I'm all agog at the reports of the
Saudi Prince who killed his 'valet' aren't you?
Prince Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir Al Saud (34) allegedly battered and strangled his 'aide'
Bandar Abdulaziz (32) during a sexually motivated attack in room 312 they shared in the
Landmark Hotel, Marylebone,
Central London.
Prince Saud is the grandson of the Saudi Arabia's billionaire King. Mr Bandar is an orphan.
The prince and his valet had been staying together at the hotel since 20 January as part of an "extended holiday". Mr Bandra's body was found with blood on the prince's bed.
I've been clicking and scrolling and reading avidly every tantalising detail of this scandal. This story is certainly more interesting than the movie
Reign of the Assasins, which I watched with R yesterday afternoon. We both regretted it.
Datin Michelle Yeoh has been trying to re-make
Crouching Tiger for two decades, and failing. It's time for her to nahg up those kungfu shoes, methinks.
Apparently Prince Saud and Mr Bandar hung up their clothes in colour-coded order at the hotel. In court,
Pablo Silva (31, 6ft 3 in) a
Brazilian escort who allegedly performed a sex act upon Prince Saud at the hotel, has emerged to give evidence. Mr Silva, works part time as a male prostitute to fund his maths doctorate and is employed by agents including
Escort Guys and
Men in The City. Mr Silva said he was called to the Landmark for his services in the early hours of the morning at the beginning of February this year.
Mr Silva said he normally stayed for an hour with his clients, but that the time was cut short.
“I asked him whether he wanted a massage and I think I asked him to remove something which he had on so that I should be able to do the massage. I took off my shirt and my trousers to cause a little more provocation to my client. I did the massage and in a short while I was free to leave.”
Mr Silva was paid in crisp £50 notes, by the man he described as "short, corpulent and not English or European". He could not positively identify the defendant. However, Mr Silva’s telephone number was found written on a piece of paper in the Prince Saud's room.
Mr Bandar was bitten on his cheeks; His blood was discovered on Prince Saud's the underpants. Compromising photos of him partially naked were found on Prince Saud's phone. On the night before he died, the Prince and his valet had ordered champagne and cocktails to the room. They went to bed in the early hours.
Initially, Prince Saud told the police that Bandar died from injuries sustained in a street robbery three weeks earlier. But hotel CCTV showed a "nasty assault" by the prince on Mr Bandar in a lift in previous weeks. In the footage, the servant cowered as he is punched and kicked. A post mortem revealed that Mr Bandar died after "a series of heavy punches or blows to his head"; the abuse of Mr Bandar was not confined to physical beatings. There is clear evidence, over and above the bite marks, that there was a sexual element.
However, Prince Saud denies being gay, although his computer had been used to surf gay massage and escort sites, and the
Spartacus International Gay Guide was found in his room. The prince had also ordered at least two gay escorts to his hotel room.
The "not gay" Prince Saud
Just in time for Christmas, Tod's launches their Gommini loafer in a special 'leopard' print, made from calf skin using pony fur processing. It's pretty perfect for now and looks like a classic... Although it looks to me more accurately a 'cheetah' preen then 'leopard' preen but there you go. I like...
"Whatever its sophistication, style has always something crude about it." - Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980)
It made for an especially delicious treat for me, because the days have become so oppressively hot, to dash into the library on Victoria Street for an hour or so last week. It's like drinking at an oasis to come off the dusty scorching road, snarled with traffic, to the calm white building sheltered by a shady garden. Through the breezy atrium, inside the glass doors: aircon.
A related book is Monique Truong's debut novel The Book of Salt. It's the story of Binh, the Vietnamese cook employed by Gertrude Stein and Ms Toklas, who came to share their lives in the rue de Fleurus apartment in Paris. Quite a salty take on the Lost Generation I must say, and a good bookend to Feast.
PS/ I know some people will be delighted to know that there's a new definitive Herb Ritts book out called Herb Ritts: The Golden Hour: A Photographer's Life and His World by Charles Churchward published by Rizzoli. 
