To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > People Nov. 19, 1999 URL: http://www.salon.com/people/col/reit/1999/11/19/np1119 Gown gobbling in Gotham Consuming fashion in the Big Apple; Bezos luvs Bill; Paul Newman: Unhandsome me! Plus: Claudia Schiffer's new bedmate! - - - - - - - - - - - - By Amy Reiter Now here's a taste of haute couture you can really sink your teeth into: designer chocolate dresses. At the upcoming Chocolate Show in New York (Nov. 26-29), models will meander down the catwalk in cocoa-flavored finery such as an 8-foot-wide Olivier Lapidus-designed Milka chocolate ballgown; a Jean-Louis Sherrer bustier with dark chocolate rings, accessorized with chocolate bag, jewels and hand warmer; a Courreges "surprise chocolate cake dress"; and a futuristic dress with a halo of chocolate squares by Paco Rabanne. Yes, the fancy frocks would melt right on the models if they wore them too long, confirms show spokeswoman Stephanie Teuwen. And yes, they're all edible. "Last year," Teuwen confides, "we had a dress made out of chocolate-covered orange peel that the designer kept having to redo because people kept eating it." Guess drugs and alcohol aren't models' only vices, after all. - - - - - - - - - - - - What dreams may come ... "I want to turn my dreams into something tangible." -- Claudia Schiffer, explaining why she's now taking a pencil -- instead of David Copperfield -- to bed every night to jot down her dreams, in an upcoming InStyle interview. - - - - - - - - - - - - Bill Gates's biggest fan Is Jeff Bezos bucking for a strategic partnership of epic proportions or what? In an upcoming USA Weekend interview, Amazon.com founder and CEO staunchly defends his controversial Microsoft counterpart, planting a big ol' verbal kiss on Bill Gates' virtual cheek. "I do think Bill Gates has gotten, in general, a bad rap," says Bezos. "He actually seems like a very nice person. Microsoft has innovated quite a bit over the years and people overlook that." But while Bezos admits he hasn't followed Gates' tussles with the U.S. government too closely, he's cool with the concept of breaking up monopolies. "As a matter of philosophy, it seems OK," he says. "Whether Microsoft is at that point, I have no idea." Of course not. He's too busy working on getting to that point himself. - - - - - - - - - - - - Ready, aim ... "A campaign is like hand-to-hand combat." -- Sen. John McCain, speaking before a group including fellow former POWs and Navy veterans on Wednesday. - - - - - - - - - - - - Butch Cassidy on ice? Remember the old rumor about Paul Newman soaking his face in ice water between film takes to look younger? Not true. "That tabloid myth should get iced right now," Liev Schreiber, Newman's co-star in "Twilight," told tipster Baird Jones at the premiere party for HBO's "RKO 281." Newman doesn't even like to get made up for his films, says Schreiber. He's "the butchest guy imaginable. He does not want to look handsome or young, even if it is a smart career move." So whatever you do, don't call him Cool Face Luke. - - - - - - - - - - - - AppleTalk "I needed to write something for myself to remind myself that everybody who was making fun of me wasn't right. I needed to remind myself that I have not done anything to hurt anybody. It's saying that when everyone's being mean to me, do not believe it. Do not think that you're wrong because people are saying that you are." -- Fiona Apple's moving, 60-word explanation (to music writer Gary Graff) for the 90-word title of her new album, "When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right." - - - - - - - - - - - - Juicy bits Fallen angel: Bill Murray. He won't play Bosley in the "Charlie's Angels" movie after all, Variety reports, because the producers just couldn't scrape together the mega-dough he demanded. Hey, who knows? Maybe they can get Garrett Morris at a discount. And you thought he had no ear. Evander Holyfield recently launched his Real Deal Records label with releases from the R&B group Shalom, rapper NuWine and R&B soloist Oliver. Bite that, Mike Tyson. Postcards from the digital edge: Carrie Fisher has signed on to write two online columns -- one geared toward 14- to 24-year-olds -- for the Digital Entertainment Network. "Even though I'm not in the same age group that DEN targets," the writer/actress told Daily Variety. "I pride myself on being incredibly immature, having only recently just recovered from drug addiction. I have all the same problems teenagers do with skin, parents, career, dating -- or not dating, as the case may be." Look for a resurgence of the Princess Leia do at high schools everywhere. salon.com | Nov. 19, 1999