Trumps: They're Just Like Us!

In a recent interview published on everyone's favourite invite-only mag, Ivanka Trump sits down for an interview in which she's dubbed "a post-feminist icon," amongst other high-praising remarks.

In an attempt to gain an insight into the heiress real life, we learn how Ivanka defines herself as "pretty mellow" and as a fan of "cheesy 80s movies and mozzarella sticks" (who knew!? Who cares?!--We do.)

Full story, including the "sexy" Harper's Bazaar spread that put Ivanka in teenage boys' wet dreams across the continental US, follows below.

Ivanka Trump: The Ace of Diamonds

Ivanka Trump

"The first fashion show I attended was Valentino in Paris when I was six or seven," says the exceptionally poised Ivanka Trump, who sits across from me in her spacious Trump Tower corner office with a mega view, wearing Prada culottes, Asprey loafers, and a casual knit top. Her office walls are adorned with articles about herself and her family. "As long as I can remember I've always appreciated the finer things—whether they be jewelry or architecture." It is evident that if anyone has a keen eye for aesthetics it should be Ivanka, who undoubtedly learned about fashion and jewelry from her mother Ivana Trump. She says, "from a young age, I was exposed to a really amazing collection of fine jewelry, and I took my love of that from her."

Now 26 and very much a confident woman in her own right, Ivanka has just launched a diamond jewelry line that bears her name and is housed in a feminine, boudoir-inspired shop on Madison Avenue in New York. The line, which seeks to reinvent older Hollywood glamour by offering modern day interpretations of collections from the 1920s to the 1960s, includes engagement rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets. A delicate diamond oval, accented with coral detail, is the signifying emblem of the collection and is discreetly designed into each style. Her favourite piece from the collection is a pair of diamond briolette tassel earrings.

Already bullish about the success of her line, the Wharton grad has high hopes for the future, with plans to open shops in Las Vegas and Japan. All the while, she continues her rapid ascension in her father Donald Trump's empire: She was recently named director of the Trump Gaming Company, serves as the vice president of development and acquisitions for the Trump Organization, and is a boardroom advisor on The Apprentice.

I can't help but wonder how she does it all, and what her average day entails. "There is no typical day. I don't think I'd be as excited about what I do in life if there were." She does, however, admit that she doesn't sleep much and works long hours, often with periods of lengthy travel. On weekends, she comes into the office to attend to "non time-sensitive initiatives."

It's clear that Ivanka is a hard worker. About those who have judged for her being spoiled, she says, "I think that I used the prejudgment or condescension of others to motivate me to push myself harder to do more. It made me more defiantly ambitious, if you will. I expect a lot from myself but there is something extremely motivating about knowing that people are underestimating you."

On the flip side, being born a Trump does have its privileges. "I never really wanted for much growing up. I didn't have to worry if I could afford to attend the college I was accepted to, or if I had a roof over my head. These are things we should not take lightly."

Harper's Bazaar; photo by Alexei Hay

Ivanka is not just beautiful; she is decidedly sexy—and not shy about it. Case in point, her recent story in Harper's Bazaar in which she appears on a construction site as a "Drill Sergeant" in Dior by Galliano heels, and a low cut Eres bathing suit. What's more—in the photo, she's pumping a drill. "I think you walk a thin line," says Ivanka. "The Harper's Bazaar [piece] was certainly the furthest I've ever crossed it in terms of what I would consider appropriate but I have to think about the fact that I'm 26 years old. There is a time and a place to do that type of stuff and have a little fun and laugh about the duality of the young girl/business individual. I'm much more self confident in my abilities and skills now so I don't think that stuff undermines me."

To me, Ivanka demonstrates the qualities a post-feminist icon—feminine and powerful while visibly dominating a man's world. Not scared by the F word, she takes my observation as a compliment and remembers how hard it was for her mother's generation to break into "the club." She also laments how "80s powersuits with big shoulder pads" made women appear masculine. Today, Ivanka tells me that she would have no qualms about showing up to the office in a pink suit.

When she's not busy being a Trump, I see glimmers of the softer, private Ivanka. In recalling a time when she felt true embarrassment, she shares an amusing story of her first day at boarding school when her wrap skirt fell off. "I walked half way across campus before realizing my skirt was half a mile back – that was awkward." Describing herself as "pretty mellow," she enjoys spending time with school pals she's known her whole life, watching cheesy 80s movies and eating mozzarella sticks. Of her personal convictions she's passionate, and speaks freely of her disdain for the Iraq war. "A great social injustice is that we are in Iraq – I spend a lot of my time thinking about that."

When asked what Ivanka would change about herself, she confesses, "I'd probably take more time to reflect—it's easy to get consumed with everything that's going on." And then, without missing a beat, she was off to a board meeting.

-- Sabine Heller

Sasha Barrese

Sasha Barrese

The stunning and down-to-earth model and actress, Sasha Barrese, recently graced our TV screens as a guest on the CW Network’s ‘Supernatural’. She’s a rising star with a passion for theatre. Here she tells ASW about her upcoming TV projects and her obsession with music and… well… chess!

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?
Sasha Barrese : I became a member around three years ago. I’ve known Erik, the founder, since I was little. ASW was much smaller at the time. I thought it was a really great idea.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
SB: I use it to stay in touch with friends from out of town. I also look up cities I am traveling to for work; recommendations for hotels, restaurants and art shows.

Q. Tell us about your latest role on ‘Supernatural’.
SB: The episode [called ‘Sin City’] aired on the CW network on October 25th at 9pm. The part of Casey was written for me so it was really great. We shot the show in Vancouver, Canada – a very beautiful city. The reviews just came in and they were amazing. I won’t be back on that show but I will be working with the producer, Robert Singer, and the director, Charles Beeson, again soon.

Q. Your first acting role was an appearance on American Pie. What was it like to be a part of a cult American comedy film?
SB: I was very surprised it became such a huge hit. I was a junior in high school when I shot it. I was home on a break from boarding school. The movie was released just after I graduated. Doing that part opened a lot of doors for me, work-wise. I still get stopped by people all the time for it! I guess some people have seen it a hundred times. As for a funny American Pie story… right after it came out I was at an audition. I was looking down in the waiting room reading my lines to myself. This guy next to me says "Hey, weren't you in American Pie?" It was the first time I'd been recognized by someone I didn't know. I looked up beaming and said, "Yes! Wow you must be a big fan of the movie!" (My part is small in it.) And then I realized who he was. It was Sean William Scott – one of the stars of American Pie! He played Stiffler. I blushed the deepest shade of red I could go and said, "But you would be because you’re in it. Arghhhh." Stuff like that happens to me a lot.

Q. You lived in Paris until you were four. What do you remember of growing up there?
SB: Paris is a fantastic place for a child. I go back all the time. When I have a job lined up in the fall, I go to the south of France in the summer.

Sasha Barrese and her mother, Katherine Barrese

Q. What has been your favorite role and why?
SB: I did two plays in Los Angeles that have been my favorite roles: ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ and ‘The Dutchman’. The characters are so well written. A good play feels like swimming down to the deepest part of the ocean. I also loved my character on ‘Supernatural’. It reminds me of my role in ‘The Dutchman’.

Q. What’s your next big project going to be?
SB: I will probably go back on ‘Carpoolers’, a new comedy on ABC, sometime soon. Pilot season is starting early this year because of the writers strike coming up. There are some amazing pilot scripts out there. Brett Ratner is doing a fantastic show called ‘Blue Blood’. I am waiting to hear on that part. I am also trying to secure the rights to a favorite book of mine for adaptation into a screenplay.

Q. Are there any actresses or models from which you would say you draw inspiration?
SB: Yes. For me it’s more about the specific parts they played. Joan Allen – she was in The Contender, which I think is a perfect film; Jane Fonda in Klute; Eva Green in The Dreamers; Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.

Q. What makes you happiest?
SB: Seeing a great film. I just saw Michael Clayton in the theatres. I went back the next day and saw it again! I cried because it was so perfect.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?
SB: New York. I love to go see plays there.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
SB: Playing chess. I play two hours a day. I should cut back but I’m hooked.

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
SB: I like the little diner underground at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The food is simple and the waitresses are cool.

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
SB: The New Image Art Gallery on Santa Monica Boulevard. Marcia, the owner, has a great eye for new talent. I also love the Moca in downtown Los Angeles.

Q. What is your favorite beach?
SB: In the movie Contact, Jodi Foster’s character goes to a beach in her mind. The sand is made up of all the stars in the universe. I want to go to that beach.

Sasha Barrese

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
SB: I am really into a director named Michael Haneke right now. He has a new movie coming out called Funny Games. It’s an American version of his original movie with the same title. I can’t wait.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
SB: There are two:
‘The Brent Shapiro Foundation’
A friend of mine, Brent Shapiro, passed away from taking half an ecstasy pill two years ago. He was a magical person. He brought people together. He was so full of love. He was so loved. His parents Bob and Linelle Shapiro started the Foundation to raise drug and alcohol abuse awareness. Many people still don’t know that alcoholism is a disease. Everyone I know has been touched by alcoholism in some way. Please go to their website: www.brentshapiro.org

In Downtown Los Angeles we have a homeless population of 100,000 people. ‘The Downtown LA Women’s Shelter’ is a fantastic place for women to stay. The facilities are bright and clean. Whenever I go down there, there is always a meeting or class going on. It feels like a warm home, rather then a shelter. There is a large open kitchen in the center of it all. I can’t imagine something worse then being a woman and being homeless on the street. I love to see women helping women get back on track. Their web site is: www.dwcweb.org

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
SB: I wish I could sleep better.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
SB: I go through phases. For art right now I really love Aya Takano.

Q. What upsets you the most?
SB: Many issues; I hate the fact that many public schools don’t have enough textbooks or teachers for the children. Money is being spent in the wrong places right now.

Q. What is your favorite bar?
SB: Anywhere where the music is good, the couches are comfortable and I’m with my friends.

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
SB: My BlackBerry. I have work emails all day long.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
SB: Falling from great heights.

Q. Were do you love to shop?
SB: Milk, on West Third Street in Los Angeles. Also, in Saint Tropez and Monte Carlo they have some great stores.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
SB: Coffee

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
SB: I am a huge music fan! I love Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails and tons of Indy Rock. I was learning ‘Moonlight Mile’ by the Rolling Stones on my guitar just before I started this interview… anything by the Beatles or Fleetwood Mac… Dylan.

— Laura Jakobovits

Reinventing Sartorial Traditions: The New Savile Row

Behind an unmarked green door in Central London, a Savile Row tailor fitted a client with a bespoke suite on an early November afternoon. If you are picturing an interaction between a stuffy gentleman and a tight-lipped tradesman, think again.

The tailor in question was the maverick, Mark Powell, and the client was Dexy’s Midnight Runners frontman, Kevin Rowland. In front of the mirror, Rowland turned to admire his 1930s high-waisted, wide-leg Donegal tweed trousers and extreme cut-away jacket. “Mark understands me,” Rowland told ASW. “We can spend an hour talking about turn-ups.” Powell left the room only to return holding a remarkably similar pair of tweeds.

“I just made these for Keira Knightley,” he declared.

Welcome to the new Savile Row. The elegant London street, where bespoke craftsmen have been in business since 1733, is still the heart of exquisite British tailoring but it’s the younger players who are reinventing the meaning of bespoke. Their innovation is beckoning younger, hipper – and occasionally female – clients on to the Row to be measured up for luxe made-to-order suits.

Bespoke tailoring comes from the expression ‘be’spoken’ meaning that the tailor’s cloth has literally been spoken for by a client. When you walk into a bespoke tailor’s atelier, you are opting for a distinct set of craftsmanship principles: specific measurement technique, straight shoulders, a narrow syce, and a well-defined arm are standards.

A bespoke suit is perhaps one of the original proofs that a quality product takes time. A suit takes an average of six weeks and three fittings to finish because every detail is hand-sewn. But according to Ozwald Boateng, a Savile Row bespoke tailor, tradition needed an infusion of the new. “If traditions don’t evolve, they die,” said Boateng, who is also the creative director of Givenchy. “Savile Row wasn’t evolving.”

Boateng and other tailors, who are a part of the New Bespoke Movement, maintain painstaking bespoke techniques but challenge the old school bespoke firms’ subtle, traditional take on the standard suit. They have personalized bespoke even more, offering creative and more individualized looks. Below are the best of the Row’s new innovators.

Ozwald Boateng
The youngest tailor to open on Savile Row, Boateng talks like an artist, looks like a model and insists that he wants “to make all men beautiful.” Boateng’s look proves that brilliance and elegance go hand in hand. He skillfully uses bold colors in monotones and patterns to highlight his sharp suit lines. Clients include Daniel Day-Lewis, Laurence Fishburne and Keanu Reeves. Bespoke suits start at £3,000.
http://www.ozwaldboateng.co.uk

Mark Powell
Famed for his sharp three-piece suits, Powell also knows how to combine individuality and fine tailoring to create edgy, dapper looks. He understands women too and has dressed Keira Knightley, Naomi Campbell and Bianca Jagger. Powell’s male patrons include George Clooney and David Bowie. Suits start at around £1,500.
http://www.markpowellbespoke.co.uk

Kilgour
Established in 1882, Kilgour was revived in 2004 with Carlo Brandelli as the creative leader. Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Jude Law and Daniel Craig are amongst the gentlemen who have donned Kilgour suits. The label distills sleek functionalism in its lean silhouettes. Expect charcoal mohair single button suits and jackets lined with polka-dotted silk. Look out for hand-blown Italian glass cufflinks in sky blue or powder pink and silk knit ties. Suits range from £1,500 to £5,000.
http://www.kilgour.eu/

Timothy Everest
From his beautifully restored retro gentleman’s atelier in Spitalfields, Everest crafts trim two-button slanted pocket jackets and plain trousers for the likes of Colin Firth, Gordon Brown and Tom Cruise. Everest, whose signature is his Spitalfields flower-patterned tie, also does bespoke denim. Suits start at £2,200.
http://www.timothyeverest.co.uk/

Richard James
Dandifying the traditional British menswear look, James’ suits are recognizable for their elegant elongation. The jackets are waisted with deeper side vents and come with one to three buttons. James isn’t afraid of color or texture, much to the delight of his fans, who include Pete Doherty, Hugh Dancy and Mick Jagger. Suits start at £2,700.
http://www.richardjames.co.uk/


— Taraneh Ghajar

Sebastian Copeland / Antartica: The Global Warning

Celebrity photographer and ASW member Sebastian Copeland now has a bevy of new models posing in front of his camera: all breathtakingly beautiful, majestic, with ice-cold glares, Copeland describes them as his latest obsession.

So, who are these mystery muses?

Located in the southern most hemisphere, spread over five million square miles of pure ice, the melting icebergs of Antarctica have been the focal point of Copeland's photographs for several years and are the underlying theme of his latest book, Antarctica: The Global Warning, a compilation of photographs documenting the perils of imminent global warming.

The book contains a foreword by Mikhail Gorbachev, an introduction by Leonard di Caprio and a chapter by ASW member, David de Rothschild.

"I'm just trying to engage and educate people about the dangers of climate change. It's an important warning to which we should pay attention," says Copeland, who is also a board member of Global Green USA, an environmental NGO.

And what better way to engage people than to host a celebrity-studded event to raise awareness, as Copeland did, in association with ASMALLWORLD and Max Studio-- at the Jan Kesner Gallery in L.A last week.

Guests in attendance included ASW President and CEO Joe Robinson, Max Studio's Orion Hand and Ame Max, actresses Brittany Murphy and Julie Delpy and Copeland's cousin Orlando Bloom, who accompanied the photographer on his Antarctic odyssey.

"It was a great opportunity to see what was at stake," said Orlando Bloom. "I took a four-week trip there with my cousin and it's clear the earth needs protection. We really need to team together and do something to help."

That "something" involved Copeland instructing members of his ship to disembark on an iceberg in 2006 and align themselves so their bodies spelt out the letters "S.O.S": an echo of the continent's plea for help, which, according to actress Julie Delpy is yet to be heard by politicians.

"The environment is still not a priority in politics and it needs to be," she says. "The problem needs more attention. It is, after all, our future."

— Mmoma Ejiofor

In 2004, Adi Ezroni, a well-known Israeli actress and TV personality, learnt of the harsh realities of the underworld of child trafficking. In defence of the rights of children around the globe, Adi decided to get involved in the production of ‘Holly’ – a feature film opening this week in the US – which portrays the life and experiences of an underage girl who ends up in the hands of sexual exploiters.

What started as a narrative project has now turned into an international grassroots movement dedicated to raising awareness of child prostitution and putting an end to the inhumane industry. Here, ASW talks to Adi about the difficulties she faced while shooting the controversial film, and the importance of delivering a clear and urgent message to the international policy-making community.

Q. Tell us about Holly. Where did the idea come from? How did it start?
Adi Ezroni: While travelling on a sabbatical in 2002, my partner, Guy Jacobson, encountered a group of five to seven-year-old girls in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, who aggressively tried to solicit him for prostitution. One of the girls, she was about six years old, said, "I yum very good. I no money today. Mama San boxing me.” (Meaning: the madam of the brothel will beat me up.) He gave them some money and walked away, but decided to do something about it.

While researching the subject, he was horrified to realize that each year around two million children (some younger than a year old) are kidnapped, sold into prostitution and sexually abused worldwide.

I met Guy in 2004, right after his trip. I was on vacation in New York when he told me of his idea to write a narrative film through the eyes of a girl. I was so passionate about making this happen that I suggested I’d be the water girl and decided to leave Israel and my career to pursue the dream of producing a film that would raise awareness on the issue.

The product of this decision was to create a combination of a three-film project which has now evolved into an international grassroots movement to decrease child prostitution, sexual exploitation and child trafficking. We were extremely fortunate to meet Amit Kort and Dr. Smadar Kort who decided to fund the whole project. And we had an incredible crew led by Holly’s director, Guy Moshe.

Q. I understand you had many problems while filming, including being held at gunpoint and even being held hostage for two weeks. Could you share your experiences?
AE: Producing this project has been an uphill battle, and sometimes seemed more like a war. When we arrived in Cambodia, Interpol cautioned us about threats to our lives. We were a group of international filmmakers who had decided to expose explosive subject matter in a corrupt country. Everything that could go wrong, did – the Cambodian, Vietnamese and Chinese mafia were after us, our equipment was held up in the borders and we were extorted to get it back, we had over forty bodyguards with AK-47s guarding us on the set, we had to hide our film, we got stuck in remote rivers, and, finally, after the production team left, I was denied exit out of the country and basically held hostage for two weeks.

When I arrived in the airport to leave the country with a bag full of documentary tapes (for the second film), the officers stopped me and said “cannot” and gave me a warrant in Khmer with the names of the chief producers of the project in English. Since I was the only one there at that point, I realized that I was in danger and I couldn’t go back to the hotel I was staying in. I stayed in a different area in town under a fake name and after about five days, we found out that it was pure extortion. It took me another two weeks and a lot of money; had I not left, it would have become a diplomatic incident.

Q. Child prostitution is largely an undocumented issue. Was the problem larger than you imagined?
AE: Actually, I feel like when we started there wasn’t much awareness to the issue. It was ‘Dateline’ in 2005 that did the first big exposé, I think. And then they started with the series about sexual predators. I knew about the issue, but never ever imagined that it was so vast and so extreme. Three-year-olds? And not only in Asia — everywhere.

That is part of the problem of combating this epidemic – the lack of one geographical/racial/ethnic theme. For example, a brothel was just closed in Queens, NY,with ten-year-old girls.

Q. Tell us some of your favourite moments when filming Holly.
AE: My favorite moments when filming Holly had to do with casting locals for different roles, and especially finding the children that would play the street children in the film. I went to a number of different orphanages and auditioned little Cambodian children to see if they could handle the pressure of being on set, if they understood what we wanted from them, etc. I found a wonderful group of kids who are featured in the film, and an extraordinary boy that plays Holly’s street friend. It was sometimes very difficult because no “good” girl would play a prostitute in a film. We ended up finding real working girls for those scenes.

Also, Somaly Mam, the head of AFESIP (one of the largest organizations that treats these children) and the Somaly Mam Foundation is here in New York for our premier at the UN. After a number of years, hearing Khmer again really made me nostalgic. I loved touring around on a small motorcycle, walking around in the markets, eating exotic fruits.

Q. In your opinion, what is the main cause of human trafficking - aside from there being a great demand for it?
AE: I think that the demand is the key. If you reduce the demand, you’ll reduce the supply. I wouldn’t say poverty, because some of the poorest countries don’t have as much of a problem. It may have to do with a broken family structure/culture, usually as a result of war. But the most important thing to remember is that there wouldn’t be any child prostitution if there weren’t regular clients that look specifically for that, which is why it’s important to strengthen legislature and enforcement.

Q. The making of this film inspired the creation of an active humanitarian movement. Tell us about Redlight Children.
AE: The Redlight Children Campaign is a worldwide grassroots human rights initiative promoting awareness and practical action for reducing the number of children who are sexually exploited each year. The goal is to decrease the demand for child sexploitation by raising awareness through mass media, pressuring governments to enact, amend and enforce more effective legislation and creating a broad coalition of human rights organizations as well as academia and media to deal with the issue.

With an easily accessible website, readers will be able to read information/research about the subject, and send emails to their representatives about what they would like them to do. The emails/communications received are featured on the site for additional accountability and pressure.

Q. What do you think will be the future of human trafficking? What are the solutions being proposed by local and international authorities on the subject?
AE: The TIP (Trafficking in Persons) report that comes out every year ranks the different countries in terms of steps that are taken in enforcement, legislature, education and treatment. There is a strong push now for countries to be able to prosecute their nationals if they’ve found them participating in underage sex. It is already implemented by the US. I hope it will be implemented everywhere. We will be screening the film in DC to ambassadors of all countries, as well as senate and congress, and hope that this will push them in the right direction. If one knows that wherever they are in the world they will be held accountable under the laws of their own country, it makes a difference. Since some countries are still too corrupt to truly implement strong laws, this could definitely be a great step in the right direction.

Q. Given the fact that the issue is still extremely undercover in most countries around the world – especially in the West – what would you advise people to do to help fight child trafficking and sexual slavery in their own communities?
AE: It is not West versus East – this is very important to emphasize. Holly was shot in Cambodia, just like it could have been shot in London, Florida, Mexico, Israel or Croatia…
Go to http://www.redlightchildren.org/

In the coming week we will install an application that will allow you to send letters to your constituents and representatives demanding immediate action.

If you have a nonprofit, if you have a corporation, or are just as passionate as us about the issue – go to www.priorityfilms.com/join.php and see how we can arrange mutual screenings or other ways to spread the word. It is important to keep this film in the theaters, for a long time, so that it gets to the smaller cities, to the college towns and crosses over internationally.

Holly opens in theaters nationwide in the US on November 9. For tickets and more information visit www.priorityfilms.com

— Alonso Dominguez

I'm not a Russian Mail Order Bride!

Helena Khazanova

One would think I know all about Russian girls in New York because that is exactly what I am: a Russian girl living in this monster of a metropolis. People often ask where I am from. “Moscow,” I reply with certainty and without hesitation, despite fifteen years spent abroad. The look of surprise always registers in their face. “No accent, I know,” I feel compelled to finish the thought for them in order to avoid another obvious comment, a conversation that I can predict word for word. But it follows anyway, and the next question is why.

“Why are you here?” they ask, almost surprised, as if I am the only person not born on this island. They look on, eager to hear another heartbreaking story about bleak, cold weather, everlasting snows, and bread shortage, garnished with an intricate and hopefully slightly illegal crossing of the Atlantic. Black and white images of Ellis Island flash in their minds, and faces of harassed dirty immigrants contrasted by their own childhood that is suddenly basked in a warm glow reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting.

“Sorry,” I let them down. My story is not thickly wrapped in darkness and despair. Instead, it is disappointingly ordinary. “Well, my parents moved here because my father worked for an American company,” I begin my speech that I have told enough times that I no longer need to concentrate on what I am saying. “They live in the city and Southampton,” I continue. “I went to school in Rhode Island. No siblings,” I add for some reason. So far nothing too scandalous.

“So, your parents are here?” they ask, shocked at another proof that I am not, in fact, a prostitute in disguise. “Yes,” I say. Somehow they feel cheated out of their small victory.

It’s not offensive really. I guess I am just used to it. But no matter where I come from, today, in New York, I am only an observer. I watch in awe as this new breed of Russian girls dash wildly around Manhattan in four-inch stilettos as if they are still at a local collective farm, rounding up all eligible men like a herd of cattle. Yes, sometimes the ill-fated reputation is well-deserved. Permanent fixtures at every chic and expensive restaurant their faces look somewhat devoid of expression and can be compared to say, a genetically engineered peach. Good to look at, perfectly colored, firm and completely inedible. They sit on their well-chosen dates with silence hanging heavily off their forks and vacant smiles on their plump and glossed lips. But although they look blank, their minds are crunching numbers faster than any investment banker.

Unfortunately, to many in New York it seems highly unlikely and very suspicious that a girl from Russia could be just that: a person from a place with no baggage attached. Stereotypes run rampant; a model from a small town who was selling vegetables in the snow-covered market to survive; some beauty whose main goal is to marry a billionaire but who is still having trouble reading; a designer-clad girlfriend of a shady businessman with wads of cash stuffed in her purse.

Somehow lately the image of the Russian “girl” has undergone a very significant and swift transformation. First it was associated only with something Americans strangely like to refer to as babushka (which, in fact, does not mean a scarf or any other headpiece but a grandmother). This babushka is usually represented in their mind as a poor girl swathed in rags, slightly hungry and pale, looking wistfully at the brightly lit store window, too embarrassed to go in.

Then came the age of the mail-order bride: a girl who does not possess any command of the English language but is nice-looking, timid and compliant. This was an image that made a proud husband think himself a knight on a white horse and not some loser from the Midwest in a white Subaru.

But with the iron curtain swinging wildly in the wind of political change during the early nineties, the seemingly largest resource of the former Soviet Union spilled out into the world: women. They are literally everywhere. Mainly stationed in leading epicenters such as New York and London, they traverse the globe to the best beaches, ski slopes or just anywhere that starts with a “St”. They are beautiful, tall, ready and willing but behind the sugary facade they are tough and uncompromising.

They come from different corners of the enormous country empowered just by their ability to get out, something that was forbidden to their families for generations. Behind them is a dirty country road, remains of an old factory sticking out against the big sky as a skeleton of some prehistoric beast, bleached white concrete with weeds growing timidly in between the cracks and long forgotten objects that suggest an everlasting, destructive human presence: vodka bottles, condoms, candy wrappers. In these places, being beautiful does not really matter and does not have the capacity to change your life.

