Sunday 29 July 2007

Celebs take golf fashion to the street

Is the golf course the new red carpet? Could be. Established luxury brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Swarovski have gotten into the game with new clothing lines and glam gear that make the links the hottest style source since the catwalk. Hip, new specialty lines like Peter Millar, UGG (Urban Golf Gear), Tattoo Golf, Golfjunkie and Jodie Kidd create clothes that are so stylish and comfortable they're worn off as well as on the links.

Jessica Alba, who was voted the sexiest woman in the world by Britain's FHM magazine, was spotted Christmas shopping in Beverly Hills dressed in golf clothing, a sporty change from her usual skin-baring attire, but she turned heads nonetheless. Alba, who stars in the summer box- office hit "The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer", and other celebrities have kicked off a new trend: buying golf clothes because they now have a unique fashion flair. Fans are following.

"Golf clothes have entered the mainstream," says Chris Knott, founder of Peter Millar, which specializes in high-quality cashmere, pima cotton polos and button-down shirts that transition well from the links to drinks. "They're stylish, but they also allow for greater freedom of movement, so they're comfortable and fun to wear."

Cameron Diaz brings her zesty style to the once-frumpy fairways. She favors a retro '70s look that would be right at home on Melrose Avenue: low-rise stretch trousers, a silver-studded Prada belt and a pink ribbed sweater topped off with a jaunty golf cap.

UGG puts a sexy spin on its line of golf clothes with hoodies, spaghetti-string tanks and baby T's. Tattoo Golf offers golf clothes with an urban attitude; it has reinvented traditional golf gear with its Stars & Skulls logo emblazoned across polos and T-shirts for an edgy look rappers would be proud to wear even if they've never picked up a 4-iron.

Jodie Kidd, one of Britain's top models, creates golf gear with a decidedly glam approach. At Dior, John Galliano was one of the first to see the popular appeal of golf clothing. His quirky but fun golf clothes and accessories are performance quality but also street chic. Swarovski offers a glittering package that includes a set of clubs, a golf bag and even a trophy.

Catherine Zeta-Jones hacked her way through a celebrity tournament in Wales, but the crowd and the press praised her attire - a flouncy skirt with white piping and a gorgeous green shirt. She also layers colorful polos and luxurious one-ply cashmere or pique cotton sweaters with silk capri pants for an A-list ensemble that puts her out front, even if she's a dozen strokes behind.

For Jennifer Lopez, couture is par for the course. She doesn't golf, but her husband, Marc Anthony, does, and she's usually there to cheer him on, her lip gloss glinting in the sunshine. She makes zipping around in a golf cart seem as glamorous as cruising Rodeo Drive in a Ferrari, especially when she's wearing her hair pulled back and a strapless dress that looks as if it was made for the red carpet.

Mariah Carey just might be the first "golfer gone wild". Nothing tees off the pop princess more than poor clothes. When she hit the links, she refused to comply with the golf course's dress code. "I wasn't about to wear some golf shirt with a collar," she said. "I went out on the links in 3-inch high heels and barely anything on and they didn't mind."

Carey threatened to make her own clothes rather than wear goofy golf garments but never followed through. But when Clint Eastwood found himself in the line of attire, he did just that. His fashion-forward line, Tehama, named after his private golf course in Carmel, offers golf clothing inspired by the elegant styling of the 1940s with a modern mind-set. Thanks to Eastwood, gone are the painfully bad plaid pants that made even movie stars look silly.

"The Girls Next Door" are a fearsome foursome - make that a threesome: Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson. Hugh Hefner didn't play, but he sure did watch - just like every other fan at the Seventh Annual Playboy Golf Scramble Championship when the stars of E! Television's hit series "The Girls Next Door" stormed the links in panty-flashing pleated skirts, coy caps, Chanel sunglasses and tight T's. Plaid never looked so sexy.

Pamela Anderson did "The Girls Next Door" one better. The former "Baywatch" babe once hosted a bikini golf tournament. She also fell in love on the links. No, not with another rock star. With the Victoria Golf Club, one of Canada's premier seaside resorts. The scenic landscape took her breath away, and now she's thinking of buying a home there. She wore golf clothes (in keeping with her new serious attitude toward the game) for Victoria's Courtnall Celebrity Classic golf tournament, but her signature curves still won out.

Halle Berry whacked golf balls off a rooftop wearing 4-inch pumps in the 2001 movie "Swordfish" with John Travolta. She enjoyed the experience so much that after the film wrapped, she signed up for lessons with famed golf instructor David Leadbetter. There was only one catch: She discovered that she hit the ball better in high heels than in golf cleats. "I just want to be a decent golfer," she said, "and have the guys be happy I'm with them."

But where are the guys? If it seems as if the girls have taken over the links, they haven't. Male celebs might be better handicappers, but they've learned a thing or two from the girls about how to dress to impress when you're teeing off under the watchful eye of a legion of fans.

Justin Timberlake swings in UGG. The company logo, the "UGG Man", a black golfer with dangling dreads, also caught the eye of Samuel L. Jackson, who is now a fan. Sean Connery's dapper days are behind him - except when he's on the links, where he pulls out all the style stops, veering from traditional Scottish tweeds to more relaxed golf attire with a flair James Bond would admire.

Jack Nicholson has his own dress code, even at posh country clubs. He's a sports junkie and devoted fan of the L.A. Lakers basketball team, and his signature shades look more appropriate on the fairways than they do at the Staples Center. Even with plaid pants, a cardigan and tweed cap, Nicholson loses none of his cool, swaggering and slightly menacing mien.

It wasn't too long ago that Nicholson exploded in a fit of road rage and used his golf club for a purpose it was never intended - to smash another motorist's windshield. Matthew McConaughey likes golf so much that he gets dressed up for it. At a recent tournament the often bare-chested sexiest man alive wore not only a shirt but a vest, too.

Ray Romano looks better in golf clothes than he does in the unbuttoned plaid shirts and tired T-shirts he wore on his hit sitcom, "Everybody Loves Raymond". His game has improved over the years, and so has his style sense. He and other celebrity golfers might do for golf what he did for comedy - make everybody love golf clothes.

(San Francisco Chronicle)



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