No detail was too small to recreate in movie "Public Enemies," about the rise and fall of Thirties bank robber John Dillinger -- and that includes the manicures.

Makeup department head Jane Galli fashioned a vintage nail look for Marion Cotillard, who plays Dillinger's main squeeze, Billie Frechette, a humble coat-check girl who still managed to pretty herself.

"Michael Mann, our director, his attention to detail is phenomenal," Galli said. "When I got the project, I read everything and anything I could about the Thirties. During the Depression, women, even if they had no money, they did their nails in red, and they also wore their lipstick."

Sometimes, the only answer is the obvious.

During the two-month siege of interviewing, fact-checking, writing, editing and late-night office dwelling that resulted in WWD's 100-page L'Oréal Milestone opus -- published June 1 -- there were a few light, bright and unexpected moments. One came at the beginning of my interview with Lindsay Owen-Jones, the non-executive chairman, who during his 18-year-run as chief executive officer built L'Oréal into the beauty industry's global leader.

OJ, as he has long been known, is not one to regard lightly.

Occasionally, during last week's annual Personal Care Products Council meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., there was some grumbling about the need to change the organization's name -- again. It had been changed 18 months ago from the decades-old Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association in order to make the group seem more consumer friendly.


Well, if any cosmetics executives are serious about finding a more relevant moniker, maybe they could choose Editor & Publisher, judging from the media turnout at the meeting. Even though attendance had withered (from 650 last year to 400) with cosmetics manufacturers threatening to go the way of the Last of the Mohicans, the magazine contingent was there in depth, as usual. Of the 356 attendees listed in the program, 120 of them were from the media, mostly from women's fashion and lifestyle magazines, with assorted trade publications and even electronic media thrown in. (Indeed the organizers of PCPC invited two WWD editors to participate in a panel discussion, including me.)

Through much of its 64 years, the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. has meant many things to a wide swath of the American beauty world.

First, it was seen as the chief definer and main architect of the modern prestige business in the U.S. But many executives also viewed Lauder as more of a family operation than a corporation.

The Lauders always referred to their family ties, and that bond was continually strengthened by the maestro himself, Leonard Lauder, who presided over industry events in New York as the patriarchal leader. He was so widely admired that many of the creative types in the industry felt they only could work for him.

This filial warmth has been gradually cooling since 1995, when Lauder acquired the cold shackles of public ownership.

That hair.

Newly blonde Drew Barrymore channeled Marilyn Monroe at the Golden Globes, and her inflated coif got more slings and arrows than just about anything on the red carpet.

The man who created the look is unrepentant.

Italian hairstylist Giannandrea contended the trend toward the simple has become bland.

"People say sometimes less is more, but to me less is less," he said. With Barrymore's hair recently blonded, Giannandrea turned to Marilyn as his muse. Mix in a bit of "La Dolce Vita"-era movies for inspiration and -- voilà! -- the hairstylist created the 'do many lambasted as a don't.

By joining the department store markdown melee, fragrance is taking the final step to transforming itself into a fashion item -- and that is not an entirely glamorous prospect.

The brighter lights of the beauty industry have always taken pride in considering their category to be part of the fashion family. But like most families, there are members who are as similar as cats and dogs, with different nervous systems and warring agendas. Fashion is artistic, instinctual and of the moment. Beauty is product-centric, analytical and more than a bit plodding. Unlike fashion, the goal in the fragrance industry is to sell the same item, like Chanel No. 5, for eternity and a day, with the same bottle and the same juice.

The global financial meltdown already has resulted in reports of dips in airport traffic, the main engine of the travel retail business, and some shop operators are predicting a flat traffic pattern for 2009, resulting in, at best, moderate sales increases. This has prompted some to suggest retailers and vendors have to do a better job of luring travelers into their stores and closing a sale. According to estimates, only 25 to 30 percent of passengers now patronize duty free shops. So, the task now is to start converting the other 70 percent.

The one absolutely necessary attribute for reporting on celebrities is the ability to throw a sharp elbow. (Well, that and to be able to ask questions that will elicit more than a stock response.)

On Friday night, sharp stilettos (for self-defense purposes, as well as style) might also have been an asset at Macy's Herald Square -- where more than 2,000 screaming fans, overly enthusiastic store security and a large group of Coty employees showed up to see David and Victoria Beckham.

Ever wondered what it would be like to step foot backstage at a New York fashion show?

If you're "on the list," a black-clad young woman wearing a designer dress and a headset will dangle a backstage pass in your direction. Mind the wires, stiletto-wearing onlookers, overdone TV personalities and the TV cameras (one false turn, and you'll get clocked in the head). Angling your way into the crowd and toward the lead hairstylist and makeup artist is not for the faint of heart, or the meek. 

You might think hairdressers and makeup artists are mere hangers-on in the world of celebrities, but the outpouring of high-profile grief after the mysterious death earlier this week of Paul Starr -- the makeup artist who counted Rosanna Arquette, Anjelica Huston, Jennifer Garner and Angelina Jolie among his clients -- would appear to shoot that theory.

In writing an obituary, it¹s often difficult to get anything more than a generic one-liner (to the effect of, "Ms. So-and-so is deeply saddened") from a celebrity's publicist. Not so with Starr.