Of The Minute

Your Essential list of the hot cultural items of the moment.

It may not be summer proper but the NY agency action is hotter than the mid-afternoon Hamptons sun on a Mercedes roofop. After the meltdown at Elite (where they lost Shalom,Stella, Kirsty Hume, Michele Hicks and Trish Goff) you'd think those models and bookers would rest for a breath. But no, late afternoon calls to several agencies one Friday revealed;
1. The defection of half the men's board at DNA to IMG's newly formed men's division.  2. The war between Paolo Zampolli of ID models and Daniel Bates of IMNY after Zampolli guts IMNY of its best girls and  3. The shocking jump of campaign icon Jason Olive from Wilhemina to Click. Add to that the rise of all these upstarts (New York Models, Q Models, Clear Models, Aline Soulier, Marilyn Gaultier, Major Models) and its obvious NYW is going to have to (sigh) revamp its Top Ten agencies list. Stay tuned.

PARTYMAN

He's got System (gasp) on a Sunday hopping with Leonardo de Caprio, Lucas Haas, James King and Brandi Quinones making the scene. He has brought back vibrant life to B-Bar on Wednesday nights when all the newly rich hip hop kids descend to do this curious act of showing off known as "flossin'" . (Do you know hip-hop videos pay stylists upwards of $5,000 a clip) Then there is his incomparable Friday night list at Life on Friday, featuring straw thin modelettes lip syncing to incredibly raunchy DMX lyrics in the VIP room. Its because of these feats of sheer fabulousness and his incredible perseverance that Everton gets NYW Promoter-Of-The-Moment gold seal. Eat that Jeffery Jah!

P & G INCORPORATED?

Seventh Avenue is trembling over the persistent rumors floating that cash flush Prada is relentlessly hunting the suddenly vulnerable Gucci . Prada is proposing a "fusion" that would entail the two companies pooling their retail and purchasing power, while remaining as separate creative entities. Now would that involve joint sample sales? Just asking...In other news, as NYW reported last month, Luis Sanchez's Fall Gucci campaign has been shown the back door (i.e they dumped it) and guess who steps into those very kinky shoes? Yup, Steven Klein, he of that legendary Matsuda catalog , that featured skinny boys in their underwear perched on seedy hotel beds. (Matsuda did not make underwear). So now we wait with really baited breaths to see what Ford, Rotfield and Klein are going to do with Ms.Briget Hall.

RANDOM SELECTION

Quincy Jones' celebutante daughter, Khidada to cameo in Scream 3. She won't let us photo-copy the script however (Never stopped us before !)...David Bowie and drum n bass god head Goldie to gay gangsters in the upcoming Brit indie "Everybody Loves Sunshine":.. Now that's what you call being secure in your sexuality non?...Rapper Foxxy Brown having a near suicidal fit in LA over fiancee' Korrupt's free wheeling ways. .. And as a community service, we pass on the following e-mail to you, dear reader. <<MTV is launching a new show called "FANatic." We're looking for diehard fans of LENNY KRAVITZ. The person we select will get the opportunity to meet and interview him! If you or any other devoted LENNY KRAVITZ fan is interested, please contact Robert at MTV at (310) 752-8094 IMMEDIATELY. You can call collect, but you must call NOW. We are booking fans today. Do not wait or you will miss this amazing opportunity. CALL RIGHT NOW!!!

Thanks,

Robert/MTV
(310) 752-8094 (you can call collect)>> Got That! Brilliant!

Look-Of-The-Minute (Girls Division):

Trust Fund Girl: Bizzarely enough, all the cool East Village girls are rocking that Junior Socialite visual (on the sample sale tip). Y'know, the skin tight pedal pushers, the spaghetti strap top and a status handbag slung over the shoulder all capped by the highest heels tolerable. How terribly adult.

Read-Of-The Minute:

Bridget Jones Dairy: Helen Golding ( Viking). The book you'll love to hate this summer. Crib it off a friend!

CD-Of-The-Minute 1:

Breakbeat Era: Breakbeat EraXL/Formula Recordings.
This brilliant emission from the Roni Size stable features furious jazz poetics over futuristic sonics to serve up an intoxicating aural tonic. Drink it up.

Boite-Of-The-Minute:

You know it had to be The Cafeteria right! Let's all assemble there next Tuesday and hold a seance for the ghost of the dearly departed Downtown Barneys. Oujii board can you help me!

Single-Of-The-Minute:

Brandi and Monica: "The Boy Is Mine" (Atlantic).The disco dynamics and intertwined voices of these baby divas fuse to create this summer's most perfect beach track.

Label-Of-The-Minute (Girl's division):

Write the name Maja down in your little fashion notebook luv, for she of the Scary Spice ID cover fame (even as she carries the Ellen von Unwerth stamp of approval) is about to move up to the next level.
P.S. Not for the minimally inclined.

CD-Of-The-Minute 2:

Grace Jones: The Compass Point Sessions:Island . Even though it is not the comprehensive retrospective of Ms. Jones' career that we were praying for, just the presence of all those late 70's early 80's classics in one place means, YOU MUST BUY THIS CD.

Girl-Of-The-Minute:

Jade Parfait/Ford. Another medievial face in that hip, if gaunt tradition forged by Kirsten Owen. Man, all these mannequins are beginning to look like refugees from a Bergman film, non!

Video-of-The-Minute:

Janet Jackson: "Go Deep" Virtuoso camerawork and the ultimate teen dream combine to form the sweetest clip airing right this minute. Wait till you see the re-mix featuring Missy Elliot hopping all over Janet's beats.

Label-Of-The-Minute (Boy Division):

You say you are bored with Helmut Lang and refuse to pay Charivari prices for Raf Simmon's punk re-duxes...then we say put your smart dollars on the creations of the Costume National team. I mean Vincent Gallo campaigns BEFORE Buffalo 66 and the smartest little black shirts imaginable. We're feeling them !