No other red carpet moment compares with the Academy Awards, so no other book launch this Oscar week could compare to that of celebrity shutterbug Patrick McMullan’s latest picture book of the social and fabulous, Glamour Girls. Last night’s bash at the Sunset Tower Hotel officially kicked off the party-filled days and nights leading to Sunday’s awards marathon with hundreds of glamorously clad girls and boys packing the place. They turned out for their photo op, of course, but really to toast Patrick—who got going shooting the celebrated when Andy Warhol put a camera in his hands and decades later has since clicked a zillion images. Some 1,400 appear inside the thick coffeetable book.
Stacey Kubasak and Alexis Roche of Dior and Crystal Lourd
A pack of NY and LA socials—Jacqui Getty, Cornelia Guest, Angela Janklow, Crystal Lourd, Elizabeth Callendar, Kathy Freston and Brooke Davenport—hosted the night, which also drew out a crazy crowd of Tom Ford to Appolonia Kotero (yes, that Appolonia) to Nina Clemente and her handsome twin brothers Andre and Pietro. Also looking amazingly camera-ready were Monique Lhuillier, Dita Von Teese, Michael Schmidt, Loree Rodkin, Rachel Zoe, Bryan Rabin, Lady Victoria Harvey, Bettina Korek, Carlos Souza and Kathy Jeung.
Michael Schmidt and Dita Von Teese
A party wouldn’t be a party without an underwriter dotting the step-and-repeat wall, and uber-luxe diamond house Leviev ensured the bubbly was flowing through the evening. Of course, it’s only the start. I was reminded of this as I waited at the valet with Dior’s Stacey Kubasak and Alexis Roche (who’d just arrived from Paris) and Missoni’s Edward O'Sullivan—poor dears are just beginning the gown game to Sunday’s red carpet race…
New York, NY, Feb 22 - Lev Leviev, the Israeli settlement builder and diamond mogul who has been accused of supporting human rights abuses in Angola, Burma, New York City and Palestine, is lending his jewelry to some attendees of the 80th annual Academy Awards this Sunday. The jewelry loan was reported by Warner Brothers ExtraTV. Leviev has made a concerted effort to associate himself and his businesses with global elites, but a barrage of negative publicity related to these rights abuses has tarnished Leviev’s image, suggesting that, as NY Jewish Week wrote recently, “For Leviev, All that Glitters Isn’t Gold.” Human rights campaigners from Adalah-NY have pledged to contact Academy Award organizers and attendees to voice their concerns over Leviev’s involvement.
The annual Hollywood ceremony had been jeopardized by a protracted strike of the Writers Guild, which had been denied a share of revenue generated by their work online. Ironically, Leviev himself has also been at the center of labor disputes in New York City involving unpaid wages. Workers at construction sites co-owned by Leviev and Shaya Bolmelgreen in New York City have filed suits over withheld wages, and, according to the Laborers Union, have complained of dangerous work conditions, allegedly resulting in accidents and serious injuries.
Sadly, just one year after the film Blood Diamond was nominated for five Oscars, there is a chance that tainted Angolan diamonds that bypass the Kimberley Process which aims to eliminate trade in “conflict diamonds” will be worn by stars at the Academy awards. According to the 2007 “Diamond Industry Annual Review” for Angola produced by the watchdog organization Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), “the Angolan Kimberley System has no way of tracking” more than 10% of Angola’s “diamonds back to source.” As a result, there are “more than a million carats per year exiting Angola… with the murkiest credentials.” Leviev, who buys, polishes and sells Angolan diamonds, is directly involved in these failings. Furthermore, private security companies employed by Leviev in the mining districts in northeast Angola have been accused by Angolan human rights monitor Rafael Marques of "humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, assassinations.” Leviev has close ties with Angola’s repressive and corrupt Dos Santos regime which has failed to hold elections since 1992.
