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.

* And this is one of the true favorites of this humble weblog, Valerie Sipp, yesterday at the NY Fashion Week. She was yesterday on the front page of The New York Times (pic), but thx to SALTYT special undercover agent S.C. I can also show you a cute backstage pic of her:

The main story in the shows today was still Eva H. (more about that latter), but the papers still had a lot to say about other models, too. Here you go:

* Who was that handsome hunk in the front row that Karolina Kurkova threw a saucy wink to as she exited Carolina Herrera’s show yesterday morning? Why, it was none other than Tyson, the model-cum-TV reporter who had interviewed her earlier in the day for “Extra.”
According to Kurkova, the two hit it off so well that Tyson suggested they do a TV show together.
“Sure,” said Kurkova, who we caught up with backstage after Herrera. We asked what’s been her toughest walk so far? DefinitelySean John, where she wore Barberella-esque leather hot pants and midriff-baring parka. “The floor was so slippery, I almost fell.”
For fun? An early birthday celebration (she’ll be 19 on Feb. 20) at “this really cool new place, Cielo, on West 12th Street.”
Backstage before Oscar de la Renta’s noon show, the designer himself blew Karolina a kiss, while makeup artists, manicurists, hairstylists and photographers decended upon her like piranha. Her hair, being hot-ironed into lovely ringlets (the coif of the day was a soft, frizzy up-do), made her look like a sweet country girl.
“So cute,” we admired.
“It’s never cute,” she admonished, laughing. “It’s faaabulous.”
Whoops. Point taken. (NY Newsday)

* As the hip-hop beat pulsed, the model parading Catherine Malandrino's gang-girl leather lost her footing and nearly crashed into the deejay booth at the Longacre Theater. She saved her slipup with an apologetic grin, but that misstep characterized a few of yesterday's fashion shows. (NY Daily News)

* Danish model Rie Rasmussen, who played Rebecca Romijn's lover in the bathroom scene in "Femme Fatale," wasn't acting - she's bisexual.
At the Marc Jacobs party at Blue Smoke Monday night, Rasmussen, who starred in the Heatherette show and walked for Jacobs, made no secret of her predilection, stealing kisses from fellow models and flirting with every attractive girl in the room.
Randy Rasmussen's antics were the talk of the bash, where one sexy stylist whom Rasmussen tried to seduce on a shoot declared, "She likes women more than most men do. But she's not sleazy about it."
Rie's rep had no comment, but a friend says it's no secret. (ShowBuzz)

* Elsewhere at the party - which included The Strokes, Mandy Moore, Sofia Coppola, Frankie Rayder and Roman Coppola, Missy Rayder, Drea de Matteo, Jimmy Fallon, Michelle Hicks, Anna Sui and Jefferson Hack (sans Kate Moss) - Liv Tyler got a flattering proposal.
"Three guys just offered themselves to me, like, all at the same time!" Tyler gushed. She good-naturedly declined.
Meanwhile Naomi Campbell remains assuredly hetero.
We hear the devilish diva, in town for a few select shows, just started dating Guy Laliberte, multimillionaire president, CEO and founder of Le Cirque de Soleil.
"I never comment on Naomi's personal life," says her rep, Lizzie Grubman. (NY Post)