TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Elizabeth Snead

QUEENS OF FASHION: Not every actress who walks the red carpet is a size 2.

At last week's Academy Awards, there were several Oscar nominees who proved that talent and sex appeal come in all sizes.

``I heard from so many designers offering to dress Queen Latifa and Kathy Bates for the Oscars,'' said their stylist, Susan Moses, at the Escada fashion show/luncheon in the boutique at the Beverly Regent Wilshire Thursday afternoon. ``I was blown away by the number of designers who called and sent sketches. Even Dolce & Gabbana called - and they don't make anything in a size 16!''

Moses worked closely with designer Eric Gaskin for a month before the Oscars, going back and forth with fabrics and designs before settling on the elegant off-the-shoulder rust gown for Bates, whom she calls ``special K.''

Moses helped Latifa choose Escada for the Grammys (Joan Rivers voted her best-dressed) and put her in a turquoise Escada suit for the Golden Globes. She also suggested Marina Renaldi's pantsuit for her to attend the Oscar nominees luncheon.

``I was talking with a jewelry designer the other day, and she told me she has a daughter who is a little chubby, and when she saw Queen Latifa in an ice cream jacket and white leather pants, she said, 'Mommy, I can look like that!' I think that's a positive thing for young girls to realize - that it doesn't matter what size you are, you can still look your best. And you can wear any color you want to,'' says Moses.

STELLA!: What brings an astronaut, an international fashion designer, a country-western singer, scads of socialites, actors, directors and assorted Hollywood heavyweights together? The ``Unforgettable Evening'' gala, the annual fund-raiser for the Saks Fifth Avenue/Cedars-Sinai Research for Women's Cancer.

This year's event was held Tuesday night at the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel and honored Paul McCartney's designing daughter, Stella McCartney, with the 2003 Courage Award.

Wearing a strapless black gown, McCartney sat at the center table with honorary chairpersons Rita Wilson (wearing a black pantsuit), husband Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw (wearing a black choker, heavy bangs and horn-rim glasses).

McCartney's Beatle dad was not present, adding grist to rumors of a rift between his daughter and his new wife, Heather Mills McCartney. Accepting the Courage Award, bestowed in the past on Elton John, Hillary Clinton and Catherine Zeta-Jones, McCartney spoke in a soft voice. ``I would like to talk about hope,'' she said. ``I had to lose my mother to realize the effects of this dreadful disease. My mother gave her life so we can learn, learn to cure cancer and prevent it from taking more innocent lives. I'm humbled to receive this award, and I accept it for women around the world who are battling this disease. It is they who have true courage.''

Also in the audience: moon-walking astronaut Buzz Aldrin, singer Natalie Cole and actor Scott Foley, who, with wife Jennifer Garner (busy shooting her hit show, ``Alias''), will be this year's spokespersons for the charity, which has raised $15 million in seven years.

Hanks best reflected the night's mixed mood with a moving plea for peace and a tension-relieving chuckle. ``We obviously live in a complicated and troubled world. If you believe in God, you are asking that god to bring peace to this troubled and beautiful world. And if you have another definition for the creator of the universe, which is your right in this country, I'm sure you're also asking for peace and a better understanding for all men and women on this planet. The sooner, the better. For God's sake, we need our TV back!''

BIG FAT GREEK EPIC: The new Warner Bros. film ``Troy,'' starring Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris and Sean Bean as Odysseus, is guaranteed to be a movie of epic proportions.

The potential blockbuster, directed by Wolfgang Petersen and set to hit theaters next year, was skedded to shoot in Malta and Morocco. But terrorist fears and the Iraq war have made Warner Bros. consider new locations in Mexico as well as in safe studios in England, where shooting will start in April. Rounding out the hunk-heavy cast: Peter O'Toole, Saffron Burrows and Julie Christie. But who will play the story's central heroine, the face said to have ``launched a thousand ships''?

Sienna Guillory, a lovely young British actress, has just been cast as Helen of Troy in the film, which is being adapted by David Benioff (``25th Hour'') based on the poems of Homer.

Some may recall Guillory as Emma in ``The Time Machine,'' an admittedly dreadful remake of the original. OK, so maybe you missed it.

Although the fragile, pale-skinned beauty is new to Hollywood, she's learning the ropes fast. A few days before the Oscars, she was spotted at British hairdresser Charles Worthington's Oscar Suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she got a new shaggy cut and an ultra-lux $1,500 hair conditioning treatment made from Chardonnay Champagne grapes and prized Perigord black truffles.

What? Can't afford that? You can buy a consumer version of Worthington's hair treats at area drugstores. Other stellar sirens who surrendered to Worthington's decadent hair care: Alana Stewart (who deserved some serious pampering after her torturous stint on ``I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here'') and Daryl Hannah, who made a big splash at Oscar parties sporting her new Worthington do.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) BATES: Designers take note.

Steve Granitz/WireImage.com

(2) WILSON and McCARTNEY: ``Unforgettable,'' to be sure.

Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com

(3) GUILLORY: The hair that launched a thousand ships.

Donato Sardella/WireImage.com