Designing Woman

"When in doubt, redesign the client ".
That's a quote from the excellent architectural writer on the Sydney Morning Herald, Elizabeth Farrelly one of our most ardent critics of the property developers who have blighted the Sydney skyline with ghastly concrete and glass monstrosities.

The term came to mind at last night's party at Charles Billich's Art Bar for Bondi fashion designer Tahli Jatali.



another Billich art work !

The Shuttle was there by mistake.

Collared earlier in the day by Art Bar manager Karim Gharbi ( who calls his PR company KGB), your hard of hearing scribe thought he was inviting us to a bash for Tupou .

That's His Royal Majesty George Tapou V, the King of Tonga. He is, after all a guest in town of  Charles and wife Christa Billich. Charles is painting his official portrait.

We knew we were at the wrong party when a reams of 20 somethings piled in.



Dr Wayne Young & friend

Amongst them was the Harley Street trained Dr Wayne M.Young , who runs the FreshFace Clinic.

 Dr Young as a precocious 6 year old child in South Africa often informed his mother when she frowned at him, that her  wrinkles could become permanent if the wind changed. He knew he had found his calling.

He scolded the Shuttle when we told him his fame as a plastic surgeon of note had spread far and wide. Channelling Dame Edna Everage and her 'face furniture' gorgeous sets of spectacles, he sniffed -" I am a face designer !".

We noticed another guest when she sailed by tailed by a film crew.



J'anus McG

 Her name, rather intrigingly was J'anus McG. J'anus was wearing a snappy short dress and at the back there appeared to be a sales tag hanging from the zipper. Upon informing her young J'anus responded :

" Oh I'm a celebrity and designers lend me clothes to wear at parties. I have to show the designer's tag so people know who made the creation".

The clever name of the designer of this particular frock appeared to be: $299 (including sales tax). Upon further enquiry J'anus tells us her current show biz career involves  "holding up signs on Deal or No Deal".

Justin Melvey

There was one 'major' celebrity-the very handsome Justin Melvey, ex Home & Away and Bold & The Beautiful star. Justin is staring on a new cable TV series on Foxtel titled The Phone and says he has a Hollywood film role lined up in 2011 opposite Gwyneth Paltrow.



the KGB prunes

 Finally it was time for Tahli Jatali to arrive. She had been circling the block for 30 minutes with a team of models in 3 Lamborghini's. Tahli wanted to ensure there was a maximum of guests to greet her spectacular arrival.

Manager Karim of the KGB helpfully herded a few dozen guests towards the front door to give the appearance of a crowd and then attacked the over-hanging foliage of a tree outside in order that the Lamborghini's could easily slip beneath.

Tahli alighted, rather clumsily from the low slung vehicles and lined up with a few models in bikinis all wearing very dark sunglasses.

We took our leave as 2 feverish paparazzi repeatedly yelled "looking this way please'..all eyes this way !"

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On the subject of  'face designing' we would like to present a series of snaps from our sister site,

 New York Social Diary run be the excellent veteran journalist David Patrick Columbia.

What strikes us about these gorgeous ladies who lunch in the Big Apple is the marvellous freshness of face and their natural beauty, No need for face designing with this lot !

Animal Tips For Oprah Winfrey

One guest at last Friday night's Mother Of All Balls at Royal Randwick Racecourse was the star of Bondi Vet, Dr Chris Brown.

6'3" Brown who has movie star looks would neither confirm or deny when the Shuttle asked him if he would be appearing on Oprah Winfrey's Sydney Opera House show in December when she broadcasts to the world with 3000 guests watching on.

"You hear all sorts of stories" said Brown. " Put it this way-my agent has asked me to keep certain dates free in December that co-incide with Oprah's visit !"

The Mother of All Balls

Now in it's 8th year, actress Rachel Ward's Mother of All Balls went of without a hitch on Friday night at Royal Randwick Racecourse in the Oaks Lawn Marquee.



Bryan Brown & Rachel Ward



With A Rock The Kasbah theme it was an exotic extravaganza of Bedouin chic on a warm evening reminiscent (if you shut your eyes) of  Casablanca meets Marrakesh in a seductive swirl of colour and light with Camel racing, dancing, a Moroccan Souk for Fez hats and jewellery and a sumptuous dinner by Luke Mangan, inspired by the fragrant and tantalising spices of Morocco.



