*** The FiFi Report #82 did not go out on Friday due to a big fat glitch! *****

“Nobody likes to hear somebody they feel makes a lot of money, complain. So we don’t, but it is a very strange thing. Nobody writes books about how to deal with that, so I think I’ll do that next.” J.LO planning to write a self-help book for celebrities ( Paris start learning to read).
“ A good friend is someone who is honest… I’ll test them by telling them something and seeing if it will get out. If it gets out, I know that it was them.” Paris Hilton on being so honest she tests her friends.( stop complaining)
“He has told me that it is really a lot, what with a break-up, a wedding and two babies in a year,” Shar Jackson Britney’s new husband’s ex wife. (Can he read? Can he cope?)
“A baby is not a dog. You can’t just put it away.” Shar Jackson on Britney having a baby. (You can if you’re Britney)
“There was an undue amount of focus on our relationship at first but it wasn’t so bad. The explosion was soon over and people are very respectful about it.” Cynthia Nixon doesn’t realize the media thinks her girlfriend is not photogenic.
“I love the fact that when I go off to work he will be waiting at home for me,” Paris Hilton on boyfriend Paris Latsis ( with a video camera?) Paris on Paris.
“My swimsuits are for women with bottoms and tummies,” Liz Hurley thinks some people don’t have them.
“I love it. There’s no size zeroes there” Neve Campbell loves living in London because it full of women with tummies and bottoms and she can look skinny.
“I love my wife. I was brought up to treat women well and with respect, I know that if I didn’t my mum would be the first to tell me off.” David Beckham. Treat them right or your mum will get mad. (How about just treating them right?) Posh is a size zero, has no tummy, no bottom, and where is her new baby?

If you are a true fashionista you can spend your life eating salads. So why not eat it out of something that looks good as you? Country Road home wares have some gorgeous, simple, white, matte ceramic bowls that are so minimal and chic John Pawson could have designed them. And all for an outrageous $19.

$19 white matte bowls from Country Road.

NB: Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale
For fabulous quality designer furniture (at discount prices) head to Mojo Pacific 29th - 1st May 2005 from 9am - 6pm Mentmore Film Studios 5-13 Mentmore Avenue Rosebery.

Everyone knows the easiest way to take years off your face without surgery: It’s all about candle light. But we don’t want you turning up your nose and frowning every time you see another daggy lantern. It defeats the purpose. So run into Parterre Garden for their divine tall, clear glass lanterns (imported from Belgium) with a candlestick molded into the glass inside. Too chic.
Glass Lanterns $30 for small and $55 for tall, Parterre Garden 02 9363 5874

Smokey eyes are the look for winter but forget about buying a box of shadows with a million different shades to choose from. Who uses that except makeup artists? All you need is one fabulous muted, dark, brown eye shadow from M.A.C. called Mystery. It will never crease and will stay on all day. Perfect! (The mystery is that it is so small you will never find it in your makeup purse.)

$30 M.A.C. Eye Shadow in Mystery from David Jones.

