No, what set the “Inception” premiere apart was the charity component, for this event wasn’t just about getting all the key players like writer-director Christopher Nolan and his actors, including Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Lukas Haas, Tom Berenger and Dileep Rao, together in one place. It was about staving off climate change, with ticket sales proceeds going to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Al Gore, the chairman of that organization, and former vice president of the United States, told the filled-to-capacity audience in the theater: “Raising awareness of the climate crisis is our duty; it deserves everything we can do.”

Those lucky enough to attend, including Kellan Lutz, Djimon Hounsou, Kimora Lee Simmons, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lee Pace and Danica McKellar, saw an eye-popping, mind-bending film that melds dreams with reality, then trooped down a closed-off Hollywood Boulevard to the surreal after party.

Entering a giant, luxuriously appointed tent through a mass of mirrors, the crowd was wowed from the start, and it only got better. After being serenaded by a lounge singer and served up tasty tidbits from Wolfgang Puck, partygoers including DiCaprio, Cotillard and Page were treated to a full-blown orchestral performance of the “Inception” soundtrack, led by composer Hans Zimmer and guitarist Johnny Marr, of The Smiths fame.

The actress was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail and 90 days in a residential substance-abuse program for violating her probation, stemming from two separate 2007 cases of driving under the influence of cocaine and alcohol. She is to surrender and begin her jail sentence July 20. Rehab will follow.

The punishment levied by Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel will keep Lohan from promoting “Machete,” the Robert Rodriguez action film due in theaters in September. 20th Century Fox, which is releasing the film, had no comment.

Lohan’s jail and rehab sentence will also delay production on “Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story,” in which the 24-year-old actress plays the starring role of the famed porn star.

Writer-director Matthew Wilder said after the probation ruling that he and his crew remain “100 percent behind Lindsay.”

“We are proud to have this remarkable artist work on our film,” he said.

Lohan’s sentence may also prevent her from further promoting her new fashion line, 6126. The first items from the 280-piece collection are shipping out to department stores nationwide this month.

Lohan was instrumental in the line’s design and marketing plans and is featured in its promotional materials. Her business partner, Kristi Kaylor, did not respond to phone and e-mail messages seeking comment.

Lohan’s agent, Nick Styne, declined to comment. Her manager, Jason Weinberg, did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.

Kerry Wallum, a producer with Lucky Films, said Lohan was in negotiations for a role in the upcoming Willie Nelson movie, “The Dry Gulch Kid,” and that the production would wait for her if she wanted the part.

“We’re behind her,” he said. “We’ll wait until all of this blows over.”

On Wednesday, a judge delayed trial in a lawsuit filed against Lohan until she completes her jail sentence. The case had been scheduled to begin July 27. Both sides have listed Lohan as a potential witness.

A deposition likely to include questions about Lohan’s drug use at the time of her 2007 arrest will also be postponed.

Lohan is being sued by Tracie Rice, a passenger in a vehicle Lohan was following in a pre-dawn pursuit that ended in a Santa Monica parking lot. Also suing the actress are two men who were passengers in the vehicle Lohan allegedly commandeered that night, and another man who claimed he had his foot run over.

Judge Revel cited Lohan’s conduct after the chase at Tuesday’s probation hearing, noting Lohan initially told police someone else was driving.

Revel also chastised Lohan for missing a court hearing in May while at the Cannes Film Festival and repeatedly skipping out on court-mandated, alcohol-education classes. She said Lohan lied about using drugs and tried to blame others for the two driving offenses involved in the original charges.

A tearful Lohan pleaded with the judge before the sentencing, saying she did the best she could to juggle jobs and the court-ordered classes and really tried to comply with the terms of her probation.

“I’m not taking this as a joke,” said Lohan, who had an obscenity printed on her left middle finger. “It’s my life. It’s my career I’ve worked for my entire life.”

Revel said she found the starlet’s apology insincere, comparing it to “somebody who cheats and thinks it isn’t cheating if she doesn’t get caught.”

