Stars Turn Out At N.Y. Fashion Week

It's a celebrity! No, a model! No, a celebrity!

It was hard to keep the beautiful people straight as New York Fashion Week got off to a glossy start on Friday with the Red Dress Collection fashion show. Actresses Sara Rameriz, Ashanti and Rita Moreno all danced down the runway in their red best, as did uber-model Heidi Klum, who rarely graces the catwalk these days outside "Project Runway."

Style and celebrity are regular handmaidens, but some were expecting extra wattage at the Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week tents at Bryant Park. The strike by The Writers Guild of America has left many actors without their regular work to do.

"I think because of the strike, and they just had their vacations, there's the threat of no Oscar red carpet and their (TV) series are ended. I think they'll be at Fashion Week," stylist Mary Alice Stephenson told The Associated Press earlier this week.

The stars who shimmied down the catwalk Friday for Laura Bush's healthy heart campaign then took their seats at other shows to watch the pros in action. At BCBG, Joss Stone, Cheryl Hines and Ana Ortiz sat in the front row along with Tyson Beckford, Sophia Bush and Mary Lynn Rajskub of "24."

Fashionable fiction also came to life with a ribbon-cutting by the stars of "Lipstick Jungle" and a preview of the designs to be worn in the upcoming "Sex and the City" movie.

The red dress campaign came on the tail of another charity event Thursday night, staged by the environmentally conscious nonprofit group Earth Pledge. The FutureFashion show featured eco-conscious designs from two dozen top designers, and featured models who donated their time.

The eight-day preview of the spring-summer looks of 100 or so designers runs through next Friday.

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RED DRESS COLLECTION

Laura Bush's message encouraging women to exercise to keep their hearts healthy struck a chord with the celebrity models at Friday's Red Dress Collection fashion show: Many of them danced down the runway.

This was the fifth time the anti-heart disease campaign came to New York Fashion Week, but there was no sign of fatigue _ not from the cheering audience, the animated celebrities, the top designers lending their gowns or from the first lady herself. In fact, she hopes to keep working on the Heart Truth campaign, for which she's served as ambassador from the start, even next year when she leaves the White House. Perhaps she'll have more time then, she said with a smile.

"I don't know if I'll be quite this much in demand next year," Bush said.

She wants to stay involved because since the Heart Truth launched, the number of women dying each year from heart disease in the U.S. has decreased. "We're getting good results from this."

Klum had the skimpiest dress _ a short two-layer slip dress by Marc Jacobs with thin spaghetti straps.

"It came in the bag _ I saw everyone else getting big gowns, hats _ and I said, `This is it?'" Klum said. "It's small but it's cute. I like it."

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PAT FIELD

"Sex and the City" fans, get your studded belts now.

Costume designer Pat Field previewed four looks from the upcoming movie _ one for each main character. She predicted that studded belts and the Christian Dior extreme gladiator-style sandals would be the trends that catch on.

Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie gets to wear both, of course. Her fur coat from the TV series, which went off the air in 2004, will make a cameo appearance on the big screen, too, but most of the other clothes and accessories are new. "They're still the same girls _ with modifications. Their style moved with the times," Field said.

Carrie's outfit on display at the Bryant Park tents was a rose-print, balloon-hem top with a matching pencil skirt, a hard-shell orange Fendi clutch purse and zebra-print Manolo Blahnik peep-toe shoes.

The look for Kim Cattrall's Samantha character was a power blazer in yellow with a jagged neckline, a black pencil skirt, a metallic clutch and metallic peep-toe pumps by Dior.

In the film, which hits theaters May 30, Kristen Davis' Charlotte wears a strapless spider-web dress with beaded flowers and Christian Louboutin snakeskin peep-toe sandals, and Cynthia Nixon's Miranda wears a black-and-white, geometric-print T-shirt dress with Gucci peep-toe pumps.

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FUTUREFASHION

The future of fashion is wrapped in hemp, soy, bamboo and old cashmere _ and it looks pretty darn good.

Two dozen top designers whet the appetite of editors, retailers and stylists Thursday night, ahead of the official opening of New York Fashion Week, with an environmentally conscious ensemble show called FutureFashion.

Francisco Costa of Calvin Klein created a hemp-based pantsuit with a long, sophisticated overcoat that surely would blend in with whatever he offers during his fall-collection preview, and Michael Kors' rugby-stripe dress made of recycled cashmere captured the designer's signature look.

Donatella Versace used a cream-colored hemp-silk fabric for a knockout gown with an open back and dramatic draping that was the finale piece.

Julie Gilhart, fashion director at Barneys New York, helped coordinate the show, and Barneys will display the one-of-a-kind outfits in its windows. She said all the designers were eager to participate and more than rose to the challenge, finding ways to incorporate recycled or organic materials without straying from their usual aesthetic.

The models in the show _ including Shalom Harlow wearing an elaborate navy ballgown by Martin Margiela made of three vintage wedding dresses and Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann in a Thakoon parachute dress made of soy, bamboo and silk _ all donated their time. They even flashed an occasional grin _ not something they do often on the runway.