WWD cornered Zac Efron at a party thrown by G-Star for him to celebrate him being on the November issue of Nylon Guys. Naturally, WWD's reporter went straight for the burning fashion question of the moment: how does Zac get his jeans so perfectly lived in? Well, he works at it. A Lot.
At 22, Zac Efron is meticulous when it comes to his clothes. Consider his raw denim jeans by G-Star, which he wore continuously over eight weeks to weather the stiff dungarees for the too-cool-for-school look, complete with dusty yellow whiskers on the front pockets. "They're my favorite jeans," the actor said Wednesday at the dinner G-Star threw for him at XIV to celebrate his turn as cover boy of Nylon Guys' November issue. "I wore them all throughout High School Musical 3. I even wore them hiking. You have to wear them everywhere to get them right."
Joined by High School Musical co-star Ashley Tisdale, actress Brittany Snow, local "It" girl Cory Kennedy and DJ Steve Aoki, Efron paired his dirty denim with a striped sweater by Marc Jacobs. It's too bad he didn't have much to say about the jeans he wore on the cover of the magazine. Instead of G-Star, they were crisp, clean Levi's.
That was quite tactful of Zac. No need to hate on the Levi's just because you're loving your meticulously broken in G-Stars.
Leighton Meester looks fabulous on the December cover of Glamour UK with huge hair, styled in a 1960s Brigitte Bardot look. She's wearing fishnet stockings and a faux leopard print coat. In this issue, Leighton Meester talks about how her past relationships have inspired her music and how she wants her Gossip Girl character Blair Waldorf to cut loose. Leighton told Glamour UK that she doesn't care how people label her.
Leighton says, "I'm proud of the work that I've done. I don't care what people label me as. If they want to say I'm an actress, and I should never sing, that's fine. If they know me for my music, because they don’t watch my show or my movies, that's fine, too. I'm doing what I want with my life. I just do...me."
This weekend H & M held a party in Los Angeles to celebrate the U.S. launch of the hotly anticipated Jimmy Choo for H & M collection. Hayden Panettiere, Paris Hilton, Nicki Hilton and Olivia Wilde were all wearing items from the collection which is based on black and cobalt blue, with sequins, leopard print and jeweled accessories.
Hayden wore the black sequin cardigan, skinny leather pants and a carried the studded zebra-print clutch. Hayden had nothing but praise for the line, saying, "[Founder] Tamara Mellon is so brilliant, and such a wonderful designer. Her shoes are incredible....I do my shopping sprees at H&M... And I am in love with these pants!"
Paris Hilton wore the belted jumpsuit and accessorized with lots of bracelets from the collection and the hot pink box clutch. Paris said,
"I already love H&M but the fact that they are doing Jimmy Choo as well I think is amazing. The purses, the shoes, everything. The clothes are so cute. They have so many fabulous things and I can't wait to get the whole collection."
Nicky Hilton wore the beaded batwing dress and Olivia Wilde looked fabulous in the rhinestone-encrusted black cocktail dress, cage heels and a mock croc clutch. The party was orchestrated by a producer who had models wearing the outfits. They posed and changed positions at specified times. Take a look:
The collection goes on sale on November 14 and is not available online to U.S. residents. A crowd is expected at most of the stores, so they will be handing out bracelets to get in. The store has limited the number of items each person can buy to discourage people from stocking up and reselling on Ebay at higher prices. A full explanation of how to buy the items can be found here (just skip the intro).
Ryan Seacrest posted this photo of him and a lovely Great Dane, with the comment "My new homie." He's adorable. And huge. We do hope Ryan has laid in a big supply of dog food.
Singer Rihanna says she is embarrassed about falling in love with Chris Brown. She told Diane Sawyer that she originally ended the relationship with Chris Brown after thinking about the example she was setting for fans. Rihanna said that she started lying to herself about wanting to go back to him. Take a look:
Rihanna's time spent away from Chris Brown seems to helping her realize how serious the incident was. In an interview with 20/20 she gave more details about the incident when Chris Brown assaulted her. People has some excerpts here.
"When is it going to stop? When is it going to stop? He had no soul in his eyes. Just blank. He was clearly blacked-out. There was no person when I looked at him."
Rihanna says she now knows the relationship with Chris Brown was an unhealthy one and that it had become "a bit of an obsession." She says, "Love doesn't go away right away. He didn't accept that very well. Obviously he didn't want us to be apart. But I had to make a decision for me."
Katy Perry posted this photo of her fabulous manicure for the EMAs yesterday, saying "Diamonds ARE girl best friend..." That must have taken quite a while to get all the rhinestones on each nail.
Katy Perry hosted MTV's European Music Awards last night and opened the show with a medley of nominated songs, including "Poker Face" and "Halo." Katy did a Cabaret-style routine, with Sally Bowles outfit, chairs and back up dancers. Take a look:
Donatella Versace is determined to save her company, which has been in the news lately for layoffs and financial problems. Donatella told the media "I AM a survivor." Thrust into the spotlight when her brother was murdered, Donatella discussed with The New York Times the years of drug use, the rehab and how she had to be strong for the company and for her family.