Leviev’s companies have also built homes in at least five Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in violation of international law. The settlements that Leviev has built seize vital resources and divide Palestinian territories into isolated enclaves, destroying hopes for the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
Leviev became involved in a flap with the international charity Oxfam after the New York human rights coalition Adalah-NY contacted Oxfam on January 8 following media reports that Oxfam had accepted support from Leviev. In response, Oxfam stated publicly that Leviev had never been an Oxfam donor, nor would they accept donations from any individual who constructs settlements in occupied territory in contravention of international humanitarian law. Twenty days after Adalah-NY raised the issue, an article which claimed that Leviev donated to Oxfam was finally removed from the news site belonging to an organization of which Leviev is the president.
After attending the gala opening of Leviev's first US diamond store in Manhattan, actress Susan Sarandon was approached by Israeli, Palestinian and US human rights organizations urging her to cut ties with the billionaire. An open letter sent to Sarandon from the US-based Jewish Voice for Peace noted Leviev's alleged misdeeds in Angola, Burma, and New York, as well as in the Occupied Palestinian Territories saying: "Leviev's strong support of the settlements seriously compromises any efforts at a just peace in the region. His efforts to expropriate more lands from Palestinians, using both financial and strong-arm tactics, greatly increase Palestinian suffering. . . As Jews who yearn and work for a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis, we implore you to take a public stand against Leviev.”
Rose Apodaca is a pop culture and style journalist and the co-owner of A+R, the design retail lab in Los Angeles, and its online sister http://www.aplusrstore.com. She consulted on and helped launch Image, the new Los Angeles Times style section, and she contributes to Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Glamour, Style.com, Paper, Preen and other publications. Her first book, Style A to Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty & Everything Glamour, an all-encompassing lifestyle guide written for celeb stylist Rachel Zoe, is now in bookstores. She is currently authoring a biography on Fred Hayman, co-founder of Giorgio Beverly Hills and marketing architect of Rodeo Drive.
A+R is located in Silverlake and now on Abbot Kinney in Venice, CA.
Rose helmed the west coast bureau of fashion-industry bible Women's Wear Daily and was a contributor to W Magazine for six years until March 2006, when she left to join partner Andy Griffith in A+R and focus on related projects. She has long championed Los Angeles and California style and design, from the streets and runways to interiors and food. She is the first recipient of the Los Angeles Fashion Awards Communications Prize for bringing global attention to the region's fashion industry and style culture. With A+R, she continues to showcase rising and undiscovered talent from around the world.
An active supporter of the arts, music and nightlife scenes, she is a co-owner of Beauty Bar Hollywood and Las Vegas, and serves on various arts organization boards. Rose and Andy, who tied the knot in September 2007, live in Silverlake.
* All photographs appearing on this blog were snapped by Rose with her Leica D-Lux 3, unless otherwise noted. Please credit all photographs accordingly.
Illustration below by the talented EvelynBlack1955.
Hey Rose, how's it going. Remember me and you're like who and I'm like Sada's husband. Maybe Sada is easier to remember, from Action Sports, with Neil and Paul and John Stoffer. I just found Neil and saw you as a friend so thought I'd say hi. We saw your book down here in Oz (where we live now) and it was totally awesome. Hope you're well, Cya.
just wanted to throw an eye at you to see how you do and talk about
THE WAY OF LOVE WITH YOU (universal content design ) &
(besides i really like thoses pieces)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
good morning Rose! I love your blog~ So happy that you are doing great~ will pop in and see you soon. Thanks for the good and obviously sad (Paul Starr) readings... lots of love tracey groce
I'm a huge fan of Uber. I loved your post the other day about Tarina Tarantino! Anyway, I wanted to give you a heads up about a new site, ideeli, that you would enjoy. I actually work for the site, and we sell really great bags and accessories at unbelievable prices. I thought you might want to check it out and see what we've got coming soon, because you (and all of us who read your blog!) should always be in the know about sites like this one. It's members-only, but if you'd like to see what's up on the site, you may use my private code: vip1. Just go to www.ideeli.com to see for yourself :) If you like the site, we'd love you to feature us, and I'd be happy to set up a special invite code for your readers - just let me know!
hi rose ....i am a interoir designer fromindia.....m quite impressed to see ur collection .....can i buy things here in india ....do u ship in india....i have some close relatives in canada....do u ship in canda.....?
