Fanfair

Dressing Down for Success

December 1989 Jim Rasenberger
Fanfair
Dressing Down for Success
December 1989 Jim Rasenberger

Dressing Down for Success

Ever since Olivia de Havilland donned a frumpy bonnet to win an Oscar in The Heiress forty years back, it's been the ultimate star turn: having spent vast amounts of time and effort achieving gorgeousness, an actress chucks it all and makes ugly. The point, of course, is to establish her Seriousness and Integrity—if she's willing to look this bad, the logic goes, she must be good. By that standard, Daryl Hannah is a shoo-in for an Oscar this spring. In Steel Magnolias, she succeeds at looking real baaad. —JIM RASENBERGER

JIM RASENBERGER