wear Daily think that Sissy and Kate looked less than stellar at the Golden Globes and worry about what they'll wear March 24.

Merle Ginsberg and Marcy Medina, in fact, suggest in a catty tone that Sissy, the favorite for best actress, might look better in women's clothes than in a man's tux, which she wore to the Globes. "Now that Spacek has a relationship with the folks at Armani, maybe she could actually wear one of his women's outfits," the WWD duo say.

Kate, nominated for supporting actress in Iris, also suffers a few catty scratches from WWD. "Much of [how she looks] depends on her figure. Will we see the Rubenesque Kate or the post-new-boyfriend Sam Mendes-slimmed-down Kate?" the duo asks. "The spaghetti strap black Ben De Lisi she wore to the Globes just wasn't good enough."

Readers of Reeling may remember that similar fashion concerns accompanied the best-actress nomination of the gangly Janet McTeer last year for Tumbleweeds. Then Janet broke her leg, had to wear a cast and everyone had to curb their cattiness.

Is beauty skin-deep?

Over at www.skinema.com, meanwhile, Dr. Vail Reese is concerned about Jennifer Connelly, nominated for best supporting actress in A Beautiful Mind.

Dr. Reese, a dermatologist, notes that Jennifer "is gorgeous" but says that just behind her glamour "lurk lesions."

The doc finds four types of lesions on Jennifer's face: sun spots, angioma, beauty marks and smile lines.

Sun spots, he explains, are freckle-like spots due to sun exposure. Dr. Reese, who finds these on Jennifer's upper forehead, recommends laser treatment. He also notes that she has signs of angioma, or benign blood vessel growths. The doc recommends electrocautery, the use of an electrical current to cauterize the spots.

Dr. Reese has no problems with Jennifer's beauty mark – a mole right above the lips. But he is worried that Jennifer smiles too much, perhaps because she was a model in her early years. The doc notes that smiling can agitate the skin and cause furrows. He suggests collagen injections as a possible treatment.

Then again, Jennifer, 30, could be the rarest of Hollywood celebrities and simply decide that aging isn't all that bad.

Source: Dallas Morning News