Mona Dotcom, Chris and Amanda Luxon, and Paul Henry. Photo / Herald composite image
Man about town Ricardo Simich brings you Society Insider. The exclusive parties, the exotic holidays, the hook-ups, the break-ups, and the high stakes business deals - this new Thursday column pulls back the curtain to reveal how New Zealand’s other half live.
From the moment Amanda Luxon stepped off the Royal New Zealand Airforce plane in Samoa last week she put Kiwi fashion in the global spotlight.
As well as travelling to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) to support her husband, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, it is understood she also wanted to showcase New Zealand with her outfit choices.
It’s been more than a year since election night when Luxon - wearing a sleeveless black top and jeans - handed out sausage rolls to media waiting outside her family home in Remuera as the votes were counted.
Luxon’s toned arms led to many memes on social media, which she took in her stride. Within hours, the country’s new first lady appeared beside her husband at Shed 10 at Queen’s Wharf in a cream Adrienne Winkelmann dress.
Luxon has said it was important to wear a New Zealand designer on election night and Winkelmann tweaked some of the features to suit her style and make sure the fit was perfect. Winkelmann, who announced her retirement this month, is renowned for being the couturier to some of the country’s most successful women, with high-powered fans, including former NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark.
But it was Winkelmann’s former design assistant, Blair Wheeler, who made sure Luxon arrived in Apia in another perfectly fitting dress. Her look has been compared to the style of dresses worn by the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex when disembarking on overseas tours.
Wheeler now has his own made-to-measure luxury fashion brand, BW 36.174, with dresses ranging from $800 to more than $2000. The designer, who operates from a boutique on Remuera Rd, is well known for dressing celebrities and the well-heeled, including actress Kim Crossman and Rich Lister Anna Mowbray.
Luxon paired the custom navy dress with a $99 Aura tan leather belt from Wellington-raised shoe and accessory designer Nicole Rebstock. The matching bag was by Yu Mei, the Wellington luxury handbag brand founded by Jessie Wong. Yu Mei bags on average sell for $800.
Last Thursday night at the Chogm official welcome reception and state dinner, Luxon balanced transtasman relations by wearing a black dress by Australian ready-to-wear label Rachel Gilbert, whose dresses on average cost A$900, accessorised with a black handbag by Auckland leather legends Deadly Ponies. The bag is thought to be from their Mr Minimese range, which retails at $429.
On Friday when attending the Chogm reception dinner hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, Luxon kept things Antipodean, wearing a navy waterfall dress by iconic Australian designer Carla Zampatti (about A$1000).
Before the event, the Prime Minister proudly posted a picture of him and his wife on Instagram.
“Not the usual Friday night date with Amanda. We’re off to dinner with King Charles III along with other Heads of Government from around the Commonwealth,” he wrote.
Amanda’s arms were on display again. She laughed when asked about the reaction to her biceps by Paula Bennett for her podcast, Ask Me Anything, in January but revealed she lifts weights twice a week for 10 minutes a time to stay healthy.
“Particularly as I get older, there’s the real recognition that there’s lots of things that can go wrong, there’s the osteoporosis, there’s injury... particularly for women. So for me everything I do is all about injury prevention and bone health... Because if I get injured then I can’t do what I really love doing.
“I don’t spend a lot of time lifting weights... I put it into my exercise regime because it’s important for that functional strength and bone health.”
She added gardening and other household tasks also help her keep active.
“I’m out lifting, pulling, moving. I’m a big DIY person. I’m now proudly able to plaster and paint.”
When it comes to eating, she told Bennett, “I do like to make sure I’ve got quite a clean diet.
“I just don’t eat a lot of carby, sugary things. But my preference is to eat fresh anyway. It’s just a preference. It’s not something I’ve cultivated.”
In Samoa, Luxon saved her best look for the last event on the schedule - a Saturday visit to the markets in Apia where she met the locals. She wore a green pure silk dress by celebrated NZ designer Kiri Nathan. The Ahu Weru dress retails for $680. Luxon’s necklace was also from Nathan’s range - a niho in kawakawa, a variety of authentic pounamu.
Nathan was a favourite designer of former Prime Minister, Dame Jacinda Ardern. Attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth ll in 2022, Ardern accessorised her black dress with a black custom Kiri Nathan feather Kākahu draped over her shoulders.
Mona Dotcom has a new man in her life.
The mother-of-six has been seen around Auckland with entrepreneur Rawiri Nelson, who does work for hip-hop festival Juicy Fest, which is bringing acts Ludacris and Akon to New Zealand and Australia this summer.
