Diddy Will Taxi, But Mariah Won’t ScoopHe’s much more mature than Mariah, who left her dog poop in front of Cavalli. Learn which other celebs can act like grown-ups in today’s gossip roundup!
ByTim Murphy
gossipmonger
Is Hudstrong Already Over?Have Kate Hudson and Lance Armstrong split before even getting a nickname? Does Jeffrey Epstein really send valentines from prison? Did Janice Dickinson really flash a pilot? That’s what New York gossips are saying! Read all about it in our daily roundup.
Adriana Lima Has Really Big … EyesFASHION
• Victoria’s Secret is featuring Adriana Lima in its Super Bowl ads because of her “spectacular eyes.” Right, her eyes. [WWD]
• Diane Von Furstenberg has launched her first line of shoes. [FWD]
• John Bartlett is joining Tim Gunn at Liz Claiborne. He’ll be designing a men’s sportswear line. [Investor’s Business Daily]
company town
Some Lawyers Are SadLAW
• Know a troubled lawyer? If you work in the law, you probably do — some estimates put the ratio of depressed attorneys at 20 percent — and a few new Websites are trying help them out. [Law Blog/WSJ, WSJ]
• How not to get out of your marijuana arrest: When the judge lets you off easy, pull out a driver’s license covered in pot. [New York Law Journal]
• So just how lame was Cadwalader’s Wild Wild West holiday party last night? Wildly. [Above the Law]
gossipmonger
Why Does Peter Kalikow Have a $1 Million Ferrari?Billionaire financiers Stephen Schwarzman and Henry Kravis don’t like each other, and refuse to socialize at billionaire financier-type events. Speaking of billionaire financiers, Jeffrey Epstein hired former Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr to help defend him against charges that he solicited prostitutes. Tim Gunn claims that he wasn’t allowed to reference Project Runway in his book for fear of being sued by publisher (and Runway co-producer) Weinstein & Co. MTA chairman Peter Kalikow’s $1 million Ferrari sustained $32,000 in damage in transit from Zurich to New York last may. James Gandolfini says we should “shit or get off the pot” regarding Iraq, and wants to reinstate the draft. Some designers are angry that Ralph Lauren is hoarding models for his Saturday show.
gossipmonger
Clinton-Gore ‘48The Gores and the Clintons ran into each other at kiddie restaurant Mars 2112. Warner Bros. execs told Tim Burton to tone down the gore in his upcoming Sweeney Todd. (Perhaps he’ll be an only mildy disturbed barber?) Oprah is trying to get a woman to relocate her wedding because it is being held at a ranch that Oprah wants to reserve for guests attending her Obama fund-raiser. For some reason, ex-CNN anchor Paula Zahn kept a detailed diary of her affair with ContiGroup CEO Paul Fribourg. New York Rangers Sean Avery and Brendan Shanahan may star in hockey nut Mike Meyers’s upcoming movie. Bono’s duplex in the San Remo on Central Park West, once owned by Steve Jobs, may soon be for sale. Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot is setting her upcoming murder mystery at an NYU-like school.
party lines
Busy Tim Gunn Moves, Guides, Films
After sixteen years in his West Village apartment, Project Runway host Tim Gunn finally found time to move this weekend to his new Chelsea digs. He’d rescheduled the move four times to make it “as stress-free as possible” between filming the first two episodes of his new show, Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, based on his book of the same name. “I’d say I’m not a fashion Svengali,” Gunn told us at Project Ruffway the other night of his role on the show. “I’m not going to throw clothes at you and say, ‘If you wear these, all of your fashion woes will be fixed.’ I’m much more of a fashion therapist.” While Gunn films Project in June, producers will look at “tons and tons” of tape for the first two episodes and figure out how to structure the show. “When we go back and do it in July, it should be smoother and better worked out,” said Gunn, who’s taping episode two this week. It’s doubtful he’ll have time soon to install shelves for his 75 boxes of books he moved, but he plans to unpack everything himself, rejecting the idea of a personal assistant. “I couldn’t stand it,” he said. “I’ll wash my own underwear, thank you.” —Amy Odell
party lines
Tim Gunn Goes to the Dogs
The fourth season of Project Runway starts taping next month, and Tim Gunn warmed up last night with Project Ruffway, a dog fashion show he hosted in a Chelsea gallery space. A benefit for Stray From the Heart, which rescues stray dogs around the globe, the show featured designer fashions for dogs and their walkers. A dog fashion show, it turns out, is a lot like a people fashion show. Looks were shown in the categories of eveningwear, weekend, resort, and “ruff and tumble” (“whatever that means,” Gunn unhelpfully explained), and many models, all adoptable or recently adopted, came from South America. Clothes were by top designers like Nicole Miller and Juicy Couture; Champagne was the drink of choice, though many well-heeled attendees sipped “Hair of the Dog” cocktails made with blood-orange juice, Champagne, and vodka; and the theme was taken seriously: hors d’oeuvre included little bone-shaped sandwiches of roast beef and grilled cheese and French fries in tiny bone-patterned paper cones.