Matilda Brown



And most important, one of the Shuttle's favourite sponsors, Nicholas Feuillatte Champagne which is now the largest selling non vintage bubbles on the planet. Sadly the great man himself Nic Feuillatte failed to appear as he is ailing at his Sydney home where he is now permanently based having sold his Tangier palace.

In the past any major movie personality in town has attended Rachel's baby including Hugh Jackman , Russell Crowe and Quentin Tarrantino.

This year we had Kerri-Anne Kennerley and cricket great Shane Watson and girlfriend Lee Furlong ( see our pic from the OHLALA Mag).








Lee Furlong & Shane Watson







exclusive: Why the DJs Sexual Harrassment Case Crumbled



Frank Monte on 'Larry King Live'

 When the Social Shuttle revealed  that noted private eye Frank Monte ( "the best in the business" according to US chat show host Larry King on CNN) had been hired to look into the background of the former David Jone's publicist Kristy Fraser-Kirk, the news set of a firestorm of speculation.



Kristy Fraser-Kirk



In the now famous case , Fraser-Kirk claimed she had been sexually harassed by David Jone's CEO Mark McInnes and she issued a lawsuit against him claiming $37M in damages.

Last Tuesday she settled with the accused and the DJ's department store chain for $850,000 after negotiations in the Human Rights Commission. Both sides claimed victory while McInnes denied any wrongdoing.

The Shuttle attended a small gathering on Friday with a bunch of Rumpole types and the subject was hot gossip.

The Daily Telegraph claimed that Fraser-Kirk had been offered a settlement of $8M very early on when the lawsuit was announced.

Our legal eagles claimed a correction-the actual sum offered was $9M. So why did Fraser-Kirk  settle so quickly for such a small sum by comparison ?

As the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Saturday, a mysterious email had been in circulation (and was seen by tSS) that purported to show just who Frank Monte's client was. Both David Jones and Mark McInnes had denied hiring the gumshoe.

Enter McInnes best friend and gym partner, the general manager of a travel agency that arranged most of DJ's corporate travel. McInnes is godfather to that travel agent's son.

A spokesman for McInne's denied the ex DJ's boss had any knowledge of the travel agent's actions in hiring Monte. Perhaps he was just being a very helpful friend.

Frank Monte & Sharon Sargeant

But the talk over whisky sours at our lawyers bash was of the rapid deterioration in the Fraser-Kirk's case from the day it was announced Monte had entered the frame.

One of our lawyers claimed he had heard talk about evidence uncovered  that would not go down well in a court and which would prove highly embarrassing.

It was certainly clear that after Monte had done a round of media interviews, the case for David Jones & McInnes strengthened.

"Give us more details" we asked but our source wasn't revealing much.

His enigmatic reply :
"David Jones really should be couriering a gold plated AMEX store credit card to Frank Monte right now "

              
 On the subject of the World's Most Famous Private Eye  ( as the New York Times called him) we have now encountered Monte out on the town at two swish balls with his ex-fiancee Sharon Sargeant on his arm.

The pair were at the Black & White Ball  2 weeks ago where Sargeant caused a stir in her striking red sequin outfit ( the theme was black and white!).

On Friday night they attended actress Rachel Ward's  Mother Of All Ball's "Rock The Kasbah". Whilst Monte easily slipped into the role ( he originally comes from Alexandria) Ms Sargeant channeled Hollywood in a striking silver body hugging frock that drew a wide-eyed "Mama Mia!" from Ward's husband, actor Bryan Brown.

Has Sharon moved back into Monte's Potts Point luxury Ikon apartment ?. She wasn't saying. But she has sold her Red Velvet escort agency to an American corporation. The couple had split when news of her ownership of the agency was revealed by a tabloid.

And future plans ? " I'm going to be launching my own line of family friendly adult products" says Sargeant. The mind boggles.

Molly Vs Melly : Pensioners Come Out Swinging

As we reported 2 days ago British writer and all round colourful character Molly Parkin is to release her latest book, an autobiography titled Welcome To Mollywood.

