A pretty penny for Topshop

I'll be hitting up Topshop this weekend for sure... hopefully the style and bargains live up to the hype...


TOPSHOP COSTS

Costs estimated at more than .8 million

By Sharon Feiereisen

There has been so much hype surrounding the opening of the first U.S. Topshop that comes as little surprise that the costs for all the pre-opening events and promotions are being estimated, by Fashion Week Daily, to be more than $1.8 million.

The Daily has kept track a total of nine photo galleries with a total of 885 photos on www.PatrickMcmullan.com, which include two shopping cocktail parties at the Topshop store, two private dinners, a ribbon cutting ceremony, and an after-party.

They have broken down the costs as follows...

Travel costs including private jets, rental fees, airport charges, and crew services equaled $250,000 for Topshop scion Sir Phillip Green and Kate Moss. Then there was another $40,000 for the staff to fly in. Simon Cowell and Emma Roberts were flown in from Los Angeles for about $1,600.

There were also outfits, car services, and appearance fees for the likes of Blake Lively, Leigh Lezark, Zach Braff, Theodora Richards, Rosario Dawson, and Debbie Harry. A performance by Hudson is rumored to have cost between $150,000 and $250,000, and it cost $70,000 for Adele to preform. Samantha Ronson, who performed with Jimmy Fallon at one of the private dinners, earns approximately $75,000 for a performance. Adele, Hudson, and Ronson were all flown in.

Renting out Balthazar for the two private dinners was estimated to cost around $180,000, while the cost of the Topshop after-party venue – The Box - was around $75,000. It cost another $20,000 for security and equipment, plus the cost of the countless $5 to $500 gift certificates that were handed out, as well as customized Topshop bags.

The cost of getting Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony to appear at one of their shopping events is also estimated to be very high as are the fees of Topshop’s communications and production firm of choice, KCD, all of which puts the cost well over seven figures.

Heading to 'Cuse tonight...

Party time? Excellent.

I think I'm too short for this trend...

I think I would drown in these boot! Would come up to my chin.... but they are hot, your thoughts?

TREND: THE NEW HIGH BOOT

Designers take thigh-high boots to new heights

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By Jessica Ciarla

Which came first.. the skinny jean or the high boot? It’s a difficult question to decipher since they seem to be such a natural fit together and one of the longest, most flattering trends that’s remained on the scene. For Fall 2009, designers are taking the look to new heights with thigh high boots that extend all the way up to the hip. Modern fabrics and muted tones keep the boot looking more fashionable than streetwalker. However, once they're off the catwalk and worn in real life, be prepared for the inevitable unfashionable responses.

Roberto Cavalli shows off a painted mini dress with a grey boot that extends past the dress hemline.

Rodarte knows how to keep the feminine in toughness with wrapped patent boots in putty, paired with pretty pastel tones.

Slouchy with a slight sex appeal, Chloe offers a more relaxed look with folded thigh-high boots paired with high-waist shorts, blousy top and oversized coat proving that these babies can be worn in the daytime.

The itsy, bitsy polka dot dress and black thigh-high boots keep Gucci’s look fierce with a hint of femininity.

A new option to pants? Prada shows a relaxed workers boot with a dressed up cocktail dress, perhaps forecasting a colder winter next season.

Worn with a short mini dress may be a little more challenging, so if you’re unsure then try pairing a higher version with your favorite skinny pants. Just make sure to hit the thigh-master before to prep your legs for the new attention they are about to receive.

Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.

Poor LiLo... (Can you sense the sarcasm?)

EXCLUSIVE: Lindsay Lohan in Tears: I'm in "Absolute Hell"
Wednesday April 8, 2009

Buzz up!

In the newest issue of Us Weekly, Lindsay Lohan opens up about her heartbreaking split from Samantha Ronson, the "humiliating" weekend showdown with Ronson's family, and says that friends' fears she is suicidal are unfounded.

"It's absolute hell," Lohan told Us on Monday in a far-ranging interview over several lengthy phone calls and emails where she was agitated, crying and baffled by the turn of events.

Look back at Lindsay's loves over the years.

Ronson broke it off with her girlfriend of nearly two years last Friday, and hired five security guards to keep Lohan out of an afterparty for her sister Charlotte at the Chateau Marmont. (Lohan was staying directly one floor above the Ronsons with her mom Dina and sister Ali.)

The next day, Ronson changed the locks on the Hollywood Hills home she shared with Lohan. On Monday, Ronson's mom and sister asked police about obtaining a restraining order against Lohan, Beverly Hills Sgt. Nutall confirms to Us.

See what a body language expert says about Sam and Lindsay's relationship.

Lohan says she's "so alone" without Ronson.

"Everyone's turned on me," says the actress. She tells the magazine that the night of the Chateau showdown, Nicole Richie walked by her and said "Uck," and Drea De Matteo said, "Come at me, bitch."

See photos of Hollywood stars who actually get along.

Sources tell the magazine Ronson had repeatedly tried to break up with Lohan over the past month, but each time, "Lindsay threatens to kill herself -- she cares about her but wants out."

Lohan laughs upon hearing that, saying she's okay.

"I'm just really hurt!" she says. "The whole situation is sick."

Get more Us gossip and photos on Twitter.

For more on Lohan -- including what she has to say about her rumored affair with Chace Crawford, why friends think she should be institutionalized and just how broke she really is -- pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands Wednesday.

Say when... and I'll be...

Love, love, loving this song... fav line - "Say when, and I'l be your man..." 'Nuff said.

brave.new.girl.

