The great thing about living in the City of Angels is how fortunate one can be to socialize, intermingle, and party with the rich, powerful and famous. The important thing though is that you must always remember… “Manners are free.”

THAT BEING SAID…

Always so busy, and these days even busier! I just attended a private reception at the Motley Bird Energy “Nest” (motleybird.com) with Kim Goodnight from Pure Consulting. The amazing special feature of the evening was a private mini-concert for the 50 or so exclusive guests by the brilliant Curt Smith from Tears for Fears. An amazing voice! Of course, not knowing he was married, I mentioned to his wife’s oldest friend how hot I thought he was! He and I had quite a laugh about my faux pas later that evening! Check out the photo and go to curtsmithofficial.com to purchase the CD. Of course the delicious Motley Bird was flowing throughout the evening.

NOT JUST FOR ROCKERS ANYMORE…

After checking out the Velvet Angel sponsored Camp Freddy concerts, who would have thought I would now become an expert “spotter” of women’s footwear. Actually, I’ve been quite good at it since trying on my mum’s since I was a toddler! Newlywed Ashlee Simpson, was out and about with her honey Pete, wearing some fabulous Velvet Angels black “Peepshow” ankle boots.  I heard Mena Suvari wore the same pair to Christian Audigier’s birthday party and the Pussycat Dolls strutted the carpet at the MTV Movie Awards in the same style.  Hot to trot – giddy-up!

Trying to relax by my pool the other evening, my neighbor Rebecca came by and somehow (it is sooo difficult) convinced me to go out for a drink and some live music. We popped into The Mint and caught the live music of Shaley Scott (myspace.com/shaleyscott). Great time and really amazing performance!

Andrea Bell, Glitterati’s Editor in Chief, hosted a cabana at John Baydale’s The Backyard at The W hotel.  A beautiful evening of mojito’s and Cali weather! I ran into my old pal Alle Fister. One of Alle’s fashion clients, the eminent Joshua Christopher of Daftbird is designing an exclusive line of tees for Barney’s! (daftbird.com/fall2008.html).

A quick shout out to Jay Krymis who recently opened another LA hotspot… St Felix at 8945 Santa Monica Blvd. Amazing cocktails, scrumptious food, and if Jay is there then for sure beautiful people!

Next time I will have all the deets on our Summer Issue release event and the George Michael concert…  I somehow scored some free tickets! J

Saving the politics for the “Spencer in the City of Angels” quote…which is a bit more commentary.

If the Republican Party is so anti affirmative action because they believe it affords “special” consideration in hiring practices… Which it doesn’t.

Then it seems a bit hypocritical that the Justice Department during the Bush administration would be discounting qualified liberal candidates in favor of conservative ones. “Special” consideration, indeed. Ah, the hypocrisy.

DISCLOSURE:  In the spirit of full disclosure, Mr. Seymour is a 2007 WEHO Award recipient. He has written a pilot for television is shopping his completed novel, VODKA SEVEN.

Don’t have my opinion? Brilliant we can discuss…

Don’t have an opinion? Unlike the shirt off his or her back…someone will give you his or hers’….

Looking forward to getting your invitations and hearing from you…. spencerseymour@aol.com

“This American Life’s” Ira Glass distinguishes the ingredients of great storytelling in the 3^rd part of this 4 part vlog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE

\”Why Glitterati is Voting Rupublican\”

PARIS (AFP) — French fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent, who changed the silhouette of 20th century woman with a daring new dress code, has died aged 71.

The reclusive Saint Laurent died at his Paris home of a brain tumour late Sunday after a prolonged illness and is to be buried Thursday, said his long-time partner Pierre Berge.

Mentally and physically frail through most of his life, the bespectacled Saint Laurent retired from haute couture in 2002 after a four decade career in which he dressed the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso, Bianca Jagger and Lauren Bacall.

“I am shattered,” said Berge, who founded the iconic YSL fashion house in 1961 with the designer, then 25.

As tributes poured in from around the world to the tormented but visionary genius, Berge said women around the world owed Saint Laurent a debt for revolutionising their wardrobes.

“He was the first to put women in pants, the first to put them in tuxedos, the first to put them in masculine clothes, the first to employ black models,” he said. “He was audacious, he revolutionised the trade.”

“One of the greatest names of fashion has disappeared, the first to elevate haute couture to the rank of art,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose wife Carla Bruni is another Saint Laurent devotee.

“Yves Saint Laurent infused his label with his creative genius, elegant and refined personality, discreet and distinguished,” said Sarkozy in a statement.

British designer Vivienne Westwood described him as “one of the great couturiers, one of the few who have achieved perfection with everything they touched.”

One of a trio of great designers who dominated 20th century fashion, with Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria, on August 1, 1936, when the North African country was a still French territory.

A shy lonely child born to a well-off family, he was taunted over his homosexuality and became fascinated by clothes.

He arrived in Paris in 1953, aged 17, with a portfolio of sketches and quickly persuaded Vogue editor Michel de Brunhoff to publish the images.

The following year Saint Laurent won three of the four categories in a Paris design competition — the fourth went to his rival Karl Lagerfeld, now at Chanel.

De Brunhoff advised Christian Dior to hire him and he rapidly became heir apparent to the great couturier, taking over the house when Dior died suddenly three years later.

However in 1960, Saint Laurent was called up to fight in his native Algeria, where an independence war was under way.

Less than three weeks later he won an exemption on health grounds after suffering a nervous breakdown, but when he returned to Paris Dior had already replaced him with Marc Bohan.

With Berge, Saint Laurent successfully sued Dior for breach of contract and cash in hand struck out on his own, with Berge taking care of the business side.

Saint Laurent’s success lay in the harmony he achieved between body and garment — what he called “the total silence of clothing.”

He was also in the right place at the right time, launching the era of the celebrity lifestyle in homes in Paris and Marrakesh where he mixed with the Jaggers, US-French socialite Betty Catroux or aristocratic muse, Loulou de la Falaise.

His collections took their inspiration from artists Picasso, Andy Warhol or Mondrian, and he was often seen in the company of ballet star Rudolf Nureyev and Warhol.

Founding his own house when pop culture and the youth market were on the rise, there was a new appetite for the originality of his slinky tuxedo suits see-through blouses and safari jackets.

His name and the YSL logo became synonymous with all the latest trends, highlighted by the creation of the Rive Gauche ready-to-wear label and perfume, as well as licensing deals for accessories and perfumes.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he set the pace for fashion worldwide, opening up the Japanese market and then expanding to South Korea and Taiwan.

But Saint Laurent’s career was not without controversy. In 1971 a collection modelled on the styles of World War II Paris was slammed by some American critics, and his launch in the mid 1970s of a perfume called “Opium” brought accusations that he was condoning drug use.

Fellow designer Christian Lacroix said no other design great could touch Saint Laurent’s versatility.

“Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga and Dior all did extraordinary things. But they worked within a particular style,” he explained. “Yves Saint Laurent is much more versatile, like a combination of all of them.”

In his later years the depression that haunted him all his life became more oppressive, and at his farewell bash in 2002 Saint Laurent admitted to having recourse to “those false friends which are tranquillisers and narcotics.”