But all hell has broken loose via the pages of the UK Daily Mail over her revelation that she was invited to slip into bed by a former lover as he lay dying, George Melly, author, singer and one of the world's great jazz musicians,

Melly's widow Diana Melly who is 73 has taken great umbrage to Molly's (78) claim in her new tome.

 George Melly died in 2007 from cancer at age 80. He had refused all treatment and his last days were filmed for a BBC documentary .

By co-incidence, just last week the Social Shuttle picked up a copy of Melly's last book Slowing Down in the local St Vincent De Paul op shop in a sale to aid a new charity in honour of our first Saint, Mother Mary McKillop.

It's a rollicking read as Melly tells all about his love affairs. We haven't yet got to the pages that describe his fling with Molly Parkin or his claim that he screwed a British male member of Parliament when both were youngsters at the snooty Stowe School. George described the MP in a British tabloid as a "dud f*ck".

Diana Melly is much aggrieved but her attack on Molly Parkin really makes Welcome To Mollywood all that much more enticing. Order a copy now at Beautiful Books.

Was Heath Ledger Murdered ?

A startling claim has been made that Aussie actor Heath Ledger who died in 2008 was murderd by a mysterious group called the Star Whackers who are knocking off Hollywood celebrities.

Actor Randy Quaid who was released on bail in Vancouver, Canada today along with his wife Evi says the Star Whackers assassinated Ledger, David Carradine, who was found hanging in a Bangkok hotel room last year and brother of Sean Penn, Chris Penn who officially died from heart disease in 2006.



Randy & Evi- the Star Whackers are after them !



Plus 6 others are known to Quaid to have been murdered by the group.

Randy and Evi were under arrest in Vancouver on an immigration violation but have now applied for asylum in Canada after claiming the Star Whackers are hot on their trail.

But who are the other Hollywood Six, murdered by this shadowy group ? For more go here.

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A Royal Visit !

The King & Charles Billich

 Visiting foreign potentates are rare in the Emerald City but this week  George TupouV, the current King of Tonga returned for further sittings for an official portrait being produced by controversial Sydney based artist Charles Billich.

Charles and wife Christa Billich lent their Rock's gallery for a reception for the King hosted by the Tongan Honorary  Consul Generals Bill Waterhouse and his daughter Louise Raedler-Waterhouse. Bill and Lousie were both at young bookmaker Tom Warehouse's website launch last week and said they were looking forward to George Tupou V's visit.

Tongan born Lorna Tonga sang the national anthems of both countries whilst a Croatian born cellist entertained guests ( Charles , born in Croatia once fought in the Croatian Underground).

His Majesty's empire consists of about 169 islands spread over about 800 kilometres with a population of 102,000 (2009). When the King visits his subjects, he travels in a London taxi although he has an ancient Austin Princess for more formal occasions. He once owned Tonga's electricity supply (the source of the Royal Family's wealth) which he generously sold to the nation some time ago for $20M.



The Tongan Royal Palace



His financial adviser is the  Saudi arms dealer Adnan Kashoggi. The King once contemplated setting up Tonga as a repository for tax exile corporations but was persuaded it wouldn't go down too well with former rulers Great Britain, a source for foreign aid to the perpetually struggling empire of the King.




A  Billich work of art

 

The Social Shuttle's Bill Ranken, a rural expert was once invited to Tonga by George V's mother Queen Salote to advise on her flock of royal sheep.

 He found all 50 of them in a pen at the back door of the Royal Palace, a rambling colonial style bungalow.

Quite how His Majesty finally settled on Billich as the chosen artist for his official portrait is steeped in mystery. Billich is hugely successful but critics sneer at his work claiming it is akin to commercial art.

The King said on ABC television about Charles : ""Well the thing is a lot of artists are actually better than what they think they are,"

"Donatello for example was apprenticed as a plasterer, Michelangelo thought he was a sculptor. Charles Billich - I like his drawings better than his paintings."

Hopefully his choice of Billich was for his love of his work rather than an investment. The Billich's recently opened Art Bar in Kings Cross, decorated with Charles' paintings is struggling and looks set to close with few art works sold. Those attached to the ceiling remain in place.