Bag it...

These are some of my top picks for Spring... your thoughts?

Hot ad...

In honor of LC...

Since today marks the premier of the 5th and final season of The Hills, here are some pics of our fav girl, Lauren, and read below for an article from the LA Times on what is coming up next for our Laguna girl...

KEEPING BUSY: Lauren Conrad is debuting a novel in June and is working on a new clothing collection.

Lauren Conrad looks beyond 'The Hills'
By Denise Martin
April 6, 2009 " The Hills," the MTV reality series supposedly following the life and times of rich Californian Lauren Conrad, isn't so much about her as it is about "Lauren Conrad on 'The Hills.' "

The show's fifth season premieres (April 6) tonight and marks the beginning of the end of Conrad's carefully orchestrated small-screen persona. The 23-year-old reality star, weary of living in front of cameras for the better part of five years, is after this season leaving the show that has showered her with pop culture fame.

"It's been a long time coming," she said. "I went through many phases when I thought I was done, but I'm at this point where I'm really ready."

Tonight, viewers will see Conrad deal with yet another surprise from friend-turned-foe Heidi Montag, who crashes her birthday party, again in search of reconciliation. While her life on "The Hills" seems to revolve around the onetime friendship that turned the show into water cooler conversation, her off-camera reality seems to have moved past all the television-driven drama.

In Conrad's off-screen life, she celebrated her birthday in Las Vegas with her boyfriend, "My Boys" actor Kyle Howard, whom she's been seeing since last summer.

"I would never put a guy I really cared for on camera again," she said.

Her friendships appear to be stronger than ever -- she shares a Westwood apartment with friends she's had since high school, including "Hills" co-star Lauren Bosworth.

"We don't fight," she added. "It wouldn't be entertaining to watch."

She even wrote a novel, “L.A. Candy,” which comes out June 16, and, contrary to reports that her eponymous fashion line was going under, is working on a new collection.

"Neither is part of my social life," she said.

Her strange trip into the land of reality television began in 2004 when she was cast as the girl next door in MTV's " Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County." MTV executives hoped audiences would identify with the Laguna Beach native, particularly as she journeyed north to pursue a career in the fashion world.

As she came of age before the cameras -- dating, partying and slogging away at an internship -- Conrad had a bitter falling out with Montag that transformed "The Hills" into a pop culture phenomenon. The sensation came thanks to a nightclub fight sparked by rumors -- possibly spread by Montag and her boyfriend, Spencer Pratt -- about a supposed sex tape involving Conrad.

The show's ratings immediately jumped, and suddenly Team Heidi and Team LC (Lauren Conrad) shirts were being sold. Though debates about its authenticity arose, one of TV's hot new soap operas seized on this template for success and producers focused on betrayals like Montag's.

In more than one sense, "The Hills" became a victim of its own success. Celebrity news blogs and the tabloids developed an insatiable appetite for all things of "The Hills." It got to the point where by the time an episode ran, it was old news because a more comprehensive look at Conrad and the show had already been served up by other media sources.

"When we started the show, we got 100% of her life," series creator Adam DiVello said. "As the show got [more popular], the part we wanted to follow -- her relationships with the cast, the parts of her life unaffected by fame -- got smaller."

On-camera, Conrad would work through each heartache, while off-camera she went about establishing a life separate from the show's plotting -- a life that would help her deal with the one she had on "The Hills." She'd pursue her own projects, better friends and, eventually, romance.

"Finding happiness off the show" turned out to be the collateral damage, DiVello said. "But it's how she lasted as long as she did."

According to Conrad, she filtered out her romantic life after her breakup with Season 1 boyfriend Jason Wahler.

"The boys I dated after him on the show, I knew they weren't going to go anywhere," she said.

What she couldn't stop was the drama -- and many tears -- that followed between her and her girlfriends on the show. Whether they were staged or not, few who watch "The Hills" can doubt Conrad's deep emotions.

But the tumult made working with producers hired to shape her reality, well, awkward. Conrad called her relationship with DiVello "weird." After Montag showed up unannounced to the birthday party airing tonight, Conrad informed the producers she'd be taking a week off immediately as payback.

"He's a genius, and I have a lot of respect for the show he's created . . . but we've had a lot of arguments," she said. "They'd put us in situations we didn't want to be in. There were times I'd take my mike off and just stop."

Conrad said she started looking at the show solely as a vehicle to promote her business opportunities. In that regard, she's scored several notable successes -- a fashion label, a side career writing teen fiction, spokeswoman gigs, even the occasional guest starring role as herself.

"I can't act at all!" she said. "I'm so not interested."

For MTV, Conrad's exit leaves the network's top franchise in the lurch, and producers say they still haven't decided whether to continue the show without her. Montag and Pratt, ever willing to drum up drama as her adversaries, are pressing for more.

“I don’t know that we need her,” Montag told MTV News on Friday.

Audiences, quicker to find out news on "The Hills" in the tabloids than on the show, might also sense the story lines stretching thin. Though the series is still MTV's No. 1 show, ratings for the fourth season were down from the previous season's average of 3.9 million viewers to 2.9 million.

But that's of no concern to its ex-star now. Free of the pressure to emote weekly, Conrad said she's eager to lighten up. Her biggest post-show plans are drama-free.

"I'm excited to not have everything scheduled in advance," she said. "I can just call up a friend and grab lunch. I can wear white when I want to -- I could never do that on camera. I can go backless!"

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "I'm going to be real rebellious."