Monique Lhuillier's Seductive Success!

 Few famous critics attend the runway shows of Monique Lhuillier and even fewer senior magazine editors show up, yet the front-row of her show Monday, Feb. 14, in New York was packed with members of a frequently far more useful profession for a designer - retailers.

And there's a very good reason for that. Lhuillier manages to distill modern high fashion trends into plausible and flattering collections, clothes that department stores know they can sell with confidence.

In a very tangible sense if one really wants to understand what stylish American women will be wearing this autumn, then a visit to an Lhuillier runway show is highly informative. She cuts with class and assurance, self-edits splendidly and knows how to create dramatic silhouettes that compliment rather than overpower ladies. No wonder heavy league buyers from Saks, Harrods and Bergdorf Goodman all showed up, and with their business antenna on full alert.

That was very much the case with this femininely seductive fall 2011 collection where the designer riffed on ideas seen in Europe, though with sufficient zest and personal input to make each look very much her own.

A silver encrusted halter neck black crepe column may well have echoed Yves Saint Laurent and several ostrich feather looks - either an A-Line cocktail or a deep scarlet coat - recalled Giambattista Valli. Yet throughout this collection there was still a signature Lhuillier style - flirty, lacey, focused femininity.

"This woman knows how to gets what she wants," trumpeted the designer in her program notes. And, leaving this show in the custom-made Lincoln Center show tent complex, one could only think that wearing these clothes, women will achieve precisely that.

*Beautiful as always! High fashion and always a cut above the rest* 

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Billy Ray Cyrus: 'Hannah Montana' destroyed family!

Billy Ray Cyrus says the Disney TV show "Hannah Montana" destroyed his family, causing his divorce and sending daughter Miley Cyrus spinning out of control.

In a December interview published in the Feb. 22 issue of GQ Magazine, Cyrus said he wished the show that launched his daughter to pop stardom had never happened.

"I hate to say it, but yes, I do. Yeah. I'd take it back in a second," Cyrus said. "For my family to be here and just be everybody OK, safe and sound and happy and normal, would have been fantastic. Heck, yeah. I'd erase it all in a second if I could."

Cyrus and his wife, Tish, filed for divorce in October. They have three kids together — Miley is the oldest — and two from Tish's previous marriage.

Billy Ray Cyrus said when he asked about the rumored video footage of his daughter smoking from a bong at her 18th birthday party in December, he was told it was none of his business. He refused to attend the party, saying it was wrong to have it in a bar.

Cyrus, a native of Flatwoods, Ky., had his own success as a country singer beginning in the early 1990s with his huge hit "Achy Breaky Heart."

Cyrus says in the interview that he tried too hard to be a friend instead of a parent to his daughter. He said he is scared for Miley and compared her current path to those of other stars whose lives ended tragically, including Kurt Cobain, Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson.

"I should have been a better parent," Cyrus said. "I should have said, 'Enough is enough — it's getting dangerous and somebody's going to get hurt.' I should have, but I didn't. Honestly, I didn't know the ball was out of bounds until it was way up in the stands somewhere."

He said his entire family was baptized before leaving Tennessee for Los Angeles to protect themselves from evil, and he believes Satan is attacking his family.

"It's the way it is," Cyrus said. "There has always been a battle between good and evil. Always will be. You think, 'This is a chance to make family entertainment, bring families together ...' and look what it's turned into."


*This is a classic case of pure "stupidity." Parents whose kids are famous are always trying to be a friend instead being the parent. Everyone saw Miley Cyrus getting out of control and doing outrageous things. However, when it came time for her parents to truly step in and stop the outlandish behavior they were concerned about themselves and Miley making more money to continue their life style.  Everyone knows that "real" parenting is priceless and money and celebrity is just that...money and celebrity*


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