Prime Minister Update

 We like to keep tabs on the Prime Ministers of the world. They're very busy. In the above snap former Oz PM Kevin Rudd interviewed- as he called him..the Comeback Kid of Malaysian politics, 93 year old PM Mahathir Mohamad.

In New York where New Zealand PM Jacinta Arden is wowing the United Nations, former Australian PM Julia Gillard interviewed her for the New York Times.

Ms Gillard gets about- she was in Berlin yesterday meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

 And last but not least, our newly minted Oz PM Scott Morrison partied this week with celebrity hairdresser Joh Bailey at the beautiful Southern Highlands' property of David & Skye Leckie.
And Malcolm Turnbull?. We'll let you know shortly as we are sure to encounter him next week somewhere around the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

When worlds collide

PR supremo Deeta Colvin (pictured on the right) hosted a get-together this week as many of Sydney's top publicists joined Colvin who once reigned over Australia's glam social scene of the 1990s. Colvin was the mastermind behind the legendary Cointreau Balls of which Whispers attended many. They were some of the best bun fights this scribe has seen around the world. Hundreds of guests would be collected in limousines to be transported to a secret location for dinner and dancing wearing the prescribed costume theme for that year. Locations were varied from dis-used warehouses to a circus marquee in the wilds of the Wanda Beach sand hills, transformed into a fun palace for the night with top chefs catering and of course, those limos on hand to take one home which of course meant, over-indulgence was the order of the night

The several language speaking Deeta is married to heavyweight lawyer Rod McGeoh one of the clever masterminds behind securing the 2000 Olympics for Sydney. When the successful bid was announced the then Olympics boss and Spanish aristocrat  Juan Antonio Samaranch visited Sydney to look over the preparations as they proceeded.
Whispers recalls being at one small reception for Samaranch at which stage, the artist Charles Billich enters the scene. Spying a Billich print in the corner of the room McGeoh inquired why it was there and was told it was to be a gift to Samaranch. Shaking his head McGeoh responded "are you seriously giving him that"?.

The colorful wife of Billich, Christa Billich (left) was this week described as a "close friend" of the Playboy boss Hugh Hefner who died this week. A late arrival at the rather tacky Playboy Mansion, which can be hired for corporate events, it was only in the last couple of years that the Billichs descended upon the LA house. Perhaps Christa sneaked past the guards to the Hef's private quarters which the public were forbidden to enter and visited the ailing Hefner who had been bedridden for the past three years.

Arrivals

 

Oh the glamour. Pictured is model Adam Williams arriving at Royal Randwick for the races on Monday. Saturday's races were cancelled because of the unseasonable heat with horses being regularly hosed down  to prevent heat stress.

And that's how hot it actually was : for Aussies to abandon the chance of a day betting on the gee gees is unheard of.
Back to Adam. The amazingly sculptured Adam, an ex-boyfriend of celebrity hairdresser Joh Bailey is a model, dancer, choreographer and event compere and he's extremely popular throughout Asia where he is a role model for 1000s of young men who, well want to look just like him. And that gleaming auto is a special edition of a BMW. Everything sparkles! Isn't life so grand at times?

Masked Man

When Whispers first encountered the amiable make-up supremo Napoleon Perdis many moons ago it was at the opening of his Parramatta salon on a Thursday afternoon. A small coterie of locals had gathered by the red carpet to watch the celebrations including 2 senior citizens who politely inquired of us whether the 2 tall elegant ladies ascending the salon stairs were "soapie stars". Alas we didn't have the heart to inform them that were actually drag queens, albeit fairly glamorous ones.

Napoleon has risen to giddy heights of stardom with salons all over the world including Beverley Hills (California!) where he is in huge demand especially by movie stars on the night of the Academy Awards but now he has turned his back on "high maintenance celebrities " according to this article.
Fortunately our home grown celebrities are still in favour as evidenced by society favourite, hair dresser Joh Bailey who wore what was acclaimed as the most superb mask of the evening created by Napoleon for the Silver Ball last week at John Symonds' Point Piper house.

A Tale of Two Cities:

Our favourite, sometimes loathed (it's really the very best & worst of the tabloids in the world) the UK Daily Mail and Mail Online has differing thoughts for each country where it appears. Thus the terrible aeroplane accident involving superstar Harrison Ford was reported somewhat differently in the UK and Australia. Perhaps they perceive us colonials are made of sterner stuff  when they described Ford's injuries as "moderate" in the UK but "serious" in Oz!

