But the culture that gave birth to the rugged masculine ideal of the Marlboro Man may not be ready to reach for the blush brush just yet. A GQ survey in 2005 reported that "92 percent of men would not wear makeup even if it guaranteed them a more fulfilling sex life." U.S. sales figures seem to confirm the ongoing resistance to men's makeup. Tres Wilson, executive director of Clinique Global Treatment Marketing, said, "Clinique's Skin Supplies for Men M Cover [a concealer that debuted earlier this year] and Non-Streak Bronzer products sell very well in Europe, much more so than in the U.S."

Even in the metrosexual age, dabbing concealer on a blemish is seen as an emasculating activity. American ambivalence about men's makeup seems to run pretty deep, as GQ fashion editor Brian Coats can attest, "I just think it can be a scary thing for guys to wear makeup. I kind of understand that." Coats believes makeup on men is not a good idea for the general population. "A guy should look like a guy. I think in general, guys just look better natural."

*****

Many men prefer to keep their makeup desires on the down-low, and cosmetics companies are happy to oblige, employing discreet packaging and butch names. Take Jean Paul Gaultier's Brow and Lash Groomer: It is ingeniously designed to look like a pen. It's also mascara. 4VOO's impressive-sounding Confidence Corrector is a product better known as concealer.

Even the term "makeup" requires a makeover: The winning euphemism for men's makeup seems to be "enhancement." Jean Paul Gaultier refers to its line as "men's aesthetic enhancement." Sephora added a "complexion enhancers" category on its site a year ago, and Biotherm Homme's Power Bronze line of concealer and tinted gel is touted as "instant skin enhancement."

"I'm surprised that on the Oprah show this was being touted as an entirely new technique pioneered by Ms. Seinfeld," Lapine said Saturday. The idea of stealth nutrition is not new, Lapine says. "My grandmother used to do it," she says, but her book is the product of five years of research. "My book is not just a concept. My book is a how-to manual."

Moreover, she adds, "I'm concerned and troubled that Oprah credited and applauded someone else for a technique that was out there six months earlier." Winfrey was not available for comment. Lapine says she and her publicists pitched the Oprah show five times without success. She also points out she submitted her 139-page book proposal with 31 recipes and 11 purees twice to HarperCollins (Seinfeld's publisher), once in February 2006 without an agent and again with an agent in May 2006.

"The one big fact is that they had access to my manuscript early on," Lapine says. Seinfeld's book was signed up in June 2006.

"There are at least 15 of my recipes that ended up in her book," Lapine says. However, she says, recipes are hard to protect: "If you change one ingredient, you're safe." She says that after her publisher contacted HarperCollins, Deceptively's cover was modified from the one featured on a promotional brochure. The word "simple" was inserted in place of "sneaky." "Seinfeld is a big name, and it garners more attention than someone who doesn't have a big name," Lapine says. She and her publisher have no comment on possible legal action.

Fitness experts estimate that less than 15% of Pilates students are men, but that number is growing rapidly as more men begin to see the benefits such training can provide. Many professional sports teams have added Pilates to their training regime -- as have well-known male athletes and celebrities (golfer Tiger Woods among them).

There are two basic types of Pilates workouts: mat workouts and equipment-based workouts. Mat workouts are often done in a class setting with little or no equipment and can be found at most gyms. These classes contain a variety of calisthenic-type movements with very specific instructions. Equipment-based workouts are usually conducted in private or in small group settings and use large machines that make the most of straps, springs and railings. Mat workouts are often included in gym memberships; equipment-based workouts usually cost extra.

"There's something incredibly liberating about a holiday that encourages children to take candy from strangers," Almond writes of Halloween in his book. Indeed. For some reason, Almond asked that we make clear that he is a "professional candyfreak, not a therapist."

Three Musketeers: Does well in groups but is somewhat pompous. Prone to fancy costumes and arcane weapons. Wears hats in public that are ill-advised.

Almond Joy: I'm going to put aside my aversion to coconut in praising these folks as happy-go-lucky.

Bit-O-Honey: They have contradictory personalities, hoping to express generosity but also having the passive-aggressive desire to damage the fillings of trick-or-treaters.

Butterfinger: Evasive, slippery, not necessarily to be trusted.

Candy Corn: Purely deluded people. They don't get that candy shouldn't attempt to imitate other food groups, particularly corn.

Good & Plenty: Optimistic, perhaps overly so. A little bit of Weimar energy. Strong advocate of gay rights; acquainted with the bitterness at the center of most lives.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: Generous souls. Those who understand the salty in life, as well as the sweet.

Snickers: Just going with the crowd, the safe candy choice, guaranteed to please the masses. Not ambitious, but dependable.

