By Robert Kahn STAFF WRITER, NEWSDAY

Fernanda Tavares says there's more than one way to, well, uh, skin a cat.

When PETA protesters in November rushed the catwalk at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Tavares was just a couple of strides behind fellow Brazilian supermodel - and target - Gisele Bundchen, who was accused of being "Fur Scum."

"It was a little bit scary for us, because we were just working," Tavares says.

But yesterday, there was the 5-foot-10 glamazon sitting in the front row for the PETA-sponsored Gaelyn & Cianfarani show.

"I don't think going out on a runway and attacking the models is the right way to show you don't like something. But this - having a show that doesn't use leather or fur - is," Tavares said of the East Village designers' new wares, which included latex dresses and a trenchcoat made of rubber recycled from old tires.

Tavares, who this week has worked the runways for Sean Combs and Diane von Furstenberg, says she was actually a natural convert to the PETA cause.

"I was concerned because Gisele is my friend, but I also wanted to talk to them because I'm against fur and there was a side of me that was happy it happened," she admits.

PETA's newest supporter says she is still willing to work a show that features real fur, but refuses to wear it herself. And she has made her spindly- legged runway sisters one promise. Says Tavares: "I would never go attack someone."

Cosmo big newsstand seller
By PAUL D. COLFORD, DAILY NEWS

Not since the legendary Helen Gurley Brown was editor - 10 years ago - has Cosmopolitan sustained such big sales on newsstands.
The magazine for the "fun fearless female" in search of "65 Ways to Love His Body" and similar insights had an average newsstand sale of more than 2 million copies in the second half of 2002 - for the second straight six-month period.

Under editor Kate White, who's made a gold brand relevant to a new generation of women, Cosmo's newsstand sale rose 5.5% from a year earlier, and total circ grew 9.3%, to 3.2 million, according to a report due from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Al Pacino on the cover helped make Esquire's July issue the biggest seller in a second half when its newsstand sales increased by double-digits again, this time by 17.3%. Total circ was up 12.3%, to 740,000.

GQ gained 5.3% on newsstands as total circ, up 6%, exceeded 800,000.

Newsstand strength is evidence to ad buyers that a mag is clicking with its target readers.

Editor Glenda Bailey's Harper's Bazaar was up a sliver in total circ, but the fashion mag in an industry fishbowl gained 13.4% on newsstands, to 187,000.

InStyle's first report under managing editor Charla Lawhon was: total circ up 6.5%, to almost 1.7 million, and newsstand up 6.9%, nearing 1 million.

Real Simple's 20% newsstand jump and 32% growth overall raised circ to 1.1 million.

O: The Oprah Mag declined, but less than in early 2002. Its total of 2.26 million was more in line with the 2.1 million Hearst now promises advertisers with a view toward long-term growth.