Cheap Party Dresses for Christmas: Celebrity inspired frocks

We're over halfway through the cheap party dresses rundown (thank God!) and today I've done something a little special, with a gallery of celebrity-inspired frocks for around £20 - £60. If you fancy getting the look of Gwyneth Paltrow, Megan Fox, Victoria Beckham, Anna Faris, Eliza Dushku or Ashley Tisdale, look no futher than these cheap chic items. Click the image below to view the lot!

Gwyneth's Antonio Berardi dress was a love it or loathe it tabloid fave, but Topshop's alternative is a bit easier to wear. It's also only £30 in the sale.

Megan Fox is a huge fan of hot pink, and has worn variations of this look for the last couple of years. Copy her look and draw attention with River Island's tulip skirted number for £58.71.

Ashley Tisdale wore a crop of frilly, feminine, sparkly confections during the High School Musical promotional tour. This, from Rome, was one of the best, and can be copied on a budget with Miss Selfridge's £35 silver knot dress, some silver flat-back jewels and some super glue. I do love a craft project.

Anna Faris's starring role in The House Bunny meant she was another star doing the promotional rounds in the latter half of the year. Copy her bodycon red dress with another bodycon red dress from Dorothy Perkins for only £20.

If you're heading to a party straight from the office and you really can't change, take a note out of Eliza Dusku's book and try a pencil skirt and blouse...or one of the all-in-one dresses, like Peacocks' high-waisted offering for £20

With the launch of her dress line, Posh has been working the super-fitted, pencil skirted look for loooong time. Copy the frock she wore at the Marc Jacobs fashion show with this Goddiva frock for £55.85.

[CatwalkQueen]

Victoria Beckham rocks Giambattista Valli in Manchester; reveals more about dress collection

Sticking to her usual style routine of clean lines, towering heels and perfectly groomed locks, Victoria Beckham landed in Manchester last week to promote her new fragrance, Signature. While in town, she opened up about her forthcoming dress collection, set to debut at New York Fashion Week: "They're very sexy dresses. Full-length frocks and bold colours - stuff that makes women feel good. I'm just showing it to a collection of magazine journalists and boutique retailers because I want to start off small and see what the reaction is. I really hope people will like it."

Victoria impressed locals when she stepped out last Thursday evening in a shiny black Giambattista Valli catsuit, featuring super-wide trousers. The following day she greeted fans at Harvey Nichols to official launch her new perfume, which she shares with hubby, David Beckham. Donning a pair of silver sequinned Christian Louboutin heels, and a tight white sleeveless dress from Giambattista Valli's autumn/winter '08 collection, it included a feathered back, giving Victoria an angel-like appearance.

Check out the steamy new commercial for the Beckhams' new Signature fragrance.

What do you think of Victoria's recent style efforts and her ad with David for their perfume? Let us know below.

[Source / Images: Richard Young/Mark Campbell/Rex Features]

Vogue cops backlash over Victoria Beckham cover

Hindsight is a often a wonderful thing, although perhaps not for the staff over at British Vogue right now.

According to the Daily Star, Vogue readers are still reeling over the mag's decision to feature Victoria Beckham on the cover of its April '08 issue.

The style bible has been criticised for choosing the Spice Girl on this month's cover, with readers complaining that it turns the publication into a gossip rag.

"Normally Vogue is all about what's hip and what's not and features a stunning amazon of a woman on the cover who is associated with cutting edge fashion," commented one fashion fan. "Instead we get a modestly talented dancer who likes clothes and who was lucky enough to engineer her way into one of the biggest girl groups in the world."

Ouch!

If that wasn't bad enough, Beckham has also been panned by comedian Joan Rivers, who branded her "arrogant."

I am guessing then that poor Vic doesn't want to hear what some folks are saying about her latest Marc Jacobs campaign shots, like the one above. Thumb-sucking anyone?

[Source]

Victoria Beckham puckers up for latest Marc Jacobs ad

Click here to see more pics from the Marc Jacobs / Victoria Beckham campaign - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

[Source]

Victoria Beckham for Marc Jacobs spring 2008

Some more, previously unseen, images from Victoria Beckham's spring '08 campaign for Marc Jacobs have been revealed. I must say I'm rather relieved to see the Spice Girl showing off more than just a pair of legs sticking out of a carrier bag.

