EVENT UPDATE : BFI LUMINOUS GALA .. THE ROUNDHOUSE LONDON... TUESDAY OCTOBER 1ST 2024 ..

(C) Jeff Spicer

 

Joan hit the town on Tuesday evening to attend The BFI Luminous Gala which was held at The Roundhouse London. Joan was joined by Ivan Massow and sister in law Hazel.. Others in attendance were Hugh Grant, Celia Imrie, Tilda Swinton and Richard E Grant among others. 

Joan with Hazel Collins & Ivan Massow    (c) Jeff Spicer

(c) Dave Benett

TV CATCHUP! THE ONE SHOW / LOOSE WOMEN ..

 Joan made appearances on BBC 1 on Friday 20th on The One Show and todays Loose Women on ITV1 to promote her One Night Only performance of Behind The Shoulder Pads at The Adelphi Theatre in London on Oct 22nd.. You can catch up with both shows at the following links!

The One Show - 20/09/2024 - BBC iPlayer

Loose Women - ITVX

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

TV ALERT : ELIZABETH TAYLOR - REBEL SUPERSTAR ... BBC 2 .. SEPTEMBER 27TH 2024 ... 9PM..

 

Actor, feminist, business mogul, activist: Elizabeth Taylor broke the mould and re-wrote the rules of celebrity.

In BBC Arts’ new 3-part series we hear first-hand testimony from those closest to Elizabeth, from family members to her inner circle of friends and those she inspired - revealing Taylor not only as a great actress, but a free spirit, entrepreneur and groundbreaking activist.

With access to never-before-heard audio tapes, interviews and unseen TV footage of Elizabeth herself.

Watch Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two on Friday 27 September at 9pm. 

Dame Joan Collins is one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

A contemporary of Elizabeth Taylor, the two young women met on the studio lot, crossed paths frequently throughout their careers and developed a friendship which would last many decades.  Having found fame within the studio system they starred in some of the era’s biggest productions - eventually competing for the iconic role of Cleopatra.

Dame Joan is an authority on the world Elizabeth inhabited from childhood and has rare insight into the person she was away from the spotlight.

The two actresses shared the screen in what would be Elizabeth’s final film role in These Old Broads - a film written by Elizabeth’s one-time stepdaughter, Carrie Fisher, and based in part on the turbulent relationship between her mother, Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth.

Growing up, what did you think of Elizabeth Taylor?

I adored her, as did all my school friends. She was part of our lives as young girls. We basically grew up with her, with Elizabeth Taylor. She was a real icon.

Do you remember the first time you saw Elizabeth on screen?

It was the first one I ever saw, A Date With Judy. I just remember it was so full of youth and Technicolor, and this was in a rather dim period in England when everything was grey, and we still had rationing. So, it was a burst of colour and light.

What was your experience of the studio system like?

I was bought. I was under contract to J Arthur Rank in England from the time I was 17, then Darryl Zanuck saw me and bought me for 20th Century Fox. I went under contract for seven years. As soon as I arrived, they rented me a car. They rented an apartment for me. They rented the furniture. They told me what to do, what to wear, where to go, who to go out with. I was completely at their mercy.

What was Elizabeth like as a person? 

I always found her to be a very interesting woman, ever since I first met her. 

I met her when I first went to Hollywood, and we got along really well. She was a real girl’s girl as well as being a man's girl.  She was very vibrant, and she had a great laugh, a great sense of humour. And we talked about, you know, all sorts of things that young girls talk about: clothes, hair, makeup, boys, movies.

When I got my fourth divorce, Elizabeth sent me a present. I can't remember what it was, it was something silver, a frame or something with a little note saying, “I'm still ahead by three!”

Joan with Elizabeth in 1984 at a Hollywood Event

Why did Elizabeth get married to her first husband, Nicky Hilton, so young?

She got married at 18 because she wanted to get away from home, which is why I got married at 18. And well, because, you know, the different laws and morals - if you were involved with a man, you know, intimately, you had to marry him. That was the way it was. And I think Elizabeth liked the idea of marriage.

Elizabeth’s love of jewellery is well-known, did that come across in your interactions with her?