party town
G-Unit• Entertainment Weekly upfronts party. The Box, 189 Chrystie St., nr. Stanton St., 9 p.m. Expected guests include Balthazar Getty, Kelsey Grammer, Judy Greer, Tim Gunn, and others whose last names don’t start with a “G.”
show and talk
‘Runway’ Winner Dao to Design for Neiman’s?Project Runway’s second-season winner Chloe Dao is in talks with Neiman Marcus about designing a line for the high-end department store, Tim Gunn said earlier this week. “Chloe wants to contain kind of a bubble of a career, and she has it,” Gunn told us at the Parson benefit the other night. “I mean it’s not going to be overnight, immediate commercial success, only because of the daunting aspects of production and how you wind all that up and seize the market.” Gunn heard the news from Neiman’s execs; Dao’s rep at Lizzie Grubman PR declined comment on any deals in the works but could announce one to design iPod accessories for a different Texas-based company. “She likes her life,” Gunn said. “She likes living in Houston. She manages it well, and I’m really proud of her.” —Amy Odell
party lines
At Parsons Benefit, Tim Gunn Promises Best ‘Runway’ Contestants YetDespite reports of low turnout for Project Runway’s season-four auditions last month, Tim Gunn called them the best ever. “We could have cast three seasons of Project Runway based on the quality in the numbers that we saw,” he said last night at a Parsons benefit attended by Bill Clinton, Mayor Bloomberg, and Donna Karan. “And when the designers are better, frankly, they’re really more fun to work with because you can really have a design dialogue as opposed to that hem’s falling down, why is the sleeve doing what it’s doing?, look at all this bulk — that isn’t fun.” Though busy with a new book, a Project Runway spinoff, and new job as CCO of Liz Claiborne, Gunn won’t leave Runway any time soon. “If there’s a season five for Bravo and for the show, there’s a season five for me because I can’t get enough of it,” he said. —Amy Odell
gossipmonger
Sharpton Comes AliveAl Sharpton is planning on speaking out against rap music at this week’s National Action Network convention, but Russell Simmons and other hip-hop execs are skeptical. The wife of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun invited three of his alleged mistresses to today’s funeral. Beyoncé is slated to make a lot of money after her current deal with Sony is up. Britney Spears may have fired manager Larry Rudolph, whom she blames for her recent career woes. Madonna went back to Malawi but insists she’s not adopting another child. Bruce Willis is now seeing Courtney Love.
company town
Bravo Makes Tim Gunn WorkFASHION
• Tim Gunn will carry on for another season of Project Runway. Bravo executives can now breathe. [Downtown Darling]
• Vogue’s May issue spotlights the ten new top models, including Jessica Stam, Chanel Iman, Coco Rocha, and Agyness Deyn. [Fashionologie]
• Henry Holland knockoffs continue to flood the market. The culprit this time: Urban Outfitters. [Fashionista]
gossipmonger
Anderson, CelebutanteFox News compares Anderson Cooper to Paris Hilton, and CNN isn’t happy. (Which we imagine was the point.) Steve Madden will underwrite Fashion Week’s Designers for Darfur even though IMG backed out. Hillary Clinton is trying to infuse her campaign with some stand-up comedy. Jeremy Piven jokes that he’d like to settle down with a girlfriend if he weren’t “gayer than Liberace in 1972.” Parsons fashion chairman Tim Gunn to become chief creative officer of Liz Claiborne (but still do Project Runway). Bill Clinton will not be the next president of Harvard.
21 questions
Tim Gunn Wears Banana Republic Jeans
Name: Tim Gunn
Age: 53
Job: Chair, Department of Fashion Design, Parsons; Mentor, Project Runway
Neighborhood: West Village
Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Depends on my mood. Up: Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Down: Thomas Wolfe’s character C. Green, who leaps to his death from a hotel window in You Can’t Go Home Again.
What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York?
Restaurant: Gotham Bar & Grill. Other: At the home of my dear friends Bea and Jerry Banu.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
Put out fires!
