Wintour Blues

She's the Queen of the fashion world but many are criticizing Anna Wintour and US Vogue

magazine for proclaiming that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were the Best Dressed at Wintour's increasingly down-market annual Met Gala ball in New York.
Says Vogue: "It’s not the first time that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have coordinated their style. You might say it’s an art form that the pair has honed in their downtime, often subtly matching their off-duty looks with his-and-hers monochromatic ensembles, but little can compare to the stunning fashion moment they orchestrated on the Met Gala red carpet tonight" 
Oh yeah? Kim managed to make this ultra expensive Balmain dress look, well cheap. As for Kanye's Fear of God outfit- those tragic slashed jeans were passe even when they were in fashion.

Purveyor of uber smart Polish Vodka Vitek Czernuszyn who doubles up as the husband of Australian style queen and Bauer publishing maven, Australian Women's Weekly editor Deborah Thomas says : "Kim and Kanye declared best dressed at the Met Ball - REALLY?

In a desperate panic at the loss of circulation and relevance amongst the under 30 year olds, American Vogue has resorted to courting the Kardashian's for their enormous following amongst the vacuous young. I guess you can't blame them for doing what they think is necessary to save the venerated 125 year old title- though the compromise in their integrity is considerable".
 Harsher words come from former Australian fashion expert and now top selling author Maggie Alderson who said of Kim'n'Kayne "American Vogue has just lost all its credibility, as far as I'm concerned. How is this well dressed anywhere? Let alone the Met Ball. Tragic - and craven." Ouch.
As for Sarah Jessica Parker's interesting white outfit Maggie simply said : "lost for words".

The Real Thing

The Gold Coast is nothing if not colourful and glitzy in a sort of refreshing way that Sydney and Melbourne could take more notice of.
The Magic Millions is now one of the world's great race meetings with prizes that dwarf others. Obviously an injection of cash from (always complaining) retailer Gerry Harvey and his wife Katie is welcome. Yet the often clueless social writers who snatch their freebie flights and Casino hotel rooms in Queensland and breathlessly report on the z-list celebs that attend always forget whose idea it always was and who put the whole idea of a race meet on the Gold Coast into motion, against the odds, and was successful

Angela Belle McSweeney

And credit for that goes to Sydney socialite Angela Belle McSweeney who comes from a well known racing family. It was Angela's brainchild and it was her efforts that eventually saw Queensland's recalcitrant racing officials finally concede that her idea had merit.
The Magic Millions should always pay homage to one of Australia's more interesting public relation's experts and entrepreneurs.
Here are a couple of snaps from this year's event.
 Princess Anne's commoner daughter Zara Phillips (hey guys- she is not Royalty which was  the whole idea of her parents not giving her a title) and one of Sydney's glam couples, fine vodka purveyor Vitek Czernuszyn (right)and his always glamorous wife Deborah Thomas who is head honcho at Bauer Media and doubles up as a Double Bay councilor in her spare time, with a couple of good looking chaps.

Bali Hai

Maurice Terzini

While the reality TV program What Really Happens In Bali may be horrifying the viewing public as the place appears swamped by yahoos from this fair isle, it hasn't deterred successful restaurateur Maurice Terzini who is planning to launch the Icebergs Beach Club at the ritzy Sea Sentoza Resort at Echo Beach,

Terzeni's Bondi Icebergs nestled above the local swimming pool and with a world beating view of the beach is a roaring success with locals and visiting celebrities flocking to the bar and restaurant. Terzini says he is drawing design inspiration from the iconic photography of Slim Aarrons (right)  from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s; glamour and "enjoyment in an idyllic setting with an experience that is both accessible as well as inspirational". And the architects Claudio Lazzarini and Carl Pickering from Rome's Lazzarini Pickering Architetti who designed the Icebergs will produce the Beach Club. Sounds like a winner !
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There is of course a ritzy side to Bali with numerous ex-pats who have built luxury villas and who avoid the nightmares of Kuta.
Many years ago Sydney boutique Vodka purveyor Vitek Czernuszyn lived in Bali and published a local society rag before heading to Australia.
Czernuszyn is married to Woman's Weekly Editor in Chief Deborah Thomas (left) who also doubles as a councilor on the Double Bay Council. The Shuttle's spy disguised as an aspidistra in the council chambers hears that Thomas is a shoe-in to become Mayor Of Woolahra next year .  Vitek should make an excellent First Lady.

Deborah's Big Win

Deborah with Malcolm Turnbull MP

No doubt the very glamorous former model Deborah Thomas was celebrating on Sunday with her husband Vitek Czernuszyn, purveyor of fine vodka.

Deborah commands a number of weighty titles : director of media, public affairs and brand development at ACP magazines but she now also ascends to Woollahra Council after a convincing win in the local elections on Saturday.

Thomas has edited and published the Australian Women's Weekly for a number of years ( still the countries top selling magazine and at times, one of the world's) and she'll now be sitting in on council meetings making decisions on all sorts of mind boggling matters like local roads, development applications and so on. 
 

Only just last week it was announced that the ACP magazine publishing empire has been snapped up by the German media giant Bauer for a tidy $500M, the largest privately owned publishing group in Europe. It brings the legendary magazine empire built by the Packer family back into private hands.
left : Vitek Czernuszyn (far right) with pals Mark & Victoria Coppleson