In August, we revealed Dotcom’s seven-year relationship with insurance broker Luke Wainui had come to an end.
The pair share a son, Neo, 5. Wainui is based on Auckland’s North Shore.
Mona, 35, is thought to be based between the North Shore and Queenstown where her former husband, controversial German billionaire Kim Dotcom, is based with wife Elizabeth Donnelly (Liz).
Mona and Kim had five children together and Kim has a son, Kash, with Liz.
Mona, Nelson and her children were at the airport last weekend. Could the busy mother have been taking her new man to meet her ex?
The pair have been enjoying working out together at local gyms, including kickboxing with former Commonwealth Games wrestler Andrei Paulet. Last Friday they attended the Stealth Fighters League title fight between Cameron Rowston and Aerdake Apaer, and were last night at the Travis Scott concert at Eden Park.
There was a veritable who’s-who of the MMA world in attendance for the fight at The Trusts Arena in Henderson, including Israel Adesanya and veteran fighters Ray Sefo and Jason Suttie. Nelson, a fitness, supplement and festival entrepreneur is right at home in the world of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).
Also in attendance was Hollywood heavyweight Cliff Curtis, former Hawaii Five-0 star Beulah Koale and F9: The Fast Saga’s Vinnie Bennett.
Nelson and Dotcom posed in a group photo with Irish actor Leigh Gill, who has recently come off a red carpet junket with his Joker: Folie à Deux co-stars Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix. This year Gill has been filming Spartacus: House of Ashur in Auckland.
Dotcom and Nelson have been hinting at their relationship on social media.
Dotcom posted a picture of herself at New North Rd’s Broke Boy Tacos with the caption: “Choosing happiness doesn’t make anyone else worse off”.
Nelson grew up in Rotorua and as a young adult moved to Australia, working in Brisbane in the fitness and entertainment industries.
He co-founded a range of fitness supplements called Höm Energy and works with Juicy Fest alongside Kane Sala, Glenn Meikle and Matt Spratt in 2022.
It is understood Nelson spent time networking for Juicy Fest in California and Mexico last year. He also spent time in Dubai where he posed with Sheikh Almualla bin Ahmed Al Mualla, a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates, and an orangutan at Almualla’s private Zoo.
Juicy Fest had a successful run in multiple centres in New Zealand and Australia last summer. Nelson posed with celebrities including Lance Savali and Israel Adesanya at the various Juicy events.
It’s been more than 10 years since Mona and Kim split and more than 14 years since the Megaupload founder and his former Filipino wife settled in New Zealand.
Twelve years ago their rented mansion in Coatesville was raided by police. Dotcom has been facing potential extradition since 2012 when he was arrested as part of a global sting. The US Justice Department pressed charges against Dotcom, including criminal copyright infringement, money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud.
In August Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed Kim Dotcom’s extradition order, meaning New Zealand will almost certainly deport him to the United States.
Dotcom told his followers on X (formerly Twitter) that “the obedient US colony in the South Pacific (NZ) just decided to extradite him for what users uploaded to Megaupload, unsolicited, and what copyright holders were able to remove with direct delete access instantly and without question”.
“But who cares? That’s justice these days,” he wrote.
Rich listers will chopper into philanthropist Fran Wyborn’s Waiheke Island compound next week for a US election party.
Veteran broadcaster Paul Henry, who will be fresh from taking the pulse of the US elections during his recent visit, has been contracted to be an expert pundit.
Wyborn is the former wife of rich lister Mark Wyborn, whose wealth was reported at $720 million this year.
The Wyborn family have extensive property interests throughout New Zealand including in Tramco Group, Wairakei Estate and, most prominently, Viaduct Harbour Holdings. Their eldest son Justin, is chief executive of Wyborn Capital, a property investment and venture capital office, which is the management company for both his private and his family’s investments.
Parnell-based Wyborn is known for her generosity to friends. The parties she throws at her multi-building beachfront secluded compound on Waiheke are the stuff of legends.
Her US election party sounds no different. Out of the more than 100 guests going, those who don’t helicopter in will have private buses laid on to take them from the ferry.
Guests are thought to include rich listers, health and travel magnate Andrew Bagnall and wife Robbie, retail giants Ross and Dallas Prendergast, Rich Listers Andrew and Robbie Bagnall, Lady Sarah Fay and former hospitality maven Emerald Gilmour.
Society Insider understands that many of the Waiheke multimillion-dollar estates and homeowners are on the invite list.
