Da Girl Stuff !!

[cw]

Boring as batshit to the overwhelming majority of the male population but DID find a few articles going back to 99 concerning a certain trio and their "relationship" to fashion/style & the cosmetic industry.

"Vogue Magazine" - September 1999

VOGUE VIEW - Celeb Closet Case

The Corrs

Music's dishy Irish siblings chat with Kristina Zimbalist about their personal style.

CENTER STAGE

* Andrea, 25: Long skirt, little top, and a cardigan-that's me. I've never been about tracksuits. I'm kind of a hippie, to a degree. I love Versace sandals, and my skirts are always long. I have this brilliant red Dries Van Noten skirt that has a big bustle at the back. I love Jean Paul Gaultier's skirts this season. And I have one skirt from a Sunset Strip shop in Los Angeles that's long and pink, by Munthe and Simonsen in Copenhagen.

* Sharon, 29: I'm definitely not a fashion victim, and tend to go for a classic look. Because I play the violin, I wear things that allow for freedom of movement, like a Donna Karan sequined halter or a Vivienne Tam top with pencil-thin straps. Lately I've been performing in Tracey Feith dresses. One has an Indian print in a strong purple with gold on it. Then I usually mix it up with something like rough ankle boots and black tights to make it a bit more funky for the stage.

* Caroline, 26: I play drums, so I tend to dress more sporty-looking. Definitely pants - but feminine, not too baggy. Betsey Johnson's got great pants. They're stretchy and figure-hugging, as well. And for tops I wear any designer - something very light.

FASHION PAST

* Sharon: We grew up in Dundalk, on the east coast of Ireland, and went to Catholic school, so we had to wear uniforms - these green skirts and blazers. It was horrible. We'd roll the skirt up so it was unbelievably short to attract the boys' school next door. And if you put Doc Martens with it, you were a bit cooler.

* Caroline: You know the band the Cure? How Robert Smith's hair went up in the air? When I was a kid, I dyed my hair black and had it up in the air, too. Then, you know, I came to my senses.

* Andrea: I was always kind of hippie-gothic growing up. I would wear skirts upon skirts-Indian skirts with ruffles and then one beneath it. And boots, always big boots. If there were ever hand-me-downs, I would get them last. By the time they got to me, they were pretty much a wreck.

READY FOR THEIR CLOSE-UP

* Andrea: When we performed on Saturday Night Live, it was great. Everyone was such a laugh on that show. I was wearing a Gaulteir autumn-brown silky-looking skirt that wraps around like a sarong and a sheerish Tommy Hilfiger top.

* Caroline: We went to the Versace fall show in Milan, and we really, really enjoyed it. I wore this pink Versace dress, plain, straight, very simple, with a big black feather coat.

* Sharon: I wore a long black Versace dress with a V-neck, a red lining, and a very high slit up the back. It had a tiny little red jacket with a red-and-black-fur collar around the top of it. It was quite vampish!

* Andrea: We're doing a festival in Paris called Solidays, and I'm going to wear a long full Armani skirt that has those belt bags that go around the top that look really cool, and a bound strapless top.

FOOT LOOSE

* Sharon: Shoes are my particular fetish. I love Manolo Blahniks: They’re simple enough, but I love the way they're so pretty and ornate. My favorite at the moment, though, is a Vera Wang peep-toe show with a sequined strap across the front. It's just like glass-it really catches the light.

* Andrea: I don't wear high heels. If it's for a particular shoot or for an awards ceremony, OK. But generally, I'm more about comfort.

* Caroline: I always wear runners. But never just regular runners. I've got a silver pair, maybe a white pair that would go with a white outfit. Something a bit zany.

[cw]

"Harpers Bazaar Magazine" - September 1999

CRASH CORRS

Interview by Emily Dougherty

The four Corrs - Jim, Sharon, Caroline and Andrea - were born with exquisite brows and incredibly long eyelashes. Their lips are invariably lush, their cheeks always pink and their nails naturally perfect, handsome family that grew up just down the street from every one of us: those impossibly beautiful siblings who could silence high-school halls just by walking through them. Supernatural teens such as these seem destined to grow up to be famous actors, like the Baldwins, or pop stars, like the Corrs.

Their mother and father, Jean and Gerry, were a small-town Irish-Catholic take on Sonny and Cher and spent every Saturday night throughout the '70s singing Top of the Pops covers in the local lounges of Dundalk. The three girls would crowd on the bed to watch as Jean transformed herself from mom to musician with the perfect red lipstick, just-so liner and a respectable amount of mascara. "Once she left, we'd sneak back in and play with her lipsticks all night long," remembers Caroline, 26, the middle sister and manic drummer.


Tommy Hilfiger, always on the cutting edge of cool, first met the Corrs in Washington, D.C., when they opened for the Rolling Stones. "I just fell in love with them," says Hilfiger. Combine their love of makeup with Hilfiger's love of music and you'll understand why Hilfiger has recruited the Corrs to test-drive his new line of cosmetics, Tommy Hilfiger Color, on their current tour.

The Corrs bought their first makeup at the chemist around the corner in Dundalk. "We'd buy whatever was cheapest," says Caroline. "Awful blue shadows and icy pink lipsticks. It was horrid." It's a different scene today at Hilfiger headquarters in New York. While Jim, the oldest at 34, patiently sips a Pepsi in the corner, the sisters gather around a pile of Hilfiger makeup to make their picks. The vast spectrum of Hilfiger Color blows the girls away: 36 lipstick shades, 38 nail polish colors, 36 eyeshadows, plus lip and eye pencils, liners and mascara. "We could be here forever," says Andrea, 25, the lead singer and baby of the family. Caroline immediately reaches for Insane, an intense black shimmery shadow: "What a mad color! We'll each need one of these!" The girls won't take the stage without a smoke eye. "The darker, the better - it has to last through the encore!" says Caroline. It's clear that this green-eyed smartie (who picked up drumming by watching an ex-boyfriend) has learned something new from every makeup artist she's met.


The other sisters keep an eye on Caroline's pile while they make some choices of their own. Sharon, 29, the oldest sister, tests every vibrant lipstick on the back of her hand and picks Electronika, a tough maroon. She also requests a few tubes of Hip-Hop, a high-voltage gloss laced with glitter. A wee brunette with Stevie Nicks eyes, Andrea picks up All Talk Lip Crayon in Call Forward, a barely there shimmer. "I'll use this as both liner and lipstick," she says. Each grabs a bottle of Hilfiger's Get Lost makeup remover. "We got through gallons on the road," says Sharon. "This one's great. You don't have to rub to get the color off." "I agree," chime in Andrea and Caroline.

The Corrs never disagree (in public, at least). Jim compares their calm, well-mannered little society to that of a packed metropolis. "It's like living in Tokyo or New York City. For all those people to function together, there has to be a code of politeness, a respect of boundaries." They don't do drugs, they don't fight, and as far as rock drama goes, they wouldn't fill five minutes of VH1's Behind The Music. But they do take risks with their makeup. Andrea snags a turquoise liquid liner and neon-purple mascara and wears the shocking combo to dinner at Moomba that night. "I really rocked," she says later. Her makeup was 100 percent Hilfiger, so how could she not?