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The statistics don't lie as internet surfers flock to Careless Whispers in their thousands. Is it because of our superb and unique take on society? Or are they simply bored. We'll never know but who cares as long as they keep visiting this distant corner of the internet.

Left is a screenshot of Blogger's 'stats' for this website and interestingly topics with a 'conservative' bent were all almost equally popular. Of the 'views ' of out little tale on Republican candidate Donald Trump, nearly three quarters came from the USA. Have we influenced the American election?.

Donald Trump, Miss Universe & Whispers

When Australia's Jennifer Hawkins won the Miss Universe title in 2004 she was considered the most successful winner of all time in the contest.
When Hawkins returned to Australia she embarked on a two week tour of Australia organized by top model agent Grant Dwyer who discovered Hawkins and numerous other beautiful models who are household names today.

Whispers accompanied Jennifer on the Aussie tour along with half of a dozen of Donald Trump's Miss Universe workers. The tour was a promotional sensation. The Trump crew were astounded at the continued front page and television publicity including the above sensational snap taken by Whispers in Sydney at a fashion show as her skirt slipped off while she left the stage.
The picture swept around the world

But behind the scenes chat with the Trump workers was illuminating . They simply abhorred the man, hated working for him, rarely got paid on time and classed him right back then as a shocking misogynist and a ruthless bully. America, you have been warned

Mega Beauty

It's been responsible for launching the careers of some of Australia's top models.


Now in it's 10th year Australia's Next Top Model has some glamorous judges lined up for the 2015 season. Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio and Tyra Banks will strut the boards next year. Watch out Alex Perry!
left : Jennifer Hawkins & Tyra Banks

right : Alex Perry

Myer Spring Summer fashion

It would be remiss of us having spruiked the David Jones' 2014 Spring Summer fashion parade, to not present their direct competitor Myer. And so here is the official video of the event. Keep an eye out for Jen Hawkins and see if you can spot the lump (baby!)

Turning 30

The most popular Miss Universe of all time Jennifer Hawkins celebrated her 30th birthday with a masquerade party at a restaurant in The Rocks.
Like any event Jennifer attends, it's all about the money with an exclusive deal with a glossy magazine to publish photos of the event.

On the other side of town at the uber smart Beach Haus nightclub in Kings Cross, Fiji Water boss Aaron Zerefos who races Porches cars in his spare time also turned 30 with a fab party for 100 close friends.
Aaron always seems to be surrounded by pretty girls. The last time we saw Aaron Zerefos he was deep in discussion with Khloe Kardashian at Ottos in Woolloomooloo. How does he do it ?.

Some months ago the Shuttle went to Beach Haus for a small party thrown by superstar Leo Di Caprio.
We were given instructions not to approach Leo at his table which is pretty difficult in Beach Haus given it's size but by the look of his burly minders, wasn't at all advisable

More Fashion & Klunk Klink

As sure as night follows day-the Myer Spring /Summer parades follow David Jones fashion gala a week later. And so it came to pass at the Horden Pavilion (soo much easier to park !) and of course, the most successful Miss Universe ever, Jennifer Hawkins strutted the catwalk to show off the wares. Along with some others of course including Kris Smith and football superstar Harry Kewell.

Jennifer Hawkins & Kris Smith in the 2013 Myer parade, Harry Kewell and errr Kris & Jennifer from 2009- not a lot changes !

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The row over the bizarre election front pages on the Daily Telegraph has spread to the UK with the BBC picking up the controversy. Yesterday's photo-montage depicted Anthony Albanese, Craig Thomson and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as characters out of the 60's TV show Hogan's Heroes.

After Rudd complained Opposition Communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said that the PM sounded like a "jilted lover" but as some unkind wag commented-"does that mean Tony Abbott is now Rupert Murdoch's new mistress?"
Now UK Labor MP and staunch Murdoch opponent Tom Watson who was involved in the recent select committee investigating Murdoch has just tweeted he is "mentally packing his bags" to visit Australia soon to talk about Murdoch's activities in the UK. 
We think the last word should go to Tim Dunlop writing on the ABC's The Drum :
"What the editors and proprietor no doubt saw as some sort of brave, daring play by a vital and vibrant news organisation putting itself in the middle of the biggest political story of the year, looked more like some sad grandpa with a comb-over at a nightclub trying to impress the ladies with his hip moves from another era."

Nice Set of Wheels

New York got Daniel Craig when the new Range Rover Evoque was launched earlier this year but we got someone far prettier and a tad taller Jennifer Hawkins who did the honours at a rather swell party at the Overseas Terminal.

