Quadruple whammy for Kate Moss in best-dressed list

LONDON(Reuters Life!) - Supermodel Kate Moss held on to a place in the top 10 of the latest British best-dressed list but lagged behind a 60-something actress, a 42-year-old novelist and the girlfriends of two former lovers.

Russian model Natalia Vodianova captured first place in the list of actresses, celebrities and models chosen by Harper's Bazaar for their 25 Best-Dressed on the red carpet 2007, while Moss came 10th.

Ahead of the 33-year-old Moss, actress and 62-year-old star of film "The Queen" Helen Mirren came in fourth place and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, 42, seventh. Moss was also beaten by girlfriends of former lovers.

Belgian model Anouck Lepere, who is dating magazine editor Jefferson Hack -- with whom Moss has a daughter -- and Romanian-born model Irina Lazareanu -- who has dated British singer Pete Doherty -- both came ahead of Moss in eighth and ninth place respectively.

It was not all age before beauty, however.

Younger celebrities like Peaches Geldof (daughter of singer and philanthropist Bob Geldof) and actress Keira Knightley also found their way into the list of 25 at 17th and 21st places.

Harper's Bazaar described Vodianova as "an adventurous dresser who rarely succumbs to black for evening dressing."

The full list of 25 best dressed of 2007 is available in the December issue of the magazine on sale from November 8.

The top ten are as follows:

1. Natalia Vodianova - Russian, model

2. Thandie Newton - British, actress

3. Agyness Deyn - British, model

4. Helen Mirren - British, actress

5. Lily Allen - British, singer

6. Emily Blunt - British, actress

7. J.K. Rowling - British, writer

8. Anouck Lepere - Belgian, model

9. Irina Lazareanu - Romanian, model

10. Kate Moss - British, model

Stars sparkle on and off catwalk

By Kerstin Gehmlich Fri Oct 5, 7:55 AM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - Golden stars and large sequins sparkled from dresses at Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent as designers Karl Lagerfeld and Stefano Pilati presented youthful collections for two of France's most established fashion labels.

Staying true to a fashion house's legacy is a tricky business for designers, who have to add their own edge to a label while remaining faithful to the brand's history.

Italy's Pilati carries a lot of weight on his shoulders at Yves Saint Laurent, where he was appointed in 2004. Lagerfeld, approaching 70, is used to the task, having designed for Chanel for more than 20 years.

On Friday, the German designer brought out models in Chanel's trademark tweed jackets, but worn over long shifting dresses covered in stars or combined with tight denim skirts.

"Chanel -- to me that's just haute couture," supermodel Claudia Schiffer said at the show for spring-summer 2008 collections, adding that she still liked to wear Chanel outfits that dated back 10 or 20 years.

Schiffer and other front row guests including actress Kirsten Dunst and singers Lily Allen and Courtney Love watched as models presented sporty striped V-neck tops and light pastel-colored blouses held at the waist by a black ribbon. One girl wore a small leather wallet attached to her ankle.

"Coco Chanel was the spokeswoman of the modern woman," Lagerfeld said of the label's founder, who died in 1971. "(The brand) continues to incarnate the development of the modern woman," he said backstage. "(Now) it's up to me to lift people up into the stars."

SPARKLING STARS AT YSL

At Yves Saint Laurent, Pilati presented models in sleek oversized vests, parading them out beneath giant white balloons in Paris's glass-roofed Grand Palais exhibition hall.

French actress Catherine Deneuve said Pilati had respected Laurent's inheritance while adding a new edge to the label.

"He has done the impossible thing," she told Reuters at his show late on Thursday, in which Pilati showed high-waisted fuchsia skirts and tunic-style dresses covered with stars.

"He is bowing to the spirit of what Yves Saint Laurent did. He got into the job with a lot of modesty," she said.

The bespectacled Saint-Laurent, born in 1936, ruled the French fashion scene from the age of 21 until his retirement in 2002. This year, he was awarded the title of Great Officer in the Legion of Honor.

Pilati, born in 1965, sent out a girl in a tight knee-length skirt covered in triangular-shaped sequins in pink and turquoise. Other models presented dresses cut close to the body around the shoulders and the front but floating out in the back.

"When I think of Yves Saint Laurent, I think of dark elegance," burlesque artist Dita von Teese said at the show. "It's very special what (Pilati) has done. He's staying true to the brand but also brings new life to it."