Mischa Barton

To the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Gala on Monday, May 5, themed “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” Gossip Girl star Blake Lively wore black gloves and a snug black Ralph Lauren gown involving feathers. She said that her favorite superhero was “Spider-Man. Cause he’s awesome! He gets to swing around, and, I don’t know....” Accompanied by her onscreen (and rumored offscreen) boyfriend, actor Penn Badgley, Ms. Lively had come straight from a photo shoot and had done her hair in the car. “I have no idea what I look like,” she said, adding: “I’ve always seen pictures growing up, being a teenager, and thought, ‘I’d love to go to that, a night just to dress up in ball gowns.’ And here I am!”

Here everyone was, at least in fashion and showbiz and society circles. Oh, to have the superpower of invisibility and be able to flit up the stairs and into the great halls beyond!

Vogue editor and hostess Anna Wintour was the first to arrive, at 6:33 p.m., wearing a Chanel gown adorned with what appeared to be seahorse tails and accompanied by daughter Bee Shaffer, who required two men, including the formidable Vogue editor at large André Leon Talley, to carry the train of her voluminous blue Nina Ricci dress up the stairs.  read more »

MONDAY

For several panicked hours on Friday, fans of Gossip Girl—and presumably, The O.C.—swamped message boards following the news that producers of the new CW show had offered former O.C. cast member Mischa Barton a role on G.G. as Georgina Sparks, an old chum of Serena van der Woodsen. A wave of invective ensued: “This is the dumbest idea I have ever heard,” wrote one irate commenter, “[M]ischa [B]arton is the most useless actress ever!!!” wrote another. Too harsh? Maybe … maybe not. Consider the history: Josh Schwartz, who now produces G.G., and the other O. C. producers opted to kill off Barton’s character, well before the show ran its course. Now they want her back?  read more »

It seems Mischa Barton has no intention of subscribing to the ‘I’m-just-young-and-having-fun’ excuse following her Dec. 27 D.U.I. arrest.

The 21-year-old actress, who shot to fame as the “hot girl” on Fox’s The O.C., called into Ryan Seacrest’s radio show to talk about the drunken disaster.  read more »

We called celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, PhD, to hear his thoughts on today’s news concerning Mischa Barton, former star of The O.C.

According to an official police report obtained by TMZ, the 21-year-old actress was arrested early this morning in West Hollywood for driving under the influence of alcohol. Police stated, in part, that Ms. Barton was picked up after she was “seen straddling two lanes of traffic and failed to signal when making a turn.” (The full L.A. County Sheriff’s press release can be found here.)

“It’s astounding,” Mr. Wanis said after we broached the topic of the actress’ arrest. “And yet it’s not astounding.”  read more »

Fashion Week’s hottest after-party thus far? The Alexander Wang after-party on Thursday. Indeed, hot doesn’t even begin to describe it.

By 11 PM, as a large warehouse in the West 30s began to fill with fedora’d, tank-topped, creatively-hairstyled early twenty-somethings, the crowd was getting moist. By 11:30, anyone wearing a shirt had completely sweated through it. The music was loud and Strokes-centric, vodka was flowing, revelers were spilling out of the bathroom stalls four at a time—but none of this made up for the fact that we were all starting to smell. The Transom took this up with the charmingly youthful Mr. Wang, who bounced around the room posing for pictures, belle of his musky-scented ball. He was drenched, but cheerful. “I’m, like, working on AC right now,” he breathed. “It is so hot in here!”  read more »