1. hannah montana costume
2. master chief costume
3. pirate costume
4. wonder woman costume
5. little red riding hood costume
6. hannah montana halloween costume
7. tinkerbell costume
8. pippi longstocking costume
9. flapper costume
10. raggedy ann costume

The websites receiving the most traffic from the term "hannah montana costume" were Costumzee.com, PriceGrabber.com, Celebrate Express, Target.com and Shopzilla. Other popular costume searches included Halo 3's Master Chief, pirates, Wonder Woman, Little Red Riding Hood, and Tinkerbell. The top descriptive search terms used for Halloween costumes include perennial favorites such as sexy, funny, homemade and cool. Also among the popular descriptive searches were "cheap halloween costume ideas" which increased 305 percent and the term "adult halloween costume" which increased 336 percent versus last year.

1. BuyCostumes.com
2. Halloween Express
3. Spirit Halloween
4. Costume Super Center
5. AnniesCostumes.com
6. Costume Hub
7. Costume Craze
8. Zoogster Costumes
9. Halloweenmart.com
10. anytimecostumes.com

The sly devils over at W magazine have put both Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie, bold and beautiful, on the cover of their November issue—the Art Issue, if you will. We'll tell you what's artful: the subtle rematch at play. It's no secret magazines played a big role in the fall of the Pitt-Aniston dynasty and the rise of Brangelina. First, Steven Klein's breathtaking photo series of Brad and Angelina as a perfect suburban couple ran in W, only months after Aniston and Pitt announced their split.

Then, Aniston's first solo project (literally), The Break-Up, came with a rigorous promotional tour, in which she graced virtually every magazine cover with some kind of survivalist message like "I'm Okay!" or "I Will Survive!" And now the two beauties square off in a newsstand death match. Are you prepared to make a decision?

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Jessica Seinfeld, the comedian Jerry Seinfeld's wife, has a hot best seller with Deceptively Delicious, a cookbook for parents of picky eaters. Ms. Seinfeld's celebrity and an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show have helped propel the book to the No. 1 spot on the hardcover Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous list in The New York Times, where it will make its debut a week from Sunday. But a number of readers posting on Amazon.com and Oprah.com and other Web sites have pointed out some similarities between Ms. Seinfeld's book, which was published this month by Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins, and another cookbook published by Running Press, an imprint of the Perseus Books Group, in April.

That book, The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine, who is not a celebrity, also suggests that parents puree healthy foods like spinach and sweet potatoes and hide them in childhood favorites like macaroni and cheese or brownies. A week from Sunday it will be No. 9 on the paperback Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous list. It turns out that Ms. Lapine, a former publisher of Eating Well magazine, had submitted her 139-page proposal for The Sneaky Chef," complete with 42 recipes, to HarperCollins twice -- once in February 2006 without an agent and again in May last year, the second time represented by an agent. Both times she was rejected. She landed a deal with Running Press in June 2006, the same month that Collins won an auction to publish Ms. Seinfeld's book.

"Honestly I can't speculate, and I'm not going to accuse anyone of anything," Ms. Lapine said. "I suppose it's possible it's a coincidence." In a telephone interview, Ms. Seinfeld said she had come up with the idea more than two years ago in her kitchen while pureeing butternut squash for her youngest son and cooking macaroni and cheese for her husband and two oldest children. "I've been obsessed with this for the past two years," said Ms. Seinfeld, who worked with a chef and a nutritionist on the book. "I don't need to copy someone's idea. I've got enough going on in my life."

The Victorian 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa in Eureka Springs, Ark., hosts a wide variety of spirits. It is said that after the skeleton frame of hotel had been constructed in the 1880s that one of the Irish stone masons plunged to his death in what is now room 218. This room proves to be the most spiritually active room in the hotel and has attracted television film crews for decades because of the quantity and quality of the sightings reported. Throughout the history of the hotel, employees have referred to this entity at "Michael," a classified poltergeist due to the nature of the unexplained activity. Guests have witnessed hands coming out of the bathroom mirror, cries of a falling man in the ceiling, the door opening then slamming shut, unable to be opened again. The intrigue of this activity had drawn guests to specifically request room 218 for the chance of experiencing something.

Ten years ago, you wouldn't have wished a kaftan on your worst enemy, let alone yourself. We were living in the age of the sarong, and short, sexy, sequinned numbers covered every bikini and one-piece from Benidorm to St Barts. The kaftan, with its roomy drapes of fabric, was the epitome of uncool. It was a Seventies throwback, a hoary relic of the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young era. No one with a sense of style wanted anything so long and all-encompassing, so irredeemably polyester and oh so horribly reminiscent of Abigail's Party. It was so far off the fashion radar that it hardly even qualified as vintage.