In these images, Beckham has crawled out of the Marc Jacobs bag and is dressed as a MJ keyring doll or angel, depending on how you view the ads. Once again it's poking fun at the notion of celebrity and which better celebrity to use than Posh Spice?

What do you think of these latest ad pics?

[Source]

Victoria Beckham lands guest judge role on Project Runway

From Graduate Fashion Week to Project Runway, it seems that Victoria Beckham's fashion judging credentials are expanding. Last week, the Spice girl was snapped alongside Michael Kors and Heidi Klum as a guest judge on the US reality show Project Runway (similar to our own Project Catwalk). Fashion journalist Nina Garcia completed the judging panel on the show's final catwalk episode. Discussing the contestants, Posh said: "There is one designer which every single piece I saw come out on this runway is something I would wear myself." For more on Project Runway visit our US site Shiny Style who will be liveblogging the show's finale.

Project Runway US starts on Sky One April 30 at 9pm.

[Image: Getty]

Victoria Beckham turns to fashion full-time as Spice Girls tour comes to an end

Victoria Beckham took time out from Spice Girl duty today to promote her clothing line.

The singer made a sneaky exit from rehearsals to attend the preview of the dVb collection at a Toronto shop while touring Canada with the rest of the girls.

Opting for an equestrian look to accompany her dVb jeans, Posh wore a tweed blazer and tan boots, making a change from her revealing stage outfits.


Victoria has been a regular fixture on the front rows of New York Fashion Week, balancing her passion for fashion with the Spice Girls comeback tour.

With the Spice Girls reunion coming to an end, it seems Victoria is keen to ensure she has other projects on the go.

The girls will perform for the last time tomorrow night in Toronto before going their separate ways.

When the group announced they were preforming last June, shows were scheduled for five continents, although the tour appears to have run out of steam after just two.

The band blamed family commitments for their decision to cancel dates in Sydney Beijing, Cape Town and Buenos Aires although rumours of in-fighting are thought to be behind the move.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Ten things we'd love to happen at the Fashion Weeks this February...

We've been covering the shows for a few years now, and if I'm honest it all gets a bit samey after a while, particularly if you're forced to stand at the back of the room, squinting to see the clothes. So in honour of Paris Haute Couture Week kicking off the fashion season yet again, here are the top ten things we at Catwalk Queen wish would happen over the next couple of months, just to spice things up...


1. Kaiser Karl 'does a Galliano'
Imagine Count Von Lagerfeld ditching his trademark Dior Homme suit and skinny tie in favour of a matador get-up, a pirate costume or full-on Regency dandy, a la John Galliano. That would go a long way to making me forget his ridiculous comments when H&M dared to make his (rubbish) diffusion line in a size 16.

2. The Marc Jacobs show is forced to start late...because they're waiting for Suzy Menkes.
Never. Gonna. Happen. Or is it?

3. Victoria Beckham is refused entry to the Roberto Cavalli show
Come on, it'd be funny, wouldn't it? Particularly if Katie 'Jordan' Price takes her seat instead. Catfight!

4. Gareth Pugh announces plans to create a diffusion line for Laura Ashley
Pretty, practical floral for yummy mummies, from the man more famous for coats covered in rats, gimp masks and cuboid headpieces. I'd buy it.

5. Catering at parties means pie and chips instead of canapes
The CQ team has been known to deliberately loiter as close to the kitchens as possible in order to stuff ourselves with the very sparse and very tiny canapes that are very occasionally distributed at fashion parties. It's not that we're greedy, we just need something to soak up the champagne*

6. Pattern cutters & seamstresses stage a writers-style strike...
...Causing designers to send sketches to editors rather than showing clothes on the catwalk. The carbon footprint of hundreds of fashionistas is lowered, models don't have to get out of bed and we don't have to worry about what to wear, where we'll be sitting or whether the goodie bag is going to be any good.

7. At the end of the Christopher Kane show, models strip and throw the clothes out into the audience
We catch everything. EBay crashes from the strain the following day. We book a long holiday.

8. None of the seats on the front row are taken up by the bratty 6-year-old offspring of 'VIP guests'.
That'll be the day.

9. Matthew Williamson shows a collection completely devoid of prints, chiffon or anything remotely boho.
..for Pucci. Come on, it'd be funny.

10. There's a blogger room.
If the technology industry can do it, so can the fashion industry.

*ok, we're greedy.