Royal Ascot, Royal Secrets

Please watch the video first as an introduction : that's a command from Her Maj, Queen of Australia (UK, Canada etc etc and so on) who is seen in our exclusive snap arriving at the pollies' Mid-Winter Ball in Canberra last week.

           It's very chilly in Sydney with a wind howling down from the snowfields but in London it's bright and sunny and that time of the year for Wimbledon, Windsor Polo and the races at Royal Ascot. Plenty of pics have been published of famous Aussies in the VIP Box at the tennis but here are our exclusive snaps of ritzy Double Bay hairdresser Joh Bailey who has taken Ascot by storm. And doesn't he look elegant? (no idea who the lady in top hat is but she looks great)
 Joh is a fine horseman himself so he has a great interest in the beasts and when he isn't tending to the locks of Sydney society matrons or visiting celebs like the Duchess of York or movie legend Jane Fonda- seen with Joh in our snap - he's appearing at gymkhanas and horse trials. At present he's moved on from the grand Belgravia mansion he was staying in and is now in Paris. Ain't life grand for some !

## The Shuttle has attended Ascot twice. Many moons ago we traveled in style in a Range Rover with a good friend Stephen Barry who worked at Buck Palace.  Amazingly, Barry's car was waved through at blocked intersections by police as they spotted him bearing down on them. They held up traffic as we sailed past. It's then we learned the car was owned by Barry's employer Prince Charles and he had borrowed it for the day. Being painted a special blue supplied by British Paints, a colour reserved for the Royals (right), it's how we discovered that all British police are trained in spotting the special coloured cars to ensure smooth passage of VIPs. Like us.
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          Below is a pic of the Windsor Polo and the Cartier Cup. It's a splendid snap and we love the lady in front. Apparently in one of our snaps is a royal impersonator and in our other snap it's a genuine Royal. We can't tell which is which, perhaps you can!

Couture Calamity

A blogging war has broken out over a Sun Herald report last week about Chinese born Sydney fashion designer Bowie Wong. The highly likable Wong has been on a fashion promotion world tour, thrilling fans with a Facebook diary penned from some of the world's ritziest hotels like Hong Kong's Peninsular and the Hotel Georges V in Paris where he is currently ensconced.
The Sun Herald reported under the title Fashion's new immortal :"Sydney's Bowie Wong has been confirmed as the first Australian-based designer to join fashion's most exclusive club: Paris haute couture. Speaking to S from Paris, Wong revealed he'll be showing his collection, Immortality, at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week in July, alongside great names such as Chanel, Dior, Valentino and Gaultier."

Alas, all is not what it seems according to fashion expert journalist Patty Huntington writing on the influential Frockwriter website : Bowie Wong is showing during Paris haute couture week -Or how to try to sneak into fashion's most exclusive club.

 Commenting on Wong's invitation (pictured right) Huntington says :

"Just to clarify - lest anyone assume there may be some direct connection here to the world's biggest luxury brand, whose name happens to be highlighted in bold on the invitation - the Louis Vuitton Building is indeed the location of the LV flagship. But it's a large building that is also home to a variety of other totally unrelated companies, including at least one real estate agency. Level 5, coincidentally the location of Wong's show, is home to a company called Servcorp, that specialises in short-term and virtual office rentals."

Huntington has also contacted the prestige  Chambre Syndicale who zealously guard the term 'haute coutoure' much like the word Champagne is rigorously regulated by the French. The head of communications, Jimmy Pihet, has responded : "We never heard about this designer before your email and he didn't visit us at the Fédération".

Zut alors ! Where will it all end ?. The Shuttle hasn't known such excitement in the giddy world of dressmaking since a snooty social writer in London buttonholed us at a Harper's Bazaar party three years ago and said : "it really annoys me the way you Australians call gowns, 'frocks' "

Read the full story at Frockwriter.com  and watch a video of Bowie's fashion show (presumably several floors above Louis Vuitton) on Agence France-Press. And is that top UK fashion journalist Suzy Menkes taking notes ?

 

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Our exclusive pic ( left) shows Double Bay society hairdresser Joh Bailey with a new customer - Oscar winning legendary actress Jane Fonda who checked into town for a flying visit yesterday to open a Fitness First exercise centre in the city at the ungodly hour of 6am.   Fonda did the round of Morning TV shows before fleeing the country, missing the excitement at the Gold Coast's Broadbeach Fitness First the same day where a brawl broke out with one unfortunate participant ending up in hospital with an almost severed hand.

 

Chris O'Brien Lifehouse

Chris O'Brien was a doctor and cancer specialist and an inspiration to thousands. Sadly he was taken from us at the age of 57 four years ago during his own battle with an aggressive brain tumour.  In his place has sprung up - the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse with a gleaming new building opposite the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital dedicated to treating cancer sufferers.
 Catalina, one of Sydney's most successive and lasting harbour side restaurants in Rose Bay threw a bash to raise much needed funds.

