EYE SCOOP
Mr. Basso is going to Washington — or Hollywood, actually. Fur designer Dennis Basso is heading west this weekend to make a cameo appearance as Bill Clinton in the Lifetime production of “Life of the Party,” the story of Pamela Harriman, based on the scandalous biography by Christopher Ogden. It may seem an unlikely bit of casting, but Francisco Martin Duran, for one, can vouch for the striking resemblance between Basso and Clinton. Duran is serving a 40-year sentence in federal prison for a 1994 assassination attempt on Clinton when he opened fire on the White House lawn. Turned out the man he fired 29 rounds at wasn’t the Prez after all, but Basso, who was strolling the grounds on a tour.
Laurent Dufourg, meanwhile, is heading east. Uma Thurman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Teri Hatcher and Jeanne Tripplehorn seek him out at his Prive salon in Los Angeles, and now he’s snagged a 3,100-square-foot space at the SoHo Grand Hotel in New York. His new outpost will open in September, with Laurent dividing his time between Los Angeles, New York, and a third Prive slated to open in October at Steve Wynn’s Bellagio Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. No word yet on Vegas prices, but Laurent says he refuses to charge $300 for a cut in New York like other star stylists. “One hundred and fifty is enough when people have to come in every four or five weeks,” he says. All the same, he expects to rely on the same sliding scale in New York that he offers celebrities in L.A. “Celebrities never pay,” says Laurent. “They just say, ‘I love my hair,’ then they run out the door.”