The Shuttle had an invitation to last night’s “glittering VIP” opening party for Louis Vuitton’s magnificent new George Street emporium but had to turn it down due
to a prior engagement.
“But how can you miss it” pleaded a breathless PR operative “when we have an
amazing list of top celebrities coming ?”
“like who ?”.
“Lara Bingle , Erica Heynatz, Melissa Doyle,
Miranda Kerr !”
“anyone we may not have run into last week ?”
“Cate Blanchett, she’s cutting the ribbon ?
“look we love Cate but she’s a tad over exposed in Sydney at
present . Who else?”
“ Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones?”
“Love Ronnie but I'm seeing him at a private party this
Sunday. We’ll send our photographer to get a few snaps"
“terrific, I’ll make sure he has a good spot on the black
carpet”
“you mean a carpet with one of those boards with
your name plastered all over it ?”
“Yes”
“No thanks. The whole idea is to have shots that are
different to the paparazzi pics-you know maybe with the product inside the
store and so on”.
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| Ronnie & Jo Woods at LV |
And so it went and driving that night at 6.30pm over the Harbour Bridge our cynicism was confirmed. Opening anything on a Friday is verboten
in this town mainly because you miss the Thursday deadline for Sunday’s
society pages.
But hearing LVHM overlord
Phillip Corne being interviewed on 2GB (nighttime audience-Long Bay
Jail, nursing homes, the deranged etc) tell the befuddled
listeners they could save for years to buy a Louis Vuitton piece which could
be handed down through their family, or of the two South American peasants who saved a
lifetime to purchase a LV suitcase (presumably with no money left to travel ) the madness of the modern world was confirmed.
They did get one thing right-using top party designer David Grant. A veteran of many Olympic Games events and the legendary Cointreau Balls, there is none better.
On Wednesday we had a long conversation with one of
Australia’s top movie PRs who has promoted some of the biggest stars in the world
and we both agreed about the new breed of publicists armed
with a "communications degree” who can do everything but communicate.
The opening of Louis Vuitton was reminiscent of the opening of the Martin Place Armani store a
few years ago.
The Shuttle phoned the PR firm (new in town) to politely
inform them we would be attending.
“Oh we can't have media inside” was the snooty reply “we
have VIPs coming. You can stand outside the marquee” Miss Bossy
Boots said.
“Who ?” we asked.
“Lady Sonia McMahon, Boy George and Julian Clary”
“Well the reason I’m ringing is because Lady Sonia asked me
to escort her” I replied “and Boy George told me today that Armani can ‘f"ck orf”
unless they gave him a few outfits and Julian Clary will be in Brisbane. Well
that's what he said at lunch two days ago".
We went with Sonia in the end and it was usual suspects
(without Lara Bingle as she hadn’t become one yet). No Boy George and no
Julian Clary.
**************************
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| Cate with LV head honcho Philip Corne |
Cutting the ribbon for the opening of a new store seemed an odd job for one of the world's top movie stars but Cate Blanchett had a good reason to last night (apart from the set of new LV luggage delivered to her a few days ago)
Now that Giorgio Armani has dropped out as a sponsor for the Sydney Theatre Company-step forward Louis Vuitton. And the brand comes with it's own champagne label, Moët & Chandon, perfect for those all important patron parties.
The faces on the paparazzi said it all. Superstar Cate Blanchett a great supporter of the local ACCTA Awards was in black again. It may have been a gorgeous Armani gown but as one well known snapper said : "one pic of Cate in black is pretty much like another. They just don't sell very well."
