Two Julia’s Reign Supreme in Tinseltown!

In this pic: Julia Verdin, Astrid Bryan, John Bryan and Sean Borg

Plans often go awry in Los Angeles so I tend not to make them, I had originally set out to attend the signing of publicist, Howard Bragman’s new book WHERE’S MY FIFTEEN MINUTES – a title which speaks for itself really but I arrived late and when I got there they were already packing up so l said my quick “hellos,” “good lucks” and “goodbyes” to Howard and decided to head over to the ‘Private Shopping Spree’ event at Catherine Malandrino Maison’s store in West Hollywood being hosted by fellow compatriot Lady Victoria Hervey.

My friend LA photographer, Dimitri Halkides was covering the ‘do’ and his brother hair stylist, Barry had asked me to join them there, so I did…

These days you can’t go anywhere in LA without bumping into someone you know and this event was certainly no exception, as this was the night I bumped into a couple of old friend’s, the ‘two Julia’s’ – Verdin and Clancey.

No sooner had I handed the valet guy my car keys I ran into Julia ‘number one’, my former landlady of more than a decade ago, film producer Julia Verdin and I have to say whatever ‘Jules V’ has herself on these days it definitely seems to be working, the ol’ girl is appearing much more radiant and happier, finally!

Julia has made a solid career out of knowing all the right people and being at the right places in Tinseltown so I guess I must have been where it was happening. It had also been a while since we last saw each other, we I used to avoid each other like the plague at social events due to a silly bust-up way back when, but it was all big smiles and hello darlings this night. Julia Verdin has long reigned supreme as the leader of the Brit-Pack in LA, but I think that’s all about to change with the arrival of Julia number 2…

In this pic: Barry Halkides, Julia Clancey and Sean Borg

Julia ‘number two’ is fashion designer Julia Clancey, who I have known of for many years.  Miss Clancey and I worked together in London when she was a top fashion stylist and I was in PR.  I am happy to say Julia (Clancey) is really starting to make her mark here in Los Angeles and it’s hard to go anywhere these days without hearing her name. ‘Fancy’ Clancey is about to unveil her stunning new collection just in time for Oscar’s week where (she tells me), she’ll be holed up at a suite at The Mondrian Hotel dressing some of Hollywood’s hottest actresses.

It was also great to see former playboy businessman John Bryan after what seems like forever. John, now happily married to the very beautiful Astrid (pictured) was always the life and soul of any party and this one is no exception, if anyone in the world should be labeled a survivor it is John Bryan, as you may remember he became infamous back in 1992 when he was photographed sucking on the Duchess of York’s toes at the villa Le Mas de Pignerol in St Tropez. It was great to see him all ‘loved up’ and beaming with Astrid, it certainly brought back memories,  just like the good old days, eh Ms. Verdin!

But even though I really enjoyed this event I couldn’t help wondering how any store of this type and size could survive in such an awful financial climate, but it was a cool space and I really loved the bar serving drinks at the front of house, boozing while shopping now that’s a great idea that I think just might catch on.