Stefano Canturi Shines

rare gems....and beautiful baubles

Stefano Canturi has come a fair way in 25 years of designing precious jewellery and now numbers the likes of Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Oprah Winfrey, Melissa George and Madmen star Christina Hendricks amongst his fans and customers. He's even received the ultimate accolade : designing a necklace for Barbie! (the necklace sold at a New York charity auction for over $300,000)

Stefano Canturi, Silvia Colloca & Richard Roxburgh

During the week Stefano hosted a dinner at the social set's fave new restaurant Apollo in Macleay Street, Potts Point with the restaurant kitted out with Stefano's original design sketches for his creations including the amazing diamond necklace worn by Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge.

Amongst the guests: designer Carla Zampatti (left) and Moulin Rouge star Richard Roxburgh and his beautiful Italian wife Silvia Colloca.  Roxburgh, a friend of Canturi's from the Moulin Rouge days had another reason to celebrate that night-his hit show Rake  premiered it's second season that night on ABC TV.

Christina Hendricks wears Canturi

       














left : Nicole Kidman wears the Stefano Canturi creation

Marriages

 Danni Minogue's ex Kris Smith has linked up with glamorous model Maddy King and the pair were spotted over dinner last week in Kings Cross and partying afterwards at the Bondi beachside bar The Bucket List.










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 It was probably the worst kept secret. The Shuttle got wind of it at the David Jones' Spring/Summer fashion show a fortnight ago when we spotted Qantas CEO Allan Joyce sitting quietly amongst the guests.

Orlando & Miranda at the Qantas party last night

                                            Today Qantas announced a new partnership with Emirates Airlines and on Thursday evening at a party at the Park Hyatt to celebrate the marriage Miranda Kerr was named as the new Ambassador for Qantas.  Miranda checked into the Park Hyatt on Tuesday with baby Flynn and hubby Orlando Bloom with the couple attending the bash together.
Kerr now has three major sponsorships: Victoria's Secret, David Jones and Qantas where she joins John Travolta (who pilots his own Qantas jet) Cathy Freeman and Greg Norman.

New: Your Astrological Star Forecast for September

Victor Olliver is fast becoming one of the world's top astrologers with a horoscope column in Britain's oldest published magazine The Lady and with regular appearances on Apple FM which broadcasts out of Hong Kong.

Here are your stars for September:


You can get personal horoscopes at Victor's website :victorolliver.biz
** he comes highly recommended by Britain's most outrageous blogger Madame Arcati.

The Oracle Speaks

Our favourite Richest Woman In The World, Gina Rinehart takes to the social media with a Youtube speech on how to get Australia moving.

Sadly not a word on her recent column telling Aussies whingers  "jealous of the wealthy: start working harder and cut down on drinking, smoking and socialising" or her desire to use nuclear bombs to create new harbours in West Australia.
nb: note the odd change of tone in her voice at 9.40mins, Spooky.

Big Picture,Big Fail.

New York photographer Bill Cunningham

Bill Ranken (Katie Preston Toepfer)

One of the regular gripes of the Shuttle is today's new breed of 'publicists',  PRs or whatever they are called these days.  Usually coming armed with a degree from somewhere.  Apart from a few notable exceptions they can be arrogant, grand and basically clueless about the job they do.

All three contributors to the Shuttle have worked in the media and with publicists in New York, London, LA, Paris, Melbourne or Sydney with about 100 years of experience between us.
Without a doubt, Sydney has the grandest PRs of them all.
We've inter-acted with publicists in London and New York who handle some of the biggest names in the movie business and some of the most successful products and brand names in the world. They are on the whole professional. polite, knowledgeable about their product and the business and most especially, the media. In Melbourne or Adelaide they will be far better mannered.

Hand in hand with this lot come a few photo agencies who have corrupted the entire process, stacking press shoots, promotional functions, movie premieres and so on with part-time aggressive , arrogant photographers armed with digital cameras and with nil interest in the subject. It's all about money.

A perfect example of how today's publicists really fail on the job is when one of Australia's most senior and most respected photographers and Shuttle contributor Bill Ranken telephoned both Myer and David Jones about their recent Spring/Summer fashion parades.
You would think that Ranken representing the local newspaper Latte Life that circulates throughout the well heeled suburbs of Sydney's Eastern suburbs, to the most wealthy streets and residents in this country, to readers with wallets stacked with cash and credit cards to spend on fashion, would be welcomed to join the ranks of the scruffs in the media pen. Alas, he was 'too late' according to a PR operative.

Darryn Lyons

At 83 years of age there is  a very good reason for having Ranken cover your event. Like Bill Cunningham in New York. he knows everybody and their mother (and often dated their grandmother). It's an important factor. Meanwhile the Shuttle was there and noted 2 photo agencies had at least 8 snappers between them in a sort of scatter gun approach of garnering photographs of today's instant 'celebrities' from every conceivable angle. We've searched high and low and not one single picture they took has been published. One newspaper photographer, a regular on the scene, walked off in disgust as he was asked time and time again the name of each person he snapped, by the paparazzi.