The theme is red, white and blue and outrageous ensembles are likely. It won’t be just Donald Trump wigs, but Melania and Ivanka Trump get-ups too.
It’s not clear what Henry will wear; he kept quiet with Society Insider.
Wyborn, known for decades for her private philanthropy, launched the Due Drop Foundation in 2020. The foundation helps Kiwis in need by facilitating grants to several New Zealand charities.
As patron and chairperson, Wyborn donated $500,000 to get the giving ball rolling and is said to equal that year on year.
Wyborn knew she had to put herself in the spotlight to encourage her uber-rich friends and other wealthy Kiwi individuals and families who also do their bit to support those in need.
“As a decades-long investor in organisations working to help break the poverty cycle, it was a natural progression to launch a charitable trust with the same mission,” Wyborn told the Herald in 2020.
“Our goal is to improve the living standards of as many New Zealanders as we can and help to lift them from poverty through empowerment and support.”
Meanwhile, Henry has had a big few weeks.
He is selling his Remuera home, and Society Insider hears he and wife Diane Foreman have a particular new mansion in their sights - although Henry denies this.
And this week he has been nominated for the publicly voted Personality of the Year for the New Zealand Television Awards in November.
Henry and Foreman’s Remuera Arney Crescent property is being marketed by Foreman’s good friend, James Doole, of Barfoot and Thompson.
Doole, also a savvy interior designer, has helped Foreman with renovations on several high-profile homes.
Foreman bought the Arney Crescent property in Remuera in 2016 for $8.25 million. She planned to renovate it and then on-sell it, but fell in love with it.
It officially became the marital home of Foreman and Henry when the pair held their wedding ceremony there in 2020.
While Foreman and Doole were reluctant to talk price to One Roof last month, Henry was more forthcoming in his video for the listing: “You’ll have to be rich, it is fabulously expensive,” he said.
Foreman said downsizing was the reason she and Henry were selling the immaculately renovated Georgian-style six-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion, designed in 1895 by Auckland War Memorial Museum architect Keith Draffin.
On Tuesday the Melbourne Cup will give many of the upwardly mobile an excuse to take the day off work and descend on an array of decked-out establishments across Auckland.
Society Insider’s top restaurant picks include lunches that start at $200 per person at the Viaduct’s Soul Bar & Bistro, HeadQuarters and Bivacco.
Soul Bar’s general manager Olivia Carter says the bar’s famous Cup lunch sold out in three hours and 32 minutes.
The iconic restaurant will go all-out with extravagant theming, on-site TAB, big screens and a lavish lunch with champagne and cocktails.
Carter says there will be games, prizes and DJs and she expects to see her guests’ style fit-for-Flemington for the fashion on the field competition.
“They are guaranteed to showcase some of the fanciest finery this side of the Ditch,” says Carter.
Many a socialite is expected at Soul. Last year it attracted luminaries such as shoe designer Kathryn Wilson, interior designer Shelley Ferguson and her sporting hero husband Steve, Real Housewives of Auckland star Michelle Blanchard, Sally Ridge, entrepreneur Iyia Lui and Rhythm and Vines founder Hamish Pinkham.
Around the corner at Viaduct Harbour, a large smattering of Herne Bay Rich listers are expected at Bivacco at a lunch hosted by Sky TV’s Laura McGoldrick.
Guests receive a glass of Moët & Chandon on arrival and will enjoy their famous all-day Bivacco feast.
The best-dressed female will win a prize worth $5000, sponsored by The Diamond Shop, whose owner, Sera Cruickshank, will be there helping judge in the fashion stakes. Other expert judges are Superette’s Rickie Dee and bridal designer Trish Peng.
The Bivacco after-party will go off, featuring DJ sets from General Lee, Tim Phin, and Paris Is Burning. Bivacco’s sister restaurant in Parnell, NSP, promises equally generous fashion prizes, all set over an Alfresco lunch in the courtyard.
Leo Molloy, owner of Viaduct bar HeadQuarters, is as famous for his racing passion as for his hospitality. He is promising a $300 bottomless food and beverage package.
A mechanical bull will be outside for punters once they limber up.
Entertainment includes The Treble Makers, with Op Shop’s Jason Kerrison as lead singer, with band members including musicians from the Feelers, Zed and the Exponents.
Punters will be able to place their bets at a TAB , sitting between HQ and Bivacco.
Meanwhile, thousands are expected to celebrate the first Melbourne Cup at Auckland Racing Club at Ellerslie Racecourse since 2020. A good smattering of former Black Caps and All Blacks will be trackside to watch their syndicates in an event that marks the start of the racing season.