Lohan burst into tears upon hearing the terms of her punishment.

Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail in 2007 after she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent and one count of reckless driving.

The plea came after a pair of high-profile arrests earlier that year. Lohan was sentenced to three years of probation but had to ask for a yearlong extension in October after she failed to complete her alcohol-education courses on time.

Prosecutor Danette Meyers argued Tuesday that Lohan wasn’t taking the charges or her punishment seriously and urged jail time for the actress.

“You have not caught her attention,” Meyers told the judge. “I appreciate the tears, but I don’t think you’ve got it.”

Lohan’s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, claimed that the actress had adhered to the spirit of the law, if not the letter.

“She has gotten it together,” Holley said. “She changed her conduct and is now in compliance with the court’s overall order.”

Lohan may serve less than her 90-day sentence, thanks to jail overcrowding and a state program that credits inmates for good behavior, said Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore. Nonviolent female misdemeanor offenders typically serve about 25 percent of their sentences, he said.

The lion’s huge paw perched on a seven-foot cream pearl, out of which strutted three score of ravishing looking models in this show - inspired by tapestries and the colors of strident Fauvist artists - for the house, whose founder, Coco Chanel, had the astrological sign of Leo.

“I had this image in my head of a proud lion, it was one of Coco’s symbols, and I think it worked rather well. Huh?” said Chanel’s couturier Karl Lagerfeld, beneath the mighty golden beast.

Out first on the round catwalk was Natasha Poly, who had already posed in the program photos by Lagerfeld left on each guest’s seat. The Russian model slinked by in a blood orange bouclé wool suit, the jacket flared, the skirt short, the ensemble paired with sensational crinkled half-calf boots in a leather featuring the same color gold as the lion’s.

Opening looks featured lots of bouclé ideas, like double-breasted jackets cut with angle tails, while on the wrists multiple bracelets, bangles, wristbands and chains - again in a faded gold. Giant encrustations on limbs were a powerful reminder of how haute couture can, and will, set trends.

Lagerfeld sent out his quotient of beige - the biggest color so far in this reined-in season - but then suddenly accelerated two gears with a duo of models in sizzling sexy coral mini dresses, trimmed and piped pearls, and worn elongated necklaces and chains.

The couturier then wowed with a whole floral section with tiny alpine flowers made of bugle beads on strict skirts and remarkable faded jacquards used in opulent cocktails. Carnations floated across sumptuous tapestry-style tops in micro sequins, exceptional examples of Chanel’s famed atelier at full throttle and a material used in dramatic mini boots.

Medieval yet completely modern, artisanal yet high-tech, racy yet always chic, this was a first rate collection and show from Chanel - a brand that, when it comes to haute couture, is the reigning heavyweight champion for staging, showmanship and cool élan.

Dior’s couturier, Englishman John Galliano, could rightly claim backstage that this fall 2010 collection very much referenced the ideas and obsessions of its founder. Christian Dior was highly successful gardener in his own right, as a visit to his family home in Granville, Normandy, wonderfully attests. But in this show, staged Monday, July 5, in the Rodin Museum in Paris, Galliano took those roots and replanted them in wilder, psychedelic soil, where they sprouted phantasmagorical flowers.

That much was true from the opening looks - a violet mohair coat with lapels in fabric petals, full flounce skirts in puckered chiffon flowers and dresses in shards of silk like dried out leaves. Not that the color scheme was faded, anything but. Iris blue, caellia pinks, blood oranges or chrysanthemum yellows dazzled before the eyes, their hues highlight by the setting. In a cunning move, the show-space walls were transparent, so the backdrop was the verdant green of the museum’s charming garden.

“The structures were floral and organic. People forget how important plants, flowers and gardens were in the life of Monsieur Dior. They also don’t know that I’m more of a country boy than I seem,” said Galliano, attired in an Edwardian fops get-up of high stiff collar, black tie and gray jacket with piping.