Russian girls want what everybody wants; a good life and they want it badly. I guess they just don’t go to the trouble of hiding it. True, there is a lack nuance in their approach as they are offensively shameless about it. A style quite opposite from their American counterparts who want it just as much, but pretend they do not by modestly feigning indifference (which, in their minds translates to good breeding) and then turn into domestic monsters the second they have a ring on their finger. Yet, a lingering and unwavering impression remains; complete and utter obsession with money.

Saying one is Russian in New York gives off a subtle whiff of negativity and indignity. However, isn’t it giving Russian girls too much credit in the originality contest? As if no one else ever wanted a diamond or two, as if obsession with money, especially someone else’s, has not been plaguing people since the beginning of time.

New York is a city that indeed does not get much sleep. Here our tastes are erratic and there is clearly an obsession with ‘the new’. Spoiled and neurotic, we are in constant search for the next best thing. And guess what? Russian girls are ‘in’. Modeling agencies are practically bursting with various Natashas, who are rapidly succeeding Brazilian bombshells and sprinting towards the finish line of lukewarm celebrity. Not too many men would object to having one on their arm either. But for some reason, insinuating that a Russian girl, no matter how pleasant or gracious, is most likely a whore in disguise has become “a thing to do”, almost like bashing France.

But like it or not, even when this trend is gone the Russian girls are here to stay. And in the city that is a graveyard of failed dreams they will most likely be successful in finding what they are looking for – be it money for some or a white picket fence for others.

Maybe at the end of the day, girls are pretty much the same. They could be from Minsk or Minnesota and want the same thing just wrapped in different packaging. And who is to say what the American Dream really is if not to get your own Prince Charming with all the right trimmings?

— Helena Khazanova

Liverpool: City of the Arts

‘It’s grim up north’ or so goes the familiar reply whenever a town situated north of London’s M25 is mentioned. ‘Well, have you ever been to Liverpool?’ is the appropriate response. After suffering a chequered history, Liverpool has recently emerged as a lively centre for the arts. Former home to Europe’s largest port, the city enjoyed its heyday during the industrial revolution before it was bombed to smithereens during World War II. Out of the rubble emerged the Beatles, until disaster struck again, in the shape of Margaret Thatcher and hundreds of dock workers were laid off. Liverpudlians soldiered on, however, transforming their disused dock system into a suitable home for Tate Liverpool. Now the city is positively brimming with art and has been voted Europe’s 2008 Capital of Culture.

• Tate Liverpool is hosting this year’s Turner Prize. Mark Wallinger is tipped to win the £25,000 prize with a hilarious film of the artist dressed in a bear suit. http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/turnerprize2007/

• The Liverpool Biennial was founded by Liverpudlian and arts innovator James Moores. Now in its 5th year, the 2008 Biennial is commissioning 36 new works by leading international artists, many of them will be installed in public spaces. Previous projects include Anthony Gormley’s spectacular cast iron figures standing on a Lancashire beach, waves lapping around their heels. http://www.biennial.com/

• ‘A’ Foundation, Moores’ latest Liverpudlian venture has secured vast warehouse spaces for exhibitions. Installations by British artist Brian Griffiths and U.S. based collective SIMPARCH will be on show until April 2008. “James Moores' introduction of the Liverpool Biennial in his own home town has really helped to bring the city to the forefront of the art world’s collective consciousness,” says arty ASW member Rebecca Guinness.
http://www.afoundation.org.uk/

• The Walker Art Gallery will be staging the John Moores Prize for Contemporary Painting, now in its 50th year. The winning painter receives a prize of £25,000. http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/

• FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) commissions artists to make works in film, video and new media. On show until Jan 13th 2008 are three new films from Manchester based filmmakers Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson about issues of faith in contemporary society. http://www.fact.co.uk/

• ‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2008,’ is the hot ticket next year. This annual exhibition of the best work by recent graduates from art schools attracts eager gallerists in search of new artists.
http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/

— Constance Wyndham

Le Freak, C'est Chic! A Roundup of NYC's Halloween Bashes

A 'too cool for school' crowd danced to the hipster music sensation Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at the Gramercy Park Hotel for the Vmagazine.com party, which was hosted by Nur Khan and Gemma Ward. Fashion royalty Julia Restoin Roitfeld-- looking beautiful even with fangs-- partied with boyfriend Magnus Berger, friends Genevieve Jones and new ‘it gal about town' Pamela Love, who was hoping to "catch a glimpse of Josh Hartnett even for two seconds." Across the room Lauren Davis, dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein (in vintage Christian Doir, bien sur!), held court with Derek Blasberg, and leader of the art kid-eratti Carlo von Zeitsel. Other guests included Chloë Sevigny, Lisa Cant, Mandie Erickson, Fabiola Beracasa, and Yeshwant Holkar who, as Hunter S. Thompson, was donning “the clever man’s costume” remarked Lauren Goodman.

Meanwhile uptown at the Roberto Cavalli and Cavalli Vodka Halloween Party at Cipriani, a ninja mingled with Snow White as half-naked men and women danced with cowboys, spacemen and pirates.

A select crowd – including Petra Nemcova (a.k.a. Cleopatra), Sarah Ferguson, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Marcus Schenkenberg, and John Legend – enjoyed a private dinner reminiscent of a medieval feast, where wine was flowing out of giant goblets. But the party really kicked off when Roberto Cavalli, surrounded by models in silver catsuits, danced on sofas to a musical performance by Eve. Of the evening, member Sabine Roemer said, "Great costumes, great drinks, fun people!" Other party- goers included Celine Assimom, Thierry Chaunu, Kristen Knapp, Rachel Chan, Neal Gorevic, and Oliver Jacquez

Late-night, the scenesters migrated to The Box for the Sagatiba Cashaca party. The notoriously hip club, famous for outrageous burlesque shows, put on a spectacle with scantily-clad dancing women and a mini-Michael Jackson who performed 'Thriller' with a dancing zombie. Arden Wohl, Leelee Sobiesksi, Ashley Olsen, Andre Balazs, Lance Armstrong and Alexander McQueen enjoyed the show and sipped deadly blood orange Sagatiba Cachaca cocktails.

— Sabine Heller and Laura Jakobovits

Sushi Samurais Battle for Top Sushi Honor

Sushi epicures gathered at the Sushi of the Year 2007 competition at London House for the ultimate sushi fix last Tuesday night.

On the menu were seven nigiri dishes prepared by top sushi chefs – collectively billed the ‘Seven Sushi Samurai’ – who competed for the sushi world’s highest honour.

Now in its sixth year, the challenge attracts global competitors from Michelin-starred restaurants such as Nobu, as well as an impressive line-up of judges. Kyle Connaughton, guest judge and head chef of development at Heston Blumenthal’s famed Fat Duck restaurant was keen to participate: “We are influenced by Japanese technique at the Fat Duck,” said Connaughton. “We are always looking to Japanese food-science to enhance our cuisine.”

Visiting gourmands also had the chance to sample each nigiri and cast their votes alongside the judges – not before cleansing their palettes with some shochu highballs of course. ASW member Lini Kuhl was amongst those grazing on the spreads. “I’m looking forward to trying a new combination that isn’t usually in sushi,” she said, adding that she was eyeing Nobu chef Yasuhiro Mineno’s Scottish beef nigiri with miso marinade and a dab of English mustard.

The event highlights an interesting foodie conundrum: on one hand, sushi represents the value of tradition and simplicity in cuisine. But to Japanese sushi chefs working abroad, being inventive is a necessity as traditional materials are often scarce.

Sushi’s global popularity also means that non-Japanese chefs are integrating their own cultures and regional ingredients. Andrei Sim, chef at Moscow’s Planeta Sushi, for example, wowed the crowd with ‘Red Square’, a nigiri sushi consisting of red flesh tuna with mirin gelee on a cream cheese and beetroot sushi rice base.

Sushi innovation triumphed in the end when Masashi Ogata was crowned the event’s winner. The chef had intended to use shark fin in his ‘Golden Shooting Star’ sushi. Unable to find quality shark fin in London, Ogata recreated the taste and texture using vegetarian ingredients such as daikon sprouts, maple syrup-infused apple and cornflakes.

“It was absolutely unlike sushi I've had anywhere else," said novelist Tobias Hill on the winning sushi. Hill, who described his first taste of sushi in 1987 as "one of the most alien things I'd ever eaten at that point," should know since he is now familiar with the London sushi scene. "Nobu is lovely, although a little trendy," he said. "But this [Golden Shooting Star] sushi is a surprise."

— Taraneh Ghajar

Halloween in NY: ASW Scenesters Reveal Their Party Plans and Costumes

Valerie Boster
Who is she? Fashion 'It Girl' and Vogue Editor
Halloween plans? Cavalli party and a loft party in Brooklyn
Costume? Cocktail attire for Cavalli party and changing to a hipster outfit (American Apparel, head-to-toe) for Brooklyn

Fabian Basabe
Who is he? Handsome party boy and blogger
Halloween plans? Lance Bass' party in Hollywood then to a private dinner at le deux
Costume? He and his wife Martina are going as quarterback and cheerleader

Lauren Goodman
Who is she? The hip Fashion Director of Domino, also affectionately known as 'Spaghetti Legs'
Halloween plans? V Magazine Party and Cavalli party at Cipriani
Costume? A nurse, à la Richard Prince; maybe a Park Avenue nurse or Long Island nurse, depending on her mood.

Euan Rellie
Who is he? An investment banker, co-founder of Business Development Asia LLC, chairman of his wife's business, Lucy Sykes New York, and 'man about town'.
Halloween plans? Trick-or-treating in the Far West Village with kids, Heathcliff and Titus Rellie
Costume? Heathcliff Rellie and Euan Rellie will both be dressed as the Black Spider-Man from Spider-Man. Titus Rellie will be dressed as a cow. Lucy Sykes Rellie will be dressed as Wonder Woman.

Holly Doran
Who is she? Former Special Events Associate at Vogue and now Global Events Director at ASMALLWORLD
Halloween plans? Taking her daughter trick-or-treating (she's an octopus), then heading to the Cavalli/Cipriani/ASMALLWORLD Halloween Party.
Costume? She and friends are going as the Easy Spirit Basketball Girls: Short Shorts. Tube Socks. Tank Top. High Heels. And a basketball. Swish!

Brian Wolk and Claude Morais
Who are they? The Ruffian designers, a.k.a. the Ruffian Boys
Halloween plans? Maximillion Whitney's party
Costume? Cain and Abel

Marissa Anshutz
Who is she? The prettiest rising star in PR, Director at SYNDICATE
Halloween plans? V Magazine Halloween Party at the Gramercy Park Hotel Rose Bar (hosted by Gemma Ward) and then heading to The Box, NYC, where Sagatiba Cachaça is hosting – Blood Orange Sagatiba Capirinhas will be served to ensure that everyone gets their fill of the spirit of Brazil.
Costume? Lolita – lollipops will power her through the night as will looking through heart-shaped rose-colored glasses at the Halloween debauchery.

Joseph Varet
Who is he? Founder of LX.TV and on the Contemporary Art scene
Halloween plans? House party in LA
Costume? An IDF soldier

Karen Duffy
Who is she? Bubbly Fashion Consultant
Halloween plans? Taking her two-month-old little girl to the Museum of Natural History for the Twelfth Annual Halloween Festival, then heading to V Magazine party and ending up at Cipriani Downtown
Costume? A ladybug

Melissa Skoog
Who is she? Powerhouse and Vice President of PR at Prada
Halloween plans? Bronxville to trick-or-treat with my nine-year-old nephew, William.
Costume? William bought her costume a few weeks ago because he thought that it was perfect for her... red devil ears so that she can be the devil wearing Prada!

Melanie Charlton Fascitelli
Who is she? Founder and President of Clos-ette, Palm Beach princess, and author of Shop Your Closet: The Ultimate Guide to Organizing Your Closet with Style
Halloween plans? The Barish's Annual Halloween Party
Costume? A huge afro wig and short green dress – the auto-wash girl from the 70s movie, Car Wash

Di Petroff
Who is she? Social creature with a love of travel, freelance journalist
Halloween plans? The Police concert at Madison Square Garden
Costume? Tibi top and Michael Kors pants

Laird Borrelli
Who is she? Fashion Editor at Style.com
Halloween Plans? Neckface event, as she collects his work, which she finds pretty scary!
Costume? Tuleh dress with a print by Fabrizio

Luigi Tadini
Who is he? It boy, 24-year- old VP of Tadini Jewelers
Halloween plans? Heading to a bacchanalia Fellini style; the theme is Satyricon.
Costume? Something Fellini-esque

Tamsin Londsdale
Who is she? New Brit in town, founder of The Supper Club
Halloween Plans? Gold Bar
Costume? A flapper, but with a masculine take, so instead of a dress she will be wearing high waisted shorts, tuxedo shirt, black waistcoat, Marc Jacobs heels, black hat from Patricia Fields, so all black and white, apart from blood red nails and red fake eyelashes.

— Sabine Heller

Swarovski Fashion Rocks 2007

"Music is fundamental to complete an outfit," said Frida Giannini, Gucci's creative director at the Swarovski Fashion Rocks 2007 on Thursday night at London's Royal Albert Hall. The evening proved her point as 15 designers, including Gucci, sent models down the runway to tunes of their inspirational rock star collaborator. Armani paired with Alicia Keys while Chanel chose self-proclaimed Chanel fan, Lily Allen. Versace models strutted, bright as canaries, as they dodged a writhing Iggy Pop. Dolce & Gabbana preferred a loud and proud soundtrack from rapper Timbaland.

The evening's star quotient was exceptionally high. Uma Thurman, who wore a stunning crystal-scattered Valentino gown and Samuel Jackson, in a series of Armani suits, played hosts while Gwyneth Paltrow presented the evening's highlight: a lifetime achievement award to her dear friend, Valentino, who recently announced his retirement. "I want to leave when the party is still full of people," said Valentino of his half-century in the fashion world. "This is very emotional for me." The audience stood as Valentino accepted the award and later his fans cooed over his talent. "Valentino is frills, bows and dots," said social Tamara Beckwith, who arrived in full-length red Valentino dress. " He makes you feel like a million dollars."

Other surprises included the unconventional Scottish designer Christopher Kane's runway show with Beth Ditto and The Gossip. Ditto has a reputation for making fashion 'don'ts' - like spandex and horizontal stripes - into fashion 'dos.' Kane fully supported her with a magenta crystal skirt suit. Ditto kicked her shoes into the audience during the last extended shout of the performance.

"Chris Kane and the Gossip were definitely the stars of the show," agreed Charlotte Hamlett and Miguel Pascal, ASW members who moved on to the Kane after-party at Paper club on Regent Street. Other attendees also dispersed into the night. Jasmine Guinness, Elizabeth Saltzman, Harvey Weinstein, Calum Best, Courtney Love and Princess Beatrice headed to the official after-party at Baglioni.

Bungalow 8 attracted the sophisticated set, which included members of the Armani group while Punk Club drew fashionista and rock offspring Peaches Geldof. The parties continued well into the wee hours – evidence, if any was needed, that fashion indeed rocked.

— Taraneh Ghajar

Alexander Kølpin

Alexander Kølpin

Alexander Kølpin is a Danish star of film, the stage, and the ballet. He danced with the Royal Danish Ballet, in Bournonville Ballets, and guest starred with several other ballet companies. While injury forced Kølpin into an early retirement from dance, his life still revolves around the art and he is currently the artistic director of the Copenhagen International Ballet. Here he tells ASW about his many passions and his next big project.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
Alexander Kølpin : I use it when I have to travel, especially for restaurants and hotels. I like the rating system and I mostly look at the individual comments.

Q. At what age did you know you wanted to dance?
AK: When I was 10. I came straight from a soccer match to see my sister do a ballet class. And I believe it moved me right away because all the things that I was interested in were represented in this one room; movement, music, physicality, grace and drama, all embodied in one vocabulary.

Q. What has been the greatest moment of your career thus far?
AK: Dancing ‘James,’ the lead in La Sylphide; first in Copenhagen and again later at the Sydney Opera House.

Q. Is dance in your blood?
AK: No, my mother is a designer for cloth, my father an architect.

Q. You’re in the Danish stage production of the Full Monty. Do you get your gear off?
AK: Not completely (Full Monty-style) but it was a great experience to be a stripper and do a ten minute solo strip to open the show.

Q. You performed in several Bournonville Ballets. For the ballet-ignorant among us, what is unique about Bournonville?
AK: That his ballets are always about people and the characters. It’s demanding in the technique, but first and foremost it is a portrait of personalities.

Q. What are you doing in the way of TV and film these days?
AK: I did a short film last year and am now shooting a documentary on my father-in-law, Peter Zobel (a retired business tycoon in the insurance industry).

Q. An injury forced you into early retirement from dance. How did you cope with that disappointment?
AK: I have been injured many times in my career – it is a part of being professional and working hard. I had to stop for a year, but recovered and left the Royal Danish Ballet to work with Maurice Bejart in Lausanne. After that I moved to New York and worked with Twyla Tharp. Then moved back to Denmark and stopped dancing.

Q. Tell us about your next big project?
AK: My documentary and planning next summer’s dance performances.

Q. What makes you happiest?
AK: To travel, eat, listen to music, the ocean, friends and my kids. And work when I am with cool people.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?
AK: Paris and Mallorca

Q. What is your favorite hotel?
AK: Plaza Athénée, Paris

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
AK: Le Stresa (Paris), Oubaek (Copenhagen),

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
AK: Moma (NY), Whitney (NY), Rodin (Paris)

Q. What is your favorite beach?
AK: Blacks Beach (La Jolla, California), 7 Mile Beach (Byron Bay, Australia), Hornbaek (Denmark)

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
AK: Le Stresa (Paris), Oubaek (Copenhagen)

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
AK: The MOMA in Paris

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
AK: Girl on the Bridge (touching and honest acting; great story about human relationships)

Q. What is your favorite ski resort?
AK: Verbier (Swizerland)

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
AK: Children in need, because they are vulnerable and bear no responsibility for what we are doing to the world around them.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
AK: To be less self-aware and more patient.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
AK: Whoa… Picasso or Igor Stravinsky. My favorite living artist has to be choreographer Jiri Kylian.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
AK: Not a good idea to share it.

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
AK: Not historical as such, but the Dalai Lama

Q. What upsets you the most?
AK: Stupid and lazy people who do not take action but expect respect without contributing.

Q. What is your favorite bar?
AK: Plaza Athénée (Paris)

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
AK: My iPhone and my Mac.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
AK: Not being healthy and lose my loved ones.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
AK: Beer

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
AK: 'Love Me or Leave Me’ by Nina Simone, ‘Adagietto,’ Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ sung by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

— Laura Jakobovits

From Comunista to Fashionista--Models Strut Down the Great Wall of China

When Qin Shi Huang erected the Great Wall of China in 221 BC, protection of the Chinese Empire's northern borders was what he had in mind. More than 2000 years later, Karl Lagerfeld had a different thought.

Last week, for the first time, the historic monument was transformed into the world's largest runway to showcase Fendi's Spring 2008 collection. The show, which was the grand finale to a four-day extravaganza, was attended by socialites, celebrities and fashionistas including Kate Bosworth, Zhang Ziyi, Tinsley Mortimer, Thandie Newton, ASW Members Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Amanda Hearst, Fabiola Beracasa, Laird Borrelli, Billy Farrell (New York's ubiquitous shutterbug) and Zani Gugelmann who effusively recalls the show as being "a magical, surreal moment - surpassing all expectations I could have ever imagined."

Not everyone was so happy. ASW member and Executive Director of the Association for Asian Research, Erping Zhang, felt that "reducing a historical landmark such as the Great Wall to a commercial site for self promotion is not a decent idea."

As we march towards the 2008 Olympics, it is becoming increasingly clear that China, a politically socialist, yet seemingly economically capitalist nation is openly and visibly embracing American and European luxury brands, and placing them center stage.

It also seemed fitting that the Fendi celebrations overshadowed the Chinese Communist Party's Annual Convention, which was held during the same timeframe.

— Sabine Heller and Alonso Dominguez

Jared Cohen

Rhodes Scholar and Stanford Graduate, Jared Cohen received his true education traveling through the Middle East where he met with Islamic youth and explored how they view themselves and their place in the world, post 9/11.

Author of One Hundred Days of Silence: America and the Rwandan Genocide (Rowman and Littlefield) and the newly released, Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East (Penguin Books/Gotham Division), Cohen currently works on the Policy Planning Staff of the US Department of State and is responsible for public diplomacy, Muslim world outreach, and North Africa.

Here he describes the experience of interviewing young Islamic militants as an American Jew, shares some insights into the minds of Islamic youth and explains how he came to realize that he and his interview subjects actually have more in common than he ever imagined.

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?
Jared Cohen: I joined ASW in December 2005 after a friend of mine at Oxford invited me. She assured me that I would love it.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
JC: Like so many other ASW users, I have gone through my phases. At certain points I was all about the threads; other times I utilized it when traveling places for the weekend; and on other occasions, I use it just for messaging.

Q. Where did your fascination with the Middle East and fundamentalist Islam come from?
JC: Like so many other people my age, I wanted to learn about and travel to the Middle East because it was a hot topic for a graduate student studying in the aftermath of 9/11. In this sense, what drew me to the Middle East was the same intellectual curiosity that thousands of college kids and graduate students around America were experiencing. While this is what brought me to the Middle East, it was the unexpected reality that kept me traveling there and craving as many experiences as possible. I stumbled into a youth culture that was all too familiar to my own and was inspired by what I saw as more similarities than differences across youth cultures. In the end, I could relate to the similarities and together we could celebrate, learn, and share in the differences.

I really don’t believe in the notion of fundamentalist Islam. I believe in the existence of violent extremism as a dangerous phenomenon that preys on communities where critical thinking has not been introduced. The individuals that we see in the media undertaking suicide attacks and senseless murders of innocent civilians are to me, violent extremists. To link them to a particular religion is to validate their imposing a one-sided partnership with otherwise peaceful religions.

Q. Having met with and studied Islamic youth in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Lebanon, what are some of the things that surprised you most about their ideas, views and attitudes?
JC: There are two tremendous surprises that I found in my travels:

First, the youth are a completely different phenomenon than the older generations. They have a far greater understanding of the differences between governments, people, and religions. This is why I was never mistreated for being Jewish. They are at a rebellious stage of their lives that lends itself to a life of duality in the form of social and recreational defiance from societal norms. And they use the same technology as adults, but they use it in completely different ways and for completely different purposes. As a result of this, the youth are more emancipated than we give them credit for because they are in a technological world that allows them to engage in resistance or private activity without the knowledge of their government or their parents.

Second, it is such a common misperception that young people join militant or extremist groups because of a deep piety or innate religiosity. When I would ask young militants why they joined their respective group, the initial answer confirmed this assumption; however, the more I engaged with youth who had been drawn into these groups, the more I found that the initial factors drawing them toward extremist groups had very little to do with religion. I actually found that the majority of young extremists were not so much gun-toting masked militants shouting “Alahu Akbar”, but rather broken souls with dangerous toys. They had experienced some very normal feelings of humiliation that any youth could potentially go through and this humiliation led to alienation, which in turn led them to look for belonging. The recruiters from these extremist groups were always there preaching a message of belonging and group identity under the auspices of their own interpretation of Islam.

Q. What do you think are the most common misperceptions about Islam?
JC: The most common misperception about Islam is that it is either monolithic or different than any other faith around the world. Islam as a religion has been victimized in terms of Western perception by a small minority who claim to be Muslim, but are more interested in exploiting an otherwise peaceful religion for their own objectives. Islam—similar to Judaism, Christianity, etc.—has many faces, interpretations, and sects. To generalize about the religion or even refer to the existence of an ‘Islamic world’ is to suggest that it is a uniform religion and identity. I have always been told by my friends and people I have come into contact with that like all religions, Islam is socially constructed around the individual based on their belief system and what society they live in. To share an example (I actually once wrote a thread about this), I was on one of my usual outings for interviews with youth, when I came across four girls, three of whom were wearing the hejab and one who was not. The girl who did not wear hejab explained to me that she was no less religious than the others. I asked her why, if she was deeply religious, did she choose to not wear hejab. In retrospect, I realize that this question was ignorant. But, I had believed incorrectly that the Quran stipulated that all Muslim women must wear hejab. She explained to me that the Quran only says women must cover modest parts of their body and that hejab comes from a Sura about modesty. She then continued by explaining to me, “I wear hejab every day, I wear a metaphorical hejab.” Because the hejab is about modesty, she believed that she was wearing hejab if she was classy, a good person, working to get an education, being true to her family, and being proud of who she is. I asked other girls about this in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon who articulated the same thing, albeit in different words.

Q. In your book, Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East, you discuss how the under-30 generation in the Middle East is the West’s best hope for peace. Why is this so?
JC: It didn’t matter if they were extremist or moderate, secular or non-secular, affiliated with a terrorist group, or a law-abiding citizen; when it came to innate youth qualities, the young people I met were more similar to me as a young American Jew than they were different. I strongly believe that the largest party in every country is the metaphorical ‘youth party’ and it doesn’t necessarily have a political, ethnic, religious, national, or sectarian face to it. Many of these young people share the same hopes, dreams and desires as the youth in America. They are trying to figure out who they are and what their role is in society. As they search for their identity, they are drawn to social and recreational indulgences, they have a fascination with technology, and they often rebel against their community or societal norms in varying degrees of insubordination. While it is impossible as an American to relate to what they experience as Iranians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Syrians, or Palestinians; I could always relate to them as my fellow youth.

Q. In your book you talk about meeting with Hezbollah members in a McDonald’s and about Bedouin shepherds with satellite dishes so they can watch Western TV. How do you think Islam is changing in the modern world?
JC: I don’t think this is an issue of Islam changing in the modern world, I think this is an issue of youth changing in the modern world. The reality is that 60 percent of Muslim communities around the world are under the age of 30. As a result, the communities are changing, not necessarily the religion. As all religions are intertwined with culture and society this is a natural outcome. But this is also not something exclusive to Muslim communities. Christian and indigenous religious communities in Africa are changing as a result of new technologies, Buddhist communities in Southeast Asia and communities throughout Latin America are also changing rapidly as a result of technology.

