Simon Says

Nicholas Huxley, Simon Lock & Patty Huntington

When fashion entrepreneur Simon Lock launched the first Mercedes Benz Australian Fashion Week twenty years ago there were only 4 rival events around the world : New York, Paris, Milan and London. Now there are over 200 similar events and they are all backed by Mercedes due to Lock convincing the German auto firm that fashion was the ideal way to bridge a gap with a new generation who associated the cars with a fuddy duddy older generation.

Simon has now put pen to paper to produce In The front Row, his story in getting the hugely successful fashion event off the ground. Launching his book last night at the Design Residency in Darlinghurst Lock paid tribute to some of those who were there at the beginning and stuck with him : amongst several : designer Peter Morrisey who quipped "that was the last time I owned my only label", Akira Isogawa - a friend begged Simon to take on newbie Akira whose first show was so successful that the boss of uber smart London boutique Browns elbowed her way down the catwalk afterwards to snap up the entire collection, Carla Zampatti and the famous seating manager John Flower who wielded ultimate power with seating plans before his recent retirement and hence- the title of the book.

Left to Right : Bianca Spender, Carla Zampatti, David Bush Mary Shackman, Akira Isogawa, Kirstie Clements

 Attending the first few years of Sydney's fashion week were unforgettable experiences with the cream of European & American fashion writers, models and identities jetting into town. Things have quietened down over the last few years but they have just about everywhere as the industry changes with the digital age.
In The front Row will be a must read for anyone hoping for a fashion career.

A 15 year old Murdoch and the groom who eloped with his best man in Venice

 Pictured left: James Murdoch, Primrose Dunlop and News Ltd snapper Frank Viola.

Calling in for a brief visit to artist Mary Shackman's exhibition at the Charles Hewitt Gallery was our favourite Egyptian royal, Prince Lorenzo Montesini Giustiniani with the new man in his life, a large handsome fellow Egyptian by the name of Remy.

Prince Lorenzo (right) and Remy

An Alexandrian by birth, Lorenzo heads the Australian Friends of the Alexandrian Library in Egypt. His stylish autobiography MyLife and Other Misdemeanours was released by Penguin in 1999 in which Lorenzo recalled with enormous gusto his early years in Egypt,his arrival in Australia, his military service in Vietnam, and his tumultuous relationship with his late partner Robert Straub along with the events surrounding a certain wedding in Venice.

left at the altar-Pitty Pat

It's 20 years since most of Sydney and Melbourne society travelled en mass to Venice for the nuptials of Lorenzo and Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop, the daughter of establishment figures Sir Ian and Lady Potter. He had the title-she had the cash. A future inheritance estimated then at nearly $200M. Was it love?. Although the 2 had previously met when they both lived in Melbourne it seems love blossomed after a chance meeting at a soiree at Lady Mary Fairfax's home in Darling Point, Fairwater which doubles as the Monaco consulate. Lady Mary has hosted many parties for visiting royalty like Prince Albert of Monaco and the British royals.
Lorenzo was a guest and Pitty Pat was covering the party for the social column she wrote for the Sunday Telegraph. Her newspaper work experience junior for the night was a 15 year old James Murdoch , son of Rupert and now boss of the UK News Ltd corporation. While the 2 lovers eyed each other off, young James promptly fell asleep on a sofa on his first night on the job

The wedding was never to be. Lorenzo got cold feet the night before the ceremony and fled for parts unknown with his lover Robert Straub, his best man. The bride was left waiting at the altar. Montesini and Straub had met when they were army conscripts in the Vietnam War and had been together ever since working as Qantas trolley dolly's. Straub passed away about 14 years ago from cancer.

Mary Shackman & Elizabeth Fox

Prince Lorenzo tells tSS plans are well underway after initial teething problems, with a new Hollywood production company to immortalise the events on film. With a script written by award winning writer Louis Nowra who wrote K-19: The Widowmaker, Map of the Human Heart and the much celebrated Cosi, and director Stephan Elliot of Priscilla Queen of The Desert fame.

Lorenzo now travels between Sydney and Alexandria to check on his pet project the Bibliotheca Alexandrina that stands on the spot reputedly where the once famous Royal Library of Alexandria stood during the Ptolemaic dynasty, built in honour of Alexander the Great.

Also at Mary's exhibition was Elizabeth Fox, once labelled as Australia's Secret Weapon during the bid for the 2000 Olympics when she managed to secure the 3 crucial winning bid votes from South America including that of her home country Columbia. She never told us how it was done.