Galliano has been spending more and more time in his own farmhouse, a remote building in the Auvergne, the rocky region in the central France.

“It’s so remote, I have to run up a hill for five minutes just to get phone reception. Which has it’s plus, even if it makes me feel like Kate Bush,” joked Galliano, in reference to that English singer’s hit song, “Running Up That Hill.”

Throughout, the technical dexterity was striking; from petal hems and floral cuts that heightened the exotic mood of layered skirts; to a series of fabulous tulip prints where the petals where three-feet wide. This was very much a collection where the garden had run wild in a balmy spring.

“It’s great to have a blast of fantasy back in fashion. And Galliano sure knows how to provide that with great energy,” said actress Jessica Alba, attired in a pink Dior floral print décolleté dress, her shoulders splattered with gold dust.

From Yahoo!

The trio includes Xavier Niel, 42, an Internet entrepreneur who first made his money from sex chat services and later shook up the French Internet market with cheap connection packages from his provider Free.

With him is Pierre Berge, 79, the rich partner of the late fashion guru Yves Saint-Laurent, and Matthieu Pigasse, 41, a senior figure at investment bank Lazard who owns the alternative news and culture magazine Les Inrockuptibles.

Their bid won the approval of the paper’s supervisory board, 11 of whose members voted for it, a source close to the board told AFP.

Berge, Pigasse and Niel promised to let the paper’s editors maintain full editorial independence and let the journalists’ association keep its right to veto major decisions.

“We consider Le Monde common property,” the trio said in a statement following the vote. They said they would start talks on recapitalising the group on Tuesday and complete the process by the end of September.

The world’s leading French-language newspaper has been struggling to survive in the Internet age and called for investors willing to buy into the loss-making daily and pay off its debt of around 100 million euros.

Several bidders — including a Russian billionaire — joined the race to take over what for the moment is more of a status symbol than a viable money-making business.

But by Monday, after France Telecom subsidiary Orange and an allied press group withdrew their bid, only one consortium was left in the running to buy a paper that was founded when the Nazis were chased out of Paris in 1944.

A senior journalist at the newspaper, who asked not be named, said Le Monde staff were on the whole happy with the outcome and believed that the trio would honour their promise not to interfere editorially.

“I tend to believe what Berge and the others said, that this is the last independent paper in France and they want to keep it that way,” he told AFP.

Orange pulled out after Le Monde’s journalists’ association, the main shareholder, voted on Friday in favour of the trio.

The left-of-centre daily’s search for fresh capital turned political earlier this month when Sarkozy summoned the publisher of the daily, Eric Fottorino.

The right-wing president told him he opposed the Berge-Pigasse-Niel bid because of their ties to France’s left-wing opposition, drawing accusations from the Socialist Party that Sarkozy was threatening press freedom.

Pigasse and Berge are both supporters of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund who is seen as a likely rival to Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential elections.

Berge also helped finance the Socialist Segolene Royal when she ran against Sarkozy in the 2007 election.

Niel, who funds two left-wing investigative French news websites, began his entrepreneurial career with the launch of Minitel, a French fore-runner to the Internet which included a chat service.

He later invested in sex shops and went on to make a huge fortune with his Internet and phone companies Free and Iliad. He was given a two-year suspended sentence in 2006 for embezzlement.

The involvement of France Telecom, which is partly owned by the French state, in the takeover bid sparked controversy because it came after Sarkozy’s intervention.

But the firm’s chief executive denied he had entered the bidding at the president’s request.

Under the Berge-Pigasse-Niel bid, the investors will be required to stump up an initial 10 million euros without which the paper may not be able to pay its journalists’ salaries in the coming months.

They will then enter exclusive negotiations for the group’s titles, which include the daily and several magazines.

They say they hope to integrate the newspaper and website operations, which are currently editorially separate.

Today about 280 journalists work for Le Monde, which has a circulation of about 300,000.

