MILLENNIUM WATCH
With many New Yorkers heading for the hills and their Y2K bunkers this New Year’s Eve, Prada wants to make certain that no urban warrior is forced to rough it with just a Swiss Army pocketknife and freeze-dried eggnog. The Millennium collection (available at boutiques starting in November) includes a leather-and-nylon picnic basket, complete with sterling-silver dishes, cutlery, and champagne flutes ($6,804). It’s almost as glamorous as a table for two at the Rainbow Room. And after you’ve slurred through “Auld Lang Syne,” you can snuggle up in the fox-fur-lined sleeping bag ($11,980) – wherever you are – and dream of the Four Seasons’ presidential suite
MAURA EGAN
Product Placement
Purists who wept at the pairing-up of Michael Graves and Target still have interior-design impresario Murray Moss, who has just opened More, the expanded annex to his original store, Moss, at 150 Greene Street. The stark open space houses whimsical furnishings from high-end craftsmen like Gaetano Pesce and Amsterdam’s Droog collective, as well as more practical housewares from Philippe Starck and Frank Gehry. Furnishings are placed under glass with printed statements by visionaries like Baudrillard and Malraux (which may justify museum-caliber price tags). If a philosophy lesson seems too pedantic for an afternoon of shopping, you’re still allowed to simply marvel at the shape of your new plastic colander.
M.E.
On Top of the World
Ivy Supersonic’s larger-than-life feathered hats are making last season’s flirty thong sandals and fringed jeans look tame. Tommy Lee, Steven Tyler, and Deborah Harry have made the outrageous toppers ($500-$5,000; available at Leather Rose and by special order – call 780-3329) the favorite accessory of the rock-and-roll crowd, and Jesse Camp outdid Seventh Avenue’s sartorial sophisticates with his pheasant-tail number during Fashion Week. New rapper Eve wore a pink fedora for The Source, while Lil’ Kim is dwarfed by a massive pink marabou-and-Austrian-crystal wide-brim model on the December cover of Out. But according to Supersonic, the hats aren’t just for photo ops: “I even wear them to the post office and the supermarket,” says the designer.
SUZANNE D’AMATO
Beady-Eyed
Harry Winston sparklers are still the ne plus ultra of Hollywood gems, but these days, hot young starlets are setting their sights on Sonya Ooten’s hand-crocheted beaded jewelry. After wardrobe work on countless television and movie sets, the Los Angeles designer, who inherited her knitting skills from her grandmother and the art of beading from her Native American mother, started shopping her wares in the stars’ dressing rooms. Her delicate silk anklets are a big hit with Renee Zellweger; Jennifer Aniston wore her gold-thread necklaces on the season premiere of Friends; Rebecca Romijn-Stamos piled on a few strands for a recent episode of Just Shoot Me. But Ooten doesn’t only sell her work on-set: The pieces are available at Tracey Feith and Barneys ($70- $320) for those who have yet to land a sitcom.
M.E.