The Reliable Source

A Look That Seems to Be Growing on Us

The mustache is back! Washington suddenly has the most impressive display of upper lip talent since . . . John Bolton dined alone.

D.C.'s private sector has always sported some formidable mustaches (columnist Tom Friedman, Redskins Hall of Famer Art Monk) but political types have traditionally opted for a clean shave. Now the old-school look is getting new life from Barack Obama's insiders: Eric Holder, the likely attorney general pick, and senior adviser David Axelrod.

Holder gets kudos for his neat, clipped cut; he would be the first AG with a mustache in almost 100 years. Axelrod's shaggy crop is another story -- it's described as sad, droopy and even, according to Britain's Telegraph, "lugubrious."

The 'stache went totally A-list last week when Rep. Henry Waxman was elected the new chair of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Waxman's short, military brush has terrified Capitol Hill for years and earned its own nickname -- "Mustache of Justice" -- with a line of magnets, mugs and buttons.

How powerful? Stephen Colbert teased D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton that she ranked below the "House speaker, majority leader, congressional pages, tourists and Henry Waxman's mustache."

On Jan. 20, Celebs Plan to Have a Ball

Prediction: This will be the first inauguration when the unofficial parties have more buzz and more pull than the official inaugural balls. Still no word where Oprah's sure-to-be-hot-ticket party will land, but Dionne Warwick just signed to host a Jan. 20 fete called the American Music Inaugural Ball at the Marriott Wardman Park -- expected attendance: three to four thousand. This on top of other Hollywood-speckled same-night galas such as the Creative Coalition's shindig and Lou Gossett Jr.'s Purple Ball -- and, oh yes, there's more to come.

About a Girl: The Fentys Welcome Baby Aerin

It's a girl! Her name is Aerin Alexandra Fenty.

The family of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty welcomed its much-anticipated baby girl yesterday morning -- the first female born into the mayor's family in three generations. Michelle Fenty, 38, gave birth at 6:08 a.m. Monday at an undisclosed hospital in the city; the baby checked in at 9 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches.

The mayor, 37, was in the delivery room, and big brothers Andrew and Matthew saw their sister soon afterward. "Everyone's in good health and spirits," said the mayor's rep, Mafara Hobson. D.C.'s first lady told us last month that -- despite all the doctors' promises to the contrary -- she was still convinced that she was having another boy to join the couple's 8-year-old twins. She kept buying blue things when she went shopping -- but yes, painted the nursery pink.

HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?

· Ehud Olmert browsing at Pentagon City mall yesterday, between his morning meeting with Condi Rice and his evening talks with President Bush. The outgoing Israeli PM checked out the Cole Haan store and Nordstrom, waved to some ladies working a perfume cart who called out hellos. He's the second world leader in as many weeks to shop there -- Silvio Berlusconi must have recommended it.

· Jerry Torre, the only still-living character from the cult documentary "Grey Gardens," catching Studio Theatre's musical version Saturday night. Torre -- the teenage gardener taken in by a wacky mother and daughter in the '70s, now a Brooklyn cabbie and art student -- went backstage to meet the cast, returned Sunday for an after-show chat.

· David Byrne touring the Richard Avedon show at the Corcoran on Saturday -- as tall, angular and intense as ever, hair now white.

· Suzanne Malveaux, Donna Brazile and Hilary Rosen singing along at the Tina Turner concert at Verizon Center on Sunday night.

LOVE, ETC.

· Eloped: Heidi Montag, 22, and Spencer Pratt, 25, last week in a "secret ceremony" in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, showcased in a new Us Magazine cover story and photo spread. They're stars of that reality show "The Hills," though frankly it seems as if they were sort of dropping off the demi-celeb radar lately. The wedding should fix that.