LOS ANGELES — Fashion is coming full circle with red-carpet starlets ready to embrace the flared skirts, longer hemlines and loads of red lipstick coming their way in the new year. They're looks that give a wink to Hollywood's glamorous heyday of the 1950s, and stars far too young to find these styles old are eager to bring them back.
Eva Longoria is in to the trend she calls "flirty."
"I think of great hair," Eva Longoria said. "The great falls and the red lipstick, and definitely the full skirts. I think it's flirty. The '50s are flirty."
Visions of Americana pop into Isabel Lucas' head: "I think of the iconic all-American girl with the small waist dresses, and 'Grease' with the little ribbons around their neck."
Maybe she just saw photos of Miuccia Prada's spring collection, which revved up its runway with inspiration from vintage cars.
A fringe benefit to stars who so often need to be dressed up might be the excuse to sometimes wear flats. The overall look is so feminine and surprisingly versatile that there are few strict rules on shoes.
"I love that silhouette," British-based designer Roksanda Ilincic says of the below-the-knee length that is expected to be popular. She likes the look "with flats. Because some lengths are difficult to wear unless you wear high heels. That particular length that is flattering with a flat shoe, with kitten heel, with high heels."
Not to say this is necessarily an easy look. As any fan of "Mad Men" knows, women of the era put had to put a lot of extra time into getting ready — there was no such thing as get up and go. Kirsten Dunst appreciates the extra effort.
"Right now, 'Mad Men' is so popular," Dunst said. "So, I feel like everyone wants to watch something pretty. Like I love how put together women were. There is an elegance and an art to that. It's exhausting too. But it looks beautiful when a women is put together like that."
AP Entertainment Television Reporter Natalie Rotman can be reached at www.twitter.com/NatalieRotman