Sydney
SPORTSCRAFT 100 YEARS OF AUSTRALIAN LIFESTYLE CELEBRATION
In the fickle world of fashion, 100 years is a huge deal, so Sportscraft celebrated the milestone with a lavish dinner, floods of champagne and a flock of its celebrity centenary ambassadors, including Michael Klim, Rachel Griffiths, Gracie Otto, Bondi Rescue���s Anthony ������Harries������ Carroll and Ita Buttrose.
Samantha Harris and Zac Stenmark at the Sportscraft 100th birthday. Photo: Esteban La Tessa
Anthony ������Harries������ Carroll and Ita Buttrose. To mark the occasion for the all-Aussie label, Cafe Sydney chefs served up the best of local produce and ocean fare. Griffiths captured the patriotic mood perfectly with a funny story about her little boy Banjo���s insistence on constantly wandering outdoors at his LA kindie. ������That���s what Australians do!������ she said.
Party people: August 8
From launch parties to wine tasting, here is a rundown of last week's events in and around Sydney and Melbourne. Photo: Shaney Balcombe
HENRIETTA SUPPER CLUB LAUNCH
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Darlinghurst just keeps on giving, with two hot launches on Victoria Street this week (see page 8 for the other). This indulgent new late-night dining and drinking spot from the talented crew behind Bondi���s Neighbourhood bar drew a crowd of food and wine-lovers to sample creations from head chef and ex-Rockpool Bar and Grill���s Kim Douglas, and stunning, fresh-ingredient-loaded cocktail creations from Harriet Leigh, formerly manager at the Hazy Rose. Ever tried a Seasonal Sgroppino or a Corn���n���Oil? This is your chance.
THE WHITE HORSE RELAUNCH
A bar that pleases everyone is elusive, but the relaunched White Horse in Surry Hills indulges its male and female customers in equal measure, with a downstairs gritty biker bar aimed at boys, and elegant girlie retreat Lady Godiva���s (she rode a horse, geddit?) upstairs. This being Sydney, the lines blurred beautifully, and chicks were tucking into the downstairs dude food ��� chilli-battered pickles and Dagwood dogs ��� while boys enjoyed the Thai barramundi salads upstairs. The party promised a bright future for this reinvented gem.
THE ANNANDALE HOTEL REOPENING
When you reopen a storied old pub at the heart of Sydney���s inner west, you must deliver a gutsy, edgy crowd and great live music. The latter came from Melbourne singer-songwriter Gossling (Helene Croome), and the guests were gloriously Annandale, with plenty of leather, denim and individuality. Chef John Rankin served up fine pub grub, including ������the ultimate������ cheese toasties, duck pancakes, empanadas and sliders.
#BEIMPULSIVE LAUNCH
Impulse hasn���t always been the coolest dressing-table accessory, but with its new faces ��� models Bambi Northwood Blyth and Zippora Seven, and Victoria���s Secret���s Erin Heatherton ��� and this event at laneway haunt Angel & Ash, the fragrance brand hopes to be so hip it hurts. Dan Single and the Sneaky Sound System crew were among a fashion-heavy crowd enjoying the new scents.
PATRON AND MAIRE CLAIRE MEN OF INFLUENCE DINNER
There���s nothing wrong with giving the blokes a pat on the back, and what better than a tequila (Patron) and women���s mag ( Marie Claire ) to do it over a posh dinner at BLACK by Ezard? Guests included Andrew O���Keefe of Channel Seven, actor Sean Keenan, Vincent Fantauzzo and Luc Wiesman.
Melbourne
YGAP POLISHED MAN CAMPAIGN LAUNCH, MISS FOX
We talk of men doing manly things and, next month, one of the manliest things a man can do is ... wear nail polish. It���s all part of the Polished Man campaign, a YGAP initiative focused on bringing together a community of men prepared to end violence against children. From September 1 to 15 men are encouraged to paint a nail to raise awareness of sexual and physical violence against kids and begin a conversation about how men can become leaders in ending this violence. Campaign ambassadors include Jobe Watson, Chris Judd, Hamish McLachlan, Tim Costello, Shannon Bennett and Luke Jones.
At the launch at Miss Fox on Thursday night, McLachlan explained why he wanted to be involved: ������When I think of my two daughters, you actually can���t comprehend that a man would walk into a bedroom to do anything other than make sure they���re OK. We, men, should be the initiators of this program because 90 per cent of the time we���re the perpetrators.������
McLachlan was particularly looking forward to the opportunity afforded by round 23 on the AFL fixture, where ambassadors Judd and Watson will line up against each other on the MCG: ������It will be amazing to think of two Brownlow medallists, two of the great hard men of this tough, brilliant game wearing nail polish in front of 80,000 people, and that this is why.������
WINE: BAPTISM OF FIRE TASTING, THE SAVOY TAVERN
It was the tasting before the bottling, the en primeur auction, too, as six teams of first-time winemakers, among them St Ali���s Salvatore Malatesta and Matt Perger , battled it out ��� bottled it out ��� as part of Wine: Baptism of Fire. On Monday night at the Savoy Tavern, before tasting began, we wondered, what experience in your life do you wish you could bottle?
������All of My Kitchen Rules ; it���s been a year today since it first started for us, and it changed our lives,������ Helena Moursellas said. Helena and her twin sister Vikki have just returned from Greece, shooting photos for their cookbook, set for release in February.
Vikki said: ������We spent the whole time with family, moved them place to place to take photos, got them to cook for us, got the oldies to pose; all of them put their red lipstick on.������
There was no lipstick in September 2008, the ultimate moment for Rory Kent : ������Grand Final day when Hawthorn upset Geelong.������ You���d like to bottle that? ������Well, I���ve got it on DVD so it is already bottled in a sense, and it���s been sipped and sipped and re-sipped again.������
STRIKE QV 2.0 LAUNCH, CITY
Escape; there must be those who don���t contemplate it ... all ... the ... time ... but for many it is a near-constant companion, scheming to flee the grunt, the grind. On Thursday at QV, Strike celebrated its new incarnation, Strike 2.0, and the launch of ESCAPISM ��� interactive real-life puzzle rooms; you���re inside the game, part of the story, and you and your teammates have to unravel the clues and escape the locked room in 50 minutes. If you can���t, they are legally required to let you out. Eventually.
We asked the Potbelleez' Ilan Kidron , Jonny Sonic and Dave Goode whether music was still an escape, or whether, now, it was work.
������It���s definitely both for me,������ Sonic nodded. ������But if I want to make music I don���t think about whether it���s going to chart or not, it���s still an escape and time just kind of disappears.������
Goode nodded: ������It���s definitely an escape, the work is a bonus.������
And Kidron? ������For me it���s both, because it���s what we do, but I need music ��� the world is not as light a place without it.������