[Image: Graduate Fashion Week by Catwalking.com]

Katie's chic makeover is complete as she promotes latest film

Motherhood and marriage, not to mention a friendship with the fashion-forward Victoria Beckham, seem to have helped Katie Holmes blossom into one of Hollywood's most poised and polished leading ladies. The transformation from slightly nervous and awkward young woman to sophisticated style icon looked to be complete as the 29-year-old arrived to film The Late Show With David Letterman recently.

Posing outside the recording studio with her chic bob groomed to perfection and exuding confidence in a short red coat that showed off her leggy assets, the Mad Money star proved she's come a long way over the last couple of years. It was a strikingly different picture in June 2005, just a couple of months into her relationship with Tom Cruise, when she appeared to want to blend into the background as she arrived at the French premiere of War Of The Worlds.

These days the red carpet pro is perfectly at home talking to reporters and being snapped in haute couture outfits for glossy fashion spreads. While Tom can perhaps be credited for giving Katie confidence, it's close pal Victoria who introduced her to the fashion set, taking her along to international runway shows and perhaps inspiring her bob cut with her own famous crop.

Source

Victoria Beckham 'worst-dressed celebrity'

Victoria Beckham, who markets sunglasses and jeans under her own designer label, has been judged the world’s worst-dressed celebrity by a leading fashion guru.

Acid-tongued Richard Blackwell, who was designing dresses for the rich and famous when he started the list in 1960, attacked entertainment’s biggest stars in his compilation of fashion disasters for 2007. It is the second time Mrs Beckham has made an appearance in the list’s number one slot.In 1998 she featured along with her Spice Girl band mates who were derided by Mr Blackwell as "the only spices on the planet that have no taste."

And the 85-year-old LA-based designer still had plenty of venom to heap on the mother-of-three this year.

He said: "Forget the fashion spice, wearing a skirt would suffice! In one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty Posh can really wreck-em."

Other stars listed for their fashion disasters included singers Amy Winehouse, Fergie, Kelly Clarkson and Jessica Simpson, Bond girl Eva Green and actress Lindsay Lohan.

Missing from the list was Britney Spears, who has made it many times before.

"I felt that it was inappropriate at this time to make comment, when her personal life is in such upheaval. I hope 2008 is a better year for her," Blackwell said.

His best-dressed list for 2007, which is not ranked, included Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Reese Witherspoon, Jemima Khan, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce, Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Katherine Heigl and Prince William’s girlfriend, Kate Middleton.

Richard Blackwell started his own clothing line, The House of Blackwell, in the 1950s and dressed actresses Jayne Mansfield and Jane Russell as well as first lady Nancy Reagan, among other famous names.

He was an important designer and during the 1960s he became the first in history to present his line on a television broadcast; and the first to make his line available for plus-size women.

The emergence of casual-wear in the 1980s brought an end to his fashion-line.

He is now best known as a fashion journalist and for producing his annual best and worst dressed lists every January.

The top 10 roll-call of fashion dishonours is:

1. Victoria Beckham - singer/fashion designer. Posh has remained top of the tabloid agenda this year with her move to America and role in reforming the Spice Girls. But despite writing a fashion guide David’s wife, seen stepping out in a neon dress and matching acid-yellow shoes this week, has had her fair share of wardrobe disasters. Mr Blackwell said: "Forget the fashion spice, wearing a skirt would suffice! In one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty Posh can really wreck-em."

2. Amy Winehouse - singer. The soulful singer, one of the most photographed stars of 2007, is characterised by her slew of trucker tattoos, towering hair-do and thick black-eyeliner. Mr Blackwell said: "Exploding beehives above, tacky polka-dots below, she’s part 50’s carhop horror."

3. Mary Kate Olsen - actress. With sister Ashley she is one half of the hugely successful Olsen twins, who have starred in TV shows and films as well as having their own clothing and make-up line. Mary Kate has been a regular in the fashion magazines, singled out for her bohemian style and ultra-skinny figure, but it’s not to everyone’s taste. Mr Blackwell said: "She resembles a tattered toothpick-trapped in a hurricane."

4. Fergie - singer. Stacy Ann Ferguson, solo singer and member of the Black Eyed Peas group, has raised many eyebrows with her wardrobe of garish and revealing outfits. Mr Blackwell said: "Yes, when it comes to couture chaos, guess it’s all in a name!"

