Fine Lines.

Byline: editor: Sally Singer

A trio of very different, figure-conscious women reveal the ways in which they've learned to make the most of what they've got.

1. curvy Christina Hendricks

Playing office manager Joan Holloway on Mad Men, set in the early sixties, has made Christina Hendricks realize one thing: She looks pretty darn good in a pencil skirt. Browsing Barneys in Beverly Hills one day recently, she was drawn to a L'Wren Scott sinuous slink of a skirt ($1,995) in black silk crepe. "That's sharp," Hendricks said, holding it up against herself to get a better idea of how it would look. Sadly, it wasn't to be. On the plus side: It had the right hip-hugging shape that tends to suit her hourglass silhouette. On the down side: Beyond the price tagHendricks carefully evaluates her big-ticket buysthere was that high waist to contend with. "Trouble," she sighed. "I am too busty."

In her pre- Mad Men days, Hendricks would have drawn the line at wearing pencil skirts. Ugh, she'd have thought; too severe, too adult, too serious. But that's the wonderful thing about being an actress: There is always the chance to don the clothes of other women and try them on for size. And when she does so, it gives her an opportunity to determine what works with her body beyond what she'd normally choose to wear. (Not to mention what suits her red hair and alabaster skin; Hendricks looks like an exquisite John Currin portrait just waiting to be painted.) Besides the shapely skirts, her look and Joan's coincide only when it comes to face-framing hats (she loves Eugenia Kim) and chunky, jangly costume jewelry (her own collection includes fifties gilt bracelets with animal motifs and Alexis Bittar rhinestone-studded ebony bangles). She felt Barneys had failed on the chapeau front this particular trip, so she decided to check up on the bracelet she had been stalking, a gargantuan gunmetal crab cuff ($4,195) by Antonio Palladino. Until, that is, she spied the articulated silver alligator bracelet ($2,000) by the same jeweler. "I'd love," she said longingly, wrapping it around her wrist, "to rock this at the next awards show."

"I find a dress is more flattering than a lot of layers. I went through a phase of button-down shirts, which was terrible"

As is the case for many actresses, dressing for the red carpet presents Hendricks with the challenge of being true to her own style and dealing with the pressure to look Hollywood-appropriate, all the while facing down the carping critics. "They might as well hold up score cards while you're on it," she says. Personally, she has always tended toward the sparkly, exuberant, fanciful end of the fashion spectrum. "If it looked like a ballet costume or a fairy-tale costume, I'd buy it," Hendricks said. "Anything long, romantic, or with a frayed edge, sign me up." Yet the combination of being more in the public eye, reaching her mid-30s, and being exposed to the toned-down, formfitting clothes of her character has somewhat changed that predilection. She still adores glittery, colorful, dress-box clothesafter Barneys, she visited Intermix on Robertson to try on a navy sequined Gryphon blazer ($595) she'd also been ...