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From: People HAIL MARY
Katie Holmes and husband Tom Cruise come out to support lady of the hour Mary J. Blige at Celebrate Mary, a bash hosted by pals Jada and Will Smith at Hollywood club Boulevard 3 on Friday. Blige, an eight-time Grammy nominee, took home three awards at Sunday's show. More: Are Tom and Katie moving in? Our sources are reporting that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes looked at houses to purchase on Star Island. The couple spent last Saturday afternoon shopping around the exclusive island for homes between the $15- and $20-million range... Memo Pad: Fairing Well... Dreamgirl...Picture, Not Perfect... Suri Cruise proved to be a bankable cover subject for Vanity Fair. The October issue featuring the first published photos of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' dark-haired offspring sold 713,776 newsstand copies, according to figures reported to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The issue was the bestseller of 2006, and came in just behind Vanity Fair's best-selling issue in the second half of last year — the September 2005 issue featuring Jennifer Aniston sold 738,929 single copies. Suri's appeal also crossed over to the Internet: Vanityfair.com drew 4.3 million page views and 1.9 million unique visitors to its Web site the day after the photos were posted. The site usually draws about 60,000 page views and 20,000 uniques on an average day. The October issue also helped Vanity Fair post its third consecutive record-breaking half in terms of total circulation. For the second half of last year, total paid and verified circulation grew 2.6 percent, to 1,239,850, the highest ever, and its average single-copy sales remained flat at 445,635. ARMANI Goes to the Oscars GIORGIO ARMANI will show his latest Privé collection the night before the Oscars in an exclusive LA catwalk show. The designer, who has not attended the Oscars for 15 years, will be showcasing his couture collection in front of Hollywood's main players with Victoria Beckham, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise rumoured to be front-row. The Champagne reception will be held at Ron Burkle's Green Acre Estate in Beverly Hills, on February 24. "This is a particularly meaningful Oscar year for me as many of my friends are nominated," Armani said this week. "Therefore it gives me great pleasure to celebrate this year's awards with a special presentation of my new couture collection." Runway Riches It's an open secret in the fashion industry that designers pay "wranglers" to round up and place celebrities in their front rows. "The front row of a fashion show is the red carpet to the world," says Lori Levine, founder of Flying Television, a talent booking and brokering firm that places celebrities like Destiny’s Child, Jessica Simpson, Nelly Furtado and Mira Sorvino at fashion shows and other events. Levine has worked with designers like Zac Posen, Vivien Tam, Sean Jean and Miss Sixty. “Twice a year, the entire world watches a designer showcase their clothes. And given that the front row is what everyone sees, you are going to want celebrities there representing your brand, wearing your clothes and getting their picture taken. You can imagine how important it is." So important that designers routinely hire Levine and other wranglers to ensure that A-listers are seated in the front row or, better yet, are strutting the designer's stuff down the runway... Big Bucks Suppose you wanted a celeb of truly blinding wattage--a Katie Holmes, say, or a Mischa Barton. Assuming that they did such jobs, what would you have to pay them to attend? "Katie's a big deal now, so I would say a designer would have to pay $50,000 for her to sit in the front row and $100,000 to walk [as a runway model]," says a wrangler who has placed such socialites as Kimberly Stewart (daughter of rocker Rod Stewart) and celebrities like Nicole Richie at fashion shows and parties. "Nicole [Kidman] would get maybe $40,000 to sit and $80,000 to walk. Mischa [Barton] maybe $25,000 to sit..." ... When she married Tom Cruise in November 2006, Katie Holmes wore a wedding dress--reportedly valued at $2 million--gifted her by designer Giorgio Armani. "[Katie] has a close friendship with Giorgio Armani through her husband," says an Armani representative. "While we don’t pay her to sit front row, she definitely comes [to Armani's shows] to show her support. For us, there is press, and it's great for our brand to be associated with celebrities..." |
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