The current generation of youth is the first generation socialized into societies with high prevalence of satellite TV, mobile phones, and Internet. While adults use these same technologies, they use them primarily for traditional communications. The youth use these same technologies in completely different ways and for completely different purposes. For them, it is a source of entertainment, expression, and life-enhancement. As a result, the current generation of youth is the most emancipated generation we have seen in our life time. They can act one way at home and in their community, and have a completely different identity over the Internet or through their mobile phones. Because the digital and technological world offers them opportunities to generate their own media and entertainment, they are learning critical thinking through self-exploration in what one could call ‘digital democracy’.

Q. Do you think the world’s perception of fundamentalist Muslims is very different from reality?
JC: For me, the fundamental misperception is that radicalization is something inherently linked to Islam. The reality is that radicalization as a process has existed since the beginning of time. It is the process by which illicit actors hijack impressionable young minds and exploit them to achieve criminal ends. Geography determines what form that takes. In Latin America, radicalization takes place through the gangs. In Russia it takes place through international organized crime. In the Middle East and South Asia it takes place under the auspices of extremist Islamist groups, and in the United States it takes place through inner city gangs.

As for the question about fundamentalist Muslims, I think extremist anything is harmful. Islam is a peaceful religion and those individuals that undertake terrorist attacks are extremists that merely seek to exploit a peaceful religion.

Q. Did being an American Jew make things difficult for you when you were traveling through Muslim countries and meeting with fundamentalist Muslim groups? How were you received?
JC: Being Jewish has never been a problem for me. I have never had to hide my identity and I have never been threatened because of it either. The youth are particularly good at distinguishing between governments, people, and religions. In part, this is because many young people are displeased with their own governments, disenchanted with some of their own religious leaders, and exposed to a world outside of their own through new media.

Q. How does your own background affect the way you approach the subject of Jihad in the Middle East and around the world?
JC: The more time I spend in the Middle East the more I want to understand and learn from my peers. ‘Jihad’, as a term, has been polluted by extremists. As a pillar of Islam, the term, I am told, means more broadly the pursuit of knowledge, the providing of charitable services, and a number of other characteristics that have nothing to do with violence or war. I have actually started to study Quran weekly with an Imam in Virginia so that I can better understand the theology as I venture out into different parts of the world and so that I can engage in conversations about the different interpretations of the Quran.

Q. From your studies in the Middle East, did you find much hope?
JC: I have hope because of all of the people that I have met who brought me in and share their stories with me. I have hope because I could relate to them as youth and because what they want is no different from what young people around the world crave. The existence of this youth phenomenon is our best hope, but one that will only be realized if their basic needs are met.

Q. What makes you happiest?
JC: Knowing that I have friends and family that I would do anything for and that make me a better person.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination
JC: Lebanon

Q. What is your greatest vice?
JC: I can’t resist a night out even if it means I am exhausted the next day, especially if I am in another country.

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
JC: More fun than my favorite restaurant is my favorite lunch place to gossip, which is Tartine in South Kensington

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
JC: The MOMA in Paris

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
JC: Schindler’s List for personal reasons; other than that, I would say, The Battle of Algiers

Q. What is your favorite book?
JC: Non-fiction: Ed Hussain’s The Islamist. Fiction: Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
JC: Education and critical thinking because without it, youth are not equipped to charter their own courses of action.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
JC: I wish I was able to sit back and relax and that I was not so hard on myself

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
JC: Chuck Close, because of how he has turned challenges in his life into artistic advantages.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
JC: Snuck into the civil war in the Eastern Congo under a pile of bananas or snuck into the Ain al-Hilwaih Palestinian camp while getting chased by the Lebanese Armed Forces; either way, sneaking into something.

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
JC: Woodrow Wilson for his vision

Q. What upsets you the most?
JC: Exploitation of youth

Q. What is your favorite bar?
JC: Sky Bar in Beirut! Eclipse in London!

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
JC: My BlackBerry

Q. What are you most afraid of?
JC: Something happening to someone I love.

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
JC: Kanye West’s ‘Stronger’
All things by Bob Sinclair because it reminds me of Beirut in the Summer of 2005
Green Day’s ‘Time of Your Life’ because it is reflective

— Laura Jakobovits

A Quick Glance at the Frankfurt Book Fair

What was it all about?
With more than 6,000 exhibitions from over 120 countries, the Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book fair in the world. This year the deal fervor was high, with chatter between agents, publishers, film producers, and distributors.

Why people go?
To buy and sell books - Frankfurt is an in-house affair for people in the book business. Although unpublished writers are not the focus, it was a good place to learn about publishing (the seminars are great) as well as to discover obscure publishers.

Who was there?
Germany’s ex-foreign minister Joschka Fischer was interviewed by Der Spiegel to talk about his new book The Red-Green Year. British Novelist Fay Weldon discussed female misery in society, domestic wars, and her new book She May Not Leave. Italian novelist Umberto Eco talked about the History of Ugliness. The fair was, of course, filled with ASW members like Lana Cevro, Leticia Jiménez-Buil, and Marco Caffagni.

Highlights?
ASW Member Hendrik Teneues’ publishing company teNeues held a launch party for Eyes Over Africa, which was amazing. Other fun parties were the Cannon Gate’s party, the Cook Book Awards, Bertelsman’s party and ASW Member Rolfe Swinton’s party for his company CPI Publishing Solutions, which was held at a nearby castle.

— Staff

Rachel Zoe's "Style: A to Zoe" Party at Cartier in LA

"Manners maketh the man" as William of Wykeham's old adage goes, but it's the accessories that maketh the icon, according to celebrity fashion stylist Rachel Zoe.

And how fitting that a trend-setter who espouses such a belief should choose Cartier to host the launch party of her new book, Style A to Zoe at the jewelers flagship store in Beverly Hills, providing Zoe with ample opportunity to bask in the glory of her success in a playground of the best-dressed celebrities - Djimon Hounsou, Emmy Rossum, Joy Bryant and Farrah Fawcett to name a few.

Draped in a shimmering-gold vintage Halston dress, made complete by the tousled, blond locks, the heavily-penciled eyes and tanned waif-thin arms and legs sprouting from the garment's openings, Zoe arrived at Cartier last night, looking every bit as stylish as the beauty mannequins she's famous for dressing.

"I wrote this book as a way of helping people understand style, a way of getting into their minds," said the 36 year-old fashion auteur. "I'm just trying to understand who my readers are and how they view fashion." So what can readers expect from this latest fashion Torah?

"Love, passion and dreams," according to Frederic de Narp, President of Cartier North America and a staunch supporter of the Rachel's latest endeavor." Like Cartier, Rachel is a pioneer, a trend-setter, she creates style, she makes dreams come true."

Although the book explores the concept style and its many facets, Zoe remains hard-pressed to define what style actually is. "It's completely subjective. You can't grasp it because it's just so personal."

Actress Emmy Rossum agrees.

"It's your own personal flair and aesthetics," said Rossum, an ASW member. "It's an expression of how you want the world to see you. I very much look forward to reading the book."

— Mmoma Ejiofor

Paris Fashion Week S/S 07

The City of Light proved it’s a small world indeed, especially during les defiles. While Chanel, Lanvin and Nina Ricci showed in the Tents, the style-set packed Rue Cambon and Place Vendome like the halls of a haute family reunion. With a recipe of champagne, celebs and dangerously high heels, anything and everything was possible. And just in case you couldn’t make it, here’s a cheat sheet of the week’s best moments…

Colette’s Double Dose of Scene
The coolest boutique in Paris is famous for its mix of luxury brands and street style finds. Maybe that’s why they opened France’s Fashion Week with a similar social mixture; on one end of the store was Delfina Fendi, the 19-year-old jewelry designer from the venerable Fendi clan, debuting her first collection. Surrounded by Daphne Guinness, Lady Amanda Harlech and Hamish Bowles, the style legacy was glowing (though of course, this could be because of her pregnancy).

Meanwhile, the other side of Colette was packed with club kids from London and New York, in town to celebrate the Street Style exhibit hosted in the store. Spotted cramming the DJ booth were The MisShapes, Agyness Deyn, Henry Holland, Gareth Pugh, photographer Jeremy Kost and teen model Cory Kennedy.

But where did style icon Karl Lagerfeld belong? “All places,” he grinned, before greeting Colette’s keeper, the gamine Sarah Lerfel.

After the party, the two tribes untwined, with Delfina’s crowd joining Sting and Sophie Albou at the Hotel Costes and the downtown darlings raiding A.P.C.’s party with Terry Richardson and Jessica Stam at Paris-Paris.

Galliano’s Rugby Rematch
The members of the fashion pack are tougher than they look and they proved it when John Galliano summoned them to the 16th Arrondissement – the same place where France was competing for the World Rugby Title. As fans streamed triumphant from the stadium, Carine Roitfeld and her acolytes pushed gamely through the crowds to find the catwalk. They were met with an opening strut by Irina Lazareanu – who may or may not be engaged to Pete Doherty, depending on whom you believe – and a collection of shredded, layered luxe that proved a highlight of the week.

Chanel. The Whole Thing.
Stars were slim at the Paris shows, but Chanel gave us both kinds:
They literally spangled the stage and the style on Karl Lagerfeld’s catwalk, with blouses, dresses, and jewels covered in six-pointed emblems, a celebration of Americana that also included a slew of Chanel denim and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack on the speakers.

Meanwhile, the audience was studded with couture cuties: Kirsten Dunst, Lily Allen, Rachel Bilson and Courtney Love were seated with the French Vogue editors, while Victoria Beckham took her place next to ELLE’s Joe Zee (she’ll grace an upcoming cover), and Dita Von Teese was the guest of Harper’s Bazaar’s Glenda Bailey. Claudia Schiffer was also there, gracefully grinning for camera crews, with her hair dyed a new shade of shining butter.

The stars came out on the runway, too, with Natalia Vodianova, Mariacarla Boscono and Gemma Ward emerging from their busy schedule of campaign shoots and movie auditions to pose.

The Great Chloé Controversy
When Paolo Melim Andersson was appointed creative director of Chloé last year, he asserted the brand once known for owning 'pretty' would become something different. With Chloé now in its second season, Andersson has kept good on his promise, introducing sharply geometric prints and silhouettes and sarcastic beauty, Chloe Sevigny, as the brand's new face; she shared the front row in Paris with model Anja Rubik and actress Clémence Poésie. Vogue's Anna Wintour previewed the collection and gave it a nod, but other reviews were not as positive. Can Chloé's new direction hold onto its fans? Or will Andersson leave the house faster than Snejana sailed down his runway? Stay tuned...

Valentino’s Big Bang
After a whirlwind finale year, Valentino presented one last show, a reminder to the fashion industry that true levels of talent and beauty are rarer than models over 30. His ravishing runway showcased a series of scarlet dresses to make any woman into a siren and several poufs of pink chiffon that managed to look ethereal and cloud-like, not cloying. But while the runway sparked raves, the difficult pre-show scene drew a different type of frenzy: When Peta protestors invaded the Louvre, Valentino’s security shut the doors on almost half their audience, leaving fashion editors from New York to London and Tokyo stranded at the gates! It took several threats before the doors opened again and rumor has it that the fashionistas were saved by a certain photographer, who pulled off his shoe and wielded it, knife-style, at one of the guards. Fortunately a little violence was worth it as the triumphant catwalk was both historic and totally magic, as well.

— Faran Krentcil

Frieze Art Fair

Modern art’s most glamorous patrons combed the 150 galleries of London's Frieze Art Fair in search of the next Damien Hirst and Chapman Brothers last weekend. And of course, when they weren’t looking at the art, they were attending the countless events held to coincide with the fair.

From a small affair five years ago, Frieze has turned into ‘the start of the season’ for the art world, according to Amanda Schneider of the Jablonka Galerie, whose highlight was a stunningly erotic David LaChapelle photomural. Set in London’s beautiful Regent’s Park in a custom-built marquee of over 20,000 square meters, the galleries came from nearly 30 countries, representing over a thousand artists.

Galleries, which had been at Frieze last year, reported a definite upturn in attendance and business this time around. The Gagosian Gallery, one of modern art’s powerhouses, sold out its edition of Tracey Emin’s neon sculpture 'I could have really loved you' in a few hours. Indeed, everywhere you went, countless tiny orange dots indicated that work had been snapped up.

Photographer and ASW member Hugo Tillman, whose work was shown by Nohra Haime at the Bridge Art Fair, got to the major Frieze event this year – the party that followed Saturday’s Phillips de Pury & Co auction. “It was the place to see and be seen,” said Tillman. “Everybody was there but the mood was very serious due to the lack of alcohol for the first half of the party.” In the art world, this is a serious complaint.

The celeb art fans were certainly out in force for the first two days of the fair. Dennis Hopper was seen pacing the aisles and regular Friezer, Claudia Schiffer, prowled the booths. One of the Olsen twins put in an appearance while Kate Moss and Hugh Grant were also spotted at the fair.

When you were worn out from all the art – and with 150 galleries, it did get exhausting – Frieze laid on the most luxurious facilities for VIPs and patrons. Mark Hix, legendary chef of The Ivy and Le Caprice in London, brought his kitchen to the fair, while the VIP lounge was luxury defined, with its glamorous denizens – ASWers certainly among them – and fabulous furnishings.

Some galleries reported that they did most of their business in the first couple of days of the fair. Others noted that there were far fewer Americans present compared to previous years because of the weak dollar. Still, judging by the number of people present from across the world, Frieze is firmly on the art world’s calendar.

— Josh Spero

The Cartier Award 2007: And the Winner is...?

On the first day of London’s Frieze Art Fair, a full house of serious art buyers and seriously puzzled artists laughed and scratched their heads as the 2007 Cartier Award recipient, Mario Garcia Torres, used an actor representing a pseudonym to present his winning project.

The Los Angeles-based Torres, who has exhibited at the Tate Modern, Kadist Art Foundation and Venice Biennale, took 'playful' to another level with a droll monologue for a nonexistent but notorious entertainment world scapegoat, Allen Smithee. Beginning in 1968, Hollywood directors would credit Allen Smithee, an anagram for 'The Alias Men', when they felt they lost creative control of their film. Allen Smithee’s filmography has 67 films so far.

“I am a dustbin of creative work, an unlikely collection of artistic rubbish and cobbled together leftovers. You can really make it as a garbage collector,” cautioned the actor, employed by Torres as Smithee. Torres managed to challenge the confines of a creative act in only thirty minutes, pointing out that a collective body of artistic failure can turn into success.

Curator of Frieze Projects, Neville Wakefield, describes Torres’ work as, “an irresistible combination of dry wit and conceptual elegance sure to perplex, confuse and hold everyone’s attention.” Indeed, Torres managed to genuinely confuse the audience, who craved a glimpse of the elusive artist and wondered if Allen Smithee was, in fact, a famous director.

—Taraneh Ghajar

The 2007 London Film Festival

What’s it all about?
It doesn’t have the glamour of Cannes or the art house cachet of Venice or Berlin but this year’s London Film Festival is attracting its fair share of Hollywood A-listers, including Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Halle Berry.

Why go?
Unlike the other major European film festivals, which are mainly in-house affairs, the LFF is about public audiences. In other words, you don’t have to be a film critic or work in the business to actually get to see the films and, often, meet the cast and crew.

Among the list of more than 300 movies are films from 43 countries. Yes, you can discover obscure South American or Eastern European gems that will never show in London otherwise. You can also get sneak previews of mainstream hits that will shortly show at your local multiplex – Leicester Square will be donning a red carpet 15 times over the two weeks for gala performances.

What’s on the agenda?
Opening the festival is David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, a dark thriller set in London’s criminal underworld. Cronenberg and two of the stars, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, will be present. (A tip: If the gala performances are booked up, the stars will usually turn up to the following day’s afternoon screening.)

And the glam factor?
The most extravagant night out will be the premiere of Robert Redford’s political thriller, Lions for Lambs, on October 22. LFF’s main sponsor, The Times, is hosting a state banquet-themed party at the Waldorf Hilton after the screening, which will be attended by Redford and leading man, Tom Cruise, who plays a presidential candidate.

Ken Livingstone, a less glamorous but nonetheless real-life politician, will be hosting the Mayor of London’s gala film – Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution – and a post-screening event at the Royal Opera House on October 20.

Wes Anderson’s new movie, The Darjeeling Limited, closes the festival on November 1. The story of three brothers – played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman – traveling across India, the film promises typical Anderson whimsy with rich images and a great soundtrack. Of the trio, only Wilson – who has been keeping a low profile since a suicide attempt – will be absent from the gala performance.

What else should I get tickets for?
Other highlights will include Sean Penn’s directorial adaptation of the Jon Krakauer book, Into the Wild, Halle Berry in Things We Lost in the Fire (in which she plays a woman who loses her husband) and Michael Moore’s polemic doco, Sicko, about the US healthcare system.

Is there anything to do between screenings?
One of the problems of the LFF has been that screenings are spread out across the city. There is no central venue where film people and the public can mingle. The situation, however, may be different this year with the recent opening of the Benugo Bar and Kitchen at the British Film Institute on the South Bank. For the first time, there will be a classy location for film-goers to hang out before and after screenings at the National Film Theatre.

The details:
The festival runs from October 17 to November 1. Check official website for schedules: www.bfi.org.uk

— Alex Bellos

End of Summer Ball: London's Farewell to Summer

Never mind that there was no summer in Britain this year. London's smart set still showed up to celebrate the End of Summer Ball, hosted by Vince Power at Berkeley Square.

Scenesters such as Kimberley Stewart, designer John Rocha, Tim Jefferies and Princess Beatrice – who was escorted by her beau, Dave Clark – came out for the soiree, which supports the work of the Prince’s Trust charity. ASW members present included Claudia Winkleman, Alexia Inge and Daisy Bates. The all-star chef team of Mark Hix, Tom Aikens, Richard Corrigan and Bryn Williams provided a sumptuous spread while the mixologists from Nobu Berkeley kept the crowd suitably lubricated with rose petal martinis and other concoctions. But the real treat of the evening came when former Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley took to the stage. The trip back to the 1980s provided enough of a cue for many of the guests to claim table tops as their personal dance podiums.

— Jessica Ramakrishnan

Sanjay Rawal

Sanjay Rawal

Sanjay Rawal is a philanthropy junkie. He has led dozens of projects around the world and helped launch some of the most impressive relief campaigns to date. His previous work with the likes of Donna Karan and Wyclef Jean has quickly earned him a position as a go-to guy when it comes to humanitarian endeavors.

We sat down to talk shop with the man who likes going all the way – to support the right cause.

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?
Sanjay Rawal: Late last spring my ultra-connected friend, Octavio Domit, invited me after another member teased me for not having joined yet. I just hadn’t gotten around to it. I should have!

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
SR: I have to hand it to ASW, just for giving hundreds of super-connected, super-creative people the chance and comfort to interact on a global scale. Since I joined in June, I have joined the board of an ASW member-led bottled water company, developed a few new philanthropic projects with ASWers and received immeasurable help and advice from a number of people. ASWers are definitely way more [socially] conscious than the average Joe and the opportunities to collaborate on a business and philanthropic level are staggering. Through ASW alone, I ended up helping a friend finish building a community centre for children in Mississippi who were affected by Hurricane Katrina!

Q. You sort of ‘stumbled’ upon directing a humanitarian program in Nepal, when the person in charge of the direction of the development arrived three weeks late. This seems like a good luck/bad luck type of situation that seems to have had a big influence on you. Can you tell us something about your first experience and how it developed?
SR: I was a bit confused trying to find a real career in New York City. I originally moved to the city for grad school in 1997, but was lured by the bright lights of Broadway, actually off-off-Broadway. I took a lead in a small production, which ended up touring Europe. I came back to do the career thing and joined an iBank in 1998.

Later that summer, a friend of mine who worked at UNICEF in NYC encouraged me to get involved as a volunteer with a project she was working on in Nepal. At the same time I was becoming disillusioned by Wall Street, quit my job, and basically began helping in minor ways to put together a peace initiative she was launching in Nepal. I was just trying to find something I really enjoyed, I guess.

As I got more involved, she suggested I go there with her. I got my ticket to Kathmandu, then found out she was going to be three weeks late for this program, for which we just had one month to launch!

But I went, had a wonderful time, felt purpose (finally) and never looked back. Basically we had lobbied the Nepali Government all fall to pass a peace resolution and went to Nepal to rally all the political parties around this resolution as a show of national solidarity for peace. We had a grand kick-off and even brought elephants to the lobby of a five star hotel for the event (they made such a mess!).

Sanjay Rawal and Angelique Kidjo

Q. After Nepal you led programs in Brazil, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysian Borneo, Brunei, Thailand, The Gambia, and elsewhere. Were all of these programs peace-related? Could you tell us about the nature of some of these programs and their impact on the community?
SR: After my experience in Nepal, I began to understand the simplicity of lobbying and working with governments as well as local non-profits to make a sustainable impact on communities – basically helping groups drive through red tape. I also learned that if one was willing to work for (nearly) nothing, there were endless job possibilities in this field!

After Nepal my next gig was in Brazil, set up by a friend of mine who paired me with Brazilian Olympic hero, Joaquim Cruz, to create an identical program to the one I did in Nepal. We helped to motivate the government to actively support peace through sports and helped give voice to hundreds of national-caliber athletes living at or below the poverty line. Surprisingly enough, it was successful and when I came back to New York I realized I could make a real career out of this and subsequently traveled to 35 countries over the next five years.

Most of the projects were, in fact, related to peace – developing a sense of local, national or international peace, through initiatives that encouraged sports (like the World Harmony Run), the arts, culture or government, and sometimes all four. The projects I worked on were varied but all helped to establish platforms for dialogue and lead parties to constructive resolutions.

I was at home in New York on 9/11. After those events, ‘peace’ became a bad word and I had to re-calibrate on a number of levels, so to speak. I became more focused on governmental relations and helping governments and non-profits communicate with each other and the public more effectively.

Q. Tell us about Wyclef Jean and the program you started with him to help Haiti.
SR: In 2004, Wyclef and I were sitting in his music studio in New York. Clef had just met Harry Belafonte who lauded him for his humanitarian activities but also told him he had a long way to go.

Clef hadn’t been back to Haiti since 1997 when the Fugees performed in Port-au-Prince – [band member] Pras wore a bullet-proof vest on stage! So, on a whim, we flew down to plan the largest concert in Haiti’s history – multi-million attendee concert set for December 2004 – as a demonstration of peace.

To make a long story short, the unrest in Haiti reached a boiling point that October and we were forced to scuttle our plans for the concert, but having realized the impact Wyclef could make in Haiti on a purely humanitarian level, we launched Yele Haiti to address key development issues in the area.

We wanted to start small, but the need was so great. In just two years, Yele became the best-known non-profit in Haiti. Down there we ran slum clean-up projects and gave scholarships. In the States we had meetings with World Bank President James Wolfensohn, State Department and intelligence officials, and had fundraisers with Angelina Jolie, Norah Jones, Drew Barrymore, Meryl Streep and others. It was a wild ride.

Wyclef Jean in Haiti

Q. After you quit managing Yele, what happened next?

SR: After about 16 months of working 80-hour weeks, I was totally burned out. I had an opportunity to spend three months in Malaysia on beaches, working part-time on projects with children orphaned by the 2004 tsunami. Yele was in a great place and I felt it was a good opportunity to move on.

When I returned in 2005, I joined a consulting company started by a couple of friends focused on development. This company took over Yele when I retired. We just merged this month with an advertising agency to become what I think is the premier agency for execution of cause-related marketing and non-profit work from the ground up. We are called The Vox. [Other principals include ASWers Roberto Ramos and Susan Jaramillo].

Q. You seem to have a close relationship with music foundations. Tell us about Batonga and Bambai Bling.
SR: Musicians and artists are some of the most creative people I know. When they are given the space and freedom to create sustainable development projects, the ideas they develop are absolutely genius. And of course, the energy they bring can break down many barriers.

We followed the model of Yele, which mixed music with development efforts – we had local hip-hop stars distributing rations in the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince – to create Batonga: an organization headed by African superstar and UNICEF Ambassador Angelique Kidjo, oriented to bring education to young girls in underdeveloped African nations.

Over the last few years, there has been a huge international push to put kids in Africa into primary school; however, most groups realized that there weren’t too many options for kids to continue school past the sixth grade – especially girls. With Batonga, we are giving girls in five countries such opportunities.

Similarly, last year a couple filmmaker friends of mine took rapper Paul Wall, Raekwon of the Wu Tang Clan and child-soldier-turned-author Ishmael Beah to Sierra Leone to explore the intersection of civil war, blood diamonds and bling. Their documentary Bling: A Planet Rock was a huge hit on VH1 and helped start a foundation we created for the children of Sierra Leone. Bambai Bling launched last June with the help of Jeff Skoll and Jennifer Connelly at an event widely attended by ASW members.

Q. You have worked with many interesting people. From General Khinh Nyunt in Myanmar to Donna Karan in New York. Who has inspired you the most?
SR: The one thing I learned in New York, if I have learned anything at all (!) is the need for inner peace. I think that if I didn’t meditate on a daily basis I would have gone totally nuts. I am pretty lucky to be close to Sri Chinmoy, a well-known meditation teacher and humanitarian who lives, of all places, in New York City. His philosophy is: “If you are not in the world, you can’t change it.” Very practical.

He also introduced me to a number of his close friends, like President Gorbachev, Susan Sarandon, Sting and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with whom I ended up working at one point.

Q. You are very fond of philanthropy, there’s no doubt about that. What is it that you find most attractive about your occupation? Where do you get your inspiration from?
SR: I don’t consider myself an expert by any means. I am constantly learning but I know that if I offer myself with at least a little bit of humility in the service of others, I sleep well at night! I really just value freedom, the ability to feel grateful and to feel a connection with other people. Philanthropy allows me to experience those emotions on a daily basis and get a little more satisfaction out of life. I am no Mother Teresa or anything but I do get inspiration when I see people who have a lot of love and don’t mind sharing it.

Q. What would you say to people to inspire them to make a positive change in the world?
SR: I think we are all pretty much seeking the same things at the end of the day and that everyone is making a positive change in the world whether they know it or not. The question is: How conscious are they of their importance in this world? I think each person is pretty special and when they realize this, they begin to feel more fulfilled by life. Of course when this happens, the world always changes for the better.

Q. What makes you happiest?
SR: Having an ice-cream sundae after running a marathon.

Children in West Africa

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?
SR: Bali, hands down, barrel-seeking at Uluwatu.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
SR: Oversleeping. I’d sleep all day if I could.