When the Big Picture agency burst on the scene over a decade ago, the cockatoo haired owner Darryn Lyons acted like he was about to re-create tabloid publishing as we know it. Perhaps he was right.
The Daily Telegraph recently ran this piece Revealed: How truth and lies mingle in Lara Bingle's nude photo scandal, reality was something different.
In April  London's Telegraph newspaper revealed how Big Picture had been paying a Virgin Airlines employee to supply flight details of the travel movements of stars.

Now the UK Press Gazette says the agency is having trouble paying staff and photographers.

Sipping Champers From A Saucer

It's rather a nice drop even sipped from an over-sized saucer.

 Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque was the champagne for the night and those saucers were specially created over sized champagne glasses to celebrate Waterford's new adaptions of their classic pattern ; Lismore Diamond.

Sophie Falkiner & Kath Robinson

Lauryn Eagle

Waterford's head design honcho from Ireland Jim O'Leary hosted a swell party to celebrate 60 years of Lismore at the magnificent Cell Block Theatre in the East Sydney Design School. Guests were led up a candle lit path to a line of waiters bearing rather heavy trays of the champagne saucers and so well behaved were they, not one was broken over the next few hours.

Megan Gale

Waterford's latest Lismore collection really are quite exquisite in the most beautiful colours-red, blue silver, purple and green. We're lucky in Sydney to have tap water that is not only drinkable but better than most bottled waters.  Try a glass in a Waterford Crystal tumbler. You'll never look back!
Amongst those who sipped: Megan Gale. Charlotte Dawson, Alex Perry and Lauryn Eagle.

Check out the new Waterford range at their website.

Kate Peck

                                  

Peter Ikin Case Heats Up

A must see TV show  : Sunday Night on the Seven Network has a feature on the late Australian music identity Peter Ikin who friends like Elton John and Molly Meldrum believed was murdered.

Ikin died in 2008 after a fall down a flight of stairs in Paris and his partner, handsome Frenchman Alexandre Despallières who Ikin had married shortly before his death, had his body cremated and presented a falsified will to a London court. That will was eventually over-turned and Despallières was arrested by French police after rock entrepreneurs John Reid and Billy Gaff hired investigators and a French lawyer to probe the events surrounding Ikin's death.

Despallières is currently on bail and the Shuttle previously posted a link to a fascinating article in Bloomberg Businessweek by journalist Brad Stone who had previous dealings with the Frenchman.
Our Seven insider says to expect to hear some remarkable new revelations on the show about the investigation. You can see a preview here.

Best Wishes to Charlotte Dawson

Like some of New Zealand's best exports ( Russell Crowe) we like to claim as our own-Charlotte Dawson has forged a successful career in Australia as a television host, currently at the helm Foxtels' Australia's Next Top Model.

Charlotte has been on the receiving end of a campaign of Twitter hate over the past weeks. Earlier last night the Shuttle encountered Charlotte as the East Sydney Tech at a bash to celebrate the launch of  a new range of Waterford Lismore crystal. Sometime later that evening she checked herself into St Vincent's Hospital. The toll of an on-line hate campaign had finally hit home.

All at the Shuttle (including sub-editor Mildred Pierce) send their best wishes to one of our favourite Sydney-siders Charlotte Dawson and hopes for a speedy recovery . These things are sent to try us. They make us stronger in the end.

Nicely Packaged

The London Olympics may have been a tad disappointing for James Magnussen although he did pick up a silver medal.

 That hasn't stopped the sponsorship deals from flowing in as we show in these snaps of James as the new model for jac5 underwear:

Handsome Men of Style

 Kaspar Breuker, Jake Cassar, Michel Boutin, Greg Kheel

Lisa Robertson and DJ Wippa

La Croix is one of several new decor stores that have opened in Macleay Street Potts Point which continues it's rebirth as the leafy stylish boulevarde it was from the 1920s to the late 60s when the arrival of the American Vietnam troops on R & R brought a whole new feeling to Kings Cross and an influx of hard drugs.

While nearby Darlinghurst Road now has around 50 nightclubs, strip clubs and cocktail bars operating 24 hours of the day, Macleay Street is quickly returning to it's genteel days with new fashion boutiques and restaurants opening by the week.

And an ideal spot for the men's fashion magazine Men's Style to celebrate 50 years of successful publishing with a party and a special treat- a performance from this month's cover girl Cheyenne Tozzi (above right) singing up a storm.

Benji Marshall, Zoe Balbi & Laura Csortan

ShiBo & Joel Rock !

These two kids walked onto the stage last week at X-Factor and simply blew away the audience. It's time to re-visit these amazingly natural talents ahead of next weeks Factor: 14 year old Shiane Hawke from Darwin  and 15 year old Joel Goncalves from Brisbane who sang a Michael Jackson song with the most beautiful voice.

Brush With Fame

 

 The Shuttle was forced to decline an invite to meet Doug Pitt last night, the brother of movie star Bard Pitt. Doug was the guest of Virgin Mobile launching a new campaign with a 'gala' red carpet event.

