Tarrant steps out of spotlight after Hollywood hiccups.

The old Hollywood adage is that when you are up, you're way up, and when you are down, you're way down. That's certainly true for Tarrant Apparel Group. During a ballyhooed fling with celebrity songstresses Beyonce Knowles and Jessica Simpson, the L.A.-based company's clothes landed on entertainment television shows and in magazines and were even profiled in the Wall Street Journal.

But last month, the company's foray into Hollywood turned sour. It terminated a license agreement to make fashions under the brand House of Dereon by Tina Knowles (Beyonce's mother). And a fracas with Simpson's licensor resulted in Tarrant's admission that it won't sell Simpson-branded apparel in the first quarter and could possibly never again sell the "Dukes of Hazzard" starlet's clothes.

After failing to pile up show business hits, Barry Aved, the company's president and chief executive, exited the stage with his resignation last month. Aved, who is expected to move to New York, started his second stint at Tarrant in 2003.

Gerard Guez, the company's chairman and founder, has assumed the chief executive role on an interim basis. He'll forego Tinseltown deals for now, and concentrate instead on Tarrant's American Rag Cie brand with Macy's stores.

Staying out of the spotlight seems like a good move for Tarrant. Despite its recent Hollywood blowups, the company ended on a high note in the fourth quarter: Clothes it produces under private labels and brands came out ahead.

Due to strength in the private apparel business, Tarrant reported net income increased to $9.9 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 from $4.1 million in the year-ago period. Fourth-quarter revenues were $49.7 million, compared to $36.7 million in the like year-earlier quarter.