At Lawson Menzies Auction house in Glebe, a few months ago a Billich print was presented with great flourish at the weekly art sale. It went for the princely sum of $1. That's the bid accepted when the seller doesn't want the goods returned.

Panto Dame Returns !

We all said her self imposed exile wouldn't last. The smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd, the applause-the insults. The rotten fruit hurled. How could she resist ?

 Madame Arcati has announced she is receiving visitors again over the Yuletide period (and hopefully longer).

 How fitting that the silly season is almost upon us and someone will entertain while the hacks of Fleet Street churn out their daily drivel (eagerly read by us ). At last we will have some balance.

Still censored by Google, but that just makes her seem like a very naughty girl..

Go here and read.

Oh, and Madame's long term fiancee,  Molly Parkin's autobiography Welcome To Mollywood is to be published shortly as well.

 

Journalist, artist and Soho fixture there is no-one else quite like Molly around anymore. This book is a must read.                                                      

                                         

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Gene & Brian Sherman



An ill-wind is blowing over a $500,000 donation to University of NSW College of Fine Arts.

Given by noted philanthropists Brian & Gene Sherman, the gift was to establish a gallery in honour of the British born arts curator Nick Waterlow, murdered a year ago just 2 days after we reported he had attended the opening of an exhibition of ex-Oz Magazine artist Martin Sharp's works.

Student Representative Council president, Osman Faruqi, has said :''students are concerned by what this deal means for the integrity and reputation of a public institution like UNSW,'' 

"''The reputation risk posed to the university far outweighs any financial benefit gained. Students want to see quality education placed before private interests."

The Shermans are one of Sydney's most high profile couples in the art's community. Brian's Equitilink company is the largest private funds management company in Australia. He also dabbles on the stock exchange and was reported to have picked up $45M in one deal during a morning in 2002. Both the Shermans support a number of charities.

The Natural History museum in Sydney near Hyde Park has been revived via the Sherman's donations and in Brian's role as the president of the Australian Museum trust, it's governing body.

Committed vegetarians for nearly 30 years, both Sherman's are active animal right's activists and fund studies on how to end factory farming of poultry and pigs.

The Student body needs to do a re-think here.

The pair emigrated from South Africa a long time ago when they were broke. No-one knows what the Shermans are worth-possibly a $$billion or two-but the only demand from Brian & Gene when donating is for another phone call when extra funds are required.

A Day at The Races : Ben Hur

If you are going to the ANZ Stadium this Friday or Saturday for the performance of Ben Hur, take a rug. It gets cold, very cold. Here are some snaps we took from Wednesday night's full dress rehearsal that went without a hitch.

This show has it all-half naked men wrestling each other, slave girls being whipped, huge galley ships being erected before your eyes and leprosy !. A Roman stadium built as you watch and that race-the race between Ben Hur and his rival. There are still 14000 tickets available but that means audiences of at least 15000 at each show, something that should really boost the atmosphere ( there is audience participation).And of course Russell Crowe narrating ( which makes up for Jesus Christ's American accent). Friday night's show is introduced by Richard Wilkins, Saturday's by Alan Jones. Book at Ticketek here !

The Roman Senate !

Ben Hur takes the lead at the 9th lap !

exclusive : The Guggenheim Aussie Connection !



Peggy in Venice



Currently on show at the Art Gallery of Western Australia is A Collection In Venice-the fantastic art collection of famed US art patron Peggy Guggenheim. It's been ignored by most media except for an ABC TV story this week.

Amongst the extraordinary works that were owned by Peggy Guggenheim are pieces by Mondrian, Rothko, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollack and Marcel Duchamp.

Max Ernst

 Guggenheim inherited around $US2.5M from her grandfather Benjamin Guggenheim who died in the Titanic disaster in 1912.

After working for a time in a New York book store she moved to Paris and immersed herself in the Bohemian world of art, having numerous affairs with now famous names of the art world.

She married Max Ernst in 1941 and became pals and the patron of artists like Duchamp and Man Ray. With her wealth she promoted artists who today are legendary.

