What becomes a legend most? Is it Marilyn Monroe sewn into a liquid silk dress, singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to JFK? Or Condoleezza Rice telling it like it is all over the world in her preppy garb? Laura Bush as the Texas librarian who got connected up with the Oscar de la Renta people?

Is it Princess Diana at a gala, alone at the Taj Mahal or walking through a mine field?

Is glamour Christina Aguilera? Britney Spears? Or Paris Hilton, showing us that she can chew gum (eat a hamburger) and walk (wash a car) at the same time? Or her mother Kathy, showing up to a Chanel trunk show luncheon dressed in beach wear?

Is glamour watching the noble aging of Meryl Streep? The pregnancy or tattoos of Angelina Jolie? Or the once hairless Sinead O'Connor, blasting the Pope on television?

What is female glamour? Does it shine more in celebrities? When one is in love? When dressed in Chanel? In one's fresh twenties, ravishing thirties, soignée forties, fifties, sixties, immortal seventies or eighties?

The most chic and elegant women I happen to know are in their eighties and nineties. They have kept their figures, their dazzling smiles and their great wardrobes. They are impeccable, and younger women could learn a lot from them. I am repelled, really and truly, by what I currently see in Hollywood. It is much more elegant on the runway, and certainly more elegant in most American country clubs. American designer Bill Blass used to make regular stops in such cities as Tulsa and Dallas. He knew who wore the clothes best. I think well-dressed American women are the best dressed women in the world, and as I happen to travel a lot, I have seen it all.

There is so much glamour on the streets of New York that it takes my breath away. I don't know who these gorgeous people are, checking into the hotels and arriving at the top restaurants , but they appear to be rather normal--not movie stars or other sorts of divas. Divas are so boring. Now that we know too much of these girls' sexually adventuresome lives, and/or addictions to various substances that force them to make regular pit stops at re-hab centers, who cares what their life stories are any more?

I am fascinated by these creatures who do not act or model for a living, who lead normal lives of responsibility and look utterly amazing at eight in the morning. I have become immersed my admiration for so-called "normal women" of all ages who look so beautiful and well dressed. Female glamour may be found all over these days--everywhere except the Red Carpet. Celebrity stylists and designers take note--you have drastically failed at your task and if you don't know it, then you are even worse off than the poor stars you so shabbily dress.

suppes@fashionlines.com

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