fashion designers

December 9, 2006'I have always had a love of design'By Julie Earle-LevineJorge Perez, 61, is a Miami-based property developer, architecture enthusiast and art collector. He is chairman of The Related Group, a $13bn company that is the largest multi-family builder in the US. It has already built 55,000 units in Miami and has plans to build another 15,000 in markets including south Florida and Atlanta.As...

Beauty is in the eye of the freeholderBy Julie Earle-LevinePublished:November 20 2006At first glance, Paolo Zampolli's premises in downtown Manhattan looks like those of any other luxury real estate broker. Listings for multi-million-dollar condominiums are displayed on Paramount Realty's floor-to-ceiling windows. The usual glossy magazines, comfortable leather sofas and Italian espresso maker are...

Balancing newcomers and nativesBy Julie Earle-Levine Published: November 18 2006The view from the aircraft as it lands in Antigua is mostly green and lush. On the ground, alongside a dirt road, there are mango trees dripping with fruit and hand-painted signs advertising pigs and ducks for sale. Locals sit out in front of small shacks selling roast birds and Wadadli, the island beer, or beside stalls...

HOUSE AND HOME: 'I'd condo all of Central Park if I could' Jul 29, 2006 Dolly Lenz is typing furiously on one of her three Blackberries, with one phone pressed to her ear and another ringing beside her. She dives for her Chanel bag but misses the call. "Hello, hello, hello?" Then both phones are ringing and do not stop. Lenz, who is vice-chairman at Prudential Douglas Elliman in Manhattan, has...

SydneyBy Julie Earle-LevineAfter years of swaggering self-promotion, the dream is finally coming true: Sydney really is on the verge of joining the ranks of the world’s great cities. Sydneysiders are starting to rise to the top of the fashion, art, architecture, and food worlds. (Not to mention the city’s Hollywood connection: Heath Ledger, Naomi Watts, and Nicole Kidman call the city home.) With...

The Wonder Boy of Watches - Swiss watch magnate Christian Bedat likes to heli-ski in Canada, relax in the Maldives and vacation with his family in Forte dei Marmi. We caught up with him between trips.Spring 2006IN the 400-year-old Swiss watch business, where legacy is practically a prerequisite, Christian Bedat has achieved enormous success in a remarkably short eight years. He launched Bedat &...

Las Vegas's latest colossus will be a slice of Barcelona: that's the vision of a larger-than-life developer with movie star mates.Julie Earle-Levine reportsFebruary 18, 2006JORGE Perez's excitement is palpable when he is talking about his Las Vegas project Las Ramblas. It's a colossal Barcelona-inspired $4 billion hotel condo and casino complex he is building with the actor George Clooney.Unlike Clooney,...

The Weekend AustralianJulie Earle-Levine reportsFebruary 18, 2006SCOTT Andrews was paying $US2600 ($3450) a month to live in the top floor of a Greenwich Village building when he got notice that rent for his 74sqm apartment would jump to $US3000 a month.He was interested in buying, but escalating prices meant he would need at least $US1 million to secure what he had been renting, and moving into a...

Layering is the travel trickFebruary 18 2006February in New York. Grey skies, snow and wind so fierce it snaps your umbrella like kindling. Last week I saw a squirrel blown out of a tree by a freezing gust. No wonder, when a friend's invitation to a wedding in Sydney arrived in October, I pulled out my suitcase without thinking twice. Never mind the 24-hour flight, warmth was all that mattered. It...

By Julie Earle-LevineDec 24, 2005New Bentley Continental GT - tick. Foie gras dinner for 50 - tick. New penthouse apartment - tick. A fresh-cut Christmas tree from Michigan, delivered and decorated - tick. Three levels of Christmas decorations at Tribeca apartment - tick. Week in a private, oceanfront villa on Brazil's Cacoa coast - tick.Wall Streeters are giving themselves a lavish spread this holiday...

By Julie Earle-LevineFeb, 2005So there you are, ogling all the fantastic gowns on the runway during fashion week, planning what you'll buy for this season, and modelling your spring frocks just in case – when, shock! horror! you see the a large, dark stain that could be steak au poivre, or perhaps red wine, across the front of your dress.Observing your resolution to Deal With It Now, you immediately...

A Frenchman in New YorkBy Julie Earle-LevineFinancial Times; Feb 2005Moments after I am introduced to interior designer Jacques Grange, we are striding past security into the lobby of a gleaming new residential building on New York's Upper East Side. My interview with him aside, he is on a mission: to inspect furniture."I check everything. Every detail," he tells me. "I love to control all I do. Each...

By Julie Earle-LevineFinancial Times; Apr 2005Gwyneth Paltrow once famously announced that straightening her hair made her more confident, claiming: "If I have straight hair, I feel like half my outfit battle is over."But that was before marriage and baby, and to see her now is to see a vision of beatific, almost hippie, Raphael waviness. Indeed, dead straight hair, or as some stylists put it "flat,...

By Julie Earle-LevineJun 04, 2005The promise of spring and crisp, new clothes after a miserable winter is reason enough to shop. There is that must-have pouffy skirt to purchase, silky camisoles to snap up and a new swimsuitfor the beach. Most people would agree, retail therapy feels good. Butwhat happens when you cannot stop shopping?Close to 8 per cent of the US population are considered "hard core"...

By Julie Earle-LevineJun 11, 2005Jade Jagger, daughter of Mick and Bianca, is at home in Ibiza, Spain, slicing chicken for a teriyaki stir fry from the local market for lunch. The view from the kitchen of her 500-year-old Spanish farmhouse is stunning - mountains and greenery as far as the sapphire-blue sea. Jagger stops for a moment to enjoy it, knife poised over white Corian counters. "Yeah, the...

HOUSE & HOME: A chip off the old building blockBy Julie Earle-LevineOct 22, 2005It is hard to miss Trump Place when driving up Manhattan's West Side Highway, along the Hudson River. The group of buildings looms over the road and the adjacent Hudson River, like its own city, emblazoned with the Trump name in thick, gold block letters. Get closer and you'll find a stream of limousines waiting to...