Q. What are your top 5 hotels?
SR: Kempinski in Istanbul, Amanusa in Bali, Raffles in Phnom Penh, Andaman in Langkawi, Four Seasons in Chiang Mai. Yes I have spent a LOT of time in Southeast Asia

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
SR: I am a vegetarian and it’s rare for me to find good-tasting vegetarian; however, Bagatelle in Oslo has an incredible vegetarian restaurant! Otherwise, in New York, my favorite meal is truffle pizza and onion rings at Five Points.

Q. What is your favorite beach?
SR: Because of the solitude and the waves, I’d have to say Nusa Dua, Bali.

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
SR: I loved Bling: A Planet Rock, Hotel Rwanda and The Killing Fields – not exactly popcorn and milk duds movies, but I like to learn something when I watch films.

Q. What is your favorite book?
SR: Fiction: The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Non-fiction: What is the What by Dave Eggers

Q. What is your favorite ski resort?
SR: I prefer surf to snow, but after spending a hot June week snowboarding on the glaciers of Norway, I’d have to say Stryn.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
SR: Refugee assistance and disaster relief, due to the sheer inhumanity of their situation.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
SR: I could use a lot more drive and focus sometimes. Sometimes I prefer a lazy beach day to a hard-work day. But maybe that’s not all that bad!

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
SR: Sri Chinmoy. His paintings really move me.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
SR: Tried to negotiate a cease-fire between rival gangs and militia in Haiti with Wyclef. It worked but not before bullets flew (and flew way too close to me for comfort).

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
SR: The Buddha. Why not? I am sure he was a totally nice guy.

Q. What upsets you the most?
SR: When friends don’t get back to me right away (you know who you are).

Q. What is your favorite bar?
SR: I am not a drinker, but I spent hours at the FCC in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. I also like watching the sunsets over Port-au-Prince in Haiti at the bar at the Hotel Montana.

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
SR: My blackberry.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
SR: Being old and having any regrets over any missed opportunities.

Q. Were do you love to shop?
SR: Philosophy (Kuala Lumpur), Triple Five Soul (Soho), Hansen’s Surfshop (in Encinitas) and any Versace store, really. Oops, I forgot to add DKNY.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
SR: Give me a fresh coconut under a palm tree and I am in heaven.

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
SR: ‘Five More Minutes’ by OAR, ‘F Stop Blues’ by Jack Johnson and ‘Prabhuji’ by Ravi Shankar

— Alonso Dominguez

Tara Agace

Tara Agace

Tara Agace’s jewelry can be seen adorning celebrities and all over the pages of women’s fashion magazines. But this hugely successful designer has even more strings to her bow – including acting and producing credits – as well as a burning desire to play a tough-girl part like Linda Hamilton’s in ‘The Terminator’.

Q. You attended the London Academy of Performing Arts. Was acting always your first passion?
Tara Agace: Acting, painting, singing, anything with an ‘ing’ that involved art.

Q. What drew you to Hollywood?
TA: A movie I worked on called The Big Empty.

Q. How did your jewelry business evolve from being a hobby to a global success?
TA: Vogue magazine borrowed a piece which landed on the neck of the beautiful Bridget Hall. Following that the magazine wrote a story on me, so thanks still to Vogue and my jewelry being to their liking.

Q. What makes your jewelry different to other jewelry labels?
TA: I trained learning the ancient hand-made jewelry technique with Ralph Goldstein from UCLA and studied at the Gemological Institute of America. I have had an obsession with collecting antique jewelry since I was nine years old. My designs have been influenced and inspired by the old techniques all along. I have a permanent collection of different handmade chains and everyday jewelry, along with a constant change of bespoke designs that are all made here in London now. After having lived in Los Angeles for ten years, I have now moved my workshop to London along with a new family of craftsmen.

Q. I read that Madonna was one of the first to buy one of your jewelry pieces. What other celebrities are wearing Tara Agace?
TA: Cher, Shakira, Dixie Chicks

Tara Agace Stack Rings

Q. To what extent do you think having a celebrity wear your label affects sales?
TA: I think we all have very individual taste but when there is so much to choose from, it becomes difficult to make a choice on what designer to buy. When a celebrity is wearing a piece it can have an incredible effect on sales. In a style conscious world people look towards them for fashion approval. Celebrities are walking endorsements, so admirers look to them to help them make that choice. A team of people – photographers, fashion directors, stylists, make-up artists etc – complete the picture.

Q. In terms of your jewelry, where to from here?
TA: I am very excited to be making some larger one-off pieces that have been taking some time and money to develop. I will tell you when they are finished including some home interior items.

Q. In terms of acting/producing, where to from here?
TA: That has been on the back burner since I started making jewelry; I have always had a fantasy to play a part, like Linda Hamilton from Terminator. Perhaps I will keep my ears to the ground for that and keep training for it in the mean time!

Q. What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in the world of jewelry design at the moment?
TA: I think the most positive thing happening in the jewelry industry is that businesses are becoming more aware and ethically conscious about the sourcing of stones and materials.

Q. What makes you happiest?
TA: Turning the phones off, sitting in my studio at night, starting a new piece and playing around with all my tools and bits of metal shapes. And having some quality time with my friends.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?
TA: Mexico

Q. What is your greatest vice?
TA: Smoking

Q. What are your top 5 hotels?
TA: Cuixmala (Mexico), Hacienda de San Antonio (Mexico), The Ritz (Paris), The Chateau Marmont (LA), The Mercer (NYC)

Tara Agace Tear Drop Necklace

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
TA: E&O in Notting Hill and Yauatcha in Soho, London, which has the most exquisitely presented desserts. They are almost too beautiful to eat.

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
TA: Serpentine Gallery, Victoria & Albert, Tate Modern, Natural History Museum

Q. What is your favorite beach?
TA: A white sandy one with no one in sight. Cuixmala has one tucked away from the world in a protected bay.

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
TA: Blade Runner is one of many. I first watched it when I was 14 years old. It was moody, dark, had amazing costumes and characters. I lost myself in it. It gave me a perspective on time and how little we have of it. Sean Young’s character, even though she was a man-made machine, represented the same vulnerability as a human. I loved the tagline, “Man has made his match... now it’s his problem.”

Q. What is your favorite book?
TA: I just bought a beautiful inspirational book, The Maharaja’s Jewels, by Katherine Prior and John Adamson.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
TA: Drop 4 Drop, an independent charity set up by the founders of Life Water. It acts as a vehicle for other drink companies to act responsibly on behalf of their consumers. It helps alleviate the world water crisis. This organization donates the same amount of water you buy to help the developing world’s sanitation programs, water pumps, in-home filtration systems, wells etc.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
TA: I would like to stop being such a perfectionist.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
TA: Bjork, who has children with Matthew Barney, an artist who I admire also. What a cool couple.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
TA:Racing vintage cars.

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
TA: Harriet Taylor Mill

Q. What upsets you the most?
TA: That I still smoke cigarettes.

Q. What is your favorite bar?
TA: Gold bar!

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
TA: My Apple Power Book and all the tools I use to make jewelry; the polishing machine, hammers, files, drills etc.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
TA: Sharks – the human kind!

Q. Were do you love to shop?
TA: Antique markets. And every time I travel I always check out the local markets.

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
TA: ‘Living Darfur’ by Mattafix, ‘When I Get You Alone’ by Robin Thicke, ‘Don’t Explain’ by Nina Simone

— Laura Jakobovits

Erping Zhang

Erping Zhang

When Erping Zhang, Executive Director of the Association for Asian Research in New York, became a Chinese exile, he decided to devote his life to raising awareness of human rights violations in his mother country. Here he reveals to ASW his views on Communism, censorship and why, despite his grievances with the current regime, he still believes there’s a happy future for China.

Q. Tell us about why you were exiled from China.
Erping Zhang: I came to the USA on a student visa and remained here as a result of the massacre of pro-democracy students on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Virtually all the overseas Chinese students backed the pro-democracy student movement in China one way or another at that time and would face eminent risk on returning to China; thus President Bush issued an executive order to have these students stay in the US.
Since then I have been particularly mindful of human rights conditions in China and have spoken out publicly on a range of rights issues, including the rights of peaceful Falun Gong meditators, the victims of SARS and Internet control in China. For this, Beijing has put me on a blacklist; so since 1999, I have not been able to return to China. My family members there are also monitored and often visited by police and I cannot even phone them today.

Q. What would happen to you if you went back to China now?
EZ: Being on Beijing’s blacklist, I am unable to enter China now. Dr Jianli Yang and Dr Charles Li, both my alma mater from Harvard, were arrested while visiting China and given three years on account of their human rights efforts in the US. It is uncertain what would happen to me if I do manage to enter China, although a friend joked that if I return to Beijing now I will be likely locked up in a tiny cell with four tall walls before I even get to see the Great Wall. I frequently receive harassment phone calls including death threats. I hope that one day I will be able to return to China, free and without fear.

Q. How did you come to be a spokesperson for the Falun Gong?
EZ: This happened back in 1999 when Beijing reversed its seven-year endorsement of Falun Gong and began its campaign of persecution against this group. Many overseas Chinese began to organize themselves to defend the human rights of this meditation group, as we did back in 1989 in support of the pro-democracy students. Because I was one of the few Chinese students who majored in English (most Chinese students are overseas to study science and technology), I was asked by some students to serve as a volunteer spokesperson for Falun Gong (without pay of course) and help out with the press. I agreed to this and have since spent much of my spare time helping the cause over the years. For those who are unaware of this mind-body work, Falun Gong is a meditation rooted in ancient Chinese culture. Its principles are based on ‘Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance’ and it has five sets of graceful exercises. Persons who practice regularly find it brings them better health, reduced stress, inner peace and deepened morals. The practice began in China in 1992 and quickly spread by word-of- mouth throughout China and then beyond. Today, Falun Gong is practiced by tens of million people in more than 70 countries. For more info, please visit: www.falundafa.org

Q. What is your understanding/knowledge of the Chinese government’s treatment of Falun Gong practitioners?
EZ: The Chinese government initially touted the Falun Gong meditation for its health benefits and moral elements after its introduction in 1992. The government issued numerous proclamations and awards to the founder, Mr Li Hongzhi. An official from the China Sports Commission was quoted in the US news and world report as saying, “Falun Gong and other types of qi gong can save each person 1,000 yuan in annual medical fees. If 100 million people are practicing it, that’s 100 billion yuan saved per year in medical fees. Premier Zhu Rongji is very happy about that. The country could use the money right now.” However, then-Chinese Communist leader, Jiang Zemin, feared that the 100 million people from different walks of life who practiced Falun Gong would pose a political threat to the Communist Party because they outnumbered the membership of the Chinese Communist Party. He ordered the practice ‘eradicated,’ although the Washington Post later reported that this was done without the unanimous support of the standing committee of the Politburo.

Since the campaign of persecution was launched in July 1999, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to labor camps, jail or mental institutions. According to Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel and degrading punishment, two thirds of those tortured in Chinese labor camps are Falun Gong practitioners. Millions of families are affected as those who refused to sign a denouncement paper would face losing jobs, homes, education and health benefits. According to rights groups, at least 3095 Falun Gong practitioners have died of torture in police custody. Recently, reports have been filed that organ harvesting is occurring from live Falun Gong practitioners held in Chinese labor camps. Mr David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific, and Mr David Matas, a renowned rights lawyer, have conducted a series of investigations into the matter and have issued a report confirming that this inhumane practice is indeed occurring. Though the Associated Press reported that Chinese medical officials agreed with the World Medical Association on October 6, 2007, in Copenhagen, that they would not transplant organs from prisoners or others in custody, except into members of their immediate families, we still need to verify that such horrifying practice has stopped in reality.

Beijing’s effort to ‘eradicate’ Falun Gong has reached beyond its borders, as overseas Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters, many of non-Chinese origins, are also being intimidated and harassed by the Chinese government. They frequently receive electronic viruses via email and cannot secure a visa to visit China.

Q. You said in an ASW thread that you have rescued people from labor camps. How did you do this?
EZ: The biggest weakness and fear of the Chinese Communist dictatorship is public exposure of its crimes against humanity – this is why there is censorship in Communist China. Over the years we have been publicizing, through overseas press and major public occasions, a long list of those Falun Gong practitioners, outspoken intellectuals, as well as human rights activists who are imprisoned, harassed or tortured. Such public exposure and shaming of the regime for its rights abuses has helped a number of innocent people gain release from labor camps, jail or mental institutions. For security reasons I cannot name them here as some of them are still living in China now.

Q. How do you feel about Beijing hosting the 2008 Olympics?
EZ: Being a Chinese national, I am obviously happy that China has an opportunity to host this extraordinary human event, but I also would not wish to see the Games being used as a political tool by the Communist regime to build its legitimacy. I have published an article, “Improving Human Rights in a Neo-Communist State” (http://hrichina.org/pdf), in CHINA RIGHTS FORUM magazine, hoping that the international community will not pass up this 2008 Olympics opportunity to address human rights issues. I wrote that:

“Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, famously stated, ‘The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.’ Beijing, however, makes no pretense of a fair fight in its reported decision to ban 43 types of individuals and groups from taking part in the 2008 Olympics, including ‘hostile’ foreign media, members of underground churches, Falun Gong practitioners, pro-democracy activists, and other ‘undesirables’… Beijing’s support for the genocidal dictatorship of Sudan and Burma have led prominent figures, such as American actress Mia Farrow, to call for a boycott of the Beijing Games, just as some countries boycotted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin under Hitler. The International community should use the Olympics as an opportunity to impress upon China the need to demonstrate that it is worthy of this international honor by better acknowledging and fulfilling the international human rights norms and conventions to which it is party.”

History will not only remember what we do today, but also what we haven’t when we could.

Erping Zhang

Q. Clearly censorship is a fundamental issue in China and one that you openly speak out against. What part do you think the rest of the world can play in helping to remove restrictions on freedom of speech in China?
EZ: I have been speaking about censorship issues in China for years. In fact, I wrote about SARS and censorship for my graduation thesis at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and testified on the matter at a conference at the European Parliament and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission at the US Senate. Beijing has appropriated $800 million dollars between 2000 and 2002 and additional $1 billion later to build up this ‘Golden Shield’ firewall system. Over 50,000 cyber cops are now monitoring and regulating the online information traffic with at least 700 control centers built throughout China. There are only three gateways currently between the Chinese Internet and world cyberspace, effectively turning the Chinese Internet into an intranet, through which all overseas communications are filtered and controlled. Mr Guo Liang of the China Academy of Social Sciences noted, “Mao Zedong said that to have power you need two things: the gun and the pen ... The Communist Party has the gun, but the Internet is now the pen. If they lose control of it, something will happen to challenge their authority.” Censorship will not only allow the Communist Party to feed the public with filtered and sometimes misinformation, but it will also enable the Communist Party to brainwash and control the public mind.

Sadly, over 300 foreign IT companies such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco, Nortel, etc., have voluntarily signed the so-called ‘Self-Disciplinary Pledge’ to conduct self-censorship and help build this firewall system over business opportunities. Worse still, Yahoo has voluntarily provided personal emails of Mr Shi Tao to Beijing security authorities; as a result Mr Shi Tao is now serving a ten-year jail sentence for one of his emails that contained an ‘illegal’ political message. Many writers in China are sent to jail because of such ‘Internet crime’ – isn’t that horrifying?

In fact, we have members of ASW in China who are now censored and muzzled by Beijing cyber cops for their outspoken views on rights issues as they cannot post anything on ASW from China. I received one email from an ASWer in China who complained about being visited and warned by the Chinese secret police not to step “out of the line.”

The world can do much to change China, especially her Internet censorship. If foreign IT companies are not selling the technology and their conscience to Beijing, China’s Internet firewall system wouldn’t have been so sophisticated and strong. Those of us on ASW, especially those foreign business people who live in China, should use every opportunity to raise the matter to their Chinese counterparts – it is also in their best interest to be able to access overseas Internet after all. There is no justification whatsoever to censor websites such as wikipedia or BBC news in China. What sort of people would be afraid of open information, truth, and news anyway?

Q. What is your hope for the future of China?
EZ: I have many hopes for the future of China, all very promising and realistic. I would like to see China rid of the present Communist dictatorship first. I’d like to see China become an open, civil society governed by rule of law where all citizens can exercise their constitutional right to freedom of expression, association and conscience without fear. I’d like to see China revive her traditional cultural traits and share her ancient wisdom and knowledge with the rest of the world as a civilization of peace and humanity. Finally, I’d like to see all Chinese people enter the new age of human history with renewed hope for prosperity, happiness and freedom.

Q. You wrote a thesis on SARS and censorship in China. How detrimental do you think it was that China suppressed information on its SARS outbreak?
EZ: My research shows that Beijing first learned about the seriousness of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in November 2002 when China’s Vice Minister of Health paid a special visit to Guangzhou City to inspect the SARS situation. But due to political consideration for so-called ‘stability of society,’ Beijing decided to cover up the news about this dangerous epidemic. On April 20, 2003, the Beijing authorities officially acknowledged that SARS existed as a serious problem within China, more than one month after the World Health Organization had issued a global travel alert on this epidemic. By then, several hundred Chinese and foreigners had already died as victims of this deadly disease and SARS had already traveled overseas to Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada. Only when the international community was affected was Beijing forced to admit its own cover-up. Foreign trade and visits had also sharply decreased during this period of time. This unfortunate event demonstrates clearly how Beijing continually puts its political considerations above human lives. It also shows that if the rest of the world is truly committed to changing the behavior of this Communist regime, it can and has many means to achieve it. VOA reported on October 6, 2007, that Beijing has recently shut down some popular websites with information on the AIDS epidemic. UNAIDS and other organizations have estimated that by 2010 there could be a generalized epidemic with between ten and twenty million HIV positive Chinese. Hopefully, the world will react quickly this time to pressure Beijing to publicly discuss the danger of AIDS so as to save more potential victims.

Q. Which ASW features do you use most and why?
EZ: Since becoming a member of ASW, I have been thoroughly enjoying all features in ASW, including meeting some of the nicest people. ASW website is user-friendly as one can connect easily with people of similar interests and passion. It also offers members helpful information on topics such as travel, parties, shopping, etc. Now I am meeting fellow ASWers wherever I travel. Meanwhile, it is always an enlightening experience to engage in discussions with fellow ASWers on different issues, serious or casual. ASW has been a community of fellowship indeed.

Q. What makes you happiest?
EZ: There are many things that bring me happy moments. My greatest happiness is finding enlightenment through reading. Besides my full-time job studying Asian issues, I am translating Plato’s Timaeus and Critias into Chinese in my spare time. I enjoy reading classics and listening to opera and classical music, Western or Oriental. I am also a sports fan and a world traveler. I wish that I could play my saxophone better than my tennis, however.

Erping Zhang

Q. Who do you admire most?
EZ: Socrates, Lao Zi, Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, to name but a few.

Q. What upsets you the most?
EZ: Injustice and human rights violations in China and around the world sadden me the most because human beings should embrace one another in the spirit of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance and not harm each other over self-interest. It is sad to see inhumane political systems, such as Communism, still prevail in this day and age in places like China, North Korea,and Cuba. It concerns me greatly when some people would voluntarily collaborate with such regimes over some short-term interest.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
EZ: I am most afraid of the scenario that Communist China will rise up as the Fourth Reich in the future, as some Sinologists have predicted, given the similar growth pattern of Nazi Germany that China models itself after. But I personally refuse to think that this will happen and remain hopeful that the people of China and the international community will not allow this to occur before it is too late. The Chinese people deserve to live in an open and civil society where they can participate in all state affairs, and only a democratic and transparent China can contribute to peace, prosperity and humanity of the world.

If any ASW members have questions, please feel free to contact me: Erping@post.harvard.edu

— Staff

Hiro Nishida

Hiro Nishida

Hiro Nishida is originally from Tokyo and is the president of Food Scope, the Japan-based company behind two of New York's hippest Japanese restaurants, Megu (downtown) and the recently opened Megu Midtown.

In the midst of the rapid expansion of the Megu concept – to Hong Kong and London – we sat down with this sushi master to talk about new trends in food, the introduction of sushi to the Chinese market and the future of Japan’s most famous export.

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?

Hiro Nishida : I’ve been a member since May 2007, and I was invited by a friend.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
HN: I use ASW for market research a lot. I like to see where people go and what they are doing around the world.

Q. Megu (downtown) has been open for three years now. Tell us a bit about how the concept came together and landed in Tribeca in 2004.
HN: I was hired in Japan by Food Scope to look into the international expansion of the company. It was after watching the tragedy of September 11 in 2001 that I proposed to the [Food Scope] chairman the idea of opening a true Japanese restaurant in New York. Two months later I was scouting for locations.

Q. What does ‘Megu’ mean?
HN: It means blessing [in Japanese].

Q. Food Scope has several restaurants in Tokyo. Is Megu a franchise of one of these?
HN: No, Megu is its own concept. It was created to present refined Western palates with a real Japanese experience.

Q. Ever since the sushi ‘boom’ in the late 90s, every major city has found itself almost overpopulated with Japanese restaurants. It’s hard to stand out. What makes Megu different?

Design for Megu London's main dining room.

HN: Megu provides a real Japanese experience, complete with exquisite interiors and excellent service. Most ‘Japanese’ restaurants are fusions with other types of cuisines and only 10 percent of the places are actually Japanese-owned; most of these only cater to Japanese expatriates and their communities. Megu serves authentic, avant-garde Japanese food in a Western fine-dining setting.

Q. Let us talk produce. In the past years there have been a lot of changes in the market. There was a time when Japan used to supply almost 80 percent of the world's sushi fish. However, now suppliers everywhere seem to be turning to other sources around the world for fresh produce. What do you think of this transition and how does it affect the quality of the fish, specifically at Megu?
HN: Given the size of the market and the high-demand for fish these days, it’s become increasingly difficult to find quality produce where you would had found it five years ago. Nowadays, some of the best fish comes from regions like Spain and the Mediterranean. We try to keep our supply up to date in trends and use other methods to guarantee the best quality of fish.

Q. Methods such as?
HN: Farming. Every year the natural fish resources seem to run lower and the quality seems poorer. Pollution, climate change and the over-demand on the market have resulted in good fish becoming more rare and more expensive. Therefore, fish suppliers are now turning into farming, which is one of the best ways to get fresh, quality fish.

For instance, at Megu, we have signed a contract with a tuna farm in Okinawa, which is one of the best in the world.

Megu (downtown)

Q. What makes this farm good?
HN: The way they raise tuna. This is the first farm to breed and raise tuna on site. This way, we know when, how and where the fish are born, as well as knowing what they eat and being able to monitor all their activity and growth.

They also use one of the best killing methods – electroshock. This method is fast and relatively painless, in comparison to the chemical method, which is traditionally used.

The fish also come with a certificate, confirming the natural development of the tuna.

Q. I’m assuming this is much more expensive than regular tuna.
HN: Yes, but it’s worth it. The fish is super natural [Ed.: not super-natural] and the taste is much better.

Q. Megu is opening in Hong Kong, a location clearly representative of one of the new emerging sushi markets – China. What do you think about the development of these new markets and their impact on the future of sushi in the world?
HN: The market will suffer a huge change in the next five years. Now that large populations like the Chinese are starting to become part of the sushi culture, the market will have to shift dramatically to accommodate the needs of the new consumer. Farming seems to be picking up as one of the major resources, which should keep the supply of fish constant. However, the prices will continue to escalate.

Design for Megu Hong Kong's sushi bar

Q. What about the new restaurant’s menu? As an experience, I know the Chinese are culturally reluctant to try new types of food. How do you expect to tap into this market?
HN: In fact, 20 percent of the menu of Megu Hong Kong will be produced utilizing local produce. The food will still be strictly Japanese, however we’re planning on including local favourites like shark fin into the mix.

The other 80 percent gets created in Megu Midtown, then passed down to Megu (downtown), where it’s tested, and finally sent to the rest of the world. Hong Kong will be no exception.

Q. What about London? How did this city come into the picture?
HN: London is the next step in the geo-financial path Megu is following. After opening in New York, I thought it’d be only natural to follow up with restaurants in Hong Kong and London, the other two financial capitals of the world.

Q. So, you’re after the finance crowd?
HN: Yes. People in finance seem to conform the majority of our clientele. These are well-travelled individuals whose palates are more evolved and are able to appreciate the different cuisines around the world. Megu seems to be a good match for this crowd.

Megu Midtown

Q. What about the sushi-devouring socialite clan?
HN: Covered – we’re actively seeking out locations for restaurants in Miami and Dubai.

Details:
Megu Hong Kong will open on October 1st and is located in Kowloon inside Element, a new entertainment centre.

Megu London is scheduled to open on Berkeley Square in Mayfair, in June 2008.
For more information please go to megunyc.com

— Alonso Dominguez

London Fashion Week S/S 08

Saying that London has a little Fashion Week is like saying Britain is a small country: What it lacks in actual size, it makes up for in power. How else can you explain the appearance of Kate Moss, the return of Matthew Williamson, and the recurring front row seat of Anna Wintour, all in five days?

Our must-discuss moments of the week are below…

The Front Row at Allegra Hicks
Some catwalks in New York are billed as "socialite shows," but Allegra's front row lineup beat them all. India Hicks, Rufus Abermarle and his wife Sally, Lulu Guinness and her daughter Madeleine, and Sophie Fiennes all took their place out front, as breezy chiffon gowns based on Botticelli paintings floated by. Don't think they won't appear in Tatler next year!

Luella Bartley's Homecoming Dance
It's only fitting that London's party dress queen gets a big bash after her fashion show, especially if it's her first UK runway in years. Luella's late-night bash at Claridge's didn't disappoint, with Poppy Delevigne, Peaches Geldof, Erin O'Conner, and Kelly Osbourne swinging into the hotel for a dance.

Christopher Kane's Denim Corset
How do you follow up pleated leather dresses? With denim corsets and tailored snake-print chiffon, of course. That was the menu for Christopher Kane's latest collection, but even more impressive – a big chunk of the clothes had been made just days before the show, after pieces from Kane's studio were stolen in a robbery!

Prince at Matthew Williamson
The lights dimmed, and suddenly a spotlight: We all saw Prince, smack in the middle of the front row, strutting from the audience up to the runway. A microphone appeared, backup singers emerged, and voila: a secret performance of "Chelsea Girl" was taking place, and only the London fashion pack got to see. Considering the show was held at 11 am, it was the wakeup call everyone needed – including the models, who mouthed Prince lyrics during the show!

