Last week I flew to Arizona to do my first Dillard's In-Store Appearance for my new NV Nick Verreos dress line. As you may know, I just launched my very affordable contemporary dress line NV Nick Verreos (priced from $108-$168) based on a lot of the Red Carpet dresses worn by many celebs from my high-end more expensive NIKOLAKI collection. The collection is carried at about fifty Dillard's stores across the US and I felt, this was the perfect time to make some in-store appearances to promote the line. My first stop was the Dillard's in Scottsdale Fashion Square.


My event was this past Saturday but I arrived a couple of days before to do some TV appearances to publicize the event. First, I checked in to my hotel--The Saguaro Hotel Scottsdale. My NIKOLAKI and NV Nick Verreos design partner, David Paul and I chose this hotel because we loved the fun colorful design, Palm Springs-like look of it all (they have one in Palm Springs as well, naturally) and the photos of the pool. Boy were we naive to even think that on a business trip we would even get to use the fabulous pool. Needless to say, we did not; our schedule was jam-packed and we barely found time to sleep. But I did find time to take a photo of the great and colorful room:

Continuing with my "Billboard Music Awards 2013 Red Carpet" WHO WORE WHAT? postings, in my last post I spoke of my "Best" picks from the BLUE carpet--with Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and yes, even Miley Cyrus being some of my favorites...


So now, of course, it's time for the "Oh Dears!". And while Madonna and Miley were in the good, Miss Ke$ha was not:

Last night was the 2013 Billboard Music Awards which were held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The BMAs are honors given out by Billboard, the preeminent publication covering the music business. The first Billboard Awards show occurred in 1989. The show didn't happen from 2007-2010 (it couldn't find a network to broadcast it after the contract with FOX expired plus it also couldn't find sponsors to pay for it all) but then returned in 2011 to its current "TV home" on ABC. Now, let's get to the FASHION....

What is otherwise known as "ABBA Meets Miss Universe", "Kitsch Heaven", "What Gay heaven Looks Like", or "Pop on SuperCrack"--the 58th Annual Eurovision Song Contest ended last night with the winner coming from Denmark. The 2013 Eurovision occurred in Malmö, Sweden at the Malmö Arena Hall. The contest drew thousands of fans (and millions upon millions of TV viewers) from not just Europe but all over the world. Below is a little refresher on what Eurovision is (for the kids here in the USA who are like "Euro-WHAT?"...):

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual singing competition held among many of the active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Each member country submits a song to be performed on live TV and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programs in the world. Through the years, it has garnered a big following for its UBER tacky-licious songs, performances, costumes. But before you laugh the contest off, it has had some famous (if not infamous) past winners and finalists including ABBA (naturally!) who won for Sweden with their song "Waterloo" in 1974, Celine Dion (Who Knew!?) who represented Switzerland (?) in 1988 and Julio Iglesias who got 4th place representing Spain in Eurovision's 1970 edition.

The 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival officially kicked off last night in (you guessed it!) Cannes France. Last night was the Opening Ceremonies with the festival opening up with Baz Luhrman's new film "The Great Gatsby".  Superstars Nicole Kidman and "Amelie" star Audrey Tautou kicked off 12-days of red carpet fashion at the opening night festivities. The prestigious Riviera movie event provides both big fashion houses and (rarely, but sometimes as in Audrey Tautou's case--see below) up-and-coming designers with unparalleled opportunities to showcase their work before a global audience.


At the fashion house of Lebanese couturier Elie Saab, a favorite with award ceremony regulars--according to france24.com--the Designer (or at least, their PR dept.) never make the first move. "We don't contact them: they have to want to wear our robes," said Elie Saab's Emilie Legendre, adding that a large number of fittings were done this year in Los Angeles, London and Paris. I somehow doubt that the PR companies of the designer brands do not contact the actresses' pr agents to offer a gown or two, especially for such a high-profile event like Cannes. This, I do not believe. But irregardless, Cannes has become a BIG Red Carpet "Fashion Show". Speaking of, let's discuss the Red Carpet so far: