Cleopatra & Liz

At US$194,800, Elizabeth Taylor's costume budget on Cleopatra was the biggest ever for a single actor, and the designer Renie must have been kept very busy as she had to come up with 64 outfit changes! The costumes, while not necessarily authentic to the period, were lavish and beautiful and set trends in the early 60s. Its not hard to see why they won an Oscar.

The latest issue of US Harper's Bazaar has reality TV star Kim Kardashian trying to replicate Elizabeth's glamorous turn as Cleopatra. I must be getting old as I open the gossip mags these days and I don't know who half the people are, Kim and her sisters included. She's certainly beautiful, but I'm not sure why she is famous?

Anyway, I digress. Not only does Kim actually wear one of the original costumes from Cleopatra, she also engages in a Q&A with the one and only Dame herself. She is all class, as per usual, and she says that, apart from her Cleopatra duds, her favourite frock of all time is the lavender Edith Head gown she wore to the Oscars in 1970.

Dame Elizabeth is currently in hospital struggling with congestive heart failure. I hope she gets better and makes it home to her friends and family and jewels soon. I don't think any other actress could ever look as ravishing draped in genuine gold.