But three decades later, on the 30th anniversary of Mike Leigh's middle-class satire, so memorably and unfashionably epitomised by Alison Steadman, the kaftan has come back to life. Slowly, quietly, the floaty cover-up has staged an uprising: it has swamped the sarong and overpowered the pareo to become the mainstay of the holiday wardrobe. It is now a fashion classic. This summer, designers such as Roberto Cavalli, Zandra Rhodes and Helen David of English Eccentrics are using the kaftan as a blank canvas for animal patterns, beaded silk florals and psychedelic screenprints.

On the high street, Principles and River Island have versions in tropical prints and sequin-trim chiffon, while the flame-haired British model Lily Cole wears a black and multicoloured floral one, to dramatic effect, in Monsoon's latest campaign. Even Kate Moss has included a pale peach kaftan with multicoloured, Guatemalan-inspired embroidery in her first collection for Topshop. Juliet Dunn, the British designer who is known in New Delhi as the "kaftan queen", is, more than any other, responsible for its remarkable recovery.

*****

It was not an easy comeback, however. "It was still seen as a bit of a Seventies leftover in England back then," Dunn says. It was only when chic shops in St Tropez began stocking the collection, in 2001, that the kaftan craze took off. These days, Julia Roberts, Beyonce and Penelope Cruz are all fans, and there are now several dozen variations to choose from. "I've varied the length and I've changed the shape," says Dunn. "They used to be much more billowy; now they're more slimmed-down, but they're still a very forgiving silhouette."

"It's very flattering," said Sevigny on being picked to represent Chloé Eau de Parfum, before adding, with a laugh, "I'm concerned that the customers might be confused, though; I have the umlaut in my name while they have the accent. I'm Chloë, not Chloé."

And while Rubik stars in the current Chloé ad campaign, Poésy had an altogether uncanny connection to being a fragrance face as well. "I play a girl named Chloé in my film In Bruges," she laughed.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics randomly purchased more than 30 lipsticks in four cities and sent them to a lab for lead testing. More than half came back with levels of lead. "It's unconscionable that women should have to worry about lead in lipstick," said Stacy Malkan of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. The coalition's report found that 20 of the 33 lipsticks it sent to be tested contained lead. Higher levels were found in products made by L'Oreal, Cover Girl and Christian Dior.

Because there is no federal standard for lead in cosmetics, the advocacy group used the Food and Drug Administration's limits for lead in candy as a yardstick. "We want the companies to immediately reformulate their products to get the lead out and ... ultimately, really we need to change the laws and force these companies to be accountable to women's health," Malkan said. But the trade group representing the cosmetics industry said the report is nothing new and, not surprisingly, the findings are not cause for worry. "I think the levels are actually quite low - trace levels - really not something that would present a cause for concern," said John Bailey of the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association.

Experts say pregnant women should be extra aware when it comes to lead-tainted products. "Lead is a proven neurotoxin. It can cause learning disabilities. It's also linked to miscarriage and infertility," Malkan said. Bailey advises that all pregnant women consult their physician before choosing their cosmetics. L'Oreal told ABC News that all its products are in compliance with FDA regulations and that it upholds the highest standards of safety for its customers. Proctor and Gamble, maker of Cover Girl, said that it stands behind the safety of its products and that all its products go through rigorous testing procedures.

RACHAEL Ray is getting a royal dunkin' from Anthony Bourdain for her big-bucks endorsement deal with Dunkin' Donuts. The prickly chef and "Kitchen Confidential" author says of the Food Network cutie in next month's Outside magazine: "She's got a magazine, a TV empire, all these best-selling books - I'm guessing she's not hurting for money. She's hugely influential, particularly with children. And she's endorsing Dunkin' Donuts. It's like endorsing crack for kids."

Bourdain adds: "I'm not a very ethical guy. I don't have a lot of principles. But somehow that seems to me over the line. Juvenile diabetes has exploded. Half of Americans don't have necks. And she's up there saying, 'Eat some [bleeping] Dunkin' Donuts. You look great in that swimsuit - eat another doughnut!' That's evil." Ray's rep shot back: "Anyone who knows Rachael [sic] and watches her on TV is aware she promotes balance and moderation, instead of living life in extremes. Her work addressing kids' and families' nutritional needs speaks for itself so we respectfully disagree with Anthony's opinion."

It is forcing fashion houses to ditch traditional seasonal collections for transeasonal garments that may lead to a drastic overhaul of fashion show schedules and retail delivery dates. "The whole fashion system will have to change," Beppe Modenese, founder of Milan Fashion Week, told The New York Times last week. "The fashion system must adapt to the reality that there is no strong difference between summer and winter any more... You can't have everyone showing four times a year to present the same thing. People are not prepared to invest in these clothes that, from one season to the other, use the same fabrics at the same weight."

Mr Modenese's comments came as New York fashion retailers blamed a prolonged "Indian summer" for poor autumn sales. Who needs a woollen pea coat when it is 30 degrees-plus? So worried are some fashion houses about the impact climate change is having on the way we dress and shop, they are calling in the climate experts. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that American retail giant Liz Claiborne Inc had enlisted a New York climatologist to speak to 30 of its executives on topics ranging from the types of fabrics they should be using to the timing of retail deliveries and seasonal markdowns.

