Remember Joshua Allen Harris, the Brooklyn artist who landed some press a few months ago for his subway grate art? No? Well, he's still at it and the Wooster Collective checked in with him this week to find his plastic bag sculptures are getting even bigger. After the jump, one of his better known stunts, a giant giraffe.
It's less than a month until Fashion Week, which means it's time for runway models to increase cigarette and laxative consumption and cut back on anything containing calories or nourishment. And time for journalists to write stories about the cruel travails of trying to be a size zero. Today the Wall Street Journal talks to 18-year-old aspiring mannequin Tatiana Stewart (left), who's attractive enough to work at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie and Fitch (no small feat), but at 6'2"and size 4 she's repeatedly told to lose weight by casting agents—and didn't even make it through ANTM auditions after being told to lift her skirt.
What's Hollywood producer Paula Wagner planning to do now that she's officially splitting from partner Tom Cruise and United Artists? Is a move to New York on the agenda? That might explain why Wagner and husband Rick Nicita, who recently departed CAA to join Morgan Creek Productions as a co-chairman and COO, just paid $4.5 million for a ninth-floor loft at 166 Duane Street, according to records released this morning. Wagner and Nicita's new home in the luxe Tribeca building—it's also home to Time Warner chairman Dick Parsons—is 2,241-square-feet and features beamed ceilings, tropical wood floors, and sweeping city views. They purchased the apartment from Carole Sadler, a senior VP and general counsel at Coach. Floorplan of Wagner and Nicita's new place after the jump!
On a fundraising event list sent to Barack Obama supporters: "Runway to Change with Special Guests Sarah Jessica Parker & Ann Wintour." We appreciate that running a presidential campaign is a lot of work, but getting Anna's name wrong? Maybe Andre Leon Talley can intervene and negotiate a rapprochement? [NYT]
Sad news for Hamptons residents looking to blow $350,000 on a Lamborghini this summer: Manhattan Motorcars Hamptons, the dealership in Westhampton Beach that caters to the rich and even richer, may lose its right to sell the insanely expensive autos in the near future. In June, Lamborghini's parent company, Automobili Lamborghini SpA, informed the dealership that they were no longer using the Lamborghini name with permission. (The legal threat was prompted by Manhattan Motorcars' move to a new location, one which Lamborghini, it seems, didn't approve of.) Now Manhattan Motorcars is fighting back. It's slapped Lamborghini with a $20 million lawsuit for breach of contract, among other things. The court records—and messy details—are below.
Terry Richardson turns 43 today. We're guessing whatever Terry has planned this evening will involve plenty of liquor and barely-legal girls in their underwear. Maybe Lady Bunny can come over, too. She (he?) turns 46 today. Also celebrating today: playwright Thomas Meehan is 79, Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden is turning 49, and another Oscar winner, Halle Berry, is 42. Magic Johnson is 49. Theater producer Allan Buchman is celebrating his 63rd. Actress Mila Kunis is 25. And America's Next Top Model's Jay Manuel turns 36.
Were you thinking about starting a family? Now's not the time according to German researchers, who claim that babies born during a recession wind up with shorter lives than those arriving in a time of prosperity. Hey, it's as good an excuse as any to delay wrecking your figure and social life. [Discover]
"Zucker has an appealing, ruddy tint that lends him a cherubic appearance, despite his gray pinstripe gabardine suit and linen shirt. He has wire-frame glasses and a fringe of graying brown hair. His stubble looks like the kind that grows in fast, but his five-o'clock shadow does little to lend him gravitas." [Portfolio via Jossip]
Most people who work in the service industry are (understandably) nervous right now, aware that their potential customers are counting the pennies and denying themselves expensive dinners and shopping trips. But you'll be relieved to hear that there's at least one place immune from such mundane concerns. According to Bloomberg News, the Hamptons' restaurants, hotels, and shops are overrun with mega-rich spenders for whom "recession is something that happens to other people." Like lung cancer, or identity theft!
You know all those stores that leave their doors open and release big gusts of cold air into the sweltering streets of Manhattan? Consider them a thing of the past. "The City Council is expected to pass legislation on Thursday that would impose fines on stores that leave their doors wide open with the air-conditioning on." [NYT]
Thought you were having a busy summer? Try catching up with Georgette Mosbacher. The Republican operative, co-chair of the RNC finance committtee, and three-time divorcée took off to Egypt in June at the request of Mrs. Hosni Mubarak. In July, she headed with pal Barbara Walters to Syria (which is not a "third world country," she'd like you to know), where she dined with President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma. Then it was off to Venice "to join Allison and Leonard Stern aboard their yacht the Lady Allison for a nine-day cruise of the Dalmatian Coast." Barbara and Georgie disembarked in Dubrovnik and headed home. But Georgette was back on the road two days later, heading to Brussels to meet up with General Bantz John Craddock, the Supreme Allied Commander, at NATO headquarters. Then? She headed to Kabul. Seriously.