Wow, Im so flattered and thankful that you enjoyed the show. I hope that you can make it out sometime soon to "The Bullfight " act that I do when it is booked here in town. Its pretty flamboyant , just the thing for these boring summer evenings. lol. Its always a pleasure to see you Rose. Much love, Ava Garter
Wow! Roger Lloyd Pack "Owen" from the Vicar of Dibley and Andy could be brothers, or at least each others Doppelgänger. Fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing these amazing images.
Rose, any idea who is doing Rick's PR? I have the usual suspects in the Dbase. Please dash me an email with the right contact this round. I think he's supremely talented. So far, he's the most under rated US designer. He's the real deal!
Adalah-NY Contact: info@mideastjustice.org, www.mideastjustice.org
New York, NY, Feb 22 - Lev Leviev, the Israeli settlement builder and diamond mogul who has been accused of supporting human rights abuses in Angola, Burma, New York City and Palestine, is lending his jewelry to some attendees of the 80th annual Academy Awards this Sunday. The jewelry loan was reported by Warner Brothers ExtraTV. Leviev has made a concerted effort to associate himself and his businesses with global elites, but a barrage of negative publicity related to these rights abuses has tarnished Leviev’s image, suggesting that, as NY Jewish Week wrote recently, “For Leviev, All that Glitters Isn’t Gold.” Human rights campaigners from Adalah-NY have pledged to contact Academy Award organizers and attendees to voice their concerns over Leviev’s involvement.
The annual Hollywood ceremony had been jeopardized by a protracted strike of the Writers Guild, which had been denied a share of revenue generated by their work online. Ironically, Leviev himself has also been at the center of labor disputes in New York City involving unpaid wages. Workers at construction sites co-owned by Leviev and Shaya Bolmelgreen in New York City have filed suits over withheld wages, and, according to the Laborers Union, have complained of dangerous work conditions, allegedly resulting in accidents and serious injuries.
Sadly, just one year after the film Blood Diamond was nominated for five Oscars, there is a chance that tainted Angolan diamonds that bypass the Kimberley Process which aims to eliminate trade in “conflict diamonds” will be worn by stars at the Academy awards. According to the 2007 “Diamond Industry Annual Review” for Angola produced by the watchdog organization Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), “the Angolan Kimberley System has no way of tracking” more than 10% of Angola’s “diamonds back to source.” As a result, there are “more than a million carats per year exiting Angola… with the murkiest credentials.” Leviev, who buys, polishes and sells Angolan diamonds, is directly involved in these failings. Furthermore, private security companies employed by Leviev in the mining districts in northeast Angola have been accused by Angolan human rights monitor Rafael Marques of "humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, assassinations.” Leviev has close ties with Angola’s repressive and corrupt Dos Santos regime which has failed to hold elections since 1992.
Leviev’s companies have also built homes in at least five Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in violation of international law. The settlements that Leviev has built seize vital resources and divide Palestinian territories into isolated enclaves, destroying hopes for the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
Leviev became involved in a flap with the international charity Oxfam after the New York human rights coalition Adalah-NY contacted Oxfam on January 8 following media reports that Oxfam had accepted support from Leviev. In response, Oxfam stated publicly that Leviev had never been an Oxfam donor, nor would they accept donations from any individual who constructs settlements in occupied territory in contravention of international humanitarian law. Twenty days after Adalah-NY raised the issue, an article which claimed that Leviev donated to Oxfam was finally removed from the news site belonging to an organization of which Leviev is the president.
After attending the gala opening of Leviev's first US diamond store in Manhattan, actress Susan Sarandon was approached by Israeli, Palestinian and US human rights organizations urging her to cut ties with the billionaire. An open letter sent to Sarandon from the US-based Jewish Voice for Peace noted Leviev's alleged misdeeds in Angola, Burma, and New York, as well as in the Occupied Palestinian Territories saying: "Leviev's strong support of the settlements seriously compromises any efforts at a just peace in the region. His efforts to expropriate more lands from Palestinians, using both financial and strong-arm tactics, greatly increase Palestinian suffering. . . As Jews who yearn and work for a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis, we implore you to take a public stand against Leviev.”