On the wharf  with a view directly opposite the Opera House it was the perfect evening. Other 'ambassadors' were on hand-George Gregan and Heidi Middleton who joined 250 guests including Skye Leckie, Tom Waterhouse, Magdalena Roze,  Peter Overton & Jessica Rowe for a cocktail party. You really have to sit in one these cars to appreciate them- pure heaven!

Peter Overton, Jessica Rowe, Heidi Middleton & pal, David Novak-Piper, Neale Whittaker, Magdalene Roze, Darren Robertson

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Here is promotional pic from the new film Diana based upon the last turbulent years of the late Princess Diana.  

Naomi Watts plays Diana and bears an uncanny resemblance to the fated royal as the Shuttle's own snap shows taken on Diana's last visit to Australia in 1996.

Fashion Follies

Meet Felix Reiss who just last November was working at the Shuttle's supermarket of choice, Coles in Macleay Street Kings Cross. This month he has been treading the boards on the European catwalks and last week he opened and closed the Dior Homme show in Paris.The excellent rag trade website frockwriter brings us this and other hot-tips about the fashion world. It's a good read.
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One Australian fashion personality has been sounding off this week .
 Nicholas Huxley (left) is head of the Fashion & Design Studio at TAFE and he's had a hand in crafting the careers of the majority of our fashion designers and some of the the biggest names in the industry.
Huxley has ticked off both David Jones & Myer department stores for leaving him off their guest lists for years at the yearly fashion parades and soirees. As Nicholas puts it :
             " Today I appeared in the Sunday Telegraph as one of the 10 Secret Style Makers of Australia! (Thanks Elle again)! I have been nominated 5 years out of the 6 years of the Fashion Laureate Award for service to the Fashion industry.I have been nominated for the Fashion Group International Lifetime Achievement award. I have won two FIA(Fashion Industries of Australia ) awards. I have been nominated for an AFI (Australian Film Industries) Award for costuming a motion picture. In 2008(Sydney Magazine) I was chosen along with 4 other Fashion Industry people to be one of the 100 most influential people in Sydney."
 Huxley has a good point. The number of vacuous b-list slebs rolled out at these parades is as legendary as the snooty clip-board  (Ipads now) wielding "PR" consultants who think they are terribly important.

the judges : Didier Cohen * Charlotte Dawson * Alex Perry * Jennifer Hawkins

 Now he's also laid into the new season of the reality TV show Australia's Next Top Model : 
" OMG!!!! Australia's Next Top Model!!! Sorry..but what can I say?? WOW!! I'm sorry but I'm finding it very difficult to look at the judges..There is so much of everything going on...BOTOX GALORE..SO MUCH TALK BUT NO MOVEMENT IN THE FACE / WHITENED TEETH TO THE POINT OF WHO NEEDS THE LIGHTS ON..JUST FLASH THE TEETH! AND A MALE MODEL///WHO'S A BIT LIKE A LOG OF WOOD!
Ouch ! You tell 'em Nick !! 

Percy Savage, Melbourne Cup & Green Moon

And so the race that stops a nation (and it does) is over for another year. Celebs are winging their way back to Sydney to stand in front of even more promotional 'PR' boards, different to the ones they stood in front of last week.

Jennifer Hawkins

Delta Goodren

 PR boards are a new and unwelcome addition to the racing season in Melbourne, being introduced in 2008 where a (very large) extra fee is now paid for their use in your marquee. Publicists are convinced they work in promoting a product.

Rose Byrne

It was around 60 years ago that the Red Carpet was basically invented by Australian born publicist Percy Savage who convinced a perfume manufacturer in Rome to roll out a red carpet ala Hollywood and invite movie stars like Elizabeth Taylor to the launch. They did and it was a roaring success and Savage- who Yves St Laurent named eau Sauvage after, went on to become one of Britain and France's most popular and powerful publicists.

Percy Savage

 The Shuttle took afternoon tea with Savage in Chelsea in 2002, and asked him what he thought of the direction in which his undoubted brilliant invention : the celebrity launch in Haute Couture- had gone :"I launched a nightmare" he replied.
 By the weekend we will be well and truly sick of hearing about the Melbourne Cup as thousands of words will be filed by social hacks. Here are a few snaps sent to us by our Cup mole disguised as a well worn fascinator.
We ditched the one of James Packer and Shane Warne : far too obvious and no doubt the Sydney media currently in the grip of Packer's PR war and uncontested bid to build a new multi-million dollar casino at Bangaroo will slavishly do his bidding.

Showing Skin at Myer

 JENNIFER HAWKINS swept through the guests while Danni Minogue's former beau Kris Smith chatted to London Olympics Gold Medal winner Alicia Coutts, before both shed their clothes and took to the catwalk at last night's Myer Spring Summer fashion show at the Horden Pavilion.