Seated on a sofa in her suite at the Waldorf Towers, where she was registered for privacy's sake as "Mrs. Montez," Ms. Versace was dressed in form-hugging black trousers and the stilettos she removes only at the gym. With her hair bleached to a color one associates with mythological nymphets, and with her heavily accented English, she seemed every bit the exotic satirized by Maya Rudolph on Saturday Night Live -- a characterization that, Ms. Versace said, "I laughed about -- once."
*****
"In my life I had no other choice than to become a strong person," Ms. Versace said. "I had to do it, at first for Gianni, and also for my children," she said, referring to her daughter, Allegra, who inherited 50 percent of the company in 2004 when she turned 18.
*****
She points out that, even in the days when she was such a compulsive cocaine consumer that fashion insiders alert to this open secret speculated on whether she would ever leave the bathroom to make an appearance at one of her own dinner parties, she still produced eight collections a year.
"If my problem was as big as everyone says, how did I run this company and create all these collections?" said Ms. Versace, whose 2004 stint at a rehabilitation center in Arizona came about only after a group of friends, Elton John among them, staged an intervention during one of these parties at her palazzo on via Gesu in Milan.
"I was dressed up, very glamorous, and I went to the bathroom to do a line," Ms. Versace said. "I didn't think anything was strange at the time, but then when I came out, all my friends were sitting in a circle on chairs and they said: 'You have a problem. We love you. You have to get help.'"
*****
"But you have to face the truth," Ms. Versace said, whether seeking sobriety or reinvention in the global marketplace. "For me, life is about chapters," she said, drawing one of the Marlboro Reds she chain-smokes from a packet customized with her DV monogram.
"Die and born again, die and born again," she said, striking a match. "It's the story of my life."
Analysts say companies like Versace will have to change in order to survive in the new post-recession world. Luxury sales will eventually increase, but spending is not expected to be as profligate as it once was. Donatella has hired a new CEO who is trimming costs and making changes in the company to comport with the new realities in the marketplace.
Stella McCartney's new GapKids and BabyGap collection debuted earlier this week. A Stella McCartney for GapKids Pop-Up Store opened on Robertson Boulevard today. It will remain open through Saturday, Nov. 28. All the Rage says the space was previously a Gap 1969 denim boutique. Actress Liv Tyler hosted the opening of the Pop-up store at kid-friendly event which included face painting and balloon animals.
Charlize Theron and Viggo Mortensen hit the red carpet for the Hollywood premiere of their new thriller, a post-apocalyptic survival story, The Road. The film is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which explores the struggle to survive of a man and his son who are traveling south to find food and shelter, while avoiding gangs of roving cannibals. Both Viggo and Charlize talked about the film: Charlize was determined to find a note of hopefulness in the movie. Take a look:
Style.con asked CFDA International Award and the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award winners Anna Sui and Marc Jacobs to sit down to lunch at Il Cantinori and have a chat. The two designers talk about how the New York fashion scene has changed since they were young and how they feel about winning lifetime achievement awards while they are still in the prime of their careers. They also quiz each other on personal trivia -- Anna appears to be the winner in the trivia contest. Take a look:
Jim Carrey, Bob Hoskins and Colin Firth all had important jobs for the London premiere of A Christmas Carol. Each star was responsible for turning on the Christmas lights at a huge lighting ceremony in central London. Free shows at Saint Paul's Cathedral, Regent Street and Oxford Circus, helped build up the atmosphere before the big moment of the lights' illumination at each site.
Producers called it the biggest co-ordinated Christmas lights switch-on and celebration London has ever seen, and are hoping to get into the Guinness World Record book for the largest simultaneous 3D Film premieres. There were 13 premieres taking place at the same time. This film has a huge marketing budget, that's for sure. Take a look:
Here's another cool sneak peek behind the scenes of New Moon. This clip focuses on the Volturi vampire clan. We meet each member and get an idea of their special powers and abilities. The budget is much bigger for this film than it was for Twilight, so director Chris Weitz got better sets and fight scenes. The fight choreographer created a new fighting style so that the look of vampires fighting would be different than the way humans fight. It's quite interesting and -- as Rob says -- it looks really cool. Take a look:
Taylor Swift and Bill Hader film a promo for Saturday Night Live in which the Kanye West incident comes up. Taylor is doing the promo when Bill looks at his phone and says "Kanye just called; he thinks Beyonce should host instead." It's pretty funny. Take a look:
Natalie Portman covers the December issue of V magazine with a pompadour hairstyle and a fiercer look. The photos were taken by fashion photographer Mario Testino. In the interview, Natalie Portman talks about being a sexual object, privacy and aging.
On Sex Scenes in Films: "I was figuring out my own sexual identity, likes and dislikes and all that stuff, and it's weird to be doing stuff on film as you're figuring it out. Also being a sexual object when you're a kid is really uncomfortable. After The Professional, I was already getting creepy letters. It's annoying because online bullshit interferes with what I want to do artistically. I'm not opposed to sexuality or nudity in a film, but I'm very opposed to pornography sites and you're pretty much giving them material if you do any of that. It's always a big dilemma for me."
On Social Media: "The formative time of my public image happened before there was Facebook, Twitter, all of those gossip sites. I had my own drunken nights and dating a million people, but there wasn't that attention then."
On Aging and Hollywood: "You see people who were stars five years ago and already they're waning. As actresses approach 40, it starts becoming really, really difficult."