One day, I was standing outside the set of These Old Broads waiting to go on when Elizabeth said, “I love your bracelets”. And I said “Yes”. She said, “You wear them a lot” and I said, “Yeah, I never take them off, even when I go through customs”. She said, “Let me try them on” and I said, “No, Elizabeth, no, they don't come off.”  I was lying. They do come off. But I didn't want to lend them to her [she previously explains Elizabeth had a habit of borrowing people’s jewellery and not giving it back].

She didn't mean to do it. She just loved to be acquisitive. She just loved things. She admitted it, but she did it in such a sweet way.

The press wasn’t always kind to Elizabeth… tell us about that.

They said horrible things about Elizabeth. Horrible, horrible things. I mean, you know, she was this icon. She was, you know, the last great star. But the way she was massacred in the press was pretty shocking.

Why did Elizabeth attract so much attention?

Apart from her beauty and fame, I think that having this really - not scandalous, but very interesting private life that everybody was interested in - gave her an edge. Most actors, film stars that people are interested in have a kind of racy private life. And I think that was part of it.

Do you think Elizabeth liked being famous?

Elizabeth had [fame] for a long time. And I think maybe deep down, there was something about it that she enjoyed. I think she enjoyed being a star. I mean, who else would have a brain operation, have their head shaved and be photographed by the top photographer of the day to be on the cover of Life magazine? I certainly wouldn't. And I don't think you'll find many actresses who would want to do that. But I do think she enjoyed the spotlight.

What was it like making a film together?

During the making of These Old Broads we all got along like a house on fire. Elizabeth, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley MacLaine. We were just all of us really great pals.

How would you sum up Elizabeth’s legacy?

Without question she was one of the last great stars. Who today comes anywhere close to having her glamour, her charisma and her talent? Elizabeth was one of a kind.

We were all really sad when we knew Elizabeth was dying because she was part of our lives since we were young girls. She was a real icon. You know, they bandy that word about, 'icon', you know. There aren't that many.

TV ALERT : THE ONE SHOW .. BBC1 .. FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20TH 2024..

 Joan will be on The One Show this Friday evening at 7pm where she will discuss her latest one woman show at The Adelphi Theatre on October 22nd. Tune into BBC 1 at 7pm. 

TV ALERT : LOOSE WOMEN .. ITV 1 / VIRGIN ONE IRELAND.. MONDAY SEPTEMBER 23rd 2024 ..

 

Tune into Monday's Loose Women as Joan makes an appearance to talk about her One Night Only show at The Adelphi Theatre on October 22nd.. Loose Women airs on ITV1 12:30pm and Virgin One Ireland at 3pm.. 

PRESS UPDATE : HARPERS BAZAAR ARABIA .. MEET THE DESIGNERS!.. SEPTEMBER 5TH 2024

 

Fashion

Meet The Arab Designers Who Dressed Dame Joan Collins For Bazaar Arabia’s September 2024 Cover Shoot....  by Sophia Serin

With their artistic flair and more red carpet appearances that one can count, meet the creatives behind the making of each Dame Joan masterpiece..

From Georges Chakra to Saiid Kobeisy, Bazaar Arabia is delighted to introduce the six talented designer who created custom pieces for Dame Joan Collins’s September cover story..

Azzi & Osta

With a serendipitous start (George Azzi and Assaad Osta met at design school in 2004), the Lebanese pair have gone on the create fashion magic. After the duo both graduated top of their class at Esmod Beirut, they went on to intern with Elie Saab.

So impressed with their work, the designer hired the twosome as assistant designers at their internship end. In 2010, George and Assaad launched Azzi & Osta which (now) includes haute couture, bridal and ready to wear lines. Known for their classic designs but always with a twist, the brand is a heady mix of Carrie Bradshaw meets Amina Muaddi.

Georges Chakra

Next time you watch a re-run of The Devil Wears Prada or Gossip Girl, look out for Georges Chakra designs. A Hollywood go-to, Georges first started out as an interiors design student, but soon discovered his love for design leaned more towards fashion than furniture. To make it official, Georges jetted across the globe to get a degree in fashion design at the Canadian Fashion Academy.