                                                    

Dark Side of The Beauty Business

Grant Dwyer with Jennifer Hawkins (centre)

GRANT DWYER is well spoken young entrepreneur who often does business the old gentlemanly way-on a handshake.

Running a medium sized model and promotional agency from chic premises in Double Bay, he has had countless successes. Dwyer has a unique eye for spotting talent amongst the dozens of young aspiring models who walk through his door.

Jamie Foxx

In just the past few years, many of the careers launched by Dwyer have become household  names.

Model Ashlea Talbot,  teenage water skiing champion Lauryn Eagle, Celebrity Apprentice winner Jesinta Campbell, TV presenter Rachael Finch and the most successful Miss Universe ever Jennifer Hawkins.

Donald Trump's Miss Universe contest was languishing in the doldrums until Dwyer spotted the young Newcastle demonstration model Hawkins and persuaded her to enter the quest. A panel of judges that included fashion photographers, journalists and the Oscar winning actor Jamie Foxx all concurred with Dwyer's choice and sent Hawkins off to the 2004 quest in Ecuador.    

Lauryn Eagle

When Hawkins took the Miss Universe crown the contest became a major media event that astonished even the jaded Trump who couldn't believe his luck. Dwyer organised a home coming tour that would have been the envy of any chart topping pop group. Hundreds of fans rushed Hawkins. TV and newspaper cameras followed her every move over a two week tour of Australia culminating in the famous fashion slip in Sydney that catapulted Hawkins back onto front pages and TV screens around the world .

Rachael Finch

Now a legal stoush has broken out over one of Dwyer's top discoveries Rachael Finch

On Wednesday in the Downing Street Local Court Finch's current manager Deborah Miller was ordered to pay Dwyer $9406 after  Dwyer said he brokered a deal for Finch to appear as a celebrity ambassador for the McHappy Day fundraiser, which raises money for Ronald McDonald House Charities, after learning the beauty once worked for the fast food chain.

The rewards enjoyed by Dwyer's discoveries can be considerable. Even though Finch only came fourth in the 2009 Miss Universe contest in the Bahamas, Dwyer was already negotiating deals before she had returned to Sydney including a $45,000 make-up deal and a Disney promotion for $36,000.

As for Jennifer Hawkins, as the face of Myer department stores and with her own range of swimwear, Hawkins is estimated to earn up to $5M a year.

Your Melbourne Cup Form Guide

It's come a long way since Jean Shrimpton-The Shrimp- shocked and outraged and positively delighted the crowds at Flemington in Melbourne in 1965 and established once and for all time, The Mini Skirt was here to stay ( it looks so tame today).

Today as a few hundred thousand racegoers descend upon Flemington racecourse for the Melbourne Cup we've provided a handy form guide for the fillies and their jockeys to look out for in the Birdcage, Member's Stand and the private marquees (hover around the Emirates for the real action)

Starting with the richest :
Billionaire James Packer and wife Erica (be nice to them and they may invite you back to James' private bar at the Crown Casino for their karaoke night) and Richard Branson.
Celeb receiving the most for showing up (about 200 grand) Sarah Jessica Parker.

Lovebirds Shane Warne and Elizabeth Hurley. Burlesque queen Dita Von Teese, Kim Kardashian  Rebecca Judd and the real star of the day who should not missed (easy to do as she's so tiny) Joan Collins. And there is bound to be a few surprises like Leo DiCaprio and Tobey McGuire

Mumm champagne, Moet & Chandon, Bollinger will all be hosting marquees and in "Millionaire's Row", the Emirates marquee is styled on St Petersburg's Catherine Palace with the Zhivago restaurant and powder room for ladies, and a Jo Malone perfume stylist demonstrating how to "accessorise" with 23 fragrances.

 Myer's have their "Butterfly House" with Jennifer Hawkins complete with  fluttering laser-cut butterflies, as the PR sheet wittily says..'to show off the social butterflies". 

Garden guru Jamie Durie has flown back from the USA where he hosts a cable TV show to create a "vertical garden installation" in a three-level marquee and VIPs will  be chauffeured to and from the track in luxury Lexus vehicles.

Irreverent / Irrelevant Facts : The first Melbourne Cup in 1861 was filmed and this was the very first  movie to be screened commercially.

The first prize in 1861 for owners of the winning horse-a nice watch while today's prize purse will be $3.5M. The Shuttle's favourite horse name of all time : Whykickamoocow.

Summer Fashion From Myer

As day follows night, the Myer fashion parade occurs a week after the David Jones parade.

To the Carriageworks in downtown Waterloo as Jennifer Hawkins and British import  Kris Smith ( Mr Danni Minogue ) launched the Myer Spring Summer 2011/2012 Collections last night with lots of  fresh, bright and bold colours

Brands new to Myer, Jayson Brunsdon, Fleur Wood and sass & bide (lured away from DJs with a multi-million dollar payout) plus new season collections by Myer’s leading stable of Australian designers and our favourite US import, Charlie Brown.

