Champagne flowed all night into the early morning hours Saturday in New York city, where thousands of people took over shops and department stores to celebrate "Fashion's Night Out" with famous celebrities.
It's early, but I think out of the gate it seems to have become so much bigger, American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour said of the event timed to coincide with New York Fashion Week.
The queen of glossy magazines first launched the evening festivities last year in a bid to boost fashion sales that have suffered in these hard economic times.
With support from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the initiative has morphed into a shopping fiesta.
All across the Big Apple, long queues formed starting Friday afternoon outside department stores like Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York and Macy's, while jewelers and luxury boutiques offered champagne and canapes for handpicked guests and customers.
Many retailers seized on the occasion to invite musicians, DJs and other performance artists.
Dutch designers Viktor Horstling and Rolf Snoeren ("Viktor & Rolf") clinked glasses in suits and ties in a big bed at Saks and a French-style flea market was installed at the Ace Hotel.
Others, like Italian jeweler Pomellato, proposed a lottery to win a ring from its latest collection.
In some corners, the festivities nearly grew into riots, namely at Macy's where singer Jennifer Lopez was introducing her latest perfume scent.
The first 300 people who paid a fee of 135 dollars had the privilege of getting photographed with the star, while the rest were ruthlessly pushed back by her bodyguards.
Hundreds more fans waited elsewhere for a chance sighting of model Naomi Campbell, "Sex and the City" actress Sarah Jessica Parker or tennis champion Serena Williams.
Johnny Depp highest paid Hero in Hollywood
Hollywood Actor Johnny Depp has been named as the highest paid actor in Hollywood thanks to his role in Alice in Wonderland, according to Forbes
The actor earned £50m for portraying the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s 3-D version.
The Disney film has grossed $1 billion in box office, making Depp the only actor to headline two $1 billion films, the other being Pirates of the Caribbean.
Depp also landed a big upfront payday estimated at more than £15m for The Tourist starring alongside Angelina Jolie.
Last year Johnny Depp was 10th place on the Forbes annual list of top earning actors with a salary of £18m.
The 47 year old actor is currently filming the latest instalment of the Pirates series in Hawaii.
Comic Ben Stiller is named as the second on the top earning actors list with £38m.
His film “Night at the Museum 2” was a huge success and he also received an estimated £10m for the third in the series of “Meet the Fockers” with Robert De Niro.
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is the only British star on the top 10 list for 2010, which was dominated by US actors.
His income for last June to June 2010 was put at £16.6m.
He has completed filming the last in the series of the Potter films and his next role will be in the ghost story “Woman in Black”.
Forbes calculated the rankings by surveying agents, managers, producers and lawyers to determine what the stars were paid.
They also took into account money they received as a percentage of the box office profits.
New York Fashion Week kicks off Wednesday
New York's Spring Summer 2011 Fashion Week kicked off Wednesday in new digs at the prestigious Lincoln Center.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg opened the event and temporarily renamed the city's number one subway route the "Fashion Line" in honor of the week running until September 16th.
Starting Thursday, designers from around the world will show their creations in tents set up in Damrosch Park within the Lincoln Center complex hosting the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet and New York Symphony Orchestra.
The New York event is the first of the four principal twice-a-year fashion weeks, followed by London, Milan and Paris.
Starting tomorrow, one of the world?s most eye-catching events comes to one of the world?s greatest cultural institutions, as we kick off Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, Bloomberg said.
For years, the famed fashion tents have drawn people from all over the world to New York City, and the buzz is even greater this year with it debuting at its new home at Lincoln Center.
Fashion Week in New York is attended by some 230,000 people and brings an estimated 770 million dollars in economic activity to a city where 175,000 people are employed in the fashion industry, the mayor's office says.
Until this year Fashion Week always took place in more cramped conditions at Bryant Park, near Times Square.
Lincoln Center is an ideal location for the semi-annual events, with more outdoor space than was available at Bryant Park and terrific transit access, including the Number One subway line, or as it will be called this week: The Fashion Line, Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg was accompanied at the opening ceremony by designer and Council of Fashion Designers of US president Diane von Furstenberg, whose collection will be shown Sunday.
Friday will feature "Fashion Night Out" when city stores stay open late and fashionistas are encouraged to shop and party into the wee hours.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg opened the event and temporarily renamed the city's number one subway route the "Fashion Line" in honor of the week running until September 16th.
Starting Thursday, designers from around the world will show their creations in tents set up in Damrosch Park within the Lincoln Center complex hosting the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet and New York Symphony Orchestra.
The New York event is the first of the four principal twice-a-year fashion weeks, followed by London, Milan and Paris.
