KEY POINTS:
Brad Pitt reportedly phoned the LA distributor of Autore jewellery to purchase a pair of South Sea pearl earrings as a gift for the mother of his ever expanding brood, Angelina Jolie, following the birth of their latest sprogs (Vivienne and Knox).
The call was significant, not so much because daddy wanted to acknowledge mommy's too-posh-to-push caesarean delivery, but because Pitt was prepared to part with his own not-so-hard-earned cash.
Schlebs don't buy jewellery, well, not when there's a red carpet and a photographer in the vicinity. Borrowed is the norm - even in little old New Zild. Especially in New Zealand where the big bucks evade schlebs' bank accounts here, and yet our schlebs are strangely keen to strut the carpet with hot rocks and frocks like their LA counterparts.
There weren't many celebs at Graeme Thomson's Autore jewellery launch in Parnell on Tuesday night, as in none. Check out the piccies here.
It was a pity. For an international company who prides itself on lending jewels to the lobes, wrists and napes of many a celebrity - including Angelina, Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johansson, Halle Berry, Uma Thurman, Kate Winslet, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Bosworth, Liv Tyler, Kate Moss and even our very own Keisha Castle-Hughes - Autore would have found many local ones more than keen to front up to preview jewellery they'd cross-their-fingers hope they could later borrow for a movie premiere or Christmas party.
That's how they think. Schlebs can be shameless. Some have no qualms in asking a designer for a freebie or the chance to wear a dress for one outing. Of course, with the latter, they run the risk of wearing the same dress as a celebrity before them.
A couple of years ago we Spy-ed Bernadine Oliver-Kirby and Alison Mau in the same borrowed grey strapless sparkly number from Yvonne Bennetti's store.
Check them out here.
The TVNZ stylist at the time (who has since left and been replaced with the gorgeous Michiko Hughes whose rich and beautiful Japanese mother is one of the largest buyers of Louis Vuitton handbags in the world - truly!) was to blame for the fashion faux pas. Putting two high-profile blondes in the same very unforgettable dress at two photo opportunity events is a stylist's nightmare.
Only we're not sure what to make of the grey tulip dress that first made its appearance on Petra Bagust's long and lean body at the Qantas Film and Television Awards last month, and then again in a déjà vu way on the beautiful Antonia Prebble at last week's Phantom of the Opera opening night (hidden unfortunately by a chavvy coat). Perhaps the two stars bought the same dress; perhaps they borrowed it from the TV3 wardrobe department. Either way they both looked very glam in a very memorable way.
Check them out here.
Rachel Glucina
Pictured above: Graeme Thomson launch of Autore South Sea Pearl jewellery. From left; Charlotte Spencer-Roy, Graeme Thomson and Catherine Spencer. Photo / Norrie Montgomery.
