The women of ''The L Word'' get chic

The L Word may have had a ho-hum season 2, but the ladies have never looked better. With the exception of Mia Kirshner’s painfully kooky Jenny (she pranced around a gay cruise in fake fur and black tights!), they all benefited from an influx of fashion savvy. ”In season 1, we tested the waters,” says the show’s wardrobe stylist, Cynthia Summers. ”We had such a fantastic response from the lesbian community about how fabulous everyone looked that we decided to do it 110 percent bigger and better.” Enter designers such as Valentino, YSL, and Gucci, plus baubles and accessories from David Yurman, Fendi, Hermès, and Trina Turk.

Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Helena (Rachel Shelley) led the pack with well-bred elegance, but even quirky Alice (Leisha Hailey) embraced her inner clotheshorse. ”If we have a Carrie from Sex and the City, it would be Alice because she dresses for occasions,” says Summers. ”She’s more femininely dressed and our No. 1 Marc Jacobs girl.” Still, don’t expect tennis star Dana (Erin Daniels) to trade country-club sex appeal for a leather look to match her new favorite sex toy. ”There are more peripheral characters coming in to make a big [fashion] statement,” says Summers. ”I don’t think we’ll see our main characters going anywhere different, except maybe even more fantastic.”