Off to Marrakesh? Check out Kechmara: ‘the furniture is by Verner Panton and Eero Saarinen, the lighting is Murano glass and space-age chrome, and the menu is French with an international spin’.
Butik’ is an old-fashioned Danish word for specialty store and the name of Helena Christensen’s new store in New York filled with “everything strange and weird and wonderful and aesthetic and antique and new.” wwd
Miuccia Prada has agreed to provide pieces from Mui Mui to the protagonist and two male characters of the comedy “Tiny Alice,” written by Edward Albee of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” fame. It will run April 26 to May 8 at the Colosseum Theater in Rome, not to be confused with the ancient Roman monument.wwd
A “for sale” sign still hangs from the door of Pierre Cardin. But the space-age designer, who said he’s been offered as much as us$650 million, for his business and web of licenses, wants a better offer. “I know what I’m worth,” groused the 83-year-old couturier as he previewed an exhibit of his Jetsons-worthy furniture creations in Paris “wwd.
Those who grumbled when Marc Jacobs’ fall runway show started 90 minutes late might be pleased to know he will launch a collection of fine watches.
Hedi Slimane will be guest editor of Liberation, France’s left-leaning daily newspaper. Slimane hints the pages will reflect his current fascination with London’s burgeoning rock scene. Slimane has spent more than a year tracking and documenting Pete Doherty, companion of Kate Moss, frontman of Babyshambles, formerly of The Libertines and whom he characterizes as a poet and perhaps the most important performer of our times. wwd
It’s getting near to winter check out this absolutely groovy fireplace hanging from the ceiling ( from the USA) it’s cool…http://www.fireorb.net/start.html
Checkout the fabulous Frank Lloyd Wright mausoleulm in New York State and yes! people are dying to get in… http://www.blueskymausoleum.com
Or why not have your ashes installed in a boulder fabricated to make a new coral reef? And go to http://www.eternalreefs.com/ kooky buy clever!
Interested in architecture and design? check out Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture site wow! http://www.asymptote.net (the Knoll showroom)
For fashion making a comeback: Chanel has designed a boomerang http://www.wallpaper.com/fashion/532

http://www.style.com/trends/stylenotes/041805/
See Karl chat away, laugh with Isaac, and watch the amazing footage of the 1962 show Of YSL (What? No music? And they are smoking!). If you haven’t been onto Style.com lately then head straight there to check out the best fashion documentaries of all time ( and a snippet of each). It is ‘to get in the mood for Seamless, the story of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, which premieres this week at the Tribeca Film Festival.

http://www.showstudio.com
As you know this is the website of photographer Nick Knight but it has just been revamped and now you can catch their current projects including a shoot on thirty men, plus in June you can play dress ups with model Liberty Ross ( pick clothes for her via a webcam!)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been photographed on holiday together in Kenya, further fuelling rumors of a romance.
Star magazine is finding itself the subject of sensational headlines after the glossy faked photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on a beach together. With bitter rival Us Weekly reportedly paying upwards of $1 million to lockup exclusive U.S. rights for the actual paparazzi-taken photos of the are-they-or-aren’t-they couple of the moment, Star wasn’t to be outdone. The magazine ran its own photos of the tandem lovingly gazing at each other. But the images, which grace the cover and appear on page 46, are actually cut-and-paste jobs.
Tom Cruise is going out with actress Katie Holmes. The new couple, are currently having a romantic getaway in Italy, where Cruise is scheduled to receive a national award for his contribution to cinema this weekend. (Hello)
Pete Doherty has invited girlfriend Kate Moss to perform with him at Glastonbury this summer.
Sir Elton John wants to marry David Furnish in a civil ceremony in December.
Nick Nolte’s teenage son Brawley Nolte has been arrested and charged with marijuana possession with intent to supply ( Brawley?)
Sideways star Sandra Oh has filed a petition for divorce from husband Alexander Payne who directed and co-wrote the hit wine-tasting comedy.
Stockard Channing has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol.
Sarah Jessica Parker will star as a pushy p.r. person (are there other kinds?) in her next movie who ends up in jail after being charged with taking freebies meant for clients and selling them to knockoff artists. Once in prison, she makes a musical with the inmates. Sort of like “Singin’ in the Rain in Sing Sing.” The movie, called “Slammer,” ( A documentary?)
Graydon Carter an outspoken right-to-smoke advocate has given up cigarettes and now he’s putting in extra hours at the gym to get in shape for his mid-May wedding “Just trying to get my girlish figure back,” he quipped wwd.
Prince Ernst of Hanover has checked into a clinic in Austria, where he is being treated for the drinking problem that brought on the acute pancreatitis/

