Away from the drama in Canberra, former PM Julia Gillard dines with pals in New York

Rupert Noffs* Julia Gillard* Matty Bennett

While Tony Abbott was being removed by his own MPs in Canberra and replaced by Malcolm Turnbull, former prime minister Julia Gillard dined with friends in New York as our exclusive snap shows. Pictured above with Julia are comedian Mark Trevorrow and Gideon Shoes' boss Rupert Noffs. The trio joined friends from the "gumleaf mafia" and Noffs partner Matty Bennett for dinner at Noff's & Bennett's apartment.
Noffs and Bennett are soon to open their own eatery, Lucky Bee in Soho's Broome Street (the street only had factories when Whispers lived there) specialising in South East Asian food and they have the New York Times buzzing with excitement. Ironically Malcolm Turnbull's first act as PM was to sign the two most populous states Victoria and NSW up to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) considered one of Gillard's most important pieces of legislation and one which she is justly proud of.

New Wedding Craze

Maybe not a craze but it's certainly popular. Australian gay couples are getting hitched in New York at a furious pace. Last week we had Rupert Noffs (right) the brains behind Gideon Shoes, the brand of choice for young Hollywood types, swapping wedding bands with
his long time partner Matty Bennett in Central Park.




Now on the weekend fashion photographer James Houston and restauranteur Brian McGrory (right) promised undying love to each other in the Big Apple.
And the famous Gumleaf Mafia turned out to cheer on the happy couples with Baz Luhrmann, Hugh Jackman and Melissa George joining other famed gay wedding enthusiasts Elton John and David Furnish.
And gosh, aren't they handsome couples?

 
## One guest at the 80th birthday party last week for artist Charles Billich was TV presenter Krystle McGill who had just flown in from Hollywood.
The bubbly Krystle says she has some pretty exciting news but can't reveal anything just at the moment. And to ensure Nosey Parkers like moi didn't pry details from her she brought along a minder in the form of an agent.              
 

Krystle caused quite a stir at this year's Golden Globes when actor Jon Voigt turned the tables on her and decided to interview her as seen in the clip below
 

Wedding Bells

While the world's paparazzi have gathered in Venice to catch a glimpse of Hollywood heart throb George Clooney's wedding to Amal Alamuddin, New York ex-pat Aussies are heading to Central Park today for the nuptials of ex-Sydneysider Rupert Noffs and his partner Matty Bennett.

Noffs has been living in New York for four years and has been overseeing the set-up of his burgeoning shoe empire Gideon Shoes, favoured by young Hollywood types like Justin Timberlake, and which runs as a charity to aid young Aussies to enter the fashion world. Profits are ploughed back into the Street University in Sydney's western suburbs run by his older brother Mathew. He is also the grandson of the late reverend Ted Noffs the much loved founder of the Kings Cross' Wayside Chapel.

Rupert Noffs with partner Matty Bennett & mum Mandy Noffs in the middle

Ted Noffs

Wedding gossip :
# There is much talk amongst Hollywood insiders that Clooney's eventual plan is a run for Governor of California with many remarking that wife Amal 
Alamuddin has the charisma of Jackie Kennedy. 
 # One guest at the Noffs' nuptials will be top US publicist and reality TV star Kelly Cutrone who has guided Gideon Shoes to US success. Cutrone had a famous run-in with Sydney gossip scribe Ros Reines as we detailed in 2011.
# Rupert's grandmother was the flamboyant turban-wearing Double Bay identity Lois Rodie who owned the popular Coral Lea boutique.                                                

Meow Mix :" Vagina Like a Force Field"

World War 3 has broken out between 2 of Sydney's leading ladies of the media.
 In one corner is perennial TV star Kerri-Anne Kennerley and squaring up to KAK is News Ltd columnist Annette Sharp (right)  in the Daily Telegraph.                 

In a piece titled "IT'S a terrible thing to grow old in television '  Sharp has hauled Kennerley over the coals for calling her "anti-woman' in an interview in the coming August edition of the Australian Women's Weekly.  
Sharp, who was once challenged to a bike ride around Sydney by Russell Crowe had already fired a few shots at Kerri-Anne who will be 60 this year in this article about the Logie Awards : 50-somethings used the Logies to remind TV their assets are bountiful. She implies Kennerley had to "move heaven and earth " to score a ticket to the gala TV awards now that she is "out of contract".

Kerri-Anne was dropped from her morning TV show in 2011 after decades at the Nine Network, ironically where Sharp was once in charge of publicity. In 2003 at a gala party at the Nine studios to celebrate 70 years of publishing the Women's Weekly, Kerri-Anne was seated at the table ( a guide to your status at the network)  next to Nine supremo  Kerry Packer .
 

Kerri-Anne & John at the Pol Roger Champagne dinner.

Since Nine dropped her chat show Kerri-Anne has been signed by Kerry Stoke's Seven Network and performed on Dancing With The Stars last year and it's rumoured she may front an interview programme for Seven although Sharp infers that project may not be as solid as Kennerely believes.

