Amy Winehouse

Abramovich Building Private $30 Million Nightclub in London

Filed under: Wealth

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is building himself an exclusive new $30 million private nightclub underneath his football club's stadium in London to entertain girlfriend Dasha Zhukova's (above) chic friends. Work on the luxuriously appointed space, located below Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium with capacity for up to 500 guests, is at an advanced stage and could be complete by December the London Evening Standard reports. The venue, in a space formerly occupied by Purple nightclub which closed in 2007, features a 13-ft. high waterfall that cost $250,000 to install as well as a hydraulically-operated stage for private performances by Abramovich's favorite artists including Gwen Stefani, Amy Winehouse and Kings of Leon. The interior will feature a "gritty industrial design motif" with a lavish green room for performers and private booths with plasma TV screens, the paper reports, noting Abramovich got the idea for the club after touring exclusive night spots in the U.S.

Tags: Amy Winehouse, Dasha Zhukova, Gwen Stefani, London, nightclub, Roman Abramovich, Russia, Russian billionaires, sports

The Fashion Statement: Bouffants are Back

by Kristin Young (RSS feed) —

Filed under: The Fashion Statement

The bouffant, the piled-high hairstyle popularized in the late '50s and early '60s, is back!

Amy Winehouse has been rockin' a beehive for years. But, this year, bouffants kicked into high gear and were seen on the runways of Chanel, Dior, Oscar de la Renta (above) and Vera Wang. On the celeb front Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson and Kate Beckinsale have all given it a whirl.

Bouffant. Pompadour. Whatever you call it, it was born in France, reportedly first introduced by Madame de Pompadour who was a mistress of Louis XV. But the real bouffant as we know it today was created for Marie Antoinette, who apparently wanted to mask her thin hair. Closer to the truth, it was the fashion. And, as we know, Antoinette was not exactly known for her restraint.

According to Daring 'Dos: A History of Extraordinary Hair, by Mary Trasko, both Pompadour and Antoinette wore their hair high on the forehead, either brushed over a pad or "frizzed." Some estimated the towering styles stretched three feet high. Hair was such a production back then, women slept propped up on pillows. Our quips today that animals could live in those things was more than partly right-the pomades back then were made of lard and attracted vermin.

By the '60s, the style had become so commonplace in the West, it spread to American suburbs. Throngs of women made their weekly trips to the hair salon, usually Fridays. Wash. Set. Tease. And use lots of industrial strength hair spray. Teachers complained about girls whose hair was so big that they blocked other students from seeing the blackboard.

Gallery: The Fashion Statement: Bouffants are Back

Tags: Amy Winehouse, bouffant, Chanel, HairStyles, Lady Gaga, Madame de Pompadour, Marie Antoinette, Vidal Sasson

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The Fashion Statement: More Celebrity Hookups Good or Bad?

by Kristin Young (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Big Givers, Celebrity Design, The Fashion Statement

Celebrities have no intention of staying away from fashion, even with all the bad press lately (see last season's disastrous Lohan/Ungaro mash up). Last week Madonna teamed up with Iconix Brand Group to produce a tween line inspired by her daughter Lourdes. Early this week, she struck another deal with Dolce & Gabbana to produce a line of eyewear called MDG. Amy Winehouse hooked up with Fred Perry for a line scheduled to hit stores in the fall. And then there is Sarah Jessica Parker and Halston and a myriad of Olympic stars lending their now recognizable names to brands.

Since the days of Jaclyn Smith for Kmart in the '80s and Kathy Lee Gifford for Wal-Mart in the 90s, celebrities have been ubiquitous in the fashion field. It's not hard to guess what their primary motivator is. A brand generally spends loads of money for the privilege of using a household name.

But does it do anything for a brand? Based on some marketing studies I found online, the jury is out on that one. One guy called it the lazy man's brand building. Another said it's very hard for the consumer to keep track of what celebrity is with whom and harder still to trust a brand just from a celebrity endorsement alone. And if a celeb is hooked up with lots of different brands, each individual brand could really suffer.

Tags: amy winehouse, AmyWinehouse, celebrity endorsement, celebrity endorsement deals, celebrity endorsements, Celebrity fashion designers, celebrity fashion lines, Lourdes, Madonna, Tiger Woods, TigerWoods

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So Rich They Can Afford to Look Poor

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel

There is apparently a point at which some excessively rich individuals decide to do away with decent standards of dress altogether. They are literally so loaded they can afford to look homeless; their rags become a sort of reverse status symbol. In fact, as author Paul Fussell noted in Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, shabby clothes "advertise how much of conventional dignity [the upper classes] can afford to throw away. The wearing of clothes excessively new or excessively neat and clean suggests that your social circumstances are not entirely secure."

We'd like to think that's the reason behind the appearance of the celebs on Nerve's new list of the "Top 10 Rich People Who Look Poor." It would certainly seem to be for notoriously-underdressed billionaire Condé Nast owner Si Newhouse, who clocks in at # 7. But we think it's more than likely that the Olsen Twins (#6), Britney Spears (#3) and Amy Winehouse (#1), who's reportedly worth $20 million, are actually just slobs. Check out the full list here.

Tags: Amy Winehouse, AmyWinehouse, Britney Spears, BritneySpears, Cond Nast, CondNast, expire-images2009-4-28, Nerve, Olsen Twins, OlsenTwins, Paul Fussell, PaulFussell, Si Newhouse, SiNewhouse

Amy Winehouse, Pop Art Muse

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The icons of an age are often immortalized by artists. Artist Gerald Laing may not be as famous as Andy Warhol for his Pop Art portraits but he has been doing them since the early 1960s when he created Pop Art pictures of Brigitte Bardot. His latest work includes picture of Amy Winehouse, Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham. Moss has been sort of all-purpose muse for a variety of artists ranging from Banksy to Lucien Freud.

The works represent a turn in Laing's recent work, a sharp commentary on the war in Iraq that featured images of torture from Abu Ghraib prison. The sweetest of the pictures is The Kiss, a picture of Amy Winehouse on a red carpet kissing her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. You can pick up a imited edition prints of this picture for £1,000 from the Ocontemporary gallery.

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Tags: amy winehouse, AmyWinehouse, art, gerald laing, kate moss, pop art, victoria beckham