‘Drama seems to follow me’: Offers roll in for Logies red carpet crasher
Audacious. Bold. Brash. Suzan Mutesi probably deserves a Logie.
It’s being called the “Mutesi Manoeuvre”, an unprecedented red carpet assault from a “nobody” that had bewildered publicists’ earpieces crackling and made headlines for days.
Suzan Mutesi on the Logies red carpet in her striking red gown which was custom-made by an African designer. Credit: Getty
But the self-described “creative” at the centre of it all, a fashion stylist turned aspiring thespian, denies she is “an attention seeker” after becoming one of the most photographed people on this year’s red carpet.
Mutesi told PS she wanted to offer a public apology to this year’s Logie winners for taking away the limelight.
“I truly love the creative community and I want to apologise to them for all this drama, I was there to support that community, it didn’t matter to me where I was sitting; if it was first class, economy or on the roof. I was just happy to be surrounded by fellow creatives,” she enthused to PS.
When asked if she described herself as an actor, Mutesi said: “I don’t call myself an actor, I am an actor ... I went to NIDA.” Though when asked for details, added she had paid for summer school acting classes. Her resume is yet to feature any parts of note.
Mutesi caused a bigger star than Gold Logie winner Sonia Kruger.Credit: Getty
And yet Mutesi managed to garner more publicity than this year’s Gold Logie winner Sonia Kruger, largely thanks to her striking red gown, which resembled a giant scrunchie that she had custom-made by an African designer.
“I like unique design and had two stylists working with me to make sure I arrived with the outfit correctly shaped ... I took up the whole seat in the maxi taxi,” she explained.
Since claims she ambushed the red carpet first aired, she’s been on all the major breakfast radio shows, splashed across the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph and maintained media coverage for six days straight. Impressive.
Her agent, Max Markson, said he couldn’t be happier for his client, who migrated to Australia from Uganda 25 years ago and has been turning up to parties for years. Markson claimed he had been fielding a range of offers all week, including a potential reality TV series.
“I don’t know, drama just seems to follow me,” she admitted to PS. “I am not an attention seeker, I do not turn up to these things to be noticed, I was there to support my creative community.”
Really?
PS confirmed with Logies organisers Mutesi, who denies repeated claims she has bought any of her staggering 1.2 million Instagram followers, was not on the guest list. Instead, she had a general admission ticket, which for the first time were sold to regular punters to sit in the bleachers at The Star, well away from the invited celebrities.
Mutesi told PS she was “welcomed” by security to sashay on the ruby pile, and happily obliged, and was met with open arms by Jessica Rowe, with the pair preening and pouting for the pack of photographers.
‘I felt like Cinderella going to the ball, but now it appears I have really upset the ugly sisters.’
Logies red carpet crasher Suzan Mutesi
“Everyone was noticing my dress and they welcomed me on the carpet. Why wouldn’t I want my photo taken? I felt like Cinderella going to the ball, but now it appears I have really upset the ugly sisters.”
Mission accomplished.
Klingender final farewell
Four hundred friends, colleagues and loved ones of prominent indigenous art dealer Tim Klingender gathered at the Bondi Pavilion High Tide Room on Friday afternoon to celebrate the 59-year-old’s life, two weeks after his body was recovered off Watsons Bay following a fishing accident.
While there was laughter and applause, there were tears too for the much loved Bondi local. The diverse collection of people who turned up reflected just how far and wide Klingender’s reach had been throughout his 59 years.
Fashion designers Camilla Freeman Topper and Camilla Franks, Dinosaur Designs co-founder Louise Olsen and artist husband Stephen Ormandy, Bondi knitwear designer John Macarthur, social fixtures Mary Shackman and retired models Martin and Michelle Walsh, Icebergs restaurateur Maurizio Terzini and Paddington gallerist Dominic Maunsell were all in attendance.
But firmly at the centre of the moving proceedings were the three people who knew and loved him most: wife Skye and their daughters, Bay and Gala. The venue choice was no coincidence: it was the same spot where Klingender married his bride 20 years ago.
Klingender was cremated on Wednesday as his loved ones watched the crashing surf of Bondi as the “supermoon” rose over the horizon.
He died following a freak accident during a fishing expedition on July 20, but as his sister Jessica recalled, he died doing what he loved - exploring the “wide blue yonder”.
His body was found off Watson’s Bay just hours after he and friend Andrew Findlay, 50, a father of three, set off on one of Klingender’s regular fishing expeditions on Sydney Harbour and around the Heads. Despite an intense police search, it would be almost a week before Findlay’s body was recovered, while police suspect a wave had engulfed the experienced angler boat, which was found capsized on the rocks below The Gap.
Klingender has been credited with pioneering the elevation of Indigenous art on the international market over the past 30 years, orchestrating high-profile auctions from London to New York where local collectors paid record-breaking, seven-figure sums for works by artists working in some of the remotest parts of Australia.
