Marquardt revels in costume fetish

A year after "The Girls Next Door" ended, Bridget Marquardt still goes to the Mansion to pick up letters and packages.

"I was there for Easter Sunday. Some of my mail goes there, so I'll pop over and pick up my mail and say 'hi' to everyone," she says.

But otherwise, she's "moving on from the Mansion" -- living with boyfriend Nicholas Carpenter and making a reality show with him.

I asked Marquardt -- who hosts a "Halfway to Halloween" costume party Saturday at club Eve -- if her new guy is intimidated that she was Hugh Hefner's.

"I don't think he's intimidated at all by me, and if he was, I don't think he would tell me," she says. "He's very confident."

What will her new show look like? Marquardt can't divulge which network is planning it. But a reality show isn't a reality show without clashes and digs.

So, she likes to get under Carpenter's skin by insisting the first moon landing was "faaaked." (He's a budding director and a son of astronaut Scott Carpenter.)

"I say the moon landing is a conspiracy and we were never there," she says and laughs.

"Dry, sarcastic" Carpenter gives her crap about her volume of clothes.

"I have a whole bedroom dedicated to just my wardrobe and props.

"Nick's like, 'We're gonna do an episode of 'Hoarders' in your wardrobe room," she says, referencing the reality show that chronicles packrats.

Marquardt has a costume fetish. Carpenter tries to keep that in line a bit.

He stopped her from wearing a Medusa outfit to a "Clash of the Titans" premiere. And he ended her plan to don a "sexy Freddy Kreuger" outfit to a "Nightmare on Elm Street" red carpet.

What's the deal with her fetish?

"Every day should be fun. When you're going to an event and it has some kind of theme, I like to experience it and pretend I'm part of that."

For a vodka company's party in Vegas this year, the theme was "futuristic," so she wore a space woman costume.

"And I have sexy leprechaun outfits for St. Paddy's Day, and cutesy Valentine's outfits. I've been the New Year's Baby on New Year's."

On Saturday, they're dressing up as a dead bride and groom.

Clearly, she developed this flair when she was a kid and wore costumes to ballet and dance recitals, she says.

"I think it came from the attention I got. It probably stems from there."

I bet she's right.

SIGHTINGS

Morgan Freeman and Matthew McConaughey partied with Kenny Chesney at Hard Rock's pretty new Skybar pool. The pool is where Chesney held his after-party following Saturday's private screening of "Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D" at Rave theater in Town Square. McConaughey brought girlfriend Camila Alves. ... LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian get more comfortable hanging in public. They were at N9NE on Friday (as Norm Clarke reported). Later in the weekend, they snacked on chips and salsa (plus tequila) at Dos Caminos , followed by a meal of oysters, calamari and more at Palazzo's Lavo restaurant, before checking out the club upstairs, where they danced with friends. ... Marquardt's girlfriend Holly Madison celebrated the one-year anniversary of "Peepshow" on Sunday with cake and the cast.

Doug Elfman's column appears on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. E-mail delfman@reviewjournal.com. He also blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.