Yes, she looks sensational teetering down the red carpet in a gossamer sheath dress on 4.5-inch stilettos. But what do she and the toothy, head-to-toe Viktor & Rolf victim on her arm wear in real life? Now that the economy has been felled with a resounding thud, a comforting truth can be told. When the lensmen aren’t stalking them, stars, and the rest of us -- men in bars, fashionistas in town cars, even state troopers on their own dime -- have at least two pairs of jeans they wear day and night, a beloved assortment of ratty old T-shirts, a stack of tony sweaters and possibly a worn-in leather jacket. It’s a national uniform.

The famous ladies we spoke to tended to get more specific about the kind of jeans they’re into. “I like True Religion,” Brandy told us in the gift lounge during Z-100’s Jingle Ball. “Sevens,” said Amy Adams at the Gotham Awards, adding, “Citizens of Humanity.” Supermodel Doutzen Kroes says that she’s also feeling Citizens of Humanity. With denim now the new black, sweats are also reaching a new summit of popularity. Bobby Moynihan, who infamously wore heels in a skit with Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live, rocks jeans, Converse and a sweatshirt: “I’m all about comfortable.” In a rare down-to-earth moment, Diddy told us he goes casual in his quiet time by wearing sweats, socks and flip-flops. “Sean John, velour,” he said. King of Queens and Mall Cop star Kevin James also has a set of favored sweats: “I can recognize a McDonald’s stain,” he notes. “I know where the stains are, and I know what they represent. They mean something to me. I carry them forever.”

To test this all-American truism, we asked the stars about what they really wear, day to day. As predicted, team denim includes just about everyone, even those from the other side of the pond. We’re used to spotting Sir Ben Kingsley wearing sharp suits with fab ties that his towering new wife buys him (like the purple silk cravat he recently sported at the Gotham Awards for independent film). At home in Oxfordshire, England, the iconic actor gets in touch with his earthier side while gardening, he says, wearing “jeans and great Wellington boots.” On his way into a Cinema Society screening, Tommy Hilfiger, decked out in natty pinstripes, told BlackBook that his favorite downtime attire is “jeans and a white T-shirt” when he’s not flaunting his own brand. And Mad Men ad man Jon Hamm said, “I’m a prep-school kid. Jeans and shirts, that’s it.”

The list of denim devotees rolls on. Rebecca Hall, who stars opposite Penélope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson in Vicki Cristina Barcelona, says she only wears “jeans and a T-shirt.” And ditto Andy Samberg, who says his casual look must also include “a zip-up hoodie.” Cedric the Entertainer, swathed in a logo-emblazoned Louis Vuitton scarf on his way into Marquee after the premiere of Cadillac Records, said that his real-life attire amounts to “just tennis shoes and jeans.”

Sweaters also serve up comfort chic. Looking fit in a sweater and jeans backstage at Jingle Ball, Twilight star Peter Facinelli told BlackBook, “I’ve been wearing this for three days now.” In tune with America’s nouvelle poverty, even on the red carpet, some stars now claim to dress on a shoestring. “This is what I wear in real life,” said Denis Leary, looking boho hip in Seven jeans that he said he’d picked up free, “probably from work. Everything I have on goes back to a movie.” Richie Rich, wearing classic Levi’s red label, claimed that he had on his boyfriend’s Viktor & Rolf tuxedo jacket. “I just ran out of the house in it and I’m ready to go,” he said (even though the beau thought Rich looked like Bea Arthur, “because it’s too big on me”). A veritable folk hero of the new downer economy is 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander. At the premiere of The Wrestler, Friedlander said he prefers wearing Wranglers (from Walmart or Kmart for “twenty bucks”) with New Balance shoes. He also makes his own hats for 30 Rock that have slogans on them like “Shower Scene.” Wrestler co-star Evan Rachel Wood also shops down-market.

“I wear lots of little flapper dresses from eBay, nightgowns, minidresses, H&M,” she said. “I’ll even do Target.” And Melissa Leo of Frozen River told us that she wears pajamas “day after day” when she’s home alone. Brody Jenner of The Hills, and star of MTV’s Bromance, is a poster dude for America’s new infatuation with downscale. He said that he upgraded from Dickies to American Eagle Outfitter denim just moments before the Z-100 Jingle Ball. “I had on my Dickies and a T-shirt before I got here,” he said, adding that his manager quickly dressed him down (and then dressed him up), saying, “‘You really can’t go on like that.’”

Perhaps the consumer fervor that had us drooling over aspirational fashion during the overheated economy of ’07 and ’08 was a bubble ready to go poof. Hence, Sex and the City Louboutin addicts have gone the way of poodle skirts and gas-guzzling cars with fins, for now. “If you dress up too much,” explained Mos Def, who gussied up his denim with a bowtie for the premiere of Cadillac Records, “people just say… ‘Where are you going?’”
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