This summer campaign has drawn inspiration from the Australian landscape, with the show’s set design embracing the expansive and dramatic Pinnacles Desert in Western Australia. Models made their way down a 30-metre catwalk created to form a spectacular panoramic desert scene. 

Check out our exclusive back stage video below                                                              

Jennifer Hawkins

dapper Kris Smith

                                                             

Tragic Day for Top Models

Ashley & Jessica Hart

On Thursday the Shuttle brought you the story of how gaped tooth model Jessica Hart will be replacing Jennifer Hawkins at the G'Day Australia USA promotions in LA. Jessica is in high demand in the USA and is well on the way to becoming as popular as new mum Miranda Kerr.

Today Jessica and her equally beautiful sister Ashley are recovering from a distressing scene they witnessed at an up-market Portsea Polo event in Melbourne on Saturday.

As invited guests of the polo committee the 2 models toured the various sponsor's marquees throughout the day and were later resting by the field when one of the polo horses tumbled right in front of the pair. Before they could comprehend what was happening, a quick tent was erected around the unfortunate horse and Jessica and Ashley were startled by the sound of a gunshot as the animal was put out of it's misery.

Both girls were highly distressed as the truth dawned. Last night they cancelled an appearance at a lavish dinner planed to celebrate the day's matches and instead, dined at a local Portsea pub with a few close friends.

More Beauties Headed to LA

Richard Branson &Pia Miller

Following our story yesterday about how Jennifer Hawkins has been replaced by Jessica Hart for the Myer fashion carnival in the G'Day Australia USA promotion in Los Angeles, news comes that two more leggy beauties are joining Jessica on the catwalk.

Hawkins & Jake Wall

Laura Dundovic who is a Myer ambassador and Pia Miller will strut the boards to showcase Aussie fashions in the USA in February.

As for Jennifer, she was spotted by our operative today holidaying in Byron Bay with new fiancee Jake Wall. The loss of the income from her canned USA trip isn't having too much effect on the pair's finances. Jennifer is sporting a $200,000 engagement ring whipped up by the Shuttle's favourite jeweller, Nic Cerrone.

And she should feel flattered that it has taken three models to replace her!

Australia the "Dumb Blonde"-what about Jennifer Hawkins ?

A mis-leading title ? Of course it is- but a day after we attended the launch of one of our favourite (and cleverest) blonde's new business ventures, British marketing expert Simon Anholt has labelled Australia as the "dumb blonde of the world" in a report in Melbourne's Age newspaper

When Jennifer Hawkins won the Miss Universe title in 2004 few could have predicted the extraordinary success that would follow her win except perhaps Miss Universe boss Donald Trump who has said that Jennifer is one of his all time favourite contestants. He keeps in regular contact with her.



Jen listens for the cash register's ring



Her triumphant return to Australia that year was unlike any tour taken by a celebrity.

Excited crowds greeted her tour of the country over  2 weeks of appearances in major cities.

A rock band would have been envious of the hysteria that followed Jennifer wherever she went.

A couple of mis-haps along the way like a wardrobe malfunction (snapped exclusively by the Shuttle) just increased the mania.

On Wednesday at the Gazebo Wine Bar in Kings Cross, Jennifer launched her own range of teetering stilettos to add to her business empire that has said to have earned her so far, in excess of $20M.

 Here are a few snaps from the night of Jen and her models wearing some of her new range of shoes-and that dress mishap picture that went whirling around the world in 2004.

Jerry Hall jets in

an ecstatic Guy Sebastian

Myers held their Summer Spring fashion show tonight in the Carriage Works in downtown Redfern. The contrast between the David Jones fashion parades this Tuesday could not have been more stark. No expense was spared with about 4 times the guests, huge platters of delicious Sydney oysters, champers etc.

And a special guest-Jerry Hall who flew in this morning sans her reputed boyfriend chauffeur. Jerry tells me she is on her way to Perth for 3 weeks rehearsals before opening in The Graduate. Her daughter Georgia May Jagger joins her tomorrow and they expect to be in Oz for 3 months. "Lots of things lined up" says Jerry, "adverts, promotions and so on". At 54, she looks sensational. She joined Leah Woods, Ron Wood's daughter for pre-show cocktails.Singer Leah is living in Sydney for the foreseeable future.

Natrasha Belling & Jackie Frank

Leah Woods & Jerry Hall

footballer Kris Smith models

the magnificent Maggie Tabberer

Jennifer Hawkins and friends

pontificating on fashion

Leona Edmiston

designer Jayson Brunsdon

Jessica Hart