Gareth Pugh's Balloon Pop
Editors were scared out of their seats on Sunday night, as fashion trickster Gareth Pugh began his show with a bang – literally. He popped a giant balloon filled with glitter onstage, causing everyone to jump before settling in for a blackly beautiful collection of sheath dresses and silver capes. There were still the usual theatrics – a mink stole sewn to look like dead mice, giant tribal headdresses – but unlike past Pugh performances, you could actually wear things from this collection.

The ISSA Acrobat
After a series of pretty capes and caftans, ISSA's real spectacle began on the catwalk: an acrobat walked onto the runway wearing the label's trademark butterfly print, and quickly swung and twirled herself into a trapeze act. The audience gasped, but we weren't surprised – what's London Fashion Week without some over-the-top magic?

— Faran Krentcil

Kristina Tjader

Kristina Tjäder

Kristina Tjäder is one of three sisters who make up the Swedish women’s fashion label, House of Dagmar. Here she tells ASW what a pleasure it is to mix family with business and how House of Dagmar breaks the Swedish fashion mould.

Q. How do you use ASW and what is your favorite site feature?
Kristina Tjäder : I use it to get in contact with people I haven’t met for a long time. Also, if you go on a weekend somewhere it’s really useful to get the information you’re looking for from people you trust.

Q. When and how did you become a member?
KT: I got invited through a friend quite recently.

Q. How did you come up with your label? Was it something you all dreamed up together?
KT: We talked about it for ages. We used to be colleagues at H&M and always talked about starting our own label. In fact, we’ve talked about it since we were small. Our grandmother, Dagmar, taught me how to sew. I always made my own clothes and it was a natural outcome for me to eventually design my own label. I started out making a lot of gowns and wedding dresses. I went to a design school in Paris, ESMOD.

Q. What is it like to be working together as three sisters? Are there any issues with mixing family and business?
KT: I think it can be either perfect or a catastrophe, but for us it’s super good. We know each other so well so it’s easy to take fast decisions. You don’t have to be too politically correct with each other. It’s very easy and fun. I trust my sisters better than anyone else.

Q. What roles do each of you play in the business?
KT: I’m in charge of design and production, Karin manages marketing and PR, Sofia manages sales and Ebba just started as CEO.

Q. Many conflicts?
KT: Not so many – we discuss everything all the time and sometimes we disagree. But as the conversation continues we forget that we have disagreed. We never found any conflicts we couldn’t get through. We work together, we go on holiday together, we meet with families, see each other a lot, have the same friends. It’s wonderful.

Karin Söderlind, Sofia Malm and Kristina Tjäder

Q. What three words would you use to describe Swedish fashion?
KT: Swedish fashion focuses a lot on quality. I’d say: clean, tailored, rich of details.

Q. It’s no secret that Sweden is known for high design. How does that influence the way you design?
KT: I don’t think from a Swedish perspective when I design. I think internationally. I was educated in Paris. Most Swedish designs are androgynous, but we are more international and more feminine.

Q. Do you have a signature design feature?
KT: A lot of knitted cocktail dresses.

Q. What kind of woman are you designing for?
KT: A stylish strong woman. We don’t put an age on her because we have customers of every age. In general our fashion is for very strong women who believe in having their own style, who are a bit arty; from stylish fashionable business women to actresses to stylists.

Q. What makes your line different?
KT: We do a lot in knitwear that other brands don’t do. Then we have a special mind for colors. We take inspiration from the Art Deco era. We mix colors a lot and take a lot of inspiration from art. We don’t follow trends – we go our own way. Sometimes we go in the opposite direction from everyone else. Our clothes are airy and comfortable to wear – light-weight. Our style is more stylish feminine artist than rock ‘n’ roll, which is the style of other Swedish designers of the moment.

House of Dagmar at Gen Art NY, 2007

Q. What were your inspirations for your current line?
KT: The red thread through our collection is ‘work in progress’ – we take inspiration from artists or painters – Jackson Pollock, for example, with prints and colors. Our clothes also reflect various aspects of art – the painter’s coat, oversized pockets, how they dressed, lived, painted, mood…

Q. Who is your favorite style icon?
KT: My grandmother, Dagmar.

Q. What is your ultimate goal?
KT: To grow internationally and become an international brand. We’re looking for more agents and distributors around the world.

Q. Tell us about your involvement in the Gen Art show at New York Fashion Week this year?
KT: Gen Art is a foundation that keeps an eye on interesting brands. They’ve been watching us for a while and chose us to appear at the Gen Art fashion show, along with 11 other labels. It’s not a competition you apply for. It is one where you are selected.

Q. What awards has House of Dagmar won?
KT: Rookie of the Year in Sweden (2005)
The Best New Brand from Elle, Sweden (2006)
Appearing in Gen Art Fashion Show at NY Fashion Week (2007)

Q. What makes you happiest?
KT: That we can work so well together as sisters and still be such close friends.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
KT: I work too much and need more time with my family.

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
KT: The Metropolitan in NY and a lot of small galleries that are not so well-known where you can discover lots about artists you don’t know much about.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
KT: I worry a lot about the environment – people don’t worry about the impact. We try to think about being environmental all the time at Dagmar. We try to look for organic environmental options with our fabrics, our factories, transport etc…

House of Dagmar at Gen Art NY, 2007

Q. What's one thing you would like to change about yourself?
KT: There are so many things I could change but one of them could be to be less stubborn.

Q. Who is your favorite artist?
KT: There are really so many that I like; Jackson Pollock and Vladimir Dubko. They both have a very specific style of expression.

Q. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?
KT: When I was a ski bum I was bungy jumping. I would never do that again today.

Q. Who do you admire most?
KT: My grandmother, Dagmar. She was a fantastic person – the person I’d like to be like.

Q. What upsets you the most?
KT: People with the wrong attitude.

Q. What is your favorite bar or club?
KT: Socialista in NYC is really nice.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
KT: Not having time to do all the fun and interesting things I’d like to do.

Q. What are your 3 favorite restaurants?
KT: PA & Co. in Stockholm, Le Pétrelle in Paris, Trattoria ZàZà in Florence

Q. What are your 5 favorite hotels?
KT: Fjällnäs Högfjällshotell in Sweden, Gullmarstrands Hotell in Sweden, Pita Maha Hotel in Bali, Grotta Giusti in Italy, Hotel Riffelalp inZermatt, Switzerland.

Q. What are the top songs on your iPod right now?
KT: ‘Frequent Flyer’ by Nina Persson, ‘Dog Days’ by Soundtrack of Our Lives, ‘Guilty’ by Barbra Streisand and Andy Gibb, ‘Rehab’ by Amy Winehouse

— Laura Jakobovits

Milan Fashion Week S/S08

The high-heeled-erati is still recovering from an action-packed week of moda in Milan. The capital of fashion-as-commerce introduced a tighter schedule this season, fitting the big shows into four days instead of the usual five. Stefano Tonchi of the New York Times commented, "Young designers were pushed aside, and shows happened so close together that no one will remember any of the clothes.” Despite the fast pace (and resulting two hour delays), Anna Wintour publicly expressed her appreciation for the change, which was made at her behest.

The runways themselves were filled with a mix of varied hemlines, shapes and decades. All in all, Milan was much less 70s than New York, but still very sportswear driven. In general we saw safari suits, full pants, three-piece-suit- silhouettes, shorts-jumpers and one-piece pants jumpers, as well as layers and layers of chiffon, organza and tulle.

Here are some highlights:

Prada
It was inspiring to see an idea and not another cropped jacket. Miuccia Prada designed a fantasy universe that was part Japanese cartoon fairy, part Virgin Suicides.

Versace
Versace showed the best red carpet looks we have seen yet this season--jersey gowns in colors like shocking pink and intense periwinkle. The show music was fantastic--loud and bold. And the girls really worked it, all with Donatella hair.

Dolce & Gabanna
Dolce & Gabanna was a winner, a little showy and crazy but with beautiful painterly influences.

D&G
This was the first good show in a few seasons for Stefano and Domenico's diffusion line, which they recently brought back in house. It was a mix of Ossie Clark style bell dresses, floral prints and jean bell bottom suit, vest, and floppy hat looks that were right out of Taxi Driver.

Gucci
Frida Giannini went 50s-- Rizzo in Grease: full skirts, scarves, tough-girl tiny leather jackets and cropped pants. It was all black and white with a choice of two colors: yellow and salmon pink. The accessories were gorgeous; patent booties with contrast piping, graphic sandals, and great big clutches (definitely the bag shape of the season) with resin cut like oversize crystal.

Bottega Veneta
Bottega "When Your Own Initials Are Enough" Veneta was very trench coat-y with tea length hems that were quite unflattering. Designer Tomas Maier created some beautiful corset pieces in evening wear. He continued the boudoir theme in accessories, switching up the House's woven leather for woven satin on high-heeled sandals.

Fendi
Fendi was strong with a third beautiful season for Karl Lagerfeld. He worked a circle motif, first into collar and skirt shapes, and then onto the garments, tracing bulls-eyes made of colorful appliquéd silks and heavy beading. Somewhere in the process, he created the season's it-belt, with a geometric buckle in mixed stones like marble and tiger's eye.

Marni
Consuelo Castiglioni is a pioneer, and widely copied. Although she continued with Marni's signature bubble-shapes, which almost everyone else has left behind, she did move ahead beautifully with a rich color palette and sleek patent shoes and bags--a season standout.

Jil Sander
Raf Simmons' collection for Jil Sander was exquisite. Sharp lines, pure surprising colors, sheer layers and new shapes. It was practically a revolution in dressmaking — a must see!

Emilio Pucci
Pucci looked like a Matthew Williamson collection with geometric, colorful, 70s prints. Fun, but after the designer's tour-de-force for house last season, it felt a little hollow.

Burberry
Christopher Bailey has been tearing it up at Burberry so editors and buyers alike expected the collection to be a favorite--chock full of new, but ever pretty, ideas. This season was very 80s: sexy Alaia meets Gianni Versace, neoprene in neon, and tons of densely ruched chiffon. The theme was the warrior, with every look belted with thin hardwear heavy belts. There were also stunning couture looks of banded-together silk.

Roberto Cavalli
A beautiful collection of Victorian nightgowns, child-like floral blocked prints and Romantic hair came down the runway. It has taken years for the fashion crowd to come back around to Mr. Cavalli's aesthetic of historical-decadence, but he is back.

— Staff

Carlo Von Zeitschel

Carlo von Zeitschel

Carlo von Zeitschel talks to ASW about supporting emerging artists and making art accessible to the masses.

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?

Carlo von Zeitschel: A friend in London sent me an invitation in the summer of 2004, recommending it as an 'improved Friendster.'

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?

CVZ: I use it mainly to stay connected with old friends who I may not see that often or to keep in touch with people I meet. It’s also great for letting people know about my gallery’s exhibitions and for a seemingly endless source of interns.

Q. What lured you away from Europe to move to New York City in 2004?

CVZ: I started spending more and more time there during my university years and fell in love with the city. After I graduated I spent a year living between Paris and Milan, but by the end of it I was already having New York withdrawal symptoms. In today’s world, New York has also become a modern day Rome. What better place to be based?

Q. How did you get into the art business?

CVZ: I've always been very passionate about art since I was a child, but never studied it formally nor thought I would make a profession out of it. I almost stumbled into it, after a brief spell working at Morgan Stanley in Milan. I moved back to New York and whilst job hunting and looking for something to do, I started helping out a private art advisor who a friend had introduced me to. I didn't really do a whole lot with him because I didn’t like the idea of trying to sell works by artists who were already super-established, for astronomic sums, to an older generation of family friends.

At that point though, I discovered I wanted to be an art dealer and thought it would be much more interesting and relevant to me to find my own artists and help launch and shape their careers; not to just sell contemporary art, but make it accessible and try and get my actual contemporaries more involved in the art world. I started looking around for my own artists to represent and before I knew it wound up with a small army, at which point I was going to organize a group show for them. I figured I might as well settle down and start an alternative kind of gallery, so I did.

Q. Are you an artist yourself?

CVZ: No, but I always get asked that question. Are all gallery owners closet-case artists? I'm very creative, but I haven't devoted much time to making works of art of my own, although I have many friends who really feel I should. I guess so far I've been too busy concentrating on the careers of my artists and mine as a gallerist. Let's see what the future has in store.

Q. What do you feel sets your gallery, and your approach to art, apart from the rest?

CVZ: A lot of it has to do with my personality and taste, as well as my general way of going about things with all its eccentricities. The exhibition space in Soho is itself breathtaking. It feels more like a factory or a cavernous artist studio than a gallery or museum. In a way, I'm trying to take the edge off the presumptuous air that many galleries project and make it into a more friendly and dynamic arena in which art can be discovered, cherished and lived.

Carlo von Zeitschel

Q. What were your views on the 2003 documentary, 'Born Rich', about heirs and heiresses, a series in which you took part? Do you think it affected the way people saw you?

CVZ: I'm not a fan. I never wanted to take part in it; when I was interviewed I was a freshman in college and had just moved to the States. I had no idea what it would be about and was under the impression it was a project for school. Little did I know it would wind up on national television. In any case, it’s water under the bridge. My friends and those I care for know me for who I am and that is all that matters. A couple of sound bites out of context don’t make for an accurate portrait of a person.

Q. What makes you happiest?

CVZ: Discovering new things and places.

Q. Tell us about the current show at your New York gallery.

CVZ: The artist is Patrick Smith and the show is called Configurations. Smith’s background is in film and animation. He directed the pop culture success show, ‘Daria,' and the Emmy nominated MTV series, ‘Downtown.' He’s also an indie film maker with five award winning films under his belt. See www.cvzcontemporary.com for more information.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?

CVZ: India

Q. What is your greatest vice?

CVZ: Late nights

Q. What are your top 5 hotels?

CVZ: All Aman hotels and The Peninsula in Hong Kong

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?

CVZ: Coco Lezzone in Florence

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?

CVZ: The Met

Q. What is your favorite beach?

CVZ: The playa in the Black Rock Desert

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?

CVZ: Dr Strangelove, because it never fails to put me in a good mood.

Q. What is your favorite book?

CVZ: The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

Q. What is your favorite ski resort?

CVZ: St Moritz

Carlo von Zeitschel

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?

CVZ: Stem cell research: it could be the key to curing so many afflictions and I find it nothing short of criminal that it’s not receiving the support it merits because of popular bigotry.

Q. What's one thing you would like to change about yourself?

CVZ: It probably wouldn’t hurt me to be slightly more calm.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?

CVZ: Francis Bacon

Q. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

CVZ: I don't even know where to begin to answer that question.

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?

CVZ: Mahatma Gandhi and Freud

Q. What upsets you the most?

CVZ: Stupidity

Q. What is your favorite bar?

CVZ: The one in my living room

Q. What gadget can't you live without?

CVZ: My iPhone

Q. What are you most afraid of?

CVZ: Being helpless in the face of adversity, although that's probably when I'm at my best.

Q. Were do you love to shop?

CVZ: Everywhere, especially random little markets I come across in my travels.

Q. What's your favorite drink?

CVZ: Ice cold Moskovskaya vodka

Q. What are your top 3 songs?

CVZ: There are way too many! Off the top of my head: 'Along the Watchtower'
by Hendrix, 'Sinner Man' by Nina Simone and 'The Passenger' by Iggy Pop.

— Laura Jakobovits

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez

What's it all about?
In 1981, two gentlemen settled an argument about who had the fastest boat by pointing to the furthest buoy from Saint-Tropez’s Club 55 and heading out to sea. This was how Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez was born. Since then, it has become one of the most glamorous and elegant spectacles in the modern yachting world.

Why go?
Why ever not? For one week, the lucky few will witness Saint-Tropez transform into the place that Brigitte Bardot and the crew from And God Created Woman discovered. The Indian summer of the Var region and the still warm Mediterranean provide a spectacular backdrop to the regatta, which will see a fleet of over 300 of the world's greatest classic and modern racing class yachts speed out across the bay. The town itself becomes a paradise since the summer hoards have all gone back up north. Your only company is 3,000 mad yachties who’ve come from all directions for one week of sailing, sun and a little sin.

Is it just about the sailing?
It’s about the good life and living it as beautifully and wickedly as possible. The time warp during the regatta is delicious. The Port of Saint-Tropez harbour fills up with some of the most spectacular boats and their nattily dressed crews who trawl the port’s bars, all dressed in matching team colors. An average day involves sailing all through the day or taking a motorboat out to watch the races. Long lunches roll into longer nights that start with all the sailors and mad Dutchmen at Hotel Le Sube Bar and continue on to L'Octave Piano Bar for a little bawdy cheek-to-cheek. Finally, you may well find yourself ending the night at the infamous Les Caves Du Roy in the basement of the Hotel Byblos. Start it all over again the next day.

What’s the crowd like?
Think old money and new, plus serious sailors and enthusiasts from all over the world. All in all, a much more consistently refined and eccentric crowd than the usual Saint-Tropez high season regulars.

What should I pack?
Wardrobe-wise, it’s St. Bart’s on low gear. Ladies, try Giuseppe Zanotti’s bejewelled flats and linen shift dresses. Throw in a few well-placed gold items. Men should get sailors drunk and steal their Facconable race button-down. Alternatively, buy a Voiles polo shirt from the race tent at the harbour and throw it over your Vilebrequins.

Evenings are about casual chic. The male dress code is a linen shirt and slacks over deck shoes. Ladies, just add some heels to the outfit you wore to lunch and slap on a dash of lipstick and you are ready for the night's adventures. Rent a Mini Moke from Locazur and take it all off again in the early morning at one of the beautiful and secluded beaches up past L'Escalet.

The Details:
Les Voiles de Saint Tropez (formerly ‘La Nioulargue’)
29 September to 7 October, 2007

— Christina Kew

Models and Celebs Take to the Catwalk for UK Food Relief

Naomi Campbell is planning to give fashion-faithfuls some bang for their buck when she presents Fashion for Relief, a benefit fashion show to be held in London later this week.

Clothing from world renowned fashion houses, including Burberry, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Dior and Dolce & Gabbana will be paraded by celebrities and legendary models alike, including Elle Macpherson, Leah Wood, Daphne Guinness, David Furnish, Jodie Kidd, Lily Cole, Elizabeth Jagger, Yasmin Le Bon, Rosario Dawson and others.

And with tickets available to the public at prices ranging from 100 pounds to 750 pounds (for front row VVIP tickets), attendees can be sure their money is supporting more than just their passion for fashion. One hundred per cent of the proceeds from the show will go towards the Rotary Flood Disaster Appeal, which assists communities in the affected flood districts of the UK where flood damage is currently estimated at 3 billion pounds.

As if that weren’t reason enough to secure your seat at this fashion extravaganza, VVIP ticket holders will also walk away with goodie bags featuring such covetable items as a Garrard pendant, a Mulberry wallet and a Missoni and Naomi Campbell fragrance.

The show will take place at the Natural History Museum in London on September 20, at the end of London Fashion Week. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, at www.ticketmaster.co.uk or by calling +44 08702434455.

— Laura Jakobovits

Racing Back in Time: Goodwood Revival

The British social season took a ride back to the past at the Goodwood Revival, one of the world’s most prestigious vintage car racing events, held earlier this month. And what an authentic trip it was!

The sprawling West Sussex estate could have been the set of Casablanca or The Aviator with the very real sensation of being ‘quantum leaped’ back in time, added in for good measure. Guests wore the most incredible costumes: there were military uniforms, WWII nurses, Teddy Boys in leather jackets and quiffs, a scattering of mods and plenty of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn clones.

But the time capsule effect was seen in a lot more than just fashion. The Revival is the only sporting event where everything stays true to the theme; even the fish & chips were wrapped in decades-old newspapers! The yesteryear feel was compounded by the bands playing 1950s music from swing to rock ‘n’ roll and by the Spitfires and Mustangs on air display.

This year marked the tenth anniversary of the Revival, which was masterminded by aristo-entrepreneur, Charles, the Earl of March. The Earl’s painstaking efforts have ensured that Goodwood does nostalgia like nowhere else in this day and age.

The main attraction is, of course, the races. This year saw the all-new grid of popular sports cars such as the Porsche 904 and early 911, Ferrari 275 GTB, Alfa Romeo TZ1 and rare TZ2. As well, more specialist British sporting vehicles featured such as the Lotus 26R, Marcos 1800 GT, Sunbeam Tiger and TVR Griffith.

Le Mans winners Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx, Formula One aces Sir Stirling Moss and Johnny Herbert, Jackie Oliver and Tiff Needell, and auto-fans Rowan Atkinson and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason all took part in door-handle races. The mix of aristocrats, celebrities and regular punters made the three days the ultimate motoring event to close the English summer season.

— Katherine Zenkovich

Max Lugavere and Jason Silva

Max Lugavere and Jason Silva

Max Lugavere and Jason Silva went from being a couple of film school graduates from the University of Miami to being on-air hosts and producers on Al Gore's latest media project – Current TV.

ASW talks to this progressive network's presenters about their artistic aspirations, becoming public figures and the future of user-generated content in media.

Q. How and when did you two become members of ASW?

Jason Silva: We both got invited by our good friend Mike Staininger.

Max Lugavere: We joined about a year and a half ago.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?

JS: I use ASW to connect with long-time friends scattered across the globe and for the infinitely great forums. I am constantly surprised by the quality of trusted information and help found there – the way people extend themselves.

ML: At first, everybody embraced all of the big social networking sites because of the random, anonymous interaction that they allowed, but I think people are starting to crave genuine connection again. What you gain in the big bloated popular networking sites you lose in trust, accountability and meeting genuine friends that share similar ideals. I think ASW is the much-needed phoenix to rise from those ashes.

Q. Tell us how you wound up on Current TV?

ML: We co-created a short documentary, about 12 minutes long, during our graduating semester at the University of Miami. The film was about hedonism and spirituality – how we were able to reconcile lifestyles of indulgence with the fact that we’re both ultimately seekers at the end of the day. It was called Textures of Selfhood.

JS: The name of the film was taken from The Hedonistic Imperative, an online futuristic philosophical manifesto about ending all forms of suffering. We completed our short and sent it to the (then unnamed) television network that Al Gore was co-launching – they were looking for “passionate storytellers to help transform television.” We figured it was a long shot, but felt that our film definitely had an irreverent visceral quality to it and that perhaps it would shine through. A few weeks later we got a call from Current’s wonderful President of Programming, David Neuman, who subsequently flew us out and offered us full time positions as on-air hosts as well as producers.

Q. What is different about Current TV from other networks/shows?

JS: Current is a short-form network. We don’t ascribe to antiquated paradigms of half-hour or hour-long shows. Current is tailored to a media-grazing generation, consuming content from multiple sources such as BlackBerries, the Internet and so on. For this reason, Current is like a tapas bar, full of varied 3-7 minute informational segments of information that we call ‘pods,’ playing at random, 24/7.

ML: Current’s hallmark is what we call VC2 or Viewer Created Content. It’s taking what has made ‘user-generated content’ sites like YouTube so easy to embrace for our generation and bringing it to television, full time. Current creates its content with the audience as a conversation, whereas traditional television has long been a sort of one-way diatribe from big network conglomerates. On Current, audience members submit their own ‘pods’ via the website (www.current.tv) where the most compelling of which – as judged by the online community – are chosen to go on air, making Current a legitimate reflection of its audience.

Max Lugavere and Jason Silva

Q. How have your lives changed since you became public figures? Are you recognized in the street?

JS: We get recognized all the time here in LA and even more so when we are in New York. NYC is literally where we actually get stopped in the street. It’s also nice to be escorted into any lounge or club with minimal fuss.

ML: It’s great meeting people for the first time who already know all about you from reading an article or watching Current and not having to convince them that you really work for Al Gore.

Q. What is it like to work for Al Gore? Do you deal directly with him?

ML: He’s a rock star – a totally charming, funny and warm guy. We always get the ‘double hug’ when we see him … “Da boys!” is the usual greeting, followed by a huge hug.

JS: He is the coolest guy – so smart and generous with his time and down to earth. He is the chairman and co-founder of Current. We see him every once in a while, as he travels a lot. The parties are great, though. The wildest part is being on a first name basis with the guy.

Q. What does the future hold for Current TV?

JS: Current is the fastest growing network in TV history, more than tripling its US coverage in barely two years. We have also launched in the UK. Against all odds we are a success story. The future holds more expansion, international reach, etc.

ML: Yeah, I would say just further growth and notoriety. Current rocks and many more will soon find out. We’re just stoked to have been there since the company had only a handful of employees.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?

JS: Europe in the summer. Also, I grew up in Venezuela, so Morrocoy and Los Roques were favorite beach destinations for me.

ML: I grew up between Manhattan and Westhampton, so the Hamptons in the summer has always been fun.

Max Lugavere and Jason Silva

Q. What is your greatest vice?

JS: We don’t smoke and only drink casually. Not really any vices.

Q. What are your favorite hotels?

ML: The Standard in Miami is gorgeous.

JS: Have to agree, The Standard is amazing; the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills; Old San Juan Hotel and Casino in Puerto Rico; The Ocean Club Key Biscayne; and Hotel Palomar in San Francisco.

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?

JS: I love Bossa Nova in LA (great Brazilian food) and Cut Steakhouse in Beverly Hills.

ML: Dan Tana’s for Italian in West Hollywood and Katana for sushi.

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?

JS: I’ve always loved the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.

ML: For me, it was always the Museum of Natural History in NYC with the relatively new planetarium. I went there so many times growing up – I love it.

Q. What is your favorite beach?

ML: Third Street in South Beach and Quogue, NY.

JS: Cayo Pescador in Morrocoy, Venezuela. Also, Third and Ocean in South Beach and the beaches of San Sebastian, Spain.

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?

JS: While people have polarizing opinions of this film, Vanilla Sky had a profound effect on me when I first saw it. I found it to have nuances and insights into the human condition that spoke to me on a visceral level. Not to mention Cameron Crowe’s musical and aesthetic sensibilities covering the film with his signature touch.

ML: I can’t really pick one. I’d say there are a few films that have affected me. Just a few that come to mind are: Mulholland Drive, The Fountain, Rules of Attraction, Fight Club, The Beach and Vanilla Sky, as well.

Q. What is your favorite book?

ML: The book that affected me the most profoundly was probably Freedom From the Known by Jiddu Krishnamurti. He’s the sage on whom I cut my spiritual teeth, so to speak. “Truth is a pathless land,” is his most famous and probably most concise summary of his ideas, which you can easily find online.