Them : A Memoir of Parents by Francine du Plessix Gray
If you know anything about fashion you will know about the late great Alexander Liberman;. He was a living legend who virtually ran the Conde Nast empire for years as the editorial director. He married the too chic Tatiana who had a daughter from a previous marriage; Francine du Plessix Grey. She has now written this memoir ‘Them’ (his book about their life was called ‘Then’) “ an unflinchingly honest, wise, and forgiving portrait of her own famous parents: two wildly talented Russian émigrés who fled wartime Paris to become one of New York’s first and grandest power couples. Flamboyant and outrageous, bold and brilliant, they were irresistible to friends like Marlene Dietrich, Salvador Dalí. But they were also highly neurotic, narcissistic, and glacially self-promoting, prone to cut out of their lives, with surgical precision, close friends who were no longer of use to them. Tatiana and Alexander survived the Russian Revolution, the fall of France, and New York’s factory of fame. Their daughter, Francine, survived them”. A must read!
$19 from http://www.amazon.com Publisher: Penguin Press HC, (May 5, 2005)

The Christmas list:
Juergen Teller: Louis Xv by Juergen Teller
You know Juergen Teller, he is the photographer who shoots all the amazing ad campaigns for Marc Jacobs. His latest book sounds outrageous. “ In the gauche surroundings of a hotel room, Juergen Teller combines the braggadocio of his nude self-portraits with his ongoing paean to woman in an often x-rated filmic narrative. The faux-leather bound, gold leaf tipped slim volume, Louis XV contains a series of photographs that is an intimate tale of lust and excess with his latest muse, the actress Charlotte Rampling” Price: $31.50 http://www.amazon.com Publisher: Steidl Publishing (July 30, 2005)

Economy
Sportsgirl: Have a very groovy baggy denim jacket, blouson style and so eighties: zip front and elasticized waist $89, and check out the A line choc brown, classic wool skirt $89, the groovy black and silver lurex stripe V-neck sweater $89 and the cool beads: very Prada, big stones in yellows and reds ( great buy) $39. There is a grey workwear pinstripe jacket $289 and check out the SG denim/marc Jacobs esque Sergeant Pepper jacket with brass military buttons in a soft pink cotton $99 and a burnt and brown hippy print caftan long is cute $149. Just Jeans: has 25%off a soft pink suede blazer also in black and brown now $139 and a black/brown short peacoat in tweed is $110.
Esprit: love the side pocket brown tweed pants $139, and the A-line skirt in black and white tweed with buttons down the front and cool pockets and leather piping $89.Also check out the black wool pants $139 and don’t forget the paisley print satin print straight skirt $89 in choc browns and green. And I do love the dirty pink (yes. true) s/s blouse $119 and the big chunky knit stripe cardigan with a belt $99. Portmans have some cool big oversized sunglasses $29. Witchery: Check out the low cut drape grey knit $109, (War a T under it) the tweedie gauchos (wide crop trousers to knee $89 and the white L/S T are great for $89. There is a cool, little, old fashioned vintage purse in bronze sequins with a chain strap $159 and I like the choc brown sequin chiffon shrug $149 and the pinkish chiffon floral print drawstring blouse $119. FCUK: love the dark grey baggy wool pants $139.Cue: Love the cheap but chic knits here and check out the green princess coat $399, the cute tweed crop jacket and the perfect rib poloneck sweater in great colours $99.There is fab stripe dark grey side pockets cuffed trousers, lovely and expensive looking for you $219, q Balenciaga style grey overstitched and paneled skirt with a velvet ribbon belt $129 (with a fishtail). Plus a matching Alaia/Balenciaga fitted jacket $235. and a black wool melton peacoat ( big for next winter too) $499.

Business:
Saba: check out the choc brown velvet blazer $545 and matching trousers $345.
Country Road: Not a lot new this week but check out the light blue S/L chiffon top with neck tie $129, the man style caramel cotton baggy pants $129, and the cute red fedora and red bags. And also new in is the crop tweed jacket $299 in black and white tweed.Saba: check out the choc brown velvet blazer $545 and matching trousers $345.CK Jeans: check out the black nylon bomber with belt and knit trim $399. David Lawrence: Best pieces are the wool melton black short peacoat $219, choc brown poncho with a green stripe $129 and don’t forget the chic little green rib knits. Midas. Oh dear what’s with the fake vintage redecoration? Same as Sportsgirl and it looks cheap, cheap, cheap. Best pieces are the leopard pony skin heels $298, the fake snakeskin wedge with open toe $198 in black or brown, and the fab grey python heels $278. Also check out the kitten heel, pointy, faux croc, tan boots $448 and the cool round toe heel boots $488. Scanlan & Theodore: Their second winter collection has just hit the stores: get in there fast. Too much to mention but check out the beautiful knit cardigans $320, the cable knit orange sweater $260, the grey wool pinstripe trousers $300, and the dark aubergine floral cami in chiffon $250. How fab are the Georgina Goodman charm bracelets? (with’ I love you’ engraved on gold coins) Very fab! $500 and please buy the necklace version and the red print bag $600 too .

First
Prada In David Jones: Yes, please! New bags have arrived from the summer collection. You want the divine big, tan, lady like bag with over stitching and silver buckles in black too $2000, the fab stripe op-art eyelet shoulder bag in nylon in oranges and reds and also the small version in greens and oranges. Check out the big cream canvas bag with seascapes on it $1150 (perfect for the beach?), the pink ‘robot’ bag, the big orange leather bags $2000 ish, the caramel slouch bags plus a very casual cream canvas bag with leather straps $1100. Also in David Jones check out the Chloe bag collection: Buy the bag du jour; the soft pink bag seen on every celebrity (in tan) with bras studs $2780, (buy 2) and also the bags with big chunky silver buckles are in brown croc $2195.Longchamps: Have lots of new bags in for summer. Check out the gorgeous orange and red shoulder bag in canvas with silver buckles $700, the big slouch version in orange with red trim $745, and the light blue leather slouch $645. Check out the classic black shoulder leather bag with silver studs $785 and the white canvas with pink leather tote $395 plus the fab black leather slouch bag with silver buckles $785 ( very handy). Buy the divine black gloves ( handy too!) with sexy silver buckles on the wrist $335, the divine camel slouch boho bag $895, and the textured camel leather slouch bag $795. Plus don’t forget the gorgeous sunglasses cases in great colours $139 .Belinda MLC: Yes, they are on sale for the first time just for a week, till today or at least the weekend. The new European summer collections are about to hit next week so get in there for 30 to 50% off. You want the Lanvin black, tweed, collarless jacket with a jewel neck $1950, or the divine simple black dress $1115, the Marc Jacobs superb tan leather bag now $1800, (the small red version is there too), the amazing Demeulemeester fur and leather elbow length gloves $615, the Balenciaga peach drape jersey top now $680, the black twisted drape top $1185 and the Black and white tweed biker jacket $2650. There is a Balenciags black, drape dress $1300 and a long sleeve orange T now $330. Buy the Missoni black knit pants $375, the lurex gold print skirt $645 and the Missoni gold lurex sweater $775, then get the Clements Ribero pink and orange thin stripe knit for you $395 plus much more

Lemon Pinenut Cake

A crowd pleaser for a dinner party, this cake has no flour but lots of pine nuts, icing sugar and lemon. Amazingly good. Don’t invite anyone on a diet.