We reckoned an invite to check out the opening of the Brooklyn Hotel's new Oyster Bar just couldn't be passed. I think we made the right choice. Product launches can be tame and once we reach the level of "associated " fame it all becomes a tad tiring.

Besides, we had already encountered Mr Pitt earlier that day in Double Bay. Movie stars in the know flock to the dentistry surgery of Dr David Carr and it seems. their siblings do as well. Our spy disguised as a helium tank says Doug arrived by gleaming limo to have a new crown fitted after Doug chipped his front tooth.
 Doug follows in the footsteps of numerous celebrities that make their way to Dr Carr when in town. Just a few of those who owe their wondrous gleaming Hollywood smiles to the celebrity dentist include Nicole Kidman, Madonna and Tom Cruise.

Playing Catch Up

We do love Sydney Confidential. It's the gossip column in Rupert Murdoch's top selling Australian tabloid The Daily Telegraph (referred to by some as the Daily Terror for some unknown reason).

But they really should pay more attention to the Shuttle as some British tabloids do like The Sun, Daily Mail and The Independent as they scour these pages gently lifting tiny tidbits here and there.
 Their tale today, pictured here : PJs the centre of the universe is a sort of non-story implying that PJ Lane, a star in the new Underbelly: Badness may be dating gorgeous Jessinta Campbell.
The Shuttle exclusively revealed five months ago that PJ was dating Jessinta's good pal Ashley Talbot when we ran this picture of the pair at artist Martine Emdur's opening night at the Tim Olsen Gallery.

Another Hemmes' Winner

Peter Gilmore wields chopsticks at Mr Wong with Janni Kyritsis

You have to be quite brave to open up your brand spanking new restaurant to host the countries top foodies, chefs and restaurant owners representing 400 of Australia's best establishments but the Hemmes' family did just that last night for the 2012 Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards.

John & Merivale Hemmes

Mr Wong is Justin Hemmes' new addition to his burgeoning $200M entertainment empire. Located in Bridge Street in the old Tank nightclub premises it's two floors of exquisite Chinese fare.

And there really was no surprise when the top gong went to Peter Gilmore, known for his "snow egg" dessert, as his restaurant Quay was crowned best restaurant.
Not satisfied with scooping up award after award around the world (Quay under Gilmore's stewardship is usually rated amongst the world's top eateries) this is third time Quay, which has a stunning views overlooking the harbour and Opera House has been named Australia's best eatery.

Justin Hemmes' Mr Wong

 AUSTRALIAN GOURMET TRAVELLER AWARDS
Restaurant of the Year - Quay, Sydney
Best New Talent - Alejandro Cancino, Urbane, Brisbane
New Restaurant of the Year - Momofuku Seiobo, Sydney
Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality - Janni Kyritsis, chef
Chef of the Year - Ben Shewry, Attica, Melbourne
Sommelier of the Year - Banjo Harris Plane, Attica, Melbourne
Regional Restaurant of the Year - Loam, Drysdale, Victoria
Maitre D' of the Year - Ainslie Lubbock, Pei Modern, Melbourne
Bar of the Year - The Everleigh, Melbourne
Wine List of the Year - Carlton Wine Room, Melbourne

Peter Gilmore's Quay

As for the food at Mr Wong, there really isn't any point reviewing the food-it's quite simply sensational. You just have to check out yourself.

Amazing Transformations

Meet actor Lachy Hulme who plays Kerry Packer in the gripping new mini-series Howzat!, a dramatisation of Packer's clash with the cricket establishment.
 Last night the first in the series received huge ratings and the reason was because of Hulme's accurate portrayal of the 'Big Goanna'. If you pondered just who the actor was, as many did it's because of a superb make-up transformation.
Hulme starred in the Matrix films.

'Kerr Goes Kiwi'

The New York Times has a feature on Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom in New Zealand.
Read it here!

Gatsby's Garbo

MEET GORGEOUS actress/model  Kasia Stelmach who attended the Myer fashion show last Thursday.

The Shuttle's spy disguised as a potted Aspidistra on the 3D set of The Great Gatsby at Fox Studios tells us Kasia stars in the flick.
 The rumour is that she plays the exotic movie star Greta Garbo although mysteriously she is listed as 'Geraldine Peacock-Prada Woman'  Prada Woman ?. Did they have Prada in the twenties?.
 Kasia has appeared in one previous film, a shortie called Grace Of Others in 2011. We reckon Kasia has a big future ahead so she is now officially a Social Shuttle Discovery (well OK, the Shuttle's and Baz Luhrman's!)

 *Talk filtering out the set of Baz Luhrman's fabulous production says the movie's $120M plus budget  has been exhausted recreating New York and the Hamptons and Warner Bros have put their foot down, refusing to fund Baz who wants to re-film some scenes with Leo DiCaprio and Tobey McGuire, hence the release date of the movie being pushed back to 2013.
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Wolverine AKA Hugh Jackman currently residing in Sydney while he films The Wolverine around town has sent us a pic of himself just fitting into his Knox Grammar (very posh) School blazer.

We've uncovered a school pic of Hugh in that very jacket.
Wasn't he handsome even then !

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.