Gender-bending looks ruled the spring-summer 2011 catwalk at Jean Paul Gaultier, where strapping models draped in postage-stamp-sized towels lounging in a mock hammam opened a show inspired by the androgynous style of the late French designer Yves Saint Laurent during his years in Marrakech. Post-apocalyptic androgyny — think sleeveless Barbarella vests worn with platform stripper boots — was the name of the game at California-born designer Rick Owens’ somber show.

Emerging French designer Alexis Mabille push the androgynous envelope, sending out models that looked as if they’d just rolled in field of daisies, the dainty white and yellow flowers tangled in their flowing locks and stuck to their abbreviated jumpsuits.

Louis Vuitton, the luxury giant that got its start as a trunk maker, continued to explore the idea of the journey, sending out a travel-ready collection of packable separates with Chinese touches and sensible sandals that were made for walking. Japanese label Issey Miyake also delivered comfortable weekend-away looks, though the official line at the cerebral house was that the cunning Japanese river trout was the inspiration for the collection.

Besides comfortable-but-heinous Jesus sandals, another strong look across Paris’ menswear catwalks were jumpsuits. Mabille’s were cut short and decked out in sequins, while Miyake’s were made of deep indigo denim dotted with white rings — in homage, perhaps, to the spotted scales of the trout.

Paris’ menswear displays move into day two on Friday with shows by coveted French heritage labels Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent, Dior designer John Galliano and his Dior Homme counterpart, Belgium’s Kris Van Assche.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

You’ve got to love any fashion show where the models are musclebound hunks and their “outfits” consist of the tiniest of towels. Gaultier’s Chippendale-sized models opened the show in a mock hammam at the top of the catwalk, dousing each other with water and giving one another deep tissue back massages.

It was a lascivious start to a show that faintly dripped with retro sensuality.

Kaftans with Gaultier’s signature transparent paneling were paired with harem pants, while kinky, lace-front tunics were worn with minuscule Speedos in X-rated, see-through tulle that got downgraded to R thanks to strategically placed opaque patches.

Gaultier said the collection was inspired by the late, great French couturier Saint Laurent, who lived in Marrakech and adopted traditional Moroccan dress into his androgynous style.

“It was a mix between Saint Laurent’s elegance, the way he dressed in the 1970s, the Moroccan influence and the psychedelic spirit of that period,” the genial French designer told reporters after the show.

Special 3-D glasses were needed to fully appreciate the wacky prints on the silk robes and pajama pants that closed the show, and the audience of fashion insiders donned the least chic possible accessory — paper glasses with one blue eye and one red eye that were in actuality the show invitations — to take in the fluttering garments in all their vaguely three-dimensional glory.

“It’s like being on mushrooms, or something,” said Gaultier, adding with a wink, “not that I’ve ever done that.”

Despite its languid, steam-clouded start, the show ended with a theatrical bang, with the bathing-suit clad models soaking one another — and Gaultier — ahead of their final lap down the runway. One, appropriately playing the part of the hammam’s traditional water bearer, took a spill on the slick catwalk.

ALEXIS MABILLE

In these hard times for retail, the French designer went out on a limb with this collection of romantic, body-baring looks that looked to have been made for gender-bending flower children with poetic souls. Standouts included Speedo-style briefs in champagne lame and sequin-covered sweat pants — both paired solely with daisy-chain necklaces.

Even the more conventional looks, like slim-legged linen suits, were strewn with the dainty flowers, as if the models had just rolled in a springtime meadow.

It was hard to fathom exactly what demographic Mabille was aiming for with these hard-to-wear, hard-to-sell looks, but one thing was clear: The Mabille man was either remarkably sure of his manliness or he simply couldn’t be bothered care.

RICK OWENS

“Androgynous tough guys” sounds like an oxymoron, but Owens’ menacing-yet-ladylike models proved you can be at once gender-bending and utterly manly.