5. Kelly Clarkson - singer. Clarkson shot to fame after winning the American Idol talent show in 2002, but is regularly derided by fashion critics for her style, particularly her affection for cropped tops. Mr Blackwell slammed her for: "belly-baring bombs".

6 . Eva Green - actress. The French star of Bond film Casino Royale was noted by Vogue for her "killer looks, intelligence and modesty", and has modelled for numerous fashion brands including Armani and Dior. She is known for her quirky gothic style, but clearly not everybody is a fan. Mr Blackwell’s opinion is that she is "Stuck in neon nightmares".

7 . Avril Lavigne - singer. The Canadian Grammy award-nominated musician is famed for her punk-rock style popular among teenagers, and is often pictured wearing black. Mr Blackwell criticised her for "Gothic make-up courtesy the mad spatula."

8. Jessica Simpson - singer/actress. The blonde country and pop artist is admired for her pneumatic figure, and is not afraid to show it off. She garnered more attention for her tiny hotpants than her acting skills as Daisy Duke in her first film, The Dukes of Hazzard. But she has also had her fair share of criticism for her skimpy clothes. Mr Blackwell said: "She’s a global fashion curse."

9. Lindsay Lohan - actress. Child star Lohan, now 21, has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons in the past 12 months. The hard-partying actress has been in and out of rehab and was caught with cocaine by police and then arrested twice for driving under the influence. Style critics say her lifestyle has taken its toll on her appearance. Mr Blackwell said: "Fashion frenzy strikes again."

10. Alison Arngrim - actress/comedian. Best known for her "bad girl" role in US televison show Little House on the Prairie, the stand-up comic is accused of being frumpy. Mr Blackwell said: "Looks like a 1940’s fashion editor for the Farmers Almanac."

Source

Elle hearts Brits: Keira Knightley and Victoria Beckham score Jan '08 covers

It's a touch of Brit love this month from the guys at both US and UK Elle magazines. Keira Knightley graces the UK cover for the January '08 issue, while Victoria Beckham proves she has officially entered the LA sphere by landing the US cover. We've already seen the pics from Victoria's photo-shoot with US Elle, remember that Big Bird feathered thing? Keira Knightley is rocking it out on the UK cover in a Gucci leather jacket and Stella McCartney dress (not Chanel for a change!) Both covers were shot by Gilles Benisom... who do you think makes the better cover model?

[Source]

Fergie: Fembot or Victoria Beckham lookalike?

Readers: you decide.

Emerging slightly ominously from the bushes - I won't speculate on what she was doing behind them - Fergie looked a little, erm, robot-like when she was snapped like this yesterday. Very nice and stylish and groomed, of course, in her polo neck dress and big shades. But robot-like nonetheless.

Are Fembots taking over LA? Or is this evidence of Victoria Beckham's American domination? Hmm. Let's hope it's the former, eh?

Click here to see how to dress like Fergie with a polo neck dress.

Keira Knightley looks beautiful in braces on the cover of Interview

No, she's not having an Ugly Betty moment. We're talking the kind that hold your trousers up. And the kind that can very strategically cover you up.

The December issue of Interview magazine has Keira posing seductively in black braces, white trousers and opera-length black gloves. All she needed for the perfect smoulder was a deep red pout.

Braces are back ladies. Victoria Beckham is on the cover of US ELLE in braces as well. But surprisingly she was the one with a top on. Not a problem though as the gorgeous Keira is enough to have us reconsider our lingerie. Good thing there's this handy list of stylish braces to help out.

Picture: Sam Taylor-Wood for INTERVIEW

Victoria Beckham set to pose nude

The Spice Girl has signed a deal to become the face of designer Marc Jacobs' Spring/Summer 2008 collection and he has persuaded her to be photographed naked with the image to be used on a range of his skin cancer charity T-shirts.

A source told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "Victoria loves Marc's work but she wasn't entirely comfortable with getting naked.

"Marc went all-out to persuade her. And when she heard about what a great cause it was she knew she just couldn't turn it down. The picture she and Marc have chosen is amazing - sexy but tasteful."

Victoria - who has three children, Brooklyn, eight, Romeo, five, and two-year-old Cruz - will follow in the footsteps of Julianne Moore, Dita Von Teese and Naomi Campbell, who all stripped for Jacobs' T-shirts in 2006.

