She may have been in the U.S. capital on serious business, but Reese Witherspoon couldn’t resist a little frivolous fashion chatter.

In an address at the State Department, Reese told the audience her Legally Blonde character Elle Woods has been ousted as the most stylish woman in Washington by First Lady Michelle Obama.

The actress was speaking at a ceremony where Mrs Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented the annual International Women of Courage awards.

Witherspoon jokingly complained that Woods, the bubbly blonde from Los Angeles who discovers her inner strength at Harvard Law School and then takes on Washington politics in movie’s sequel, had been upstaged.

“As an actress, I have always sought out roles that portrayed women as strong and powerful, such as Elle Woods, who was in the Legally Blonde movies,” she said to laughter from the audience. Woods, she said, “happened to be the biggest fashionista who ever came to Washington until Michelle Obama. Thanks a lot.”

— Daily Mail

How to smoulder when you’re older, Sophia Loren at age 75

As a wise old lady once said: A woman’s outfit should be like a barbed-wire fence — serving its purpose without obstructing the view.

That lady was Sophia Loren. Judging by her daring outfit, it appears she is still using it as her dress code. At 75, it seems Miss Loren has decided a woman of a certain age has no need to be demure.

The actress arrived at the launch of a TV series in Rome yesterday showing off an impressive cleavage and thigh-high skirt. She stars in La Mia Casa e Piena di Specchi (My House Is Full of Mirrors), a series based on the book about her life by her sister Maria Scicolone.

— Daily Mail

Farrah Fawcett was left out of Oscars memorial tribute because she wasn’t a big-screen star

Farrah Fawcett was left out of the Oscar memorial tributes because she was better known as a TV star, it was disclosed on Wednesday.

The former Charlie’s Angels beauty was one of the biggest names to pass away last year and millions of fans around the world mourned her loss.

However, the producers of the Academy Awards on Sunday night neglected to add her list to a montage celebrating the movie industry’s deaths of 2009. Michael Jackson, Natasha Richardson, David Carradine and Brittany Murphy were among the stars featured.

Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said the former Charlie’s Angels beauty, who died of cancer last year at the age of 62, didn’t make the rundown of much-missed legends because she wasn’t considered to be a big-screen actress who starred in more than a dozen movies during her career, including The Cannonball Run and Logan’s Run.

Oscars bosses suggested it would be more appropriate to feature a tribute to the TV version of the Oscars, the Emmys in September.

— Daily Mail