Whatever the outcome of this spat, Kerri-Anne is still a popular party-goer and fixture on the social circuit. She attended Baz Luhrmann's Great Gatsby premier last week and earlier was at an exclusive dinner at Chiswick Gardens for Pol Roger champagne as our snaps show. It's not like Kerri-Anne is short of money either or needs the work. 
Toy train lover hubby John Kennerely was one of the brains behind Britain's Littlewoods Pools and made a fortune. The pair have recently moved from a palatial Rose Bay home to trendy Woolahra where John has extended his train set (he has hand built a reproduction of Shrewsbury Station) into the garden.
 At Chiswick Kerri-Anne showed off a new pair of stilettos she had picked up in Rodeo Drive where the pair had just holidayed for a fortnight. This looks like a bunfight that may run and run.
                                                                  

Russell Crowe & Annette Sharp

Perhaps the last word should go to top New York publicist Kelly Cutrone who had a spat in 2011 with Sharp's Daily Telegraph colleague Ros Reines who had a few digs at Cutrone's client Rupert Noffs who is cutting a swathe through New York and the Hamptons under Kelly's well connected wing.  Reines savaged Noffs calling him a social climber and for good measure called Cutrone's Sydney launch of Noff's Gideon Shoe store "tragic" and accused Kelly of "creating mayhem" during her Sydney visit.
Cutrone responded in this Sydney Morning Herald profile of Noffs this March :
"What do I care? Oh, wow, I care if some gossip columnist in f...ing Sydney, Australia hates me? It's like a mosquito in my world." Ouch !. What fun. Just in time to brighten up these foggy Autumn days.

Winning lines : Annette Sharp : "One should not brandish a vagina like a force field and expect a torrent of fawning, hyper-ventilating flattery in return." Superb !

New York, New York-If I can can make it there...

   Daniel Garofali, Matty Bee, Joan Rivers, Rupert Noffs

Twitter & Face book-it's like having a neighbour permanently gossiping over the back fence. No-one escapes your gaze.
The Shuttle has been keeping up with former Sydneysider Rupert Noffs who it appears, has settled nicely into an apartment in Manhattan to the extent of mastering  that all important staple-chicken soup!. Helping out is ace New York publicist Kelly Cutrone whose contacts are next to none in the USA.

Glee star Kevin McHale in his Gideon Shoes NYTimes

According to our new York spy Rupert's also been doing the rounds: fashion week, top night spots, Halloween parties, meeting Beyonce and Joan Rivers, fighting with Lindsay Lohan over a taxi -as one does- but more importantly, promoting Gideon Shoes, the business set up by he and his brother Matt Noffs.

For those not yet in the know, Rupert and Matt are the grandsons of Sydney saint the late Rev Ted Noffs who started the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross in 1964.

Matt and Rupert have parlayed that charity spirit into Gideon Shoes, the fantastic and stylish shoes that are made ethically in Australia. That means no slave labour in the Third World (or here!).

Respected US writer Naomi Klein tried to tell the world decades ago that ethical manufacturing was the way to go. Local shareholder activist and journalist Stephen Mayne has been saying likewise.

Rupert and Matt started Gideon Shoes in order to fund The Street University, the kid's retreat in Western Sydney set up by Matt and wife Naomi. 11.000 kids a year are benefiting from the Street University and in 2009 they were given the seal of approval with a visit from then PM Kevin Rudd and HRH Prince William.

Now they are tackling the USA and it really is just a matter of time before the penny drops with US fashion editors-their shoes are there to stay. Already the New York Times has featured them with Glee star Kevin McHale wearing a pair. It's surely just a matter of time before Anna Wintour is spotted striding up Fifth Avenue in her Gideons.

## If top New York publicist Kelly Cutrone is on your case, it's pretty well taken for granted that success is imminent. Here is a clip from Dr Phil shown last month on Australian TV where Kelly reads the riot act to a couple of guests.

Ethical Shoes- No Sweat !

Rupert & Matt Noffs at the opening of Gideon Shoes

As long ago as 1991 the writer and 'futurist' Faith Popcorn predicted that ethical manufacturing businesses were the coming wave of the future. Now a new 'ethical' shoe store has opened in Bondi Beach -Gideon Shoes, the brainchild of brothers Matt and Rupert Noffs. They threw a small party to celebrate.

Chrissy Pisotto & Tali Jatali

The Noff brothers come from a family with a history in charitable works.

Their grandfather was the much loved Rev Ted Noffs who opened the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross in 1964. The Wayside was a drop in centre for down and outs, drug addicts , prostitutes in fact just about anyone who needed to a friendly shoulder to lean on. Ted was famous for his non-judgemental acceptance of anyone no matter what their circumstances were.

Ted had a stroke in 1987 and sunk into a coma where he lingered, finally passing away in 1995. At his funeral in the city the streets where packed with an assortment of people-Hells Angels, schoolkids, captains of industry, powerful politicians, policemen and society figures.
                                                              

musician Damian Downey

When Matt and Rupert decided to start manufacturing their own shoe designs they headed of to Asia but were horrified by the conditions of factory workers there so decided to have them made back home where they are now hand produced. Not only do they refuse to support sweat shops they have a long history of supporting the disadvantaged.

Operating out of the Ted Noffs Foundation run by Ted's son Wesley, Matt and his wife Naomi  started the Street University a retreat for Western Sydney street kids. Rupert opened a unique thrift shop-One Noffs in Randwick where donated clothes are re-styled by fashion students into entirely new garments.

Rupert Noffs, Prince William & Kevin Rudd

The seal of approval was put on the Noff's charity works last year when former PM Kevin Rudd visited them with HRH Prince William.

So forget about your overpriced N*kes run up by Vietnamese kids  (send them some money direct instead) and check out Gideon Shoes which really are fantastic and made of the finest Kangaroo and Cane Toad leather.

You can even have them tweaked to your own design. And they're mighty comfortable.

## over 2300 people have clicked onto our Gideon Shoes report with over 400 from the USA while 4 have emailed to ask if Gideon Shoes are available in the US. That we do not know although there are rumours they may be opening a shop in New York (where I'm sure they'd 'walk' out of the store).
Go to the Gideon website here for the latest news and email them direct-they're a friendly bunch ! :