"If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less, but to dream more... to dream all the time." - Marcel Proust
Tireless Karl Lagerfeld, is now designing an island, teaming up with Miami-based architecture firm Oppenheim and the KOR hotel group to create a man-made island 20 km off the coast of Dubai. The island, dubbed (get ready to roll eyes) the world's first-ever "fashion island," will house not only luxury boutiques, but three high-end hotels and 150 villas. The atrocity should be polluting planet Earth by 2014.
John Galliano is creating limited edition macarons (macarons are by definition limited, because they disappear instantly when they get within my reach) with the iconic Ladurée.
These macarons will come in a Galliano-designed box timed to celebrate the launch of his new perfume Parlez-moi d’Amour (translated as: "speak to me of love" - for me, it would be "speak to me of macarons"). The macarons will be pink coloured and taste of rose and ginger. They will be sold starting November in Ladurée stores world wide.
Absolutely crazy for these Prada monster-mashup 'brogues'. They remind me of those Macaulay Culkin Party Monster shoes. Mr Culkin, is of course the erstwhile friend of the late Michael Jackson.
Louis Vuitton is celebrating Diwali in style this year, taking the Indian Festival of Lights global. From November 5 (till December), its stores world-wide will be lit up with displays of traditional Hindu motifs, its windows designed in collaboration with Indian contemporary artist Rajeev Sethi. Vuitton's world wide windows (that's www for you!) will feature columns of trunks made of banana leaf paper, hand painted and glowing like lanterns.
"I would love to have children some day. I'd like little gay boys. That would be good. I'm terrified of having a little girl. Girls are more evil than boys. And then they have boyfriends." - Lara Stone
Stefano Tonchi said: "I want W to be a little be divisive and unexpected." The November cover, features Kim Kardashian, "someone very different from what you expect for the magazine. November is the art cover, so we collaborated with an artist, and we have a great reality TV person!" Ms Kardashian was photographed by Mark Seliger, and Barbara Kruger the artist collaborated on the art. "December is a very special 'family issue,' with kids!" adds Mr Tonchi.
Karl Lagerfeld's Beloved Baptiste Giabiconi is finally to become a pop star. The French model recently released his first single, Showtime, which is mixed by 50 Cent, promoting it on French television. You can hear a preview of the song in the video:
Is there anything (the once-cute) James Franco won’t do? His latest projects include a starring as Allen Ginsberg in the Howl, a collection of short stories released this month (October 19), and appearring in drag on the cover of the fall issue of Candy. Billed as “the world’s first transversal style magazine,” this publication is the brainchild of Luis Venegas, the Madrid-based publisher of the cult magazines Fanzine 137 and Electric Youth. In addition to Mr. Franco’s fashion shoot with the photographer Terry Richardson, the new issue of Candy features a photo spread of Mr. Venegas impersonating Anna Wintour. Drag!
Inspiring: Ng Cheow Kheng's HDB flat in Bishan has a patio garden. A gardening enthusiast, his flat is one of the rare 52 units in Singapore that has this special, open area. He's filled it with orchids, bird’s nest fern, tall-growing ornamental, palm and fruit trees, rose bushes, bamboo and an interesting bauhinia vine. A dwarf banana plant produces fruits. Mr Ng’s pride and joy is his six-year-old chiku tree grown in a large pot that never fails to have fruits. These fruits attract fruit bats (this would horrify me) despite the precarious location on the 23rd storey. Mr Ng is a member of Community in Bloom, NParks.
Dear Reader, quite a wonderfully bitchy comment, you have to agree.
Be very afraid: Jane and the Damned by Janet Mullany, apparently a Jane Austen and Twilight mash-up. I really wouldn't bother.
This yellow ground famille-rose vase from the workshops of emperor Qianlong was sold for of HK$253 million at an auction of Qing dynasty ceramics by Sotheby's in Hongkong.This set a world record for Chinese porcelain at auction, at five times the amount of its estimate. 
At the same time, a white jade Qianlong seal set a record for highest sale of white jade and imperial seals at HK$121.6 million.
I'm all agog at the reports of the Saudi Prince who killed his 'valet' aren't you?
The "not gay" Prince Saud