Translucent, asymmetrical tank tops were paired with drop-crotched trousers and vertiginous platform boots, and butchers’ aprons topped sleeveless vests in a patchwork of neoprene and leather. Owens gave a whole new meaning to chunky footwear, wrapping the model’s calves and feet in conical flaps of distressed leather.

The broody California-born, Paris-based designer, whose post-apocalyptic chic has made him a critical darling, broke no new ground with Thursday’s show, which drew extensively on his perennial favorite looks — for both his women’s and men’s lines. Still, the one-shouldered tanks and the platform boots — which gave the male models the stilted, leaned-back gait of their female counterparts — helped lighten the looks.

Front-row guests did frequent double-takes, straining both neck and eyes to check whether the high-heeled models actually were men.

Halfway through the show, spouts hanging from above the catwalk started spitting out bursts of dry ice. The fashion glitterati held their noses and fanned their faces with the collection notes as opaque clouds shrouded the runway. At one point, the models’ leather-bound feet were the only thing visible through the fog.

DRIES VAN NOTEN

Sensible shoes were de rigeur at Dries Van Noten, where models in skinhead chic looks trod the raw cement catwalk of a River Seine-side dock.

Van Noten, a Belgian globe-trotter whose magpie eye has made him a critical darling, again delivered a show that straddled continents, weaving together elements culled from punk-era London and 1970s street culture in Paris and New York.

Skinhead combat boots and cargo pants were paired with paint-splattered button-down shirts with mismatched sleeves, while chambray shirts were worn with high-water trousers in velvety butterscotch wool and thick-strapped sandals. Bleach-spattered denim again had its day in the sun, as Van Noten sent out pantsuits made entirely from the fabric — beloved by the friendly, proto-skinheads of the early ’70s.

“It’s really a mixture of the energy of three cities, but blending it altogether into one collection,” Van Noten told The Associated Press in a backstage interview. “In the end, it’s a lot of (elements) that men know, but mixed up differently, and men feel comfortable in it.”

The crowd of fashion insiders got pretty comfortable, too. The show was held on docks along the Seine, and the crowd of tightly wound editors, stylists and journalists sipped beer from the can and dangled their feet over the river as they waited for the show to start.

LOUIS VUITTON

The luxury supernova looked east with a collection of sumptuous travel pieces embellished with Chinese touches that appeared aimed at its growing Asian customer base.

Quilted blazers were made of luminous silks, and whiskered Chinese dragons dressed up the leather totes and other accessories that are one of the historic trunk maker’s main cash cows. Models sported temporary tattoos of Chinese zodiac signs — sometimes intermingled with Vuitton’s interlocking LV symbols — on their necks and calves, and their translucent button-down shirts were printed with similar tattoo designs.

“China is becoming really important,” menswear designer Paul Helbers told The AP in a preview of the collection — which was built, he said, partly around the sartorial style of high-rollers at Shanghai casinos. Helbers cited Amazon skydivers and Scandinavian midsummer revelers as his other main references for the collection.

“It’s about the idea of travel without leaving home, (made for) the digital bohemian who travels while staying behind his computer screen,” he said.

Made largely out of feather-light nylon and silk, the collection is meant to be packed. One jacket, in lizard skin nylon print, transformed into a lightweight backpack when folded, origami-style. Feather-light cotton scarves were wrapped around the models’ waists in guise of belts.

New York-based tattoo artist Scott Campbell was behind the Chinese tattoo prints that dressed up the scarves, shirts, totes and models. A close personal friend of Marc Jacobs — the Vuitton creative director who oversees all the label’s collections — Campbell did 29 out of Jacobs’ 31 tattoos, the designer said.

Still, Jacobs balked at the idea that the Chinese imagery was aimed at seducing the burgeoning Asian luxury market.

“China is obviously a great market and everyone talks about the modernity and the interest of it … but I think probably the least appealing thing to the Chinese market is any kind of Asian reference,” Jacobs said in a backstage interview. “It wasn’t about appealing from a business point of view.”

ISSEY MIYAKE

In the list of collections with the most bizarre inspirations, Miyake’s trout-themed show ranked right up there.

The house’s zany, brainy designer Dai Fujiwara said he’d looked for inspiration back to the summers of his youth, which he spent his splashing around in rivers and streams, unsuccessfully stalking trout.

“They were so fast, at the same time cautious and patient and foxy and careful,” Fujiwara told The AP in a preview. “I like the character of this fish.”

Fujiwara delivered boxy suits with red and orange dots that mimicked the trout’s spotted camouflage and bow-ties studded with tackle. A button-down shirt was fitted out with a red pocket perfect for storing fishing paraphernalia, and a pleated nylon vest mirrored the ever-changing shades of trout’s scales.

The collection was rife with the sorts of unostentatious sartorial details that don’t shine on the catwalk, like hidden pockets and innovative fabric with chalk stripes that fade in and out.

Dubbed the marf, the scarves are the menswear staple for blokes wanting fashion with function.

From simply knotted woollens to elaborately-tied cravats, men of all ages are donning the marf to look sexy while keeping warm.

Ash Ali, 29, owns about eight marfs and agrees they are becoming popular.

“I’d normally wear a T-shirt and then use the scarf to flower it up a bit,” Mr Ali said yesterday.

Fellow marf wearer Sam Cochrane said the marf fitted in between the formal and the casual.

“It’s good middle ground if you don’t wear a jacket,” said the 26-year-old from Sydney’s Surry Hills, who owns many.

“You take a chance though - the risk of looking feminine in the way you tie your scarf. I wouldn’t be surprised if guys might put other guys down for wearing it.

“But if you’re old enough to wear a scarf, you’re old enough to handle the put down.”

Colin Cole has worked in menswear for 44 years, half that time managing Tie Rack at the MLC Centre, and has noticed a surge in marf demand.

“More men are treating scarves like fashion accessories,” he said.

“It used to be that businessmen were buying just plain black or grey lamb’s wool just to keep warm. But now they’re more fashion conscious and moving into chunky cable knits.”

Lowes Menswear accessories buyer Stan Kaczor said marf demand had rocketed, with sales rising 35 per cent compared with this time last year.

He said buyers were opting for woven, cotton scarves, which were a current summer trend in Europe.

1. For the Budget Shopper

With the economy we have been experiencing lately, it might be wise to buy some gifts “on the cheap.” Here are Gifts for Men Under $25 and Gifts for Guys for $50 and Under that don’t compromise on the wow factor.

2. Fragrance and Skin Care

Skin Care Kits for Men Make Great Gifts simply because they are a terrific way to introduce skin care to guys who would not go out and buy products for themselves. And I was stunned to find out how many guys use drug store shaving foams and such - we are talking most if not all. Skin needs to be treated with a little more TLC and therefore Shave Kits Make Great Gifts for Guys.

Fragrance is always a crowd pleaser so I have put together a list of Top Selling Men’s Fragrances and More Top Selling Mens Fragrances in addition to my list of The Newest Men’s Fragrances on the Market.

3. Watches and Cufflinks

A limited budget doesn’t mean you can’t wear a neat watch. There are plenty of options out there these days. See My Favorite Fossil Fashion Watches for Men, Terrific Men’s Watches Under $100 or Cool Watches Priced from $100 to $200.

Other than a watch and a ring, cufflinks are really the only other type of jewelry guys can wear so Cufflinks Make an Awesome Gift.

4. Fashion

Denim has become a wardrobe staple more so than ever. We are now seeing sport coats and dressy shoes paired with jeans as well as seeing more jeans in the work place. And if you don’t mind spending a few bucks, here are My Favorite Premium Denim Jeans for Men. For those of you who are a little wiser with your wardrobe dollars, there are plenty of Less Expensive Jeans for Men, most of which are around $50.