Post-graduation, the designer moved back to his hometown of Beirut and set up a working studio in where he began sketching (and making) a wardrobe for himself. In 2002, the designer upped himself and moved his workshop to Paris to debut his first couture collection and was soon dressing the world’s most talented A-Listers including Helen Mirren, Rihanna and Andra Jay.

Rami Al Ali

Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Aishwarya Rai – the world’s most accomplished women are wearing Rami Al Ali, securing him the spotlight on the world’s fashion stage. The Syrian-born designer established his eponymous label in 2001, and quickly went on to dress women-about-Dubai town along with regional celebrities.

In 2012, Rami Al Ali Couture debuted at Couture Fashion Week, launched a ready to wear line in 2014 and went on to launch a bridal line, Rami Al Ali White in 2020. His natural talent and flair for designing original creations to suit every woman has made him one of the most acclaimed designers in the Middle East.

Reem Kachmar

to always make a statement. Her custom-made corsets are at the heart of her designs and favoured by clients who adore a frilly, feathery, feminine frock.

With a studio located in downtown Beirut, her ingenious evening wear and wedding dresses are made by hand, and are famous for their delicate and intricate embroideries that make each gown a glamourous masterpiece.

Saiid Kobeisy

Saiid’s father owned a boutique that sold evening gowns and was a place where the designer would love to spend his time as a teenager and interact with clients purchasing their dream dress.

Fast forward a couple of decades and Saiid Kobeisy gowns are sold in over 35 countries and available in over 130 points of sale. Needless to say, Saiid is a pretty big deal when it comes to dressing women around the globe. With haute couture, ready to wear and bridal lines, the Lebanese designer opened his first atelier in Beirut in 2010 and now has showrooms in Dubai, Beirut and Paris.

Rami Kadi

In 2011, Rami Kadi was 25 when he opened his showroom and first atelier, Rami Kadi Maison de Couture in downtown Beirut. It didn’t take long for the beautifully detailed wedding and evening dresses to start making their way into the wardrobes of the world’s most stylish. In 2014, Rami started showcasing his collections at Paris Fashion Week, and had his first show in 2019.

With a commitment to sustainable fashion, the designer was designated as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Fashion in 2020. Always making a grand entrance, Rami Kadi gowns are a constant on the Cannes, Venice and Red Sea film festivals, not forgetting the Grammy’s, Emmy’s and Golden Globe Awards.

PRESS UPDATE : HARPERS ARABIA EDITORS BLOG ... SEPTEMBER 2024 ..

Olivia Phillips with Joan

Editor's Blog

Viva La Diva: A Letter From Our Editor | Harper’s Bazaar Arabia September 2024

By Olivia Phillips

Bazaar Arabia’s Olivia Phillips met one of her heroes: the iconic Dame Joan Collins, who was dressed entirely in custom Middle Eastern couture for our September 2024 cover story..

Meeting your heroes is a complicated business. To paraphrase the old adage, you should actually go out of your way to avoid them if at all possible – such is the risk of them falling in your estimations once tainted by the unvarnished mundanity that is *shudder* the real world.

It becomes even more complex when your hero is arguably not of this mortal plane anyway, but a beacon of glamour so blinding that she may have invented the very concept itself. Case in point: our September cover star, the incomparable Dame Joan Collins.

“Low expectations, high serenity,” Penelope Cruz once told me (although that’s a name-drop tale for another day), so that’s the philosophy I’ve tried to employ whenever I’ve been lucky enough to meet someone iconic. It’s worked like a charm so far. Well, apart from Quentin Tarantino which – full disclosure – did not go well.

With Dame Joan, however, going in with low expectations was tough. How could the last living legend of Hollywood’s golden age; the original diva herself, be anything other than magnificent? To think so would be like expecting Marilyn Monroe (who Joan was friends with, by the way), to not be beautiful.

À Cheval 5-row Necklace, transformable into Bracelets in Rose Gold with Diamonds, POA, Van Cleef & Arpels Dress, POA, Custom Azzi & Osta Couture

The bar, then, was set impossibly high. But one does not remain an icon for over seven decades by being a bit average in the flesh, darling. No – Joan is exactly who you want her to be, and that means she is exactly who she wants to be; unapologetic, patrician, the first word in glamour and (has) the last word in… well, everything. And thank God for that. We wouldn’t want our divas any other way!