Mischa Barton | The New York Observer

Not-So-Beautiful Life for Mischa

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:39:48 -0400

“I’m glad I finally have a reason to be here,” Mischa Barton told The Observer earlier this month. She had just returned to her native city to film The Beautiful Life, a would-be comeback series for the beleagured actress. “New York is where my friends are. I think that even if the show was to fail after four episodes, I would stay.”

Well. How about two episodes? The Beautiful Life has become the "first casualty...

Welcome Home, Mischa

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:06:30 -0400

Mischa Barton appeared from behind the blue door, labeled “M. Barton,” wearing a leather jacket covered in studs, a gray sweatshirt with the hood pulled over her freshly styled hair, leather boots (also covered in studs) and dark makeup around her eyes. This was last week, at Steinway studios in Astoria, Queens, where the actress was filming the CW’s The Beautiful Life: TBL, in which she plays Sonja Stone, a has-been, pill-popping fashion model...

Fall TV Preview: The CW Loves Models, Vampires and Melrose Place

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:28:11 -0400

If there is a silver lining to be found in the end of the summertime—not counting the ever-increasing likelihood that we’ll all get the swine flu—it’s that we are on the precipice of the fall television season. Thank goodness. In an effort to get you and your DVR prepared, here’s The Observer’s fall TV preview. We’ve already covered CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC. Finally, here’st CW!

Upfront Week: CBS Hopes Friday is the New Thursday! Meanwhile, The CW Checks Into Melrose Place

Thu, 21 May 2009 08:58:28 -0400

You have to give CBS credit: As a network, they consistently avoid taking chances, instead relying on well-worn formulas and solid branding to create successful shows. So it wasn’t very surprising to find that the fall schedule unveiled at their upfront presentation yesterday was decidedly pedestrian. The big moves—How I Met Your Mother shifts to 8 p.m. on Mondays! The Mentalist switches to Thursdays at 10! (Quick note: You might need a second DVR...

Mischa Barton Returns to Television, Acting Coach to Follow

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:01:58 -0400

While it’s certainly not on the level of George Clooney going back to ER for the last time—about Mr. Clooney, he’s so comfortable playing Dr. Doug Ross that he can do it in his sleep, which he literally did during his cameo appearance—it looks like Mischa Barton is returning to a television near you. The lanky actress has signed on to play an aging supermodel in the Ashton Kutcher–produced CW pilot A...

Fashion Roundup: Blake Lively's Size Zero Obsession; Searle Goes Bankrupt; Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady Officially Engaged

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:28:38 -0500

Actress Blake Lively reportedly refuses to wear anything but a size zero on the set of Gossip Girl, so the costume department is forced to cut the tags from larger-sized garments. [FWD]

Manhattan women's retailer Searle, known for its accessories and ready-to-wear clothing, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [WWD]

Model Gisele Bundchen and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady are officially engaged. [People]

Kanye West is heading to Paris Fashion Week to...

Morning Memo: Mary-Kate Olsen Sees the Silver Lining; Samantha Ronson's Raise; Guy Ritchie Rebounds?

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:37:58 -0500

Though Mary-Kate Olsen finds the recession "sad," she's really enjoying the sales. [P6]

Samantha Ronson gets paid a lot more for her DJ'ing gigs now that she comes equipped with Lindsay Lohan. [Gatecrasher]

Scott Sartiano's 1Oak and Butter are remaining recession un-friendly, for now. [Fifth item, Page Six Magazine]

Russell Crowe may be trying to get longtime collaborator, director Ridley Scott—"the only one who is willing to stand up to Russell and tell him he's...

The Battle of the Headband Girls Intensifies

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:49:53 -0500

It's no longer enough just to wear a headband--now everyone wants to lay claim to having started the ubiquitous trend. According to PopCrunch.com, actress Mischa Barton, who has been working on a line of headbands (apparently in lieu of a successful acting career), is peeved that her friend Nicole Richie has announced that she will too design a line of decorative headbands under her line, House of Harlow 1960.

These are not the sorts of...

Fashion Roundup: Gilles Bensimon to Marie Claire?; Rochas Revived; Mischa Barton Disses Victoria Beckham

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:13:29 -0400

Gilles Bensimon, the longtime international creative director of Elle, is reportedly being wooed by Marie Claire, the new home of his former colleague Nina Garcia. [FWD]

Narciso Rodriguez and Liz Clairborne Inc. have confirmed that they are ending their 18-month partnership. [Vogue UK]

Marco Zanini, the designer who most recently helped revive Halston, will reportedly design a new collection for Rochas. [FWD]

Actress Mischa Barton on Victoria Beckham's style: "Posh doesn't strike me as...

At London Fashion Week, Daisy Lowe is Newly Single; Will Josh Hartnett Pounce?