 Older Shuttler's may remember the controversial 1973 purchase of Jackson Pollack's Blue Poles . Pollack owed his reputation in the USA to Guggenheim's relentless promotion.

The newly elected Labour government of Gough Whitlam  paid $1.3M for the painting-the then highest ever price for a modern work of art. Scathing criticism lasted for years although the work, now at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra is estimated at being worth $180M .

Peggy Guggenheim eventually settled in Venice on the Grand Canal at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1949 after divorcing Ernst where she continued her love of art collecting and along the way, indulging in love affairs with artists.

But there is one love affair that has never been written about before.

Kit Lambert with Pete Townshend from The Who

In the 1970's,  rock band manager Kit Lambert who  discovered the legendary The Who arrived in Venice to purchase his dream home. Lambert had always believed he had been conceived in Venice during a  night of passion between his mother and famous father, the English classical composer Constant Lambert.

He found his villa, ironically named Villa Lamberti next door to Guggenheim's Palazzo Venier dei Leoni . Within a year the two had become close friends and were having a torrid love affair. It lasted on  and off for over 3 years.

However Lambert  was addicted to heroin and had a fierce cocaine habit which Peggy, despite her bohemian aspirations, abhorred. Lambert was also having financial problems due to his drug intake. Peggy ended the affair one morning when she visited Lambert in his villa for breakfast.

As Lambert would later re-call, Guggenheim's parting words to Kit were-"Quite frankly, Kit, I simply cannot afford you !".

Christopher 'Kit' Lambert  who died in 1983 after a mysterious fall down a flight of stairs was the grandson of one of Australia's first and most famous artists-George Washington Lambert.

Along side Blue Poles in Canberra can be found several G.W.Lambert works and beside the driveway to Mrs Macquarie's Chair in Sydney there is a statue dedicated to him.

Peggy Guggenheim ; A Collection In Venice is at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from the 9th October 2010 to 31st January 2011

## Coming soon-the woman who turned down Andy Warhol's offer of marriage !

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Uber fashion designers and the darlings of the pop set Dolce and Gabana have been accused of a massive tax evasion scam in Italy.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, along with five other people, are accused of channeling profits through Luxembourg, paying just three per cent tax on sales royalties instead of much higher Italian taxes. As a result, the Italian treasury has allegedly been defrauded of an estimated €420m.

Read more at The First Post.

Garden Design leads to Marriage

Hosts of the popular The Party Garden on Foxtel's Lifestyle Channel, Juliet Love and Charlie Albone have married quietly in a small ceremony in the Southern Highland's town of Berry.

Charlie & Juliet

Juliet, a popular young Eastern Suburb's girl about town is the daughter of racing identity Angela Belle McSweeney , pictured right with friends at the opening party for La Montage in Lillyfield last week, and the football supremo Colin Love who is chairman of the Rugby League International Federation.

British born Charlie has fronted 2 shows for Foxtel now, a real estate program and the garden design show he developed with interior design graduate and former Voguette Juliet.

Under hot studio lights and amongst the designer foliage love blossomed over the past 2 years and now they are hitched. Ain't love grand ?

Champers On The Move

A few days after we discovered the Pommery Champagne cocktail cabinet at young bookmaker Tom Waterhouse's betting website launch, now comes the permanently on-the-move champagne bar.

Like the Mary Celeste (it was never the 'Maire'), it came drifting out from the mass of party-goers at the launch of the $20M La Montage reception centre by the river in downtown Lillyfield.

 Except this ship wasn't empty but manned by a nice girl called Mary who was dispensing champagne. How it's done is a mystery. She just glides along with ice-buckets , dozens of glasses and bottles of champers.

And then she glides off, returning just at the appropriate time when one's glass is nearing empty.

MP Joe Tripodi

Boxing champ Jeff Fenech & wife Susie

La Montage is on the site of the old Club Marconi, the inner city soccer club that was much beloved by Sydney's thousands of citizens with an Italian heritage.  

The new centre looks like it will continue the tradition within the Italian community as a wedding reception centre extraordinaire. It has to be seen to believed-it looks just like a gigantic South Fork Ranch out of Dallas. Nice if you like that sort of thing.

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.