For Post-Split Stars, Looking Good Is the Best Revenge

Jan. 16, 2007 — -- You're one of the top female celebrities, you recently went through a difficult breakup and now you've got to walk the red carpet at the Golden Globes.

How do you survive that gauntlet of cameras and pesky entertainment reporters?

Just look fabulous -- that's what Reese Witherspoon did.

The actress arrived with a dramatic new look, showing off bangs, a long, straightened cut to her hair and a yellow, cocktail-length dress. Witherspoon won so many plaudits that almost no one asked her about her divorce from husband Ryan Philippe last October.

Other fashion-forward women on the rebound were Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore.

"The classic expression is that the best revenge is looking well," says R.J. Garis, an entertainment publicist. "Well, in show business it's 'the best revenge is looking great.' You might feel miserable inside -- 'I'm devastated and I don't feel like getting out in front of the paparazzi' -- but you have to maintain that sexy image."

And that image depends on haute couture and expensive hairdressers. "You expect someone who's been through a breakup to look like a complete mess," says Us Weekly fashion director Sasha Charnin Morrison. "And it was absolutely the reverse. They looked absolutely beautiful. Cameron, Reese and Drew all had different looks, but each one was creative and different."

Just before the new year, 34-year-old Diaz broke up with younger boyfriend Justin Timberlake, who reportedly started dating actress Scarlett Johanssen after she was cast in the video for his new song, "What Goes Around."

Diaz wore a belted tulle gown held up with a single shoulder strap. The dramatic outfit provoked extreme reactions as fashion observers either loved it or hated it -- but it helped distract reporters from annoying questions about Timberlake.

And Barrymore, whose braless outfit at last year's awards was widely panned, got the opposite reaction this time around. In a blush-colored dress designed by John Galliano for Christian Dior, the actress looked stunning, and almost no one asked her about last week's split with her beau of five years, rocker Fabrizio Moretti.

Hilary Swank and Sienna Miller were other actresses who've been through difficult breakups but won praise for their outfits at the awards.

The stars' fashion makeovers were no coincidence -- they were part of a calculated strategy to enhance their public image, say relationship experts and celebrity publicists.