Like jeans, polos have become a staple in the Amercian wardrobe. Here are My Favorite Men’s Polo Shirts and Men’s Budget Friendly Polo Shirts.

5. Beach and Sun

I look forward to treating myself to a new swimsuit every year (sometimes it’s the simple things in life). Swim suits also make great gift since Father’s Day and graduations are both at the beginning of the summer season. Here are my Top Picks in Swim Trunks and Board shorts for men.

Of course being beach ready will require some sunscreen as well. Here are my Top 6 Sunscreens and Sunblocks for Men.

There is no accessory quite like sunglasses, especially when on a sunny beach or by the pool. Here are my Top Picks in Men’s Sunglasses.

6. Bags

You might consider exploring gift options that don’t run a high risk of needing to be returned or exchanged because you chose the wrong size or color, so Bags and Luggage Make Great Gifts.

Thankfully more and more companies are coming out with stylish ways to tote around the ever important high tech companion.

The stars, all first-time nominees, were recognised for their work on the stage during the star-studded ceremony at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Johansson, the voluptuous star best known for such films as Match Point and Lost in Translation, won for best featured performance as an actress, for playing the object of her uncle’s lust in Arthur Miller’s A View From a Bridge.

“Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be on Broadway and here I am,” said Johansson accepting her award.

Zeta-Jones won for best actress in a musical for her role as the amorous actress in the revival of A Little Night Music.

She thanked many, including her husband, fellow actor Michael Douglas, who she “gets to sleep with every night”.

Washington and his Fences co-star Viola Davis won for best actors in a play, while their production, a revival of August Wilson’s deeply personal drama about family, won for best revival of a play.

“My mother always says: ‘Man gives the award, God gives the reward’. I guess I got both tonight,” Washington said after winning for his performance as the sanitation man who might have been a baseball star.

Two socially conscious but radically different stories set in mid-20th century America, the exuberant rhythm’n'blues musical Memphis and anguished two-man drama Red were big winners at the awards.

Red dominated, winning six gongs including the best play award which was presented by Australia’s Cate Blanchett. Blanchett scored her own win in the fashion stakes with a glittering silver pants suit complete with plunging neckline.

Red also won best director of a play for Michael Grandage and featured performance by an actor for Eddie Redmayne. It also picked up best lighting design for a play, best sound design and best scenic design.

Memphis, a tale of segregation and integration in the American South, won best musical and three other awards: best orchestration, original score and best book of a musical.

Fela!, the innovative Afro-beat biography of Nigerian superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, and La Cage aux Folles, a revival of the classic Jerry Herman-Harvey Fierstein musical farce, each had 11 nominations, but won just three Tonys apiece.

La Cage Aux Folles won for best revival of a musical, actor David Hodge won the best lead actor in a musical award and director Terry Johnson won for best direction of a musical.

Fela! won for choreography, best costume design of a musical and best sound design of a musical.

The ceremony, also attended by Glee cast members Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison, Katie Holmes, Daniel Radcliffe, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, was hosted by Sean Hayes, who didn’t win as lead actor in a musical for Promises, Promises, but did put on a memorable show of song, jokes and costumes, dressing up as everyone from Spiderman to Little Orphan Annie.

“I have actually managed to combine a good chance of losing with a good chance of bombing,” he joked during his opening monologue, which was widely applauded.

Historically, Tony-nominated hosts have fared well.

Australian Hugh Jackman won a trophy in 2004 for his portrayal of Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz.

Nathan Lane won twice while at the helm: in 1996, when he won lead actor in a musical for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; and in 2001, when he shared duties with Matthew Broderick and won a Tony for The Producers.

Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia also featured in this year’s Tony Awards telecast in the US, during a special presentation of Tony-nominated plays and play revivals. LaPaglia and co-star Tony Shalhoub performed for Lend Me a Tenor.

British men are notorious for looking worse and spending less on their wardrobes than their European counterparts. An event that could soon change all that is the first London Men’s Fashion Week.

The three day trade fair offers international buyers