Cause for celebration
Finally, a happier story for former Sydney socialite Olivia Korner, heiress of the Madam Korner empire which was pioneered by her mother Judit Korner.
On Thursday she married her long-time partner, controversial Sydney property developer Michael Teplitsky in the gardens of their multi-million-dollar Darling Point home overlooking a sparkling Sydney Harbour.
And after years of estrangement, Korner’s mother was among the 70 guests to witness the nuptials, as her daughter, wearing a cream Yves Saint Laurent gown was walked own the aisle by her sister Jessica, and behind her three daughters Ruby, Poppy and Chloe.
Michael Teplitsky, right, and his then girlfriend, Olivia Korner, scuffle with police in 2017.
In 2017 her daughter managed to land on the front page of the Herald after launching herself into a scuffle with PS’s colleagues at her boyfriend Teplitsky’s Double Bay offices. Teplitsky had crash tackled our photographer and was handcuffed in front of horrified shoppers by the AFP who had been conducting raids across Sydney as part of a wider investigation into an alleged $165 million tax fraud syndicate.
Olivia Korner and Michael Teplitsky after their Thursday wedding in Darling Point.
At the time Teplitsky had been dating Korner, showering her in expensive diamond jewels.
Last year Teplitsky was spared a conviction after he confessed to assaulting prominent Double Bay lawyer Darian Iacono, after clipping the back of the victim’s head.
In court, Teplitsky’s lawyer Bryan Wrench said his client, who was ordered to comply with a 12-month good behaviour conditional release order, was “very apologetic” about the assault.
By all accounts Thursday’s celebrations were a much happier affair.
Woodhouse in doghouse
Prominent self-styled heritage warrior Andrew Woodhouse, a vociferous campaigner to save historic buildings around the inner city, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of behaving in an offensive manner after being accused of urinating into a cup at Waverley Library on August 28 last year in front of staff and a “shaken and pale” schoolgirl.
Heritage activist Andrew Woodhouse has pleaded guilty to offensive behaviour charges.Credit: Michelle Mossop
Woodhouse, a regular fixture in media reporting of heritage debates around the eastern suburbs, lists himself as president of the Potts Point and Kings Cross Heritage Society. He represented himself at Waverley Local Court on Tuesday, where the matter was adjourned to October 16.
Woodhouse declined PS’s request for comment.
The court also heard Woodhouse had allegedly undertaken similar acts at City of Sydney Library and Woollahra Library and library staff had exchanged emails about the conduct.
High-kicking act but no trapeze
“Yes that’s my leg, that’s my body ... and I can confirm that is my head,” declared cabaret veteran Rhonda Burchmore after PS asked her about new publicity shots featuring the auburn-haired chanteuse, 63, pulling off a gravity-defying high kick (with the aid of a rope) and sporting a polished visage.
Still kicking. Rhonda Burchmore is coming to The State Theatre in November.
She chuckled - albeit a little nervously - at the suggestion it was the work of AI, or that she had perhaps been launched into the digital wizardry of the metaverse?
“No, no. It’s all me darling! You know I’m celebrating my 40th year in showbiz, and while I can still pull off the high kicks I’m not putting the legs away anytime soon,” she said. “This show [Cabaret de Paris] is a passion project for me, I always dreamed of being a showgirl in the Moulin Rouge, so being able to perform with all these fabulous showgirls and showboys, is really something.”
All her: Rhonda Burchmore in her latest publicity photos.
Having just finished a run of Hairspray, Burchmore is the star attraction in Cabaret de Paris, which returns to the State Theatre for three shows only on November 3 and 4.
“It’s such a beautiful theatre and it really helps create the atmosphere of this show, which is all about transporting audiences to a Parisian-themed revue ... it’s all about glamour, gowns, great songs and entertainment,” Burchmore said.
There will also be adagio dancers, aerial pole artists, comedy circus performers, quick change acts, illusionists, and of course the famous French Can-can Dancers. However, while Burchmore is still doing the high kicks, she admits to passing on the trapeze.
Record smashing watch
Designer handbag status symbols and the market for “superfakes” set tongues wagging following the recent controversy engulfing the Cosette luxury fashion boutique, but First State Auctions assured PS there was nothing counterfeit about the second-hand Richard Mille Yohan Blake Monochrome watch it has sold at auction for an eye-watering $306,000, which set a new record for a watch sale at an Australian auction.
Bargain: The Richard Mille watch that smashed an Australian auction record when it sold for $306,000.
The buyer’s identity has been kept under wraps but is said to be a trade buyer/watch dealer, which means the watch could be back on the market soon.
And it came with an - ahem - generous 3-month warranty, along with a certificate of authenticity from the watchmaker.
The vendor requested to remain anonymous, so whose wrist it once adorned remains a mystery, though there were 19 bidders vying for it, which apparently still represents a bargain with similar watches online currently selling for up to $600,000.