Toby Canham/Getty ImagesA girl's gotta get paid somehow. And Lindsay Lohan hasn't exactly been drowning in movie offers these past few months years.
So what better way to make a buck or two (thousand) than by playing dress up with some generous designers? It's a win-win! Because despite the mostly negative feedback by the press, the fashion police and even her mother, the dresses are a hit with the public, and have routinely sold out. And there's no getting around the fact that the outfits are garnering the kind of publicity—good, bad and everything in between—that money just can't buy.
Or, actually, maybe it's the exactly the kind of publicity that money can buy. But could this possibly be true? Is Lindsay getting paid to wear designer duds to court? Hang on to your AmEx black card, because this rumor is…
So…well...not to go all Clinton on you, but that entirely depends on your definition of payment!
While no one is stepping forward to confirm that they've traded payola for the chance to use Lindsay as a walking hanger, plenty of designers have been oh-so-magnanimously gifting Lohan with clothes and accessories for her perp walks into court.
"I doubt in this situation that Lindsay is being paid to wear a designer's brand—but the attention that she brings to brands can be a boon for business," a fashion insider tells E! News. To which we say, yeah, no kidding.
"Because of that, it's likely that many of the items she has worn were given to her as gifts."
So, let's tally this up, shall we?
While Judith Ripka, purveyor of the evil eye necklace Lindsay donned in court yesterday, has not commented, a source tells E! News that the company did not pay Lindsay to wear the $2,200, 18-karat yellow gold chain and pendant. According to the New York Post, the bauble was a gift from a longtime Ripka customer, 39-year-old Eric Freiberg, who sent the necklace to Lohan in February to "ward off bad spirits." Think it's working?
As for the beige leather Raquel Allegra dress Lindsay poured herself into, a rep for the designer did go on record, telling E! News, "All I can confirm is that she was not paid to wear the dress. I assume she purchased it herself, although it is from a past collection, so it is hard to tell."
Lindsay's previous court outfit (aka, the appropriate one), a conservative black pantsuit, was widely reported to have come from Chanel, though the French fashion house has neither confirmed that information nor offered any comment on it. We would expect nothing less, but it's probably safe to assume they did not gift the outfit to Lindsay—at least, not for this particular occasion. Ditto the Yves Saint Laurent shoes.
Accessorizing that outfit was yet another evil eye necklace, this time loaned to the starlet by designer (and former E! reality star) and frequent party pal Brittny Gastineau. Gastineau openly admitted (to any outlet that would have her) that she felt sad for Linds, and gave her about $5,000 worth of bling to help turn the courthouse steps into her own private runway—in addition to the $3,000 Diamond Protection Eye Anti Envy necklace, Lohan also donned $1,800 Heart Locket earrings from the Tres Glam designer's collection.
Which leads us to what started this whole thing off.
Lohan's infamous first fashion choice—and by far the most widely criticized—was the skintight white Kimberley Ovitz minidress. The company declined to comment on how the dress came to be in Lindsay's possession, but the ensuing publicity (despite its negativity) didn't hurt the fledgling company, as the dress sold out in record time.
So, technically, Lindsay's not exactly cashing in on the clothes. But she certainly doesn't seem to be putting any cash out for them, either.
—Additional reporting by Ashley Fultz and Whitney English