After all, Bailey is a Jack Russell terrier and movie star, Salsa is a diva Chihuahua, Powder a supermodel white cat, Cocoa a black Lab bad-boy actor and Kyra a gray striped cat who's one of music's top rockers. Created by Noodle Head Fun's Pawparazzi line, they are plush-toy celebrities in their own right, four-legged counterparts of hip and happening humans, huggable icons who offer the friendlier side of fame. The quintet created instant buzz among young girls in summer as the new arrivals were scooped up at such stores as Punch in East Hampton; Lou, Babs Moogs in Port Washington; and Violets Blue in Sayville and Huntington (prices range from $15 to $17 for a basic Pawparazzi kit to up to $35 for a deluxe set).
Since then, they've been making the scene in Long Island playdates featuring make-believe fashion shows and visits to exotic shores. But with 2006 winding down, these plush stars living the plush life can be expected to party quietly on New Year's Eve - if they party at all. The young fans who adore them are between the ages of 6 and 12, smitten girls with canine and feline stars in their eyes, and likely to be asleep well before midnight.
So, move over, Paris Hilton and Tinkerbell. Lindsay Lohan, take your dog Chloe for a long walk. Clay Aiken and Raleigh, find a backseat in that stretch limo - all the way back, in fact.
Human stars may use their pets as fashion accessories, but these five mini-stars come with their own accessories - matching jewelry and a trendy little Kate Spade-style handbag. They also have their own magazine that gives the gossipy back story about their celebrity lifestyles, and serves up plenty of doggy (and catty) dish. "They're like show dogs," said Bailey Briggs, a sixth-grader at the Ross School whose mother, Roxanne Briggs, owns Punch, which has been selling the critters from the shop as well as the store's Web site, punchchild renswear.
com. Could there be some professional jealousy in homes with real-life pets? Bailey's friend Nansell Ambrose, also 11, finds that her corgi and black Lab are somewhat curious about Powder and Salsa, her two Pawparazzi pets, but it's not because they're stagestruck, too.
"I have to keep them high up," she said, "or my dogs would probably eat them." "We've sold hundreds and hundreds of them," said Roxanne Briggs, and not just to little girls. "Even some of the little boys have wanted them.
" Cocoa was the hit of the bunk at one summer camp in Massachusetts when he showed up in the arms of Penina Remler, 10. Penina's mother, Margie Remler, had bought him at Lou, Babs Moogs near their Port Washington home. "He is a celebrity," Penina said.
"My bunk made him a little house and everything, and he came with a little purse and blanket." Her friend and bunkmate, Kelly Skeen, visiting Long Island recently from San Francisco, remembered how "we kind of felt like having someone to take care of, and he had a cute little face, he was our mini-pet." Never mind that they lack full-blown personalities (not unlike some human stars).
To the love-struck, that matters little. In fact, said Chris Ryan, one of the principals in Noodle Head Fun, Pawparazzi's West Coast creator, "it is not so much a need to have a lot of depth of character. It's just a little something for the pets' owners to be fawning over.
" And fawn they do. Even Helen Leid, owner of Lou, Babs Moogs, admits they won her over at a Javits Center trade show, where she first saw them. "There was just the whole basic mini-chicness of it.
The little bag and the touch of bling, but not overly bling." Their appeal on her store's shelves, she said, has been remarkable. "We have witnessed a few meltdowns of little girls," she said.
Although they're still in development, the lineup will likely include Misty, a Russian gray cat who's a news anchor; Toby, a dachshund who's an artist; Indy, an author who is still a work in progress; Daisy, a beagle who's a tennis pro; and Roxy, a bichon frise who is the founder of a cosmetics company. But, for now, the superstars of the summer of 2006 still own the year. And as far as saying farewell to it on Dec.
31, Bailey Briggs and Bailey the superstar Jack Russell have nothing special planned. "Maybe go to Starbucks and have some hot chocolate," said the human Bailey. So, they're not likely to wait up for any magic at midnight.
Then again, they've had magic since these party animals arrived.
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