Other US fashion retailer giants, including Target and Kohl's, have also started using climate experts to plan their collections and schedule end-of-season sales. And from January, Target will sell swimwear year-round. Closer to home, fashion designers say they are increasingly designing transeasonal collections using lighter- weight fabrics for a more temperate climate and readjusting their in-store delivery dates in line with the unpredictable seasons. "There's really no such thing as defined autumn/winter and spring/summer collections any more," says Margaret Porritt, of Melbourne fashion label Feathers. "A lot of my garments are more transeasonal and rather than dropping them into store twice a year like I used to, I tend to move things in and out of store every couple of weeks, depending on the weather."

Things were different when she started the business 35 years ago. "Back then winter went into store in mid-January and summer in mid-June and that was it. There was nothing in between. I also used a lot more heavier wools and made great big heavy coats. I can't do that anymore; it just doesn't get cold enough, even here in Melbourne. They just don't sell."

"Because we had not received documentary evidence that Kate Moss was not wearing false lashes in the ads we concluded that the images of the eye lashes in the press and TV ads may have exaggerated the benefits of the product, and were likely to mislead consumers.

We told Rimmel not to repeat the ad in its present form. We advised them to include a disclaimer in future ads where post production techniques had been used to increase the effects of a product, or where false lashes had been used."

Dr. David A. Stoker, a plastic surgeon in Marina Del Rey, Calif., has a surgical cure for the ravages of motherhood. He, like many plastic surgeons nationwide, calls it a "mommy makeover." Aimed at mothers, it usually involves a trifecta: a breast lift with or without breast implants, a tummy tuck and some liposuction. The procedures are intended to hoist slackened skin as well as reduce stretch marks and pregnancy fat.

"The severe physical trauma of pregnancy, childbirth and breast-feeding can have profound negative effects that cause women to lose their hourglass figures," he said. His practice, Marina Plastic Surgery Associates, maintains a Web site, amommymakeover.com, which describes the surgeries required to overhaul a postpregnancy body. "Twenty years ago, a woman did not think she could do something about it and she covered up with discreet clothing," Dr. Stoker said. "But now women don't have to go on feeling self-conscious or resentful about their appearance."

In 1970, Our Bodies, Ourselves, the seminal guide to women's health, described the cosmetic changes that can happen during and after pregnancy simply as phenomena. But now narrowing beauty norms are recasting the transformations of motherhood as stigma. These unforgiving standards are the offspring of pop culture and technology, a union that treats biological changes as if they were as optional as hair color. Gossip magazines excoriate celebrity moms who don't immediately lose their "baby weight." Even Cookie, a luxury parenting magazine, recently ran an article that described postpregnancy breasts as "the ultimate indignity" and promoted implant surgery; a photo of droopy water-filled balloons accompanied the article.

Many women struggle with the impact of aging and pregnancy on their bodies. But the marketing of the "mommy makeover" seeks to pathologize the postpartum body, characterizing pregnancy and childbirth as maladies with disfiguring aftereffects that can be repaired with the help of scalpels and cannulae. "The message is that, after having children, women's bodies change for the worse," said Diana Zuckerman, the president of the National Research Center for Women and Families, a nonprofit group in Washington. If marketing could turn the postpregnancy body "into a socially unacceptable thing, think of how big your audience would be and how many surgeries you could sell them," she said.

According to the National Retail Federation's 2007 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, an estimated one in ten celebrants (11.0%), or 7.4 million households, plan on donning their beloved pet in some sort of costume this year.

Devils (12.0%) and pumpkins (9.2%) top the list of pet costumes, with witches (4.5%), princesses (3.8%) and angels (3.3%) rounding out the top five.

"Many consumers who own pets think of them as family members," said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. "Pet owners will go all out to include dogs, cats and other critters in Halloween festivities, including trick-or-treating, handing out candy or even celebrating at a friend or family members' house."

Halloween party-goers are bobbing for more than just apples. They'll also be on the lookout for candy, costumes and decorations. The average person will spend $23.33 on Halloween costumes (including children's and pet's costumes), though young adults will spend far more. In fact, according to the survey, 18-24 year-olds plan to be the most festive, spending $34.06 on costumes, nearly twice as much as they plan to spend on candy ($19.65). According to the survey, average spending will rise in all categories, including candy ($19.84, decorations ($17.73) and greeting cards ($3.92).

The most popular activity on Halloween this year will be handing out candy, with nearly three-fourths (72.9%) of consumers planning to stay home to hand out treats. Other popular activities will include pumpkin carving (43.3%), decorating a home and/or yard (47.8%), and throwing or attending a Halloween party (28.3%).