Starting tomorrow, one of the world?s most eye-catching events comes to one of the world?s greatest cultural institutions, as we kick off Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, Bloomberg said.
For years, the famed fashion tents have drawn people from all over the world to New York City, and the buzz is even greater this year with it debuting at its new home at Lincoln Center.
Fashion Week in New York is attended by some 230,000 people and brings an estimated 770 million dollars in economic activity to a city where 175,000 people are employed in the fashion industry, the mayor's office says.
Until this year Fashion Week always took place in more cramped conditions at Bryant Park, near Times Square.
Lincoln Center is an ideal location for the semi-annual events, with more outdoor space than was available at Bryant Park and terrific transit access, including the Number One subway line, or as it will be called this week: The Fashion Line, Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg was accompanied at the opening ceremony by designer and Council of Fashion Designers of US president Diane von Furstenberg, whose collection will be shown Sunday.
Friday will feature "Fashion Night Out" when city stores stay open late and fashionistas are encouraged to shop and party into the wee hours.
Swinging sixties film director dies
Clive Donner, the British film director whose movies helped set the tone for the swinging sixties, died Tuesday at the age of 84, his family said.
He had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease and died in London.
Donner's career began at Pinewood Studios outside London when he was 15, his cousin Gavin Asher said.
"One of the things he was most proud of was what he did for the careers of quite a lot of British actors including Alan Bates, David Hemmings and Ian McKellen," he said.
"A lot of them went on to eclipse his fame and success but he was very giving in that sense."
Donner directed "Nothing But The Best", a 1964 comedy featuring Bates and Denholm Elliott.
He directed 1965 comedy "What's New Pussycat?", starring Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Woody Allen, and Ursula Andress, and "Luv" (1967), featuring Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk.
Coming of age film "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" (1968) captured the spirit of the times.
"He was a man of the sixties and those films were the very essence of swinging London," Asher said.
Donner later moved to Los Angeles to work in television.
He and his late wife had no children.
He had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease and died in London.
Donner's career began at Pinewood Studios outside London when he was 15, his cousin Gavin Asher said.
"One of the things he was most proud of was what he did for the careers of quite a lot of British actors including Alan Bates, David Hemmings and Ian McKellen," he said.
"A lot of them went on to eclipse his fame and success but he was very giving in that sense."
Donner directed "Nothing But The Best", a 1964 comedy featuring Bates and Denholm Elliott.
He directed 1965 comedy "What's New Pussycat?", starring Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Woody Allen, and Ursula Andress, and "Luv" (1967), featuring Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk.
Coming of age film "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" (1968) captured the spirit of the times.
"He was a man of the sixties and those films were the very essence of swinging London," Asher said.
Donner later moved to Los Angeles to work in television.
He and his late wife had no children.
Jolie Visits Pakistan's Flood Effected Areas
Hollywood Actress Angelina Jolie arrived in Pakistan to meet victims of the floods and highlight the need for international help, the United Nations said.
Angelina Jolie was in the country on Tuesday in her role as a "goodwill ambassador" for the UN's refugee agency.
International relief agencies sometimes enlist celebrities to draw attention to their work and get more funds.
The UN gave no details of Jolie's itinerary.
Angelina Jolie was in the country on Tuesday in her role as a "goodwill ambassador" for the UN's refugee agency.
International relief agencies sometimes enlist celebrities to draw attention to their work and get more funds.
The UN gave no details of Jolie's itinerary.
9/11 Movie Open Friday in New York
"Clear Blue Tuesday" is a musical film about love and overcoming tragedy in New York City after attacks of September 11, 2001, opens this weekend, its producers said Tuesday.
Dubbed an "indie rock musical drama," the movie follows the lives of 11 New Yorkers over seven Tuesdays in the following seven years after the World Trade Center was destroyed, killing nearly 3,000 people.
In the musical drama, the eleven protagonists "are transformed by love, desire, art, ambition, fury, grief, faith, fear, hope and, ultimately, connection with each other," said a joint statement by the producers, who included director Elizabeth Lucas.
The film, which opens eight days before the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, is "about the persistence of love and the resilient heart of a city in the face of catastrophe," they said.
Dubbed an "indie rock musical drama," the movie follows the lives of 11 New Yorkers over seven Tuesdays in the following seven years after the World Trade Center was destroyed, killing nearly 3,000 people.
In the musical drama, the eleven protagonists "are transformed by love, desire, art, ambition, fury, grief, faith, fear, hope and, ultimately, connection with each other," said a joint statement by the producers, who included director Elizabeth Lucas.
The film, which opens eight days before the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, is "about the persistence of love and the resilient heart of a city in the face of catastrophe," they said.
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