JS: I have to say The Immortalist by Alan Harrington. It’s out of print now, but you can find it online. It’s a profound philosophical manifesto rejecting all forms of “Death accepting belief systems,” and instead advocating for science to engineer biological immortality. It’s heavy, but speaks a lot to the current issues facing those in the biotech revolution. I also adore Alain De Botton’s On Love and The Art of Travel.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?

JS: At the moment I would have to say I support the biotechnology and nanotechnology revolutions to improve and expand human life. I am against irrational restrictions being imposed by those of faith on scientific advancement. I support people like Ray Kurzweil and Aubrey de Grey for their work in life extension and technology.

ML: I agree with Jason on that end. Religion-based morality interfering with scientific progress has irked me for as long as I can remember. Moral relativism, whereby one abandons a code of ‘right and wrong’ when assessing things like female genital mutilation, for example, is deplorable. Animal rights is a cause that I have always stood for, as well.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?

JS: I would love to be a little more patient when things don’t go exactly as planned. Also, I would love to get over my fear of turbulence on airplanes.

ML: I’d like to be better at rock climbing.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?

Max Lugavere and Jason Silva

JS: I love the author Alain De Botton. He is unbelievably erudite and articulate. I also like filmmakers Danny Boyle, Cameron Crowe, the Wachowski Brothers and Darren Aronofsky.

ML: I love the directors that Jason mentioned, but I also adore David Lynch, Martin Scorsese and Alejandro González Iñárritu – can’t get enough of their films. Musically, I admire rock bands like U2 and Live for staying true to their spiritual roots despite their success.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

JS: Probably making a film about hedonism and spirituality with Max and somehow ending up sipping champagne with Al Gore on a yacht.

ML: Yep, that’s pretty crazy.

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?

ML: Oscar Wilde for his witty and memorable insights of clarity into a world that ultimately offers none.

JS: Freud, for making us think about sex a lot, and Einstein, for being a bohemian bon vivant but also a genius.

Q. What upsets you the most?

JS: Political tyranny, genocide, racism, religious fundamentalism and killing people in the name of religion.

ML: Hypocrisy in the government, religious fundamentalism, conformity, apathy, neglecting the tools of empowerment so freely available to us (i.e. Current) and white rice.

Q. What is your favorite bar?

ML: Hyde Lounge, in LA. I used to really love Mynt Ultra Lounge in Miami, when we lived there.

JS: Hyde Lounge. Period.

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?

JS: BlackBerry

ML: iPod

Q. What are you most afraid of?

ML: Not having a positive impact on the world.

JS: The passing of time. Death.

Q. Where do you love to shop?

JS: Diesel, Zara, Dior, Prada and Puma

ML: Same as Jason for clothing. The Apple Store, Guitar Center, Amazon.com for everything else.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?

ML: Patron and pineapple.

JS: A good rum is always nice; good scotch for a Venezuelan-style dinner; wine is good all the time; champagne to mark the moment.

Q. What are your top 3 songs?

JS: ‘Voices’ by Dario G, ‘Is This Love’ by Bob Marley and ‘Njosnavelin’ (the Nothing Song) by Sigur Ros

ML: ‘They Stood Up for Love’ by Live, ‘Avalanche’ by Matthew Good and ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ by U2.

-Laura Jakobovits

Caprice Crane

Caprice Crane

Caprice Crane is the author of the new novel, Forget About It. She is also the former head writer for MTV networks and is the daughter of Gilligan’s Island’s Ginger Grant.

ASW sits down with this bright second-time novelist to talk about her new book, its movie proposal and becoming the pop-cultural successor to Candace Bushnell.

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?

Caprice Crane: I think I became a member in 2005. My friend Stephanie recruited me.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
CC: I like to skim through the forums and see what people are talking about. It's always interesting to see the different perspectives. And I jump back and forth between NY and LA a lot so it's an easy way to let people know where I am.

Q. Pop culture runs through your veins. Tell us about growing up in a Hollywood household.
CC: It turns out that "Pop culture" is actually fattening, especially on camera. So, I had it drained and then replaced by sardonic wit and the stuff they make Gummy Bears out of. Growing up in a "Hollywood" household was all I ever knew so I didn't know it to be different than anyone else's life. I thought all parents were on TV and that was just what grownups did.

Q. As a head writer for MTV for seven years, one could fairly assume you had a lot to do with ‘educating’ the MTV generation. Tell us a bit about your experience – how do you think your influence at this network helped shape a generation and pop culture today?
CC: Britney's extensions? East Coast VS West Coast? Blurred logos on shirts? (By the way, I'm designing shirts that have blurred logos™ to save the networks the trouble.) Yeah, that was ALL me. I can honestly say that if there is not a rush by today's parents to name their children "Caprice" or "Flava", it is an outrage the likes of which we have never before seen in this country. Seriously, MTV doesn't make pop culture, it just reports on it. And if I'm responsible for helping to shape a generation, I owe somebody an apology.

Q. Stupid and Contagious was a big success. Now Forget About It is following in its footsteps. Tell us about the experience of going from pop culture expert to novelist. How do these roles fit in your career?
CC: I don't know how to answer that because it's only recently come to my attention that I am a Pop Culture Expert (but it's delightful to know that all of the useless trivia in my over-crowded brain finally earned me something). I can tell you the difference between writing TV/Film screenplays and novels … and that is an economy of words in the former, and the freedom to really flesh out a story and play with language in the latter. Not that my writing is trying to be self-important prose. Because it's not – at all. I write stories that I'd want to read, with normal people swimming through outrageous situations. Fun characters who make people laugh.

Q. You have been dubbed as "the next Candace Bushnell." How do you feel about this statement? Is this the direction you're trying to follow? What do you think of Candace Bushnell's work?

Cover art for Forget About It

CC: I'm sorry, who? I'm kidding, I LOVED her on Murphy Brown. Kidding again. Candace Bushnell? Those are some pretty big stiletto heels to fill. She was among the first and best to define the world of the Y.U.F. (Young Urban Female) and she made the mundane seem marvellous. Not to mention that she built on her books and dominated another industry (television). So while I don't feel I'm another diarist of the Bushnell world, I would be pleased as punch to follow in those fabulous footsteps.

Q. Reportedly, Disney has 'snatched' the movie rights to Forget About It. Tell us about this project. Who's involved? When is it happening? We heard Scarlett Johansson.
CC: I don't want to give away too much, but it will feature Herbie the Love Bug. Seriously? Many of the details remain in flux. I wish I could tell you every little thing but I'm not privy. I hope they begin production soon because baby needs new shoes!

Q. Tell us about your other engagements. Screenplays, shorts, that kind of thing. Can we expect anything on that side?
CC: I had a blast making my short Passing The Time which was very loosely inspired by my new novel, Forget About It. (In the book the lead character fakes amnesia to reinvent herself and in the short film the lead character has amnesia when we meet him, and all he has is a piece of paper with a girl's name and address on it but when he shows up at her door she has no idea who he is.) The film stars Abigail Spencer who's starring in the new NBC series tentatively called The Watch and Reid Scott who currently stars in TBS's My Boys. I'm in talks with both actors about a sequel and also about possibly having one of them star in the feature film version of Stupid and Contagious, which is not set up at a studio yet but (thankfully) has several producers biting.

Q. What makes you happiest?
CC: Max, my dog, in a hat.

Q.Where is your favorite travel destination?
CC: For some reason, London gets the most stamps in my passport.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
CC: Caffeine. I quit coffee but ended up getting double the amount of caffeine in my green tea. I've tried to quit on my own, but no dice. I've been to meetings. Apparently Pfizer is working on a patch. Until then, I am pretty much Pfucked.

Q. What are your top 5 hotels?
CC: Everyone is all "Boardwalk this" and "Park Place that." Personally I load them up on the light green properties next to the "go to jail" dealie and let them do the work.

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
CC: Katsu-Ya – the original one. The one that a certain very trendy restaurant ripped off the entire menu. I could live on their baked crab roll. I need a patch for that too.

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
CC: My friend Dav's closet. It's still 1985 in there.

Q. What is your favorite beach?
CC: There are many factors that go into such a decision. I call it the "White Sand vs. Hypodermic Needles/Banana Hammocks Corollary."

Q. What is your favorite ski resort?
CC: Are you about to try to sell me on a time share? If so I need to get back those Apres Ski boots I sold on eBay.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
CC: Breast Cancer. Everyone is touched in some way by it and it's a crime that we still have no cure. I lost my best friend to breast cancer recently and she was only 31.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
CC: My fingerprints. The reasons why will soon become all too clear.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
CC: Animal from The Muppet Show.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
CC: Animal from The Muppet Show.

Max, the dog

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
CC: Frodo. Homey would not be deterred by gay hobbit love or a crazy-making ring. He was like a shorter Katie Holmes.

Q. What upsets you the most?
CC: I do a lot of yoga. I'm so advanced nothing "upsets" me. Well, dogs without hats can set me off. Okay, animal cruelty enrages me. So, top 3 things that upset me: animal cruelty, ignorance, and Dockers..

Q. What is your favorite bar?
CC: Kit Kat. No, Mars!

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
CC: Sadly, my BlackBerry.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
CC: Fear. And the boogie man.

Q. Where do you love to shop?
CC: New York, L.A., Paris, and London. Boutiques are dangerous.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
CC: Orange Julius.

Q. What are your top 3 songs on your iPod? What’s your most motivational song?
CC: My CD collection rivals most record stores and emasculates most men. Impossible to narrow it down to three. Truly.

— Alonso Dominguez

Ben Saunders

Ben Saunders

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?

Ben Saunders : A friend introduced me to ASW at the end of 2005.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
BS:I travel an awful lot (58 flights last year) and I’m usually in places for just a few days at a time, so the travel forum has been invaluable in identifying the best local spots to visit and indeed the most interesting people to hang out with!

Q. What draws you to places like the North Pole and the Nepalese Himalayas?

I think it’s the scale of the places – the majesty of nature at its grandest and most imposing. The high Arctic, particularly, is an awesome place. I remember being dropped by helicopter in 2004; the sun was low over the ice and the whole place was bathed in this amazing orange and blue light. It was like landing on Mars. I’ve never been blown away like that by anything manmade.

Q. How do you cope with the solitude when you are on a solo expedition?
BS: I’ve learnt there’s a big difference between being lonely and being alone. I was very much alone at the geographic North Pole in May ’04 – I was the only human being in 5.4 million square miles. Yet, I never felt lonely. I had a purpose and I had a lot of people back home that cared about me. I’m sure there are lonelier people on the streets of London. I also took a tiny book, ‘Courage from Piglet.’ That was my secret weapon.

Q. What do your next polar expeditions involve?
BS: In March ‘08 I’m setting out to ski solo from Canada to the North Pole and I’m hoping to set a speed record by beating the 37 days it took Robert Peary to get there using dog sleds in 1909. In the 98 years since, no one’s come close.

Then, in October ‘08, I’m setting out on a 1,800 mile (2,900 km) journey on foot from Berkner Island at the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back – the first return journey to the South Pole on foot and the longest unsupported polar journey in history.

Q. You have run several marathons and two ultra-marathons. What is an ultra-marathon and how much do you think finishing one of those is about mind over matter?

Ben Saunders

BS: An ultra-marathon is a race that’s longer than 26.2 miles. I’ve run 40 and 58 mile races – both are definitely about mind over matter. Part of your mind starts looking for reasons to slow down or stop. You switch between feeling sorry for yourself, feeling proud of yourself and telling yourself off for being a wimp because you’re even thinking of quitting.

Q. As a motivational speaker, what is your favorite motivational quote?
BS: Probably Helen Keller’s wonderful words: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

Q. Having achieved so many great feats at just 30 years of age, what’s left for you to conquer?
BS: I’m a terrible dancer, so maybe salsa lessons.

Q. What makes you happiest?
BS: So many things. I love the adrenaline of getting a big expedition off the ground. I love getting back home again – a decent steak, decent red wine, decent company. You really appreciate simple pleasures after these kinds of expeditions. And the people that are close to you. I never miss material things when I’m on the ice. I don’t miss my car, my TV or my wood floor. And yet so many of us waste time stuck on the treadmill of materialism at the expense of relationships, family and friends. But before you write me off as a raving hippie, I should probably own up to having a semi-secret passion for fast cars. Aston Martin, Maserati, Noble, that kind of thing.

Q.Where is your favorite travel destination?
BS: I always love arriving in NYC. There’s so much energy there. It feels like anything’s possible in New York, which is pretty much true, of course.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
BS: Caffeine and bikes (the kind that involve lycra, not leather). My current bike collection is worth nearly as much as my car.

Q. What are your top 5 hotels?
BS: The Whitepod in the Swiss Alps, The Clift in San Francisco, The Bowery in New York, Lake O’Hara Lodge in the Canadian Rockies and The Lugger Hotel in Cornwall (UK)

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
BS: I had my last pre-expedition farewell at Nobu London, but I spend far more time in my local curry house, Nayab, on New Kings Road.

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
BS: Frammuseet, in Oslo: the only museum that’s given me goose bumps. www.fram.museum.no

Q. What is your favorite beach?
BS: Sandwood Bay in the Scottish Highlands is spectacular (and usually deserted); either that or South Beach Miami (rather different to the North Pole).

Q. What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?
BS: I absolutely loved Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others). I’m a bit of a libertarian at heart and the film is a pretty stark warning about the dangers of an all-powerful state and the lack of respect for individuals and their liberties. It was spooky getting on the tube afterwards and seeing posters saying: ‘Seen anything suspicious? Report it now.’

Ben Saunders

Q. What is your favorite book?
BS: The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard – it’s epic. Everyone should read it.

Q. What is your favorite ski resort?
BS: The old Winter Olympics course in Lillehammer, Norway. There are miles of cross-country tracks out there as well and the place is completely unpretentious, unlike many of the alpine resorts. I’ve mentioned Whitepod already but they do have their own private ski slope and lift, which is pretty cool.

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
BS: My plan is to start an organization that encourages and enables kids from disadvantaged backgrounds to get into the great outdoors. My brother’s a teacher in London and many of the teenagers he teaches have never left the city. They’ve never seen a hill or a valley. I don’t see how we can inspire this upcoming generation to take better care of the environment if they don’t really know what it is.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
BS: I’d like to learn to type properly. I’m a two-finger-typer.

Q. Which artist do you admire most?
BS: Andy Goldsworthy

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
BS: Either 1) reaching the geographic North Pole alone and on foot (a challenge Reinhold Messner called “ten times as dangerous as Everest”), 2) posing naked for a Nike ad campaign or 3) writing a note to the gorgeous girl who sat next to me on the tube a few months ago – it was packed and we both had iPods on, so there was no way I could strike up a conversation. So I wrote her a note on the spur of the moment and handed it to her. All three challenges involved that heart-in-mouth, there’s-no-turning-back-now feeling.

Ben Saunders starring in an advertisement for Nike

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
BS: Fridtjof Nansen

Q. What upsets you the most?
BS: A lack of aspiration in many of today’s young people. And people who litter.

Q. What is your favorite bar?
BS: I’m pretty clean-living, so I don’t spend much time in bars. But I thought Angel's Share in the East Village in Manhattan was great.

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
BS: In the Arctic, my stove; anywhere else, my iPod Nano.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
BS: Not much, which sounds horribly macho. I’ve been attacked by a polar bear, I’ve had frostbite in a toe and I’ve fallen through pack ice into the Arctic Ocean on a solo expedition; and none were as bad as I’d imagined. My biggest fear is probably looking back, aged 90, and realizing that I could have done more with my life.

Q. Where do you love to shop?
BS: I’m going to have a suit made at Norton & Sons on Savile Row. It’s not exactly shopping, but they’ve been outfitting explorers for centuries and going in and looking at clothes and patterns was a magical experience. I love second-hand bookshops, and outdoor gear shops, obviously.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
BS: Yorkshire tea, Guinness, good mojitos, freshly made smoothies and chocolate protein shakes (though probably not all in the same evening).

Q. What are your top 3 songs on your iPod? What’s your most motivational song
BS: ‘Pushin‘ On’ by The Quantic Soul Orchestra featuring Alice Russell,
‘All That You Give’ by The Cinematic Orchestra featuring Fontella Bass and
‘Gold in the Air of Summer’ by Kings of Convenience.

And my ultimate motivational tune, for those tough days of solo trekking, has to be Whitesnake’s ‘Here I Go Again.’

— Laura Jakobovits

The Definitive Guide to Mexico City

Condesadf rooftop bar

An ocean of 18,000 naked bodies met American photographer Spencer Tunick’s lens this April when he staged his largest-ever installation in Mexico City’s massive Zócalo, filling the square’s 17,500 square meters. See, art is major in this sprawling 700 year-old city. It’s no wonder then – with its renowned galleries, Oscar-winning films, and ultra-stylish hotels – that culture vultures are flocking to Mexico City in droves.

South of the Zócalo in this 23-million strong metropolis – dubbed el D.F., short for Distrito Federal – the stylish heart of the city beats in Colonia Condesa and Roma. With more stunning Art Deco buildings than anywhere south of Miami, tree-lined Condesa is home to many of the city’s film, art and music tastemakers. Just north in Roma, elite galleries housed in turn-of-the century French-style mansions front still-gentrifying sidewalks lined with papaya shake stands and tomato-red VW Bugs.

Hot spots
Like New Yorkers, DF natives, sometimes-derisively nicknamed chilangos, are known for their sharp tongues. The chattering classes congregate at the Condesadf, a 39-room Belle Époque hotel with exuberant interiors by Parisian designer India Mahdavi. Regulars including actors Salma Hayek and Gael García Bernal (who lives around the corner) are partial to the triangular rooftop bar, as are Academy-favored directors like Alfonso Cuarón and art world stars like Gabriel Orozco and, naturally, Tunick. When not holding court here, Diego Luna (Bernal’s co-star in Cuarón’s breakout film, Y Tu Mama También), can be found grazing on rib-eye tacos at his kitschy-cool restaurant, La Bipolar, located in bohemian Coyoacán, near the artifact-crammed Frida Kahlo museum. Luna also has a hand in NaCo, a graphic line of irreverent tees depicting wrestlers, telephone wires, or tiered pink cakes that are de rigueur D.F. souvenirs, sold at Kulte and other trendy urban boutiques.

After a breakfast at Casa Lamm – a gated century-old complex where a gallery, shop and modern teak-floored restaurant surround a grassy courtyard – prospective art collectors should ring Mireya Escalante. An advisor to the city’s top collectors, she wrangled this Catholic city into green-lighting Tunick’s nude installation.

Art Smart
• Globally influential Kurimanzutto arranges installations in vacant spaces around the city.

• Established in 1983, Galería OMR is situated in a two-level Art Nouveau townhouse with French windows overlooking pretty Plaza Río de Janeiro.

• The buzzy Garash Galería shows installations by young artists in a discrete bi-level space on busy Avenida Álvaro Obregón.

• Cuban-born gallerist Nina Menocal specializes in digital work and installations by emerging Latin American artists at Galería Nina Menocal.

• Design junkies haunt Emmanuel Picault’s 20th century vintage furnishing selection at Chic by Accident and Gustavo Villazul's new two-floor interiors gallery.

Consuming Passions
Satiated on art and design? Delectable tuna sashimi tostadas are on offer in Colonia Roma, at Gabriela Cámara's nine year-old and ever-popular El Contramar. In an airy palapa-styled dining room, Cámara’s bow-tied crew serves lunch to Oscar-nominated actors, paparazzi-hounded footballers and well-suited políticos. Don’t expect to be productive afterwards – tequila is chased with spicy sangrita at every table.

Condesa’s more discretely chic eateries include Bistro Mosaico, a local favorite that’s packed weeknights with couples slurping oysters and friends toasting over multiple bottles of wine. The cozy Hip Kitchen at the 16-room Hippodrome Hotel, newly ensconced in an unmarked 1931 building near Parque México, has an Asian-inflected menu enlivened by a rotating guest chef program.

A cluster of the city’s most celebrated restaurants neighbor Louis Vuitton and Cartier in Beverly Hills-like Polanco, a 45-minute crawl from Condesa through smoggy, billboard-crammed Zona Rosa. Jaguars and Hummers line the street below the sleek pine-floored third-floor dining room of Aguila y Sol, Marta Ortiz Chapa’s haute-Aztec eatery. Nearby is culinary doyenne Patricia Quintana’s first and most celebrated eatery, Izote. A few minutes down Avenida Presidente Masaryk – past Habita, the Condesadf’s glassy, minimalist sister hotel – lies Pujol, the seven year-old new Mexican standout helmed by 31 year-old wonder-chef Enrique Olvera.

Speed – attempt forty kilometers per hour – back to Roma, because the night is young. Cibeles, Gabriela Cámara's latest project, attracts fashionable hordes to lounge on Chesterfield sofas below baroque mirrors and Starck lamps arrayed by Carlos Cole. Nightcap? Try a cucumber mojito at Condesadf or red chile martini if you stay at Hippodrome.

Address Book
Condesadf, Av. Veracruz N. 102 Col. Condesa; +52-55/5241-2600, www.condesadf.com

La Bipolar, Malitzin 155, Col. Coyoacán; +52-55/5484-8230

Museo Frida Kahlo, Londres 247, Col. Coyoacán; +52-55/54 59 99; www.museofridakahlocasaazul.org

Kulte, Atlixco 118, Col. Condesa; +52-55/5211-7389

Restaurante Lamm, Álvaro Obregón 99, Col. Roma; +52-55/5514-8501; www.lamm.com.mx

Mireya Escalante, +52-55/5250-6512 or 5250 1674; mireyaesc@cablevision.net.mx

Kurimanzutto, Mazatlán 5, Col. Condesa; +52-55/5286-3059; www.kurimanzutto.com

Galería OMR, Plaza Río de Janeiro 54, Col. Roma;+52-55/5207-1080; www.galeriaomr.com

Garash Galería, Álvaro Obregón 49, Col. Roma;+52-55/5207-9858; www.garashgaleria.com

Galería Nina Menocal, Zacatecas 93, Col. Roma;+52-55/5564-7209; www.ninamenocal.com

Chic by Accident, 180 Colima, Col. Roma;+52-55/5514-5723; www.chicbyaccident.com

Gustavo Villazul, Sinaloa 199, Col. Roma;+52-55/5211-7126

Hip Kitchen at the Hippodrome Hotel, Av. México 188, Col. Condesa; +52-55/5212-2110

El Contramar, Av. Durango 200, Col. Roma;+52-55/5514-9217

Bistro Mosaico, Michoacán 10, Col. Condesa;+52-55/5584-2932

Aguila y Sol, 127 Emilio Castelar, Col. Polanco;+52-55/5281-8354

Izote, 513 Presidente Masaryk, Col. Polanco;+52-55/5280-1671

Hotel Habita, 201 Presidente Masaryk, Col. Polanco;+52-55/5282-3100; www.hotelhabita.com

Pujol, Petrarca 254, Col. Polanco, +52-55/5545-4111; www.pujol.com.mx

Cibeles, Plaza Villa de Madrid 17, Col. Roma;+52-55/5208-2029
— Rose Reis

NY Fashion Week S/S 08

It's been a week of clothes and catwalks in New York, as almost a hundred designers released their creations at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

There was good. There was bad. There was Victoria Beckham. And then there was aSmallWorld, watching for haute glimmers and high hems from the front row.

Below are our favorite runway picks, plus a healthy dose of buzz - after all, what good is a great dress if nobody's talking about it?

Marc Jacobs
America's moody genius threw a fashion curveball by showing his looks in reverse - first came shredded chiffon dresses, then the poplar daywear in Crayola colored solids and a memorable rugby t-shirt gown stamped with varsity numbers. But what will the fashion crowd remember more - that the collection was messy magic or that the show started two hours late?

Rodarte
For a pair of suburban sisters, Kate and Laura Mulleavy cause a lot of drama. Witness the critical chaos that ensued last year when their Rodarte collection fiercely divided the style community. Vogue hailed them as a revelation and a revolution, while The Times thought their pieces to be pillowcases. This season, with Camilla Nickerson styling, we saw more control in their gowns and rumpled pants that, frankly, looked incredible.

Sari Gueron
Most of these pieces were stamped with a giant 'must have' - sharply- shaped dresses you could pull on in a second; tailored nylon jackets that skimmed the body like cocktail wear. The casually cool surfer girl has found a perfect balance, fusing her bohemian flair with a hint of understated sexiness.

Ruffian
With their trademark whipped shoulders and a new floral print, Brian Wolk and Claude Morais brought more color and sculptured shapes to their runway than ever before. With nods to Southern glamour, avant-garde art, and precocious uptown youth - as seen in several pairs of lush fabric leggings - the clothes garnered particular praise from social starlets like Plum Sykes.

Katy Rodriguez
Styled by Madonna's personal clothes horse, Arianne Phillips, the Katy Rodriguez collection showed LA style at its best - glamorous, blackly beautiful, and too cool to care. Girls particularly swooned for the shiny, tight cocktail dresses in jeweled greens and blues, though they'll have to act now - Katy's pack of starlet fans will surely swipe them fast for their red carpet regime.

Benjamin Cho
Theatrics are expected from this downtown designer, but dangerously clean jackets and dresses were the main course on his runway. Especially admired were a series of sheaths infused with amethysts, which glowed at the heart like a stylish superhero emblem. The scene before the show was just as electric, with Tara Subkoff and Chloe Sevigny arriving in teetering heels, and Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez chatting with The Times' Cathy Horyn in the front row - she's a fan of Ben's; they're old friends from Parsons. The show had an easygoing atmosphere, but it might prove the turning point in Cho's career - he's already been plucked by the L.A. brand Thrive to work as their new designer.

— Faran Krentcil

Nicola Blatsiotis

Nicola Blatsiotis

Nicola Blatsiotis, a former pro-tennis player, coach, USTA player development expert and current consultant to USA Networks gives ASW Magazine the inside scoop on the US Open. From locker room chatter to endorsement deals, find out what’s behind the hype.

Q. How has your time on the tour prepared you for what you are doing now?
Nicola Blatsiotis: What I am doing now for USA involves my ability to technically and tactically evaluate a player. The evaluation is based on my judgment and there is no way I could do that without my experience on the tour. Because I have the ability to ‘make or break’ an up-and-coming player I need to know exactly what I am talking about.

Q. What qualities do you look for in a great player?
NB: Tennis requires a very specific skill, which is not solely based in athleticism. Your hands and your mental approach are so important. I look for players who do not display fear of failure on the court, especially when it comes to major points. I notice those who can close out a point, have killer instinct and have the ability to finish off a match. I also notice marketable players who can become super athletes, super models and super actors. This well roundedness represents the new wave in sports. For tennis, the first player who embodied this trend was Anna Kournikova. She famously failed to win a singles title in more than 100 WTA events but still managed to earn about five million dollars in endorsement deals. What is really more interesting about her now is that she continues to make the same amount of money without even being on the WTA tour.