Fun On the Runway

David Jones launched their Spring Summer 2013 collection with new Fashion Ambassador Jessica Gomes. With a set of rich white walls, poolside bars, bougainvillea and high shine surfaces DJ's On Seven guests set out on a jet set adventure. Think Slim Aarons, Cap D'Antibes and the Italian Rivera where high fashion meets the clearest of blue skies followed by hot, steamy and decadent Summer nights. Well that's what the press release says. And good luck to them. Here are a few snaps from the evening with guests and models and a couple of bonus backstage snaps of Jessica with Zac & Jordon Stenmark.

Anna Plunkett , Luke Sales, Elizabeth Debicki ,Megan Gale,Gary Bigeni,Suzanne Pritchard, Joh Bailey

Glenn &Sara McGrath, Charlotte Dawson ,Alex Perry, Erika Heynatz, Andrew Kingston,Gai & Robbie Waterhouse

    (photographs : Getty)

Putting the Gossips Under The Spotlight

Annette Sharp goes into battle with Ros Reines

It was an opportunity not to be missed : the chance to see the Australian reigning queens of gossip in action at the Secret Woman's Business lunch.
Veteran of British and Australian publications Ros Reines who writes for the Sunday Telegraph, and Annette Sharp, former TV network publicist who edits the Sydney Confidential pages in the Daily Telegraph were the guests at the ritzy Quay Restaurant.

Around a hundred ladies gathered to watch the three being questioned by Woman's Weekly editor-in-chief Deborah Thomas followed by questions from the audience.

actresses Paula Duncan & Judy Nunn

One particular table was notable for containing a number of ladies who had been subjects of the trio's tales including top publicists Brooke Tabberer and Deeta Colvin and society figures  Glen Marie Frost, Skye Leckie and Victoria Morish. Safety in numbers ?.

Ros Reines told us of some her legendary feuds that so far have included tiffs with society hairdresser Joh Bailey, Australia's Got Talent judge Kyle Sandilands and top New York publicist Kelly Cutrone and one that hit the front pages-a stand-up dressing down from James Packer at a Nine network season launch at Garden Island. The Shuttle was there on the night and it was the talk of the town : James Packer attacked Reines for writing about his personal life- an odd decision from a man whose wealth was built on publications exposing the lives other people and one that completely over shadowed the reason for the night.

Annette Sharp gave us all the details of the bicycle ride she was challenged to by Russell Crowe after she had written a story about his burgeoning weight. The subsequent story and film of the two cycling through Sydney streets went viral around the world. One of her top scoops was the news that James Packer had joined the Church of Scientology.

The occasion was voted a success by the largely civilian audience who all hoped it may become an annual event. It was the brainchild of actress Paula Duncan and in aid of the for the Royal Hospital For Women Foundation.

our favourite Knight of the Realm

He hasn't been seen out socially of late but Sir Laurence Whistler Street wasn't going to miss the coming home party for Australia's Miss Universe entrant, Rachel Finch last night at the Double Bay restaurant Pink Salt.

Sir Laurence-one of nature's true gentleman and with one of the finest legal minds in the country is now 83-slightly shaky on his pins but still sporting those sensible monogrammed Gucci slippers and mediating complicated matters of the law. Regarded as one of the most gifted lawyers and renowned for his fair decisions, Sir Laurence is still much sought after to settle complex disputes.

A former Chief Justice-as was his dad Sir Kenneth Street and as was his granddad, Sir Phillip Whistler Street. Mum Jessie Street was one of the country's foremost feminists and human rights campaigners who once had her passport rescinded whilst overseas during the 'reds under the beds' hysteria of the 1950's when she was accused by ASIO as a "secret Commie "

Word is that Rachel is fielding offers from every TV network and after hearing her speech, we reckon she is one clever gal who will go far.

                                     Joh Bailey & Anne O'Neil

                  
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Meanwhile at the same time, same location but a few doors apart, society snipper Joh Bailey showed off his spanking brand new salon with a few up-market guests like Lady Sonia McMahon and TV daytime queen Kerri Anne Kennerley with hubby John Kennerley , the man who started Littlewoods Football Pools in the UK, sold out for a fortune and moved to Sydney to concentrate on his hobby of collecting toy soldiers.

On hand was the decorator of Joh's swanky salon Anne O'Neil wife of quarry king turned developer Dennis O'Neil and a member of the famous British Tennet family.