“The Auckland bars and restaurants may be buzzing, but if you really want to level up your experience this year, Ellerslie is where it’s at,” says Auckland Racing Club’s general manager of marketing, Olivia Kinley.
“We’ve got something the others simply can’t compete with – real horse racing. Actual thundering hooves and heart-racing action, right here on our legendary, multimillion-dollar track.”
More than 400 racegoers will be popping bottles of Moët & Chandon with top-tier hospitality in the sold-out Cuvée. Another 200 will be soaking up the comforts of the sold-out Silks Lounge. Six hundred people are expected to be living it up in new party precinct The Lawn and a further 600 above them in Guineas.
Kinley adds that with all the other booked-out rooms and spaces, plus the general admission spaces, Ellerslie is set to be the city’s biggest Melbourne Cup Day party.
Ellerslie ambassadors Carena West, Hannah Marinkovich, Ryan Teece and Caitlin O’Sullivan will be there adding the glam, and will be on hand as tipsters.
Botswana Butchery and Harbourside Ocean Bar and Grill in the downtown ferry building are also holding events.
Siso in Remuera is owned by Richard and Paula Sigley, who were famous for their Euro Melbourne Cups at Princes Wharf in the 2000s and 2010s, which saw rich listers galore and property developers of the day in attendance.
A great chunk of those well-heeled clients and their now adult children are expected at Siso for the glamour, excitement, and entertainment.
Guests will enjoy a glass of Mumm Rosé on arrival, an oyster bar and indulge in a three-course menu. Big screens and TAB facilities are on offer, as is a best-dressed walk-off.
The Swingin’ Duet, featuring entertainment legend Peter Urlich on vocals and sax maestro Andrew Isdale, will keep things swinging through the racing and Urlich will hit the DJ decks after the big race.
And several hundred will enjoy the annual long lunch between the floors at Botswana and Harbourside at Quay Street’s Ferry Building, with Mike Puru as MC.
A fashion show will feature Trelise Cooper, Caitlin Crisp, and SHEN.
DJ’s Murry Sweetpants and Phoebe Falconer will bring the afterparty.
Former Soul Bar & Bistro owner Judith Tabron is doing her first Melbourne Cup at her Westhaven restaurant First Mates Last Laugh, with a serene marina-style four-course lunch paired with Laurent Perrier Champagne.
Although unable to get an onsite TAB, Tabron has an onsite tipster, the big screens, a game of Bingo and a live DJ and sax duo.
Miami-based New Zealand top model Eden Meyer showed off her growing baby bump on social media with her husband financier Bart Meyer.
Society Insider covered the then-Australian-based model’s wedding in 2020, north of Sydney near Palm Beach.
Meyer, 26, rose to prominence walking for Vivienne Westwood in London Fashion Week at the age of 16.
Before relocating to the US, Meyer was known as NZ’s biggest model export to Australia.
ATR Season Launch
Guests of Auckland Thoroughbred Racing recently gathered at The Sugar Club, atop the Sky Tower, to toast the upcoming racing season and the first summer event calendar back at Ellerslie after a long hiatus.
ATR CEO Paul Wilcox highlighted the exciting events ahead including Champions Day on March 8, which will feature the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi slot race and, he hinted, an international act set to perform after the final race.
The night’s guest list featured ATR ambassadors Carena West, Ryan Teece and Caitlin O’Sullivan, along with Trackside’s Emily Murphy. Broadcaster Wilhelmina Shrimpton was beaming alongside her new fiancé rugby referee Ben O’Keeffe. The pair became engaged in Cape Town South Africa earlier in October.
This season, Ellerslie’s first big race day is Melbourne Cup Day, Tuesday November 5.
Kylie Bax Doco premiere
Fashion royalty came out on Sunday evening for the premiere of the Kylie Bax documentary Bax and Beyond at The Capitol Theatre in Balmoral.
Along with Bax and documentary maker Neil Gussey were Bax’s children and parents.
Other guests included designer Dame Trelise Cooper, London-based model Angela Dunn, and former male model Dean Honore with his daughter Ruby, who has recently returned from modelling in Europe.
Fashion industry greats from the 1990s through to today included Lorraine Downes, stylist Nikki Lovrich, former model agent Kim Larking and designer Megan Douglas.
Before the revealing documentary screened, fashion publishing titan Christina Sayers Wickstead interviewed Bax on stage.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.
Pubs are telling customers not to queue, saying it's 'foreign, unnecessary and bizarre'.