Q. How do you think the recent surge in endorsements has changed tennis?
NB: Top players now lack the incentive to play in many tournaments because they do not need the prize money.

Q. Which players have the big endorsement deals this year and how has that affected the tournament?
NB: Maria Sharapova still has the biggest endorsement deals this year. She earns approximately 20 million dollars a year from deals with the likes of Canon, Motorola, Nike and Tag Heuer. There is another female star – Serbian Ana Ivanovic. At 19, she is the youngest player in the top 10. She will, in my opinion, soon take the reigns from Sharapova. In a recent CNBC poll about the world's sexiest tennis player, Ivanovic trounced Sharapova 9 to 1. Ivanovic is endorsed by Adidas, Wilson and she just signed a new deal with Verano Motors (the distributor of Peugeot in Serbia). Although the deal does not sound glamorous, it will open the door for others to come.

Roger Federer is making 15 million dollars in endorsements annually, but his new deal with Gillette is going to raise the bar. He is also endorsed by Nike and Wilson and two other Swiss companies. Andy Roddick, however, still appears to be winning the race to the bank on the men’s side with about 16 million dollars a year from deals with Lexus, American Express and Lacoste.

Nicola Blatsiotis

Q. Who should we watch for the rest of the Open?
NB: There is a famous sentence in the locker room among the male players when they have to play Roger Federer: “It is like a porno movie,” meaning that Roger can dominate every aspect of their game. I hope this phrase doesn’t hold true and we get a great show this year. Players that can demonstrate good resistance against Federer are Andy Roddick, Tommy Haas (big win against James Blake), Novak Djokovic (with potential to be the next #1 player in the world) and Rafael Nadal, though he has a big disadvantage in this tournament because of a knee problem. In terms of women, things are complicated. Because of the early elimination of Maria Sharapova, the top side of the draw is much stronger than the bottom. On the top side you have so many great players like Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic. The bottom is less exciting, except for Anna Chakvetadze.

Q. Fashion is really becoming a big part of tennis. Do you think that it has gone too far? Do you think the focus on visual appeal is detracting from the skills of the athlete?
NB: People will like the fashion or not like the fashion. But if people are talking about the fashion it has to be a positive thing. The question is if tennis has become fashion fabulous or simply a fashion folly. The problem for me started when the clothing companies gave some players the ability to design their own clothes. This resulted in fashion crimes. I am not the editor of Vogue but I am assuming that if someone is great at hitting tennis balls it does not automatically make him or her a clothing designer. At the 2004 US Open Serena Williams unveiled her biker denim outfit complete with vinyl black leggings. I was there and thought she looked bad, but from the other side I liked her willingness to test the limits. So no, to answer your question, I do not think the focus on visual appeal is detracting from the skills of the athlete or tennis fashion is out of control. I just think that sometimes it is a little bit painful on the eyes.

Q. Can you tell me about John Isner and Donald Young? Do you think they represent the next wave of US Tennis champions? If not, is there anyone else we should be keeping an eye on?
NB: John Isner, 22, finished college and then entered the pro tour. Donald Young, 18, did the opposite, entering the tour two years ago. There was so much hype about him even though two weeks prior to the US Open he had never won a match on the ATP tour and held a record of 11-0 losses. He got two wild cards in the previous years for the US Open and both times lost in the first round. Then, all of a sudden, in this US Open he won his first match, his opponent retired on the second round and he ended up losing on the third round. I am still not convinced about him and I think there was too much hype too early. I think Isner is in a better state of mind. He came in with no expectations this year and he found himself facing Andy Roddick and Roger Federer in the last two tournaments he played. In my opinion, there is somebody else that we should keep an eye on and he is more than the total package as a player. His name is Sam Querrey. He just graduated from high school and has proved that he can play with the big boys.

Q. Right now there are no US players consistently in the top 5, which means that there are no major rivalries among US players like there used to be (for example, Sampras vs. Agassi, Conners vs. McEnroe). What effect does this have on big corporate money since the US Open is very much based on America viewership?
NB: Short-term, yes, it has a negative effect. There are better ratings in wrestling, for example, than in tennis and the sport is now feeling the effects of globalization. The major rivalries among US players that you mention pushed the sport worldwide and have created top-level players everywhere. There are some great American players coming up and the networks are doing a great job educating the American viewer about the foreign talents that are participating in the US Open.

Ivanovic, the new Sharapova?

Q. There are so many players with incredible talent these days. In your opinion, what is the intangible quality that separates the good from the best?
NB: I like to watch a tennis player when things are not going well for them in a match. This is when you see the determination and will of the individual. A very important quality is the ability of a player to adjust their game. That means he/she is aware of their own mistakes, their opponent’s patterns and the situation, including score and conditions.

Q. Why is it that American men play a pure power game?
NB: The main reason has to do with American courts’ fast surface on which most players practice and play tournaments. On a hard court it is easier to put the ball away so power is a key element. If you play on red clay it is more difficult to put the ball away because it is a moving surface. Naturally you develop a higher shot tolerance that demands patient point construction. Another reason is that somehow young American players train with the objective to end points quickly. On a fast surface, players can rely heavily on sheer power and athleticism, which is the preferred approach for American players.

— Sabine Heller

Joshua Bell

As one of the top concert violinists in the world, Joshua Bell plays in approximately 100 cities a year. With his concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall approaching, ASW catches up with this brilliant musician to talk about The Red Violin Concerto’s recording, touring the world and what it means to be dubbed a ‘Young Global Leader’.

Q. How and when did you become a member of ASW?
Joshua Bell: I was invited to ASW by a friend two and a half years ago and tested the waters soon after by tentatively posting a thread concerning my upcoming trip to Berlin. Since I had a few friends there and had some extra comp tickets for my concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, I asked if anyone might want to use them and perhaps meet up for drinks afterwards. I was surprised by the warm response and we ended up with a very large group of ASWers at the concert (and LOTS of drinks afterwards!). I have instigated several such gatherings in cities around the world and have made some really wonderful friends this way.

Q. How do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?
JB: Since I travel to 100 or so cities each year, I find the city guide very useful for restaurant recommendations.

Q. You’ll be playing at the Royal Albert Hall for the Last Night of Proms in London. Sounds exciting. How do you feel about this particular opportunity?
JB: The Proms is one my favorite events and I play on the series almost every summer. The Royal Albert Hall seems to attract a younger audience, partially because of its uniquely casual atmosphere (the whole lower level is without seats and the ‘Promenaders’ stand throughout the concert) and The Proms sells out night after night (7000 tickets) throughout the season while maintaining a serious classical programme.

In an age when sceptics question the future of classical music, The Proms proves that there is a big audience for the genre, given that the conditions are right. September 8th will be my first time playing on the Last Night of the Proms. I’ll be playing mostly selections from my last album Voice of the Violin, including a duet with the amazing (and beautiful!) soprano, Anna Netrebko.

Q. You go on tour a lot. What do you like/dislike about it?
JB: I’ve been touring for more than 20 years now (since I was fourteen) so I can hardly imaging a life without travel. I play 120 concerts a year which keeps me away from home about two thirds of the time. I love the variety and unpredictability of living on the road. Sure, I’m pretty sick of airports (ah, I wish I could afford to fly privately, but this is rarely an option for me) and I miss my friends and family at home, but I wouldn’t trade my ‘job’ for anything.

Joshua Bell

Q. Which has been your favourite place to play thus far? Why?
JB: Just this week I returned to Moscow after 17 years (last time I played there it was still the Soviet Union) and participated in a concert on the Red Square – an amazing experience. It’s fun to notice the ways different audiences react to music, and Eastern European audiences rank among the most appreciative.
As thrilling as it is to play for big audiences like those in the Red Square or the Hollywood Bowl, my most enjoyable musical moments have been in places like the intimate Wigmore Hall in London, the Musikverein in Vienna and of course, the magical Carnegie Hall in NYC.

Q. You were the only American musician to be named by the World Economic Forum as one of the 250 ‘Young Global Leaders’. How do you feel about that title?
JB: Well, I’m not exactly sure what ‘global leading’ means or why I was chosen for this list, but it certainly is an honor. It also makes me happy to see that artists and musicians were included amongst the politicians and entrepreneurs on the list. Personally, I avoid getting involved directly in politics and I’m sceptical of any art that calls itself political. I feel that the greatness of art and music transcends politics and speaks to more elemental and profound truths of the human spirit. However, it is precisely because of this that art can have a powerful effect on the world as a community.

Q. What would be your advice to the young, budding musicians out there?
JB: I’m often asked what advice to give budding musicians and it’s hard to say. Should they get a ‘real job’? For those who make music, it is more of a way of life than a job. For many, even many great musicians, making a living can be a struggle, but if one truly loves music then it becomes something that one simply must do.

Q. As your most famous work, The Red Violin must be extremely significant for you. How does it feel to revisit the score for a concerto?
JB: The Red Violin was my first experience working with film and I’ve since sought out other film projects. One of my recent favorite collaborations was in a film called Ladies in Lavender with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. However, it will be hard for me to ever find a more involving movie project than The Red Violin.

I think it’s an incredible piece of music and an example of how a modern composer can write something that sounds new and inventive, yet melodic and beautiful. Sony/BMG will be releasing my recording of it just this week and I’ll be performing the concerto often this year.

Q. You released a new CD this year. Tell us about The Essential Joshua Bell.
JB: The Essential is essentially a compilation of my favorite bits from all the albums I’ve done for Sony. The pieces are mostly drawn from my more recent Romance of the Violin and Voice of the Violin, as well as more serious classical stuff like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, etc. It also includes some crossover collaborations with other musicians like Bela Fleck and my bluegrass buddies Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush, and Mike Marchal.

Confusingly, my old record company, Universal, has also recently released a recording of the exact same name (The Essential J.B.), but this is just a haphazard mix from my ten years of recording for Decca, done without my consent or consultation, so I’d recommend the Sony one.

Joshua Bell

Q. You live in New York. Do consider NY to be the musical centre of the world? How does it compare to other music capitals?
JB: I’ve lived in NYC for 18 years and can hardly imagine living anywhere else. Basically in New York you can eat anything, see everything and hear almost any kind of music on any given night. For classical music, New York is perhaps the ‘centre’ of the world, although London is a close rival. In general, Europe is in many ways the place to be for classical music – and I spend almost half my year there – but I am always happy to come home. Furthermore, I’ve spent the last two years building my dream home in the Gramercy Park area. And after a gut-job renovation, I’m finally getting ready to move in – I’m so excited!

Q. If you weren’t a violinist, what would you be? Why?
JB: If I hadn’t gone into music I would have gravitated toward something in the areas of science (I love physics), medical research or psychology.

Q. Where is your favorite travel destination?
JB: I love Italy, Asia, South America… too many places to name. Since I travel for work, I rarely travel for fun. But I’ve been known to go on the occasional golf trip or catch a last minute flight to Las Vegas for a fun escapade.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
JB: I definitely have an addictive personality. Luckily, I’ve never done any drugs, but I did waste countless hours playing video games as a kid when I should have been practicing. I also have a weakness for gambling, which I inherited from my mother who plays poker three times a week at the age of 72! Did I mention Vegas?

Q. What are your top 5 hotels?
JB: Calistoga Ranch in Napa (those outdoor showers!), The Gramercy Park Hotel in NYC, The Baglioni in London, The Plaza Athénée in Paris and pretty much any Four Seasons.

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?
JB: In NYC, Sushi of Gari and Eleven Madison, French Laundry in California and Girardet in Switzerland (now taken over by Phillipe Rochat).

Q. What is your favorite museum or gallery?
JB: MOMA in NYC

Q. What is your favorite beach?
JB: I prefer the mountains, but I do like spending time on the beach when I’m in Rio – watching the waves, of course.

Q. What book has had the greatest effect on you? Why?

Joshua Bell

JB: I was most affected by The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand as a teenager. It helped me in regards to issues of individualism and self-respect. I would recommend this book to any artist (or architect). I love to read and particularly enjoy Kundera, Updike, and John Irving among others. I also like British humor – P.G. Wodehouse for instance.

Q. What is your favorite film?
JB: Breaking Away, a brilliant, but not too well-known film set in my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. Also, I like lots of Woody Allen.

Q. What is your favorite ski resort?
JB: I love both Aspen and Verbier – I spend time in both during the summer because of the music festivals

Q. What cause is closest to your heart? Why?
JB: I work mostly with causes involving children, like Education Through Music, which puts music programs in schools that have none (usually in low-income neighbourhoods). I also do a lot for Paul Newman’s charity, the Hole in the Wall Gang camps for kids with terminal illnesses.

Q. What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?
JB: I really wish I had more discipline. Unless I enjoy doing something, I tend not to do it if I can put it off for a later time.

Q. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
JB: I once got dragged onto stage by Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea after stupidly agreeing, just before the show, to improvise a song with them in front of thousands of people. I’m sure I sucked and probably made a fool of myself, but in the end it was a thrill and I was glad that I did it.

Q. Who is your favorite historical figure?
JB: A toss-up between Einstein and Newton. Both epitomized ‘thinking outside the box’ and changed the world.

Q. What upsets you the most?
JB: Dishonesty and poor communication skills. The world would be a much better place if people just dared to communicate properly –I’m still learning this myself, of course.

Q. What gadget can’t you live without?
JB: My laptop, a Macbook Pro, as my life seems to revolve around the computer. I’m loving my iPhone, too.

Q. What are you most afraid of?
JB: Death. Not so much the act of dying, but never living again. I’ve been obsessed with death since I was a kid.

Q. Where do you love to shop?
JB: I could shop for gadgets for hours on end at the Apple store on 5th Ave. I like clothes, but hate shopping for them. I’ve recently started paying someone to do it for me.

Q. What’s your favorite drink?
JB: A good milkshake, vodka or perhaps a milkshake with vodka in it.

Q. What are your top 3 songs?
JB: Um … Bach, Beethoven and Brahms

— Alonso Dominguez

Hay's Galleria Oyster and Seafood Festival

What’s the soiree all about?
September marks the start of the native oyster season in the British Isles. It’s as good a reason as any for a celebration. The Hay’s Galleria Oyster and Seafood Festival, now in its seventeenth year, offers the perfect opportunity to feast on these sexy mollusks and their finned friends.

Why go?
Not that you need a reminder but oysters are the food of love. Last year, visitors polished off 13,000 oysters from one stall alone. Also on the menus of the festival’s 25 stalls is a range of fish and shellfish. Fresh langoustines, lobsters and crabs will be cooked while you wait or you can take some home to cook yourself. Look out for the paella, which is always a huge hit.

What about refreshments?
There’ll be plenty to wash down the oysters. Try champagne or Guinness. Alternatively, grab a glass of wine or Pimm’s.

Is it just about the seafood?
Yes, but once you’ve had your fill, you can learn more about what you’ve just consumed. Experts from the National Federation of Fishmongers will be on hand to answer all your questions. The Federation’s stall will also feature videos and quirky competitions such as last year’s fish filleting challenge.

If you’d rather not get your hands dirty, check out the cooking demos. Miles Kirby, the head chef at The Providores, the Marylebone restaurant that’s a brunch favorite of many a London-based ASW member, will share his cooking techniques with visitors. There’ll also be a steel band, street performers and face painting to keep the tykes happy.

Who goes?
Everyone from local city workers to tourists. Expect a good turn-out of ASW foodies.

What to wear?
It’s a casual affair but it’s crucial to come with an empty stomach.

The details
The festival runs from September 7-9 at the Hay’s Galleria, which is located at London Bridge, Tooley Street, London, SE1. Stalls are busiest on Saturday and Sunday so if you’d rather graze at a leisurely pace, head over on Friday. Admission is free. For more information and updates, please see: www.haysgalleria.co.uk

Want more?
Still craving more? Then head across the Irish Sea to the Galway International Oyster Festival, which takes place September 27-30. See www.galwayoysterfest.com for details.

— Staff

Glamour Redefined

At the Jaeger-LeCoultre Nikki Beach Party at the Venice International Film Festival, the fine watchmaker presented a new collection of extraordinary jewelry watches.

A group of celebrities gathered to celebrate the event, hosted by Jaeger-LeCoultre’s CEO, Jérôme Lambert. Among them was the stunning Diane Kruger, who was enchanting in one of the brand’s most famous creations: the 101 Etrier in diamond, which is equipped with the world’s smallest mechanical movement. Joely Richardson also dazzled at the event, wearing the new watch, La Tulipe. Judith Godrèche, who flew in from Paris accompanied by Maurice Barthélémy, donned a Reverso Serti Neige watch. Indian actress Karisma Kapoor, who arrived on the arm of her husband Sanjay Kapoor, represented the elegance of her country. Meanwhile, Italy was naturally in the spotlight, with Valeria Solarino, Anna Valle, Claudia Gerini and Eva Riccobono in attendance.

Over 300 guests enjoyed the magical atmosphere created in a beautiful venue, enhanced by a dinner of quintessential Italian refinement and the glamour of Haute Joaillerie.

Two extraordinary watches sparkled with the intense radiance of 3,000 precious stones: La Rose and La Tulipe, both of which required the expertise of the finest gem-setters and a level of sophistication and refinement unprecedented in the field of jewelry timepieces.

— Staff

Kirill Konin

Kirill Konin

ASW talks to Kirill Konin, director of the International Refugee Film Festival, about the impact of film, the plight of the refugee and how we can make a difference.

Q. What exactly is the Refugee Film Festival and how is it related to the United Nations?

Kirill Konin : The RFF is a film festival supported by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to create a better understanding about who these 33 million refugees are. I usually explain why I run this festival by paraphrasing what Andy Goodman said in, Storytelling as Best Practice: “Numbers numb, jargon jars, but stories touch us.”

Q. How and why did you start the Refugee Film Festival?
KK: I started the RFF because I was touched, touched by the lives of refugee parents and children I worked with while I was in Thailand running a small educational project for those who are not allowed to go to schools just because they are refugees. I often remember the joy of a six-year old Palestinian refugee boy in Bangkok, when I took him for his first day at school. Abdullah now lives in Canada where he was re-settled with his dad. Having lived in Africa and Asia for almost ten years, I witnessed a lot of stories of forced migration and I tried to do what I could to help. I love film and I thought it would be great to have a human rights film festival in Asia, like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Film Festivals in NY and London. So I started networking. In 2005, while I was doing legal work for the UN in Cambodia, I used my experience in the commercial film industry to start the first RFF with twenty films in this former refugee-sending, and now refugee-accepting, country. In 2006 the UN invited me to move the festival to Japan. We have just finished our second RFF in Tokyo and 7000 people came to see over 30 films during the nine-day main event and a few preview screenings. This was an increase on 2500 people last year. In addition, over thirty million people read and heard about the RFF via many national and foreign newspapers, radio stations and TV programs in Japan.

Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone on screen

Q. Given Japan's famously small refugee population, why did you choose Tokyo as a host for this year's festival?
KK: The vision of the RFF is to be a traveling film festival with an annual event in Tokyo. It’s true that Japan is not too welcoming to refugees; however, part of the reason for that could be misunderstandings and stereotypes that exist about refugees, not just in Japan but in many other countries. We see the RFF as a tool to influence people’s attitudes towards refugees both here in Japan and in other countries where we will be taking the event.

Q. What other countries have been involved with the RFF?
KK: Since the birth of the RFF in 2005, we had had five film festivals in Cambodia and Japan. This year the RFF partnered with human rights film festivals in Italy and Australia by featuring part of the RFF film program. Next, the cities where we would like to organize events are Paris, NY, Hong Kong, Bangkok…

Q. Tell us about the greatest story/anecdotes you’ve heard come out of certain films being screened?
KK: There are many stories to tell as at every screening we try to create an interaction between organizers, filmmakers and the audience. Here's a couple of stories connected to the same film that I am sure some ASW members may know about:
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars (RAS) is a film about reggae refugee musicians who continued to sing in spite of the war that took their homes away (The film got many awards and the music was featured in Blood Diamond). This film opened our festival in Japan last year.

After a packed screening of this film, a lady stood up and said that she was originally from Sierra Leone and had lived in Japan for about ten years and hadn’t been back to her country for a long time because of the war. And then she added that after watching this film, she wants to go back and visit her country. For me, it was incredible that a film could touch people in such a way that it encouraged them to consider reconstructing something that once was broken.

Another moment with this particular film was during the Q&A, when these refugee musicians, who were with us at the film festival, asked the audience to sing a traditional Japanese song (Japanese people don't usually do such things in public) and the whole theater started singing, which was followed by a reggae acappella of refugees.

Q. Have you faced many obstacles/much controversy in trying to screen certain films?
KK: The festival is a platform for filmmakers and the refugees themselves to share their stories, it is not an event where we show films made by the UN or NGOs (although of course a lot of the films are supported by these organizations). We show films that are a mixture of good cinema and a clear message on the issue. My main obstacle right now is a lack of resources. For example, we need support to invite more filmmakers to be at the festival and another huge expense is the subtitling of films in the local language. The next step in this project is to be able to support and give grants to filmmakers who are refugees themselves.

Q. Where did you grow up? How did your upbringing affect your work today?
KK: I was born in and grew up all over Russia: from Moscow to Kamchatka. My family lives in France and for almost the last ten years of my life, I have lived and worked between Africa, Asia and Europe. I call home wherever I live at the moment and, as a lot of ASW members – as well as almost all refugees – can relate to, I live the life of, “Today we settle, tomorrow we pack.”

Q. The concept of ‘refugee’ has existed for thousands of years, as people have been forced to flee their native lands due to war, persecution, and natural disaster. Do you think the position of refugees will change as we globalize? Do you see an increased sense of tolerance and respect?
KK: There has been a 56% increase in refugee population since 2005 and more to come, especially “environmental refugees” with global warming. I am sure there are some ASW members who feel somewhat like “refugees” or “stateless”: we settle in one country today, tomorrow we move to another one. The only difference is that we choose to move to that new country and learn a new language. Refugees are forced to leave their homes and everything they have for a land they don't know. My only hope is that the more we travel and see the beauty and the pain of this world, the more we’ll become not just more tolerant, but more compassionate..

Q. How do you think film can make a literal impact on social politics?
KK: UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Angelina Jolie, has expressed her support for refugees and film stating that: “Film is an important medium to introduce the many aspects of the lives and circumstances of refugees across the world, and through this entertainment vehicle we create better awareness and understanding.” And that is exactly why we organize this festival. Our aim is to give a voice to the seldom-heard stories of hope, despair and courage and to inspire the involvement of the public to make a difference.

Q. What do you think we can do as individuals to make a difference to the refugee cause?
KK: You don’t have to be Angelina Jolie or Giorgio Armani (who is also a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador to help refugees). We can all start by learning a little bit more: meet a refugee, or if they are not welcome in your city watch a movie about them. We are all human beings and when faced with the suffering of others, we have a choice to be indifferent or to respond with compassion. No matter what you do: fashion, music or banking, you can contribute to the lives of those people who were forced to become refugees. Still not sure? PM me :)

Q. What are the upcoming projects and plans for the RFF?
KK: I am off to the Venice Film Festival where I am on the jury for the human rights award, and I have already started looking for new films and sponsors for RFF ‘08.

After that, the next big thing is to look for partners to do PR & event management for social change: connecting the world of entertainment and its resources with solutions to various social issues, from education to AIDS.

Q. Do you ever take any time off? Where do you like to relax?
KK: I fly to France to spend time with my little sister and travel to countries where I lived before to catch up with old friends.

Q. What is your greatest vice?
KK: The same as my passion: work

Q. What are you most afraid of?
KK: Boredom

Q. What's one thing you would like to change about yourself?
KK: I want to finally finish studying the Chinese and Arabic languages that I have been trying to pick up for years.

Q. Who inspires you most?
KK: People of creativity and passion. Currently I am really encouraged and inspired by Lynne Charles, an international ballerina, a good friend and a founder of ‘Dancing 4 AIDS orphans in Africa’. For this project, I just finished putting a film program on AIDS.

For more information about RFF go to: www.refugeefilm.org

— Laura Jakobovits

What to Expect at the 64th Venice Film Festival

Keira Knightley in Atonement

The 64th Venice Film Festival is shinier, more progressive and more Anglophone than ever this year. Nearly half of the films in competition for the Golden Lion are from England or America, and there is a new Queer Lion for the best film with gay themes or characters.

Every star in the cinematic firmament is on show by the Lido in the festival’s 75th anniversary year. From leading men Brad Pitt and George Clooney to gamine Keira Knightley and grande dame Vanessa Redgrave, the festival’s cast list reads like the Hollywood phonebook.

No fewer than ten of the 22 films in competition come from the home of the brave or the land of hope and glory, and all are bravely hoping for glory. Wes Anderson – the auteur behind the surprisingly dark The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic – will show The Darjeeling Limited, featuring his favoured consorts Owen Wilson, Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston.

Opening the festival is Joe Wright’s Atonement, based on Ian McEwan’s novel about a summer day’s tragic events (much like Enduring Love) starring Knightley and Redgrave. Kenneth Branagh offers up a remake of Harold Pinter’s Sleuth, with Michael Caine in the Laurence Olivier role and Jude Law in the Michael Caine role. No word on who’s playing the Jude Law role in the next remake.

Beyond the English-speaking world, Ang Lee – who put the ‘ouch’ in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – brings Lust, Caution, a Shanghai thriller. Youssef Chaine flies the flag for Egypt, while Italy offers work from young directors Vincenzo Marra, Andrea Porporati and Paolo Franchi.

Heading this year’s jury is Zhang Yimou, who directed the balletic, athletic Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Around the table with him are Catherine Breillat and Jane Campion, who have both explored female sexuality in film, and Paul Verhoeven, who is famed for his graphic representations of violence and sexuality in film.

After four years of ‘sensitive negotiations,’ Venice is ready to introduce the Queer Lion. The Berlin Film Festival has recognised this field for some years, but now Venice has stepped up after Brokeback Mountain took 2005’s Golden Lion.

Dozens of films are showing out of competition. Woody Allen’s latest attempt to get his groove back, Cassandra’s Dream, features Colin Farrell climbing out of his post-Alexander pit, while yet another cut of Blade Runner premieres.