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:42:29 -0400

It's only day two, and already the glossip coming out of London Fashion Week is outdoing New York.

After attending New York Fashion Week with her boyfriend, DJ Mark Ronson—the two attended Alexander Wang's show last week—Daisy Lowe has returned back to London a single woman.

The Daily Mail reports that Ms. Lowe, who is 19, split up with the 33-year-old Mr. Ronson last week. After walking in the PPQ show at...

Morning Memo: The Olsen Twin Invasion; Kanye West Arrested; Milk and Honey Avoiding Your Calls

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:52:35 -0400

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's West Village neighbors are becoming increasingly irritated by the girls' "military presence" on their block. [P6]

Kanye West was arrested yesterday for breaking a photographer's camera at LAX. [TMZ]

At the premiere of their joint venture, Righteous Kill, neither Robert De Niro nor Al Pacino would comment on the swipe director Francis Ford Coppola took at the two of them in GQ. [NYDN]

Barack Obama will join Michael Phelps on the season...

Morning Memo: Simmons Robbed; Runway Renovated

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:20:24 -0400

A suitcase filled with $15,000 worth of Russell Simmons jewelry was reportedly stolen when one of Mr. Simmons' employees left it in the hallway of a Bleecker Street building for about 30 minutes. [P6]

Heidi Klum says that Project Runway will get a facelift on Lifetime that will include some more catch phrases and a "Hollywood flair." [Forbes via The Cut]

Jennifer Lopez stopped by Obama's offices to talk about "matters close to her...

Morning Memo: We Have A Theory About American Apparel--They Like to Shock Us!

Thu, 29 May 2008 10:57:42 -0400

New Line Cinema and Radio City Music Hall are in a spat over whose fault it was that nearly 1,000 ticket holders were turned away at Tuesday's Sex and the City premiere. Meanwhile some are saying that the film's plot is based on the affairs of Ellen Barkin with Jonathan Tisch and Ronald Perelman. [P6]

Sharon Stone is sorry that she said the earthquake in China was "karma" for the country's policies in Tibet. [AFP]...

Bam! Pow! Society Superheroes Conquer The Big Swollen Ball

Tue, 06 May 2008 19:17:10 -0400

To the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Gala on Monday, May 5, themed “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” Gossip Girl star Blake Lively wore black gloves and a snug black Ralph Lauren gown involving feathers. She said that her favorite superhero was “Spider-Man. Cause he’s awesome! He gets to swing around, and, I don’t know....” Accompanied by her onscreen (and rumored offscreen) boyfriend, actor Penn Badgley, Ms. Lively had come straight from a...

The Week in DVR: Gossip Girl's Close Call; Meet The Royal Family; Auf Wiedersehen, Project Runway

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:33:03 -0500

MONDAY

For several panicked hours on Friday, fans of Gossip Girl—and presumably, The O.C.—swamped message boards following the news that producers of the new CW show had offered former O.C. cast member Mischa Barton a role on G.G. as Georgina Sparks, an old chum of Serena van der Woodsen. A wave of invective ensued: “This is the dumbest idea I have ever heard,” wrote one irate commenter, “[M]ischa [B]arton is...

Mischa Barton: I'm '100 Percent Responsible' For 'Stupid' Behavior

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:35:07 -0500

It seems Mischa Barton has no intention of subscribing to the ‘I’m-just-young-and-having-fun’ excuse following her Dec. 27 D.U.I. arrest.

The 21-year-old actress, who shot to fame as the “hot girl” on Fox’s The O.C., called into Ryan Seacrest’s radio show to talk about the drunken disaster.

“I got a D.U.I. when I was back in L.A.,” she told Mr. Seacrest. “I was pulled over. Obviously, I...

The Expert: Mischa Barton, Facebook Are Symptoms of 'Me Generation'

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:15:56 -0500

We called celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, PhD, to hear his thoughts on today’s news concerning Mischa Barton, former star of The O.C.

According to an official police report obtained by TMZ, the 21-year-old actress was arrested early this morning in West Hollywood for driving under the influence of alcohol. Police stated, in part, that Ms. Barton was picked up after she was “seen straddling two lanes of traffic and...

What’s Wang With Us, Part Deux: Sweatin’ With Danielle Steel’s Daughters

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 21:28:35 -0400

Fashion Week’s hottest after-party this far? The Alexander Wang after-party on Thursday. Indeed, hot doesn’t even begin to describe it.

By 11 PM, as a large warehouse in the West 30s began to fill with fedora’d, tank-topped, creatively-hairstyled early twenty-somethings, the crowd was getting moist. By 11:30, anyone wearing a shirt had completely sweated through it. The music was loud and Strokes-centric, vodka was flowing, revelers were spilling out of...