Purple Haze in Hollywood

The Colour Purple is definitely in vogue. No, not Alice Walker's awardwinning novel, and certainly not the treacly movie version.

But shades of purple - from pale lilac to deepest violet (well, it is Elizabeth Taylor's birthday today, she of the violet eyes) - were much in evidence at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last weekend, and are rumoured to be the hot choice for Sunday night's Oscars.

Liv Tyler wore a Marc Jacobs silk gown in aubergine (or 'eggplant' as they call it here, though I think it loses something in the translation) and lavender, set off with a bold red silk sash and matching Christian Louboutin shoes. The star of Peter Jackson's blockbuster The Return Of The King (and surely Sunday night's best film winner, although some favour Mystic River or - heaven help us! - Seabiscuit) leaned over and whispered: 'Marc only debuted it at his show five minutes ago and now I'm wearing it.' Well, golly gosh, I'm still wearing my Boss tux from five years ago - although I do have an Armani suit that, at merely a year old, is barely old enough to be away from its hanger. Best actress favourite Charlize Theron was looking very regal in a goddess-style

strapless (and backless) lilac gown by Tom Ford at Gucci. And Naomi Watts, so brilliant in 21 Grams, was in mood indigo, too. I hear whispers that she would like to slow down for a bit and have a baby with her beau, Heath Ledger. But first she has to make a sequel to the horror flick The Ring and star in Peter Jackson's King Kong next year.

Others in a purple passion were Holly Hunter, Sex And The City co-stars Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis, and a very pregnant Marcia Gay Harden.

This week, all the gals have been visiting various Oscar suites where they can check out frocks and shoes for Sunday night's big do.

Jimmy Choo's, over at the Penninsula Hotel, held a tea party where the gift bags included a certificate for £150-worth of Botox injections. Choo shoes are going through a purple patch, too - with variations on that colour, and a slight platform sole that lends the ladies in their long gowns a leaner silhouette.