There is a Spaghetti Western selection, with sore saddles guaranteed for anyone who sits through them all. Happily, Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood’s For a Few Dollars More is among them. There are also Bernardo Bertolucci and Tim Burton events, as Burton receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

There will be plenty to dazzle visitors outside of the screenings. The Palazzo del Cinema will get the shine treatment courtesy of legendary production designer Dante Ferretti. After years of working with Pasolini, Fellini and Scorsese, Ferretti brings his vision to the palazzo’s external façade with a giant steel sphere, which could well steal the show altogether.

— Josh Spero

Festival Season in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the most exciting place to be on the planet in August when Scotland’s capital hosts not one but six major festivals plus a spectacular Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle, which packs in over 8,000 people every night. Visitors flock from all over the globe to be amazed, stimulated and entertained or just revel in the giddy ambiance of a city that knows how to party.

The International Festival is the most established, offering three weeks of top class international talent from the worlds of music, dance, theatre and opera. The hottest musical ticket was the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. Conducted by the charismatic 26 year-old, Gustavo Dudamel, the 200-strong youth orchestra – including many musicians who were living in deprivation before being given the opportunity to learn music – wowed audiences with their dynamism and energy.

This year’s focus on early music has seen crowds flocking to Monteverdi’s madrigals, an inspired contemporary burlesque of his Poppea and the ravishing seventeenth century opera L’Orfeo conducted by Jordi Savall. The viola da gamba player came to fame with his film score for Tous Les Matins du Monde, starring Gerard Depardieu.

Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert

Of course star spotting is de rigueur in Edinburgh with the film festival attracting a slew of celebrities. Among the stars on the red carpet this year were Stellan Skarsgard (Pirates of the Caribbean) promoting his horror film WAZ, the cult filmmaker, John Waters, for the UK premiere of This Filthy World and Julie Delpy, closing the festival with her romantic comedy Two Days in Paris. Actors Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe generated a lot of interest with their thriller Breach, written and directed by Billy Ray and based on a true story of a traitorous FBI agent.

Stories of every shape, form and genre provoke a variety of intense literary discussions at the Edinburgh Book Festival, the jewel in UNESCO City of Literature’s crown. This year, for the first time, those who couldn’t come still managed to make an appearance. Confused? Norman Mailer and Alice Munro were not only beamed live to the festival via satellite but were able to sign books thanks to an extraordinary invention by author Margaret Atwood called the Long Pen. As the name suggests, signatures appear on the page, as if by magic, thousands of miles away.

But for sheer originality and outlandishness, you can’t beat the Fringe Festival – there’s something here for everyone. ASW member Marysia Trembecka in her show, Find me a Primitive Man, dispensed valuable tips on dating and finally answered all our questions as to why so many women find David Beckham attractive.

-- Susan Nickalls

The Istanbul Bienniale's 10th Anniversary

Istanbul's location – as the gateway between Europe and Asia – is key to its 10 year old Biennial. Unlike Venice, where the emphasis is on national pavilions, this event is firmly rooted in the city itself and is more concerned with involving the local community than wooing the international art crowd.

This year, San Francisco's star curator Hou Hanru has been invited to curate. His idea to free the event from the constraints of an umbrella theme has become a leitmotif this summer, with Documenta's curator, Roger Buergel, doing the same. Hanru envisages his Biennial as having a focus on architecture and urban issues but largely as a platform for ideas and dialogue. The emphasis is on site specific work and reinterpreting the city. Hanrou was inspired by Istanbul's modern buildings and chose these culturally and politically significant places to house the art. Few of the chosen sites like the Atatürk Cultural Center and the Textile Market appear on tourist maps. They are part of the city that remains overlooked.

Hanru devised 'Nightcomers,' a selection of videos that will be projected around the city at night. Considering Istanbul's wild night life there's no doubt these will be seen by many.

Here are some examples of the pieces to be exhibited during the Biennial.

www.iksv.org

— Constance Wyndham

Copenhagen Fashion Week

Jens Laugesen

Denmark, the world’s ninth largest exporter of fashion, recently celebrated its established and newest design talent with a packed show and party schedule at Copenhagen Fashion Week 2007 (CPW), sponsored by Moët & Chandon.

More than 50,000 designers, buyers and press attend CFW, Northern Europe’s largest fashion event, which happens twice a year in February and August.

This August the shows, which were perfectly timed, proved wrong the widely-held belief that Danish fashion and Scandinavian design has to be minimalistic or classic.

The silhouette seemed to be very important to most designers and the ultra-hip label Baum und Pferdgarten (a brand stocked by Helena Christensen in her New York store, Butik) was no exception. At the National Gallery of Art, the somewhat rebellious design duo displayed a collection with a focus on the waist, oversized puffy sleeves and crocus-shaped skirts. This was the only show attended by HRH The Crown Princess of Denmark who recently gave birth to a daughter, HRH Princess Isabella.

Girlfriend of Prince Joachim of Denmark, French-born Marie Cavallier, sat front row at the By Malene Birger show, which had both slim and lavish silhouettes sliding down the runway on the Friday evening. The show was divided into two acts: the first showed a Riviera Chic collection with long pants, slim vests, short loose dresses and giant white sunglasses. Act two was built up around her tailored collection: Salon by Malene Birger. The show revealed Malene’s experimentation with different shapes and lines, which were very elegant and sophisticated. Black, white, gunmetal and drops of coral-orange were the colors of the parade.

In July, Giles Deacon played DJ at a London party celebrating the winners of the Fashion Forward Designers of 2007. Dane Jens Laugesen, who was Fashion Forward’s winning designer, presented his collection for the first time at CFW. His designs were classic in solid black and white with a strong symmetrical and graphic look. The YSL/Chalayan-esque show closed with Danish über beauty and top model, Lykke May Andersen, in a low-cut dreamy evening gown.

ASW was also represented at CPW by designer Bruun Bjorn whose label, Bruuns Bazaar, was one of the largest shows of the week. ‘City casual’ was the theme, in black, white and burnt colors. Lykke May Andersen also graced Bjorn’s spring/summer 2008 show with her mesmerizing runway presence.

In six months the fashion circus returns with even more spectacular shows and even more Moët-fuelled parties. Stay tuned.

— Pily Morten Maks Ottesen

The US Open--Top Tennis, Parties and Celebrities

Maria Sharapova

The US Open has once again rolled into New York and it promises to be more competitive and glitzier than ever. A record amount of prize money is at stake, 650,000 spectators are expected and celebrity attendance will be the most paparazzi-friendly in history. And if that’s not enough, the world’s most lucrative annual sporting event is competing for attention with New York Fashion Week for the first time in history.

Hopefully you’ve booked your town cars, Four Seasons hotel suites and contacted a great ticket broker to join the fortnight filled with impressive tennis action and champagne receptions. For US$50,000 some visitors to NYC covered all bases with a package deal at the posh Lowell Hotel. For that price, pampered guests receive three nights at the 2500 square foot penthouse, VIP seating at the men’s and women’s semis and finals, a gourmet basket of champagne and caviar to take to the matches and transportation in a Bentley Flying Spur.

However you get there, there is plenty to do on the grounds and in the city throughout this two-week period. The tournament will feature virtually every top player in the world but highlight the two with the greatest Forbes earnings potentials – Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. Both superstars are defending champions at Flushing Meadows and smart odds are on them to retain their prized titles. The Swiss is the overwhelming favorite among the men to take his fourth consecutive trophy in New York. Reaching each of the last nine Grand Slam finals and winning the US Open series thanks to his dominant performance in Cincinnati, he’s fit, confident and determined to claim the prize in Arthur Ashe Stadium in front of A-list supporters like Anna Wintour (who rarely misses his matches). Novak Djokovic edged the world’s number one in Montréal but he only needed to win a best of three duel to pull off that magnificent upset. The young Serb is simply not fit enough this year for 21 intense sets of winning tennis though. Other potentials to reach the finals are Rafael Nadal (who has never done well in New York), inconsistent 2006 finalist Andy Roddick, resurgent James Blake, emotional Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and former champion Lleyton Hewitt, who has had a solid summer.

Sharapova won San Diego earlier this summer and pulled out of Los Angeles with some sort of leg injury. The leggy Russian is never-the-less gracing New York with her loud grunts and ferocious backhands intact. She’s rested and anxious to prove her doubtful critics wrong. Six slightly less publicized ladies will stand in her way; Justine Henin won Toronto but she isn’t fully match-tough; Serena Williams hasn’t played all summer and is a doubtful contender; and Wimbledon champion Venus is ready to back up her London miracle. Serbians Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic seem destined for an international breakthrough, while another Russian, Anna Chakvetadze, wants Gotham fans to finally memorize her excruciatingly difficult last name.

But Sharapova has already won in the celebrity fan department. “I think that she is one of the few young icons today that is meritorious, not just a celebutante,” noted tennis fan Vera Wang. “I think she is someone who proves that just because you are beautiful does not mean that you are not hardworking, accomplished and talented.” Fabiola Beracasa, whose boyfriend is a former tennis player, also reserved her highest esteem for Sharapova: “She’s a phenomenal athlete and I admire that she has a strong, healthy body. I was obviously surprised at how tall and blonde she was but I also admire her fashion sense. For a person of such a young age, she’s not afraid to find vintage pieces and take wonderful risks with her styling!” Wang, Beracasa, Oscar de La Renta, Bee Shaffer, Lauren Bush, Ralph and Dylan Lauren are some of the regulars expected at the grounds, along with Sheryl Crow, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, and Katie Couric who have already reserved tickets to this year’s parade of tennis stars.

Parties and tennis player sightings are of course on top of everyone’s agenda this year. The Annual Taste of Tennis event will showcase cuisine created by celebrity chefs like Marcus Samuelsson and David Burke and served by tennis stars like Roddick and former US Open Champ Svetlana Kuznetsova. Sharapova will host a Nike party at Top of The Rock (the Rockefeller Centre), while Jancovic will treat guests to a Reebok brunch. Nobu 57 will be packed nightly with tennis stars like Nicole Vaidisova and Daniela Hantuchova, while players like Andy Murray and Tommy Haas will gather nightly at Nick Bollettieri’s Bar at the Radisson Lexington Hotel. Opening Night Gala will feature a grandiose tribute to Althea Gibson with a performance by Aretha Franklin and the rumored appearance of a megastar named Oprah. For some tennis stars though, old-fashioned entertainment in New York City reigns supreme. “I love musicals! They are the best!” exclaims Rafael Nadal. “I always go to Broadway and Times Square when I’m in town!”

— Valentine Uhovski

Johan Nilson

Interview

How and when did you become a member of ASW?

Johan Nilson: I became a member pretty early. I think in the beginning of 2004.

As someone who is always on the move, how do you use ASW and what’s your favorite site feature?

JN: I travel often. One time I counted 14 flights in 19 days. So my favorite part is the forum. Everywhere I go, I meet up with people from ASW.

I visited Sydney in 2005 and my friends were out of town, so I asked on the forum if ‘somebody was in town’. That week I had dinners and lunches everyday with all kinds of interesting people.

You just completed the world’s first ‘Climate Neutral’ Everest expedition. What exactly does that involve and how does it compare to regular expeditions?

JN: It basically means that I calculate all my pollutions on Everest and then reinvest that in other climate neutral projects. Mount Everest is such a magical mountain. It hurts my soul to see it so polluted.

In September you will become President of Everest Summiteers’ Association. What does that honor involve?

JN: The Nepalese government gives this honor to one person per major country and my job is to keep a high security level.

Tell us about your next big adventure.

JN: My next adventure is unfortunately not in an ASW area – Antarctica. I will climb the highest peak on the continent and close the circle in a project I call ‘Seven Summits Climate Neutral’. I will then work on a big coffee table book (something like the book, The World From Above).

Tell us about your most exhilarating moment on an expedition?

JN: There are so many. One moment was when I was living with the cannibal tribes in Papua New Guinea. Another one is when I kayaked from Stockholm to Africa and I had a shark attacking my kayak. Standing on the summit of the world is also a great feeling, but I must say that having a Grizzly walking around my tent in Alaska was not my cup of tea.

Your scariest moment?

JN: Having big rocks falling around my head when I was hanging on a wall of ice on Everest!

Tell us one thing most people don’t know about Everest.

JN: Most people don’t know that Everest is a very holy mountain in the Buddhist religion and that you must respect the Lama’s wish if you want to be a guest on Mt Everest. They decide the date when you are allowed to start the climb.

Many people just go there and climb because they think it’s a cool thing. You have to be one with the mountain and she will protect you – that is the Sherpa’s philosophy.

You are ambassador for Princess Madeleine of Sweden’s Min Stora Dag (Make A Wish Foundation). What does the foundation do?

JN: The foundation is helping sick children by trying to fulfill their dreams and wishes; it can be meeting a pop star, driving a fast car or swimming with dolphins. I brought the flag to the summit of Mt Everest and I also donated a sacred stone from the summit to the foundation. This stone is, according to the legend, supposed to help people with sicknesses etc. I will now travel around Sweden and give lectures at hospitals and bring the stone to the children. But there are so many people who are working with this foundation, including many people from ASW.

If you could be remembered for one thing, what would it be?

JN: I lecture a lot for companies all over the world and sometimes people come up to me after a few years and say that I’ve helped them to change their life. If I can help one single person to make a right decision or to be motivated enough to quit something bad – then all the pain, cold and long nights were worth it.

What is your greatest vice?

JN: Well, it is both good and bad, I guess – I never give up!

What makes you happiest?

JN: Love… and when I come up with a really good idea.

Where is your favorite travel destination?

JN: After 100 countries on seven continents, that is a tough one! But I do love Paris. Tengboche Monastery on 4000 m in Nepal is a peaceful place and Soho House in NY has great drinks. What do you want me to say? It depends on what I am doing there and whom I’m with.

What are your top five hotels?

JN: Ok, let’s see. The Carlyle in NY (Art Deco suite), Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris, La Residencia on Mallorca, Amankila in Bali and The Hempel in London. But I cannot really say that they are the best. But I like them a lot and I often go there.

What is your favorite restaurant?

JN: Cipriani in NY is good for networking, Alain Ducasse in Paris has good food. But there is nothing like the Sherpa Bakery on 5300 meters on Mount Everest.

What is your favorite museum or gallery?

JN: The Met in NY and Louvre in Paris. But also I love Rome and The Vatican. The whole city is really an artwork.

What is your favorite beach?

JN: No, I’m not gonna say Nikki Beach. The Sipadan beach in Borneo is great. Aman Nusa is nice. But the beaches in Puerto Rico must be some of my favorites.

What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?

JN: I loved Forrest Gump. He shows that everything is possible. But Cinema Paradiso is also a beautiful one… Léon, Nikita, Meet Joe Black, The Godfather. There are so many…

What is your favorite book?

JN: I loved Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi . Interesting! Also A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking was good. Others are Siddharta (by Herman Hesse), Snow Leopard (by Peter Matthiessen) and Mio, My Mio (a Swedish book by Astrid Lindgren).

What is your favorite ski resort?

JN: Chamonix. You have everything there; climbing, skiing, mountaineering and biking. St Moritz is good too.

What cause is closest to your heart? Why?

JN: The climate change. We have really changed the possibilities for life here on Earth, but we can also change it back. We just have to revalue what is important for us.

What’s one thing you would like to change about yourself?

JN: My friends might consider my spending account to big. But I love the good life and to live it to the full.

Which artist do you admire most?

JN: Artist or person? An artist I admire is Bono for his environmental work. In terms of musical influence, then Lenny Kravitz has an interesting music style. I am a piano player myself so I must say that Keith Jarrett is a big influence.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

JN: Kayaking across the Mediterranean, flying a boat to Morocco, hiking across Alaska, biking 82 km/h down a mountain, sailing over the Atlantic, climbing Mount Everest… I don’t know where to start? I don’t think it’s crazy, but people do not often agree!

Who is your favorite historical figure?

JN: I love Thor Heyerdahl. Others I admire are Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus and Amundsen. Richard Branson is not historical yet, but he is someone I admire as well!

What upsets you the most?

JN: When people give up even before they give it a try!

What is your favorite bar?

JN: Sea Lounge in Monaco. Bistro Jarl in Stockholm is also nice.

What gadget can’t you live without?

JN: I don’t know about gadgets, but my Steinway (grand piano) is very important to me.
Other things that I always carry on expeditions are my Anoto digital pen with bluetooth technology and my Sat phone.

What are you most afraid of?

JN: Snakes and sharks (I know, I’m in the wrong business).

What’s your favorite drink?

JN: Fresh orange juice

What are your top 3 songs on your iPod right now?

JN: ‘Because’ (Beatles), ‘Brain’ (Nerd) and ‘Wish you were here’ (Pink Floyd)

For more info, Please visit www.sevensummits.se

—- Laura Jakobovits

Lisa Cant

Interview

How do you use ASW and what's your favorite site feature?

Lisa Cant : Just to keep in touch with people I don’t see that often. And I love looking at everyone’s picture.

What's your best ASW anecdote?

LC: While I was on a photo shoot for Vogue magazine, the photographer received an invite for ASW. He ended up stopping the shoot for three quarters of an hour, exploring the site and creating a profile, with the help of the Vogue assistant. The rest of us just watched as he was more interested in the site than shooting pictures!

What are some of the recent advertising campaigns in which you've appeared?

LC: I'm in the new Juicy Couture perfume and clothing ads. I’m also in the Van Cleef & Arpels ads.

You walk in many of the top fashion shows. Name some of your favorite fashion designers with whom you have worked.

LC: In New York Michael Kors is so much fun to work with; the show is always so exciting and his clothes are amazing!

What makes you happiest?

LC: Sleeping in late.

Where is your favorite travel destination?

LC: Costa Rica… surfing and the beach!

What is your greatest vice?

LC: I love sleeping 12 hours straight.

What are your three favorite restaurants?

LC: Il Violino (NYC), Mezzogiorno (NYC) and Café Ruc (Paris)

What are your three favorite hotels?

LC: Amanpuri Resort (Phuket), Hotel Westminster (Paris) and Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel (Tokyo)

What is your favorite museum or gallery?

LC: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

What is your favorite beach?

LC: Tamarindo Beach, Costa Rica

What film has had the greatest effect on you? Why?

LC: I always watch Legends of the Fall because it was filmed where I’m from in Canada and it’s nice to see the mountains.

What is your favorite book?

LC: Watership Down by Richard Adams

What cause is closest to your heart? Why?

LC: I sponsor a child in Egypt through Plan USA. It’s a great charity because you can see the individual you are helping and send him little presents throughout the year.

What's one thing you would like to change about yourself?

LC: I would like to do more in my spare time. But it’s so nice just relaxing with friends...

What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

LC: I lost my passport in Paris and post 9/11, managed to fly to New York with an American birth certificate and an expired Canadian learner's license! I ended up spending five hours in US customs, but I made it!

Who is your favorite historical figure?

LC: Sir Isaac Newton

What upsets you the most?

LC: Cancelled flights

What is your favorite bar or club?

LC: Gramercy Bar in NYC

What gadget can't you live without?

LC: I would have said my BlackBerry; however, I just managed three weeks without it in Asia. So… my iPod.

What are you most afraid of?

LC: Mice and rats

Were do you love to shop?

LC: Miu Miu, Intermix and Barneys

What are the top three songs on your iPod right now?

LC: Jenny Was a Friend of Mine' by The Killers
'Have You Ever Seen The Rain?' by Creedence Clearwater Revival
'My Love' by Justin Timberlake

—- Sabine Heller

Hollywould Creative Director, Holly Dunlap, Uncovers the Secrets of Capri

I have just returned from spending a long weekend in Capri, which I highly recommend. In case you’re lucky enough to be headed there in the next few months, here’s a list of the island’s highlights:

Hotel: The JK Place Capri is the hottest new spot on the island, and while I was there none other than Princess Caroline of Monaco was also a guest. This place is quickly beating out the Quisisana as the place to see and be seen on the island. And with such a great spa, fabulous pool, amazing service, and to-die-for interiors, we gave it a six star rating.

Cashmere: Occhi Addosso, or ‘Eyes Open’, has the best cashmere in town for when dinners on the boat get a bit chilly. Their signature color cashmere is a bright mint green, which cannot be found anywhere else.

Linen: Capri’s most famous shirt maker, 100% Capri, has beautiful shirts and pants for men and women. Everything in the store is made right there on the island, including bed sheets that need to be kept so crisp your maid will want to leave you. Everything at 100% Capri is white and they don’t plan to add color anytime soon.

Late lunch: Ristorante La Fontelina, which can only be reached by boat, is a great place to sit for hours and eat delicious seafood while sipping peach white wine sangria. Come for lunch around 4pm and stay for sunset.

Boat snacks: When packing lunch for a day of sailing, try cheese from Ferraro, wine from Capannina, and fresh bread from Sfizi di Capri.

Gelato: The best fresh gelato on the island comes from Raffaele Buonocore, who makes the famous Capri flavor ‘Fantasia di Capri’, a mix of cream, toasted almonds and Nutella. Buonocore also makes great take-out pastas, meatballs and pastries for the boat.

Cocktails: While all the sailors and locals sip apertivo in the Piazzetta, another great place to have cocktails is still the Hotel Quisisana’s Krug Bar. Both venues are great for people-watching, but for those who want privacy and romance, there is no better spot than the terrace of the Hotel JK.

Dinner: The only spot for locals is Aurora, where we sat next to the owner of Ferrari and the national football team, who was eating pizza with his (much) younger girlfriend. Everything on the menu here is great, but starting with their flat pizza breads is highly recommended.

Caftans: To look like an updated version of Talitha Getty, head straight to Lady Capri, where you’ll find bohemian beaded chiffon caftans that go all the way to the floor and are perfect for a chic apertivo on the yacht’s helicopter landing pad.

Coral & terracotta: In order to fit in with the sailors, you’ll need at least one piece of coral jewelry (yes, men included), and my favorite spot for deals also happens to be the oldest store in Capri, Adele and Silvia, which also sells traditional terracotta pottery. This little gem of a spot is run by the fourth generation grand-daughter and is a rare and dying breed of store on this little island, which has recently been invaded by the mega-brands.

Interiors: Whether for the yacht or the home, the new Flair store on Capri is a divine little jewel box. If you’re already furnished to the hilt, this little shop will make you want to buy one more home just to be able to shop for it.

Perfume: Anyone who has been to Capri knows of the Carthusia perfume factory, which was started by monks on the island in 1948. As with everything good in life, this perfume can now be found around the world, but their factory shop is still worth a visit as you’ll find scented soaps and sachets you can’t get anywhere else.

— Holly Dunlap

Croatia: The New Riviera

With summer upon us, we face a serious question: where is the hottest place to soak up the sun, sip champagne, and dance tabletop amongst all that is beautiful? Rest assured there is life beyond Ibiza and Saint-Tropez.

Those in-the-know have already discovered this oasis, and with rising international acclaim for having one of the most stunning coastlines in the world, we reveal why Croatia is home to the new Riviera.

PRIVILEGED SEASIDE
The region is called Dalmatia and it is rapidly becoming the authoritative summer playground of the world’s most stylish. With a breathtaking shoreline set against the Dinaric Alps, it’s as if nature converged for the sole reason of providing the perfect setting for inspired indulgence. Lingering lunches, abundant amounts of fish, deep olive groves, bountiful vineyards, midnight swims, eerily attractive inhabitants, and many an espresso are the bona fide norm. With over 1,000 islands, a pristine sea, and medieval fortresses in its back yard, Dalmatia offers a lifestyle that defines La Dolce Vita.

GLAM ISLAND STYLE
Acclaimed as one of the sexiest islands in the world, Hvar is a delicious secret that Croatia’s holiday-makers have been savoring for years. Charming restaurants, cafés, and boutiques are true to the island’s rustic charm, and a harbor full of mega-yachts provides a luxury-minded stamp of approval. Don’t miss Carpe Diem, home to the Adriatic coast’s most glamorous summer after-beach parties.

HAUTE VILLAGE
Rumored to be the new Monaco, Dubrovnik exudes a raw opulence. The city is home to a 6th century seaside medieval fortress, with huge white stone walls that guard an ancient world frozen in time. Grab your Guccis and stroll the Stradun. For late-night revelers, discover Gil’s, Dubrovnik’s hottest lounge located at Sv. Dominkia bb.

PRIMO PORT CITY
Sultry Split somehow manages to exude both a Mediterranean city vibe and small village charm. Summer nights are steamy and beg for all activities to be enjoyed outdoors. Dine like royalty at Adriatic for views of the 2,000 year old Diocletian’s Palace.

— Martina Sola

Secret Garden Party 2007

England is whipped into a festival frenzy every summer and while most of us have heard of the larger events such as Glastonbury, there is a growing following for the smaller, ‘boutique’ festivals. One of the newer and fastest growing in reputation, if not in size, is the Secret Garden Party that took place on the weekend of July 26-29 this year, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.

Set up in 2004 by Freddie Fellowes, the Secret Garden Party has possibly the most romantic setting of any of the smaller festivals, as the site is a natural amphitheater with gentle slopes surrounding a lake. Although music plays on about six different stages almost constantly, it seems almost an incidental soundtrack to the bigger picture of the party, the aim of which seems to be to totally embrace your inner child. Clowns, pirates, bunnies, fairies and all manner of other characters flit about the various activities on offer, such as suicide sports (one of these activities centers around careering down hills on a tiny BMX towards a wall of large barrels) and the kissing workshop. Also on offer for those with a certain nostalgie de la boue, there is mud wrestling in a specially dug out pit. In the lake, rowboats float past carrying reclining souls, bleary-eyed from the night before but soaking up the sun and listening to the sounds of the great stage across the water.

Also dotted around the site are various interactive art installations that bring to mind the spirit of Burning Man. These include a large floating ‘hand’ on the lake that is set alight on Saturday night and a ‘furry cave’ for those who want to go all the way back to a womb-like state. For the gourmands, numerous food stands sell delicious organic fare from all corners of the world and all-night chai stalls offer comfort and warm tea to exhausted revelers.

That’s not to say that the Secret Garden Party isn’t about music. On the contrary, the organizers are champions of new music and through the years they have consistently picked acts that have gone onto big things, as well as showcasing more established cult bands. This year this was exemplified by their choices of the classic new romantic band Echo and the Bunnymen, who played on Friday night, followed by acid house country band Alabama 3 later on the Great Stage. Current electro and new rave heroes, New Young Pony Club, played during Saturday’s deluge. But possibly the highlight of that day was the family outfit of Kitty, Daisy and Lewis, who took over the late afternoon with their energetic rockabilly. Sunday played host to the legendary Prince Buster and this summer’s chart sensation, Kate Nash.

Thankfully (considering the sodden summer that we