For 5 fatties or 6 skinnies.
You need: 200g pine nuts ( or almonds)
½ cup icing sugar
3 egg whites
½ cup caster sugar
1 tabs of finely grated lemon rind
¼ cup of pine nuts extra for sprinkling

Serve with outrageously delicious cream or lime ice cream

·Preheat oven to 160
·Moisterise shallow cake tin with lots of butter
·Whizz pine nuts in a whizzer till finely ground. Hint: A little crunchy is better than completely finely ground.
·Sift icing sugar and mix with pine nuts in a bowl (the bench is not a good place)
·Beat the egg whites until you can put the bowl upside down over your head and the egg whites won’t fall out. (Stiff peaks are what we need baby)
·Add caster sugar in 3 batches. It goes like this: add caster sugar, beat. Add sugar,beat. Add sugar, beat. Should be thick and glossy like the hair on Pantene commercial.
·With a metal spoon fold in the egg white mix into the pine nut mix in 3 batches,but just be gentle if you can’t be bothered doing batches.
·Spoon into the tin and then sprinkle the extra pine nuts over the top for a bit of je ne sais pas later.
·Cook in the oven for about 45 minutes. Hint: Cook less, it’s better if it is just a little moist..
·Let it cool completely then pop on a platter, sprinkle over some icing sugar and serve it to an adoring public who will love you forever ( al that sugar will get the party going..)

The Sea Inside
The Plot: Spanish spunk breaks neck in diving accident and becomes a paraplegic, and after 28 years wants to win the right to die with dignity
Who: Directed by the same guy who made The Others
Acting: excellent. Javier Bardin is amazing. Deserves all awards
Interiors: Pretty, Spanish country houses
Arty angles: Good: a few amazing shots under water.
Designer inspiration: very Calvin Klein; soft pale oatmeal cardigans over soft satin peach bias cut dresses. For him: divine pale blue hand knit polo necks and cute beanies.
Salon de Beaute: her hair and makeup is simple (very Calvin ’99) he ages well, is a young spunk.
Blood’n’ guts: none, but excruciating seeing his accident
Smooches: lots and lovely
Smokin’ smooches: not really ( he is paralyzed after all)
When Harry met Sally romance Richter scale: High
Waterproof mascara? Waterproof everything, you need a wetsuit to get through this movie.
See it or donate to the Prada bag fund? See it and weep

UK Vogue May:
If you are off to the UK you can work your way through the ‘100 shopping secrets.’ Read about Ruth Rogers (River Café and married to Richard Rogers) and her meeting with Diana Vreeland ( Vodka in the afternoon), then tackle a huge but fascinating piece on the British election, and the power players shot by David Bailey. ( what? fashion people are political?) Then catch up with shoe designer Christian Louboutin and his fab house in the Valley of the Kings, plus read about Ellen Barkin ( ‘my face is so f88cked up, if I had a lift they‘d have to give me a straight face and I wouldn’t look like me” ) and her marriage to billionaire Ron Perelman ( ‘he likes to buy good jewellery”) A great read.
Vanity Fair May:
This is the issue that everyone is talking about with Desperate Housewives on the cover and the story inside supposedly revealing a cat fight. Maybe a kitten fight. Much more interesting is the story on super yachts ( one with a sandy beach, another with a theatre, a hospital and of course helicopters.) see the kooky but rich Alan Gibbs who designed the Aquada, the car that is a boat. Read the story on Athina Onassis who is about to inherit billions, then the riveting story of the Tsumami survivior Petra Nemcova. Why was she profiled? She is a model and was on the cover of the Sports Illustrated (so she is more important than others..) A great read if just to see the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
Travel and Leisure April:
It’s all about great adventures and has a cover shot of the outback and story by Peter Goldsworthy on the remote communities of central Australia and the artists there. I think a trip to London is in the air; read about the best tailors in London on Savile Row including Stella McCartney, Paul Smith and Georgina Goodman. There is a story on Portugal’s Azores Islands ( remote and untouched) and a gorgeous piece on the valleys of Valtellina near Lake Como ( and George Clooney). Have a chuckle reading about the gentleman hosts on cruises and then about Thailand’s newest luxury resort ; The Mandarin oriental in Chiang Mai. Costing $80 mill it is a whole village recreated as a hotel… now that’s really traveling.