They raised £30,000 for the charity and it is hoped Victoria's raunchy effort will match that figure.

Meanwhile, Victoria is said to be worried about her looks as the Spice Girls embark on their world tour.

She is reportedly terrified she looks the oldest out of all of the girls - Geri Halliwell, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Mel C - and is very insecure.

A source said: "Victoria has the biggest insecurities. She is worried about her skin, which is very bad again, and her hair which is falling out.

"She feels she has aged. When she saw the pictures from the press conference they did in the summer, she was upset because she thought she looked the oldest out of all of them."

The tour starts on Sunday (02 Dec 2007) in Vancouver, Canada.

News Copyright © Sawf News. May not be reproduced without explicit written permission

Spice Girls first reunited US performance to be at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

You'd have to have been on another planet to have not heard about the Spice Girls reunion tour and album. The nineties girl band are preparing for the World tour which will begin in December. The Greatest Hits album will be released in the UK on 12th November, with a charity single for Children in Need being released on 19th. It has now been announced that the CD will be available in American Victoria's Secret stores from 13th November. They will also perform at the fashion show to be aired on CBS on December 4th.

[source, image:Getty]

Victoria Beckham ropes in Roberto Cavalli to design Spice Girls' reunion tour gowns

Victoria Beckham has roped in Italian designer, Roberto Cavalli to design 2 million pounds worth of slinky gowns for the Spice Girls' upcoming reunion world tour.

A source has revealed that the gowns created by the designer will be eye-catching and will make each of the Spice Girls stand out.

"The gowns will be stunning. They want to create a fabulous show and will certainly look the part in Roberto's creations," the Sun quoted the source, as saying.

"I would expect rhinestones to be dripping off the dresses so they will look spectacular with the lights sparkling off them. Cavalli is a fabulous designer - he will make each girl look sensational in their own way," the source said.

Posh, a long-time friend of the Italian designer sealed the deal after she flew from Los Angeles to be at the opening of Cavalli's new store in Paris.

Victoria Beckham at Roberto Cavalli's Paris store opening

After the bus load of celebrities that showed up for Roberto Cavalli’s New York store opening a few weeks ago, one could almost expect to see another bus load show up for the Roberto Cavalli flagship store opening in Paris. Instead the biggest names to walk down the red carpet were Roberto Cavalli, his wife Eva, Victoria Beckham and Jade Jagger. While the celebrity opening was on last night, the store won’t be open for business just yet.

The IHT reports that the store was not “overwhelmed with the patterns, prints or large furniture that one has come to expect from Cavalli over the years.” And it also features a VIP room on the second floor where the high paying clients will be able to sip on a Cavalli Marabu cocktail. Apparently a seven-story Cavalli store is due to open in 2008 – so perhaps that is why only Victoria and Jade were representing the international celebrity crowd?

[Images: Getty]

Victoria Beckham to offer fashion advice

Victoria Beckham will offer her fashion ideas in a new book, "That Extra Half an Inch: Hair, Heels and Everything in Between," to be published by HarperCollins in November.


"I've always been a girl's girl," Beckham, aka Posh Spice, said in a statement Thursday. "And I know from experience that making the very best of yourself is something any woman can do."

Beckham is a member of the newly reunited Spice Girls and wife of soccer star David Beckham.
"I was never the 6-foot-tall pinup. I've always been the girl-next-door who got lucky," she said.
"I've come a long way in the last 10 years, but this book isn't my attempt to tell you what or what not to do. It's just to share some of what I've learned."

According to HarperCollins, "That Extra Half an Inch" will offer guidance on everything from how to dress on special occasions to "how to feel confident and look great every time you leave the house."

Beckham's ability to sell books, at least other people's books, has already been demonstrated. Last spring, she was seen holding a copy of "Skinny Bitch," a diet guide by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin that soon became a best seller.

Posh's "totally major" fashion project

Victoria Beckham is set to begin work on a new fashion project in which she will be creating denim garments, according to her website.

The diva, who recently moved to Los Angeles with footballer husband David, promised that the new line would be "totally major" in a statement where she described her life in one of America's most posh cities.

Speaking about her new home, also described as "totally major", the singer revealed: "Well we have finally unpacked our boxes and I am loving our new house. "Just adding some of the finishing touches to it actually and then it really will feel like home."

She added that her children were looking forward to starting at their new school and that she was making sure "they are all kitted out with new schoolbags and pencil cases".

"[Y]ou remember what it's like going back to school, you've got to have a new EVERYTHING!"

Posh Spice also revealed she attended a glitzy launch party in Bel Air last week for the couple's new fragrance Intimately Beckham. Besides work and family life, Victoria has also been enjoying the California lifestyle with regular visits to restaurants and beauty parlours. "I have been busy having a good look around LA, checking out the restaurants and the beauty parlours - well you never know when you might need a facial," she joked.Posh and Becks recently moved to the West coast after the former Real Madrid star signed a lucrative deal with LA Galaxy. Since their arrival in the US the couple have appeared at a host of A-list parties and in a number of magazines.

They have been regularly photographed with Hollywood power couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and a one-hour show about Victoria's search for a house in LA has been broadcast on American television.

Victoria will be performing in the Spice Girls world tour in December and January.

Can Beckham kick-start a fashion revolution?

David Beckham: international soccer star, heartthrob, designer clothes horse and European fashion icon.

But does he have what it takes to influence the looks of that notoriously stodgy species known as the American man? For the brave few, maybe. For the others, maybe he can give them what he is best known for - a good kick - to at least try some new things that could take them out of the baggy pants/big shirt rut, men's fashion experts say.

''Beckham's here to show us not to be scared,'' says Daniel Biloett, men's fashion expert for About.com. ''It's OK to look this great.''

Beckham, now No. 23 for the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team, has made his name in fashion by becoming a kind of chameleon, trying on hairstyles, trends and designers to suit each passing whim. He has cultivated an eclectic style, wearing everything from tight Armani suits to deconstructed jeans to flashy rhinestone-encrusted tracksuits.

That fondness for sexy clothes contrasts with America's looser, boxier style, says Biloett. Beckham wears body-conscious pants and shirts unbuttoned to the navel, things many American men, who are more ''nervous about their heterosexuality,'' would reject on principle. (Maybe they should look to his marriage with the coolly beautiful Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, and a fashion icon herself, if they want reassurance that, yes, many women do like this look.

Most men here, even stylish ones, like their pants three sizes too big and their shirts big and billowy, he says. American males are eager to be comfortable and to appear laid-back. ''If you look too put together, you appear persnickety,'' he says. But Beckham is often all about being put together, touting the benefits of facials and manicures, and admits to shaving his body and highlighting his hair. Then there is his willingness to take on many looks.

Even though a wide variety of trend-setters offer different kinds of looks today - Jay-Z's hip-hop cool, the sporty clean-cut look of Tom Brady, the rakish style of Daniel Craig - those guys usually pick one look and stick to it.

''Stylists create an individual look, and it's marketed that way,'' says Mark-Evan Blackman, chair of the menswear design department at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Beckham's free-spirited, experimental approach could give men permission to try on different styles, Blackman says. ''We accept radical change in women more than we do in men,'' Blackman says, pointing to Madonna's or Jane Fonda's constant reinvention. But ''the people handling him might steer him toward just one look because that's what we understand.''

Of course, experimentation means at least occasional failure. ''The jury's still out in terms of his taste level,'' says Wendell Brown, senior fashion editor at Esquire magazine.

Fans were skeptical when Beckham started wearing giant diamond earrings. Photographers winced when he grew his hair into a mullet. And the public recoiled when he paired velour tracksuits with pink-polished fingernails.

There's a chance that truly out-there styles will be especially off-putting for American men, says David Kornberg, senior vice president of men's merchandising for Express. Men's fashion operates differently than women's, he says. Above all, men's clothes have to be ''masculine and applicable to a man's life,'' he says - not runway-style shocking.

But even Beckham's ill-conceived style choices have had an influence in Europe: His bleach blond fauxhawk inspired a generation of British schoolchildren.

Most of the time, Beckham's look is wearable and contemporary. Regular guys can envision themselves in the types of graphic T-shirts and blazers Beckham wears around town, Kornberg says. The Jean Paul Gaultier sarong Beckham sported on a beach vacation is ''less understandable'' to the nonfamous.

Still, his status as a top athlete could help him disseminate a kind of European chic and a sensibility about fashion to the more inhibited men of America, he says. '

'Plenty of young, straight, girl-crazy men think nothing of getting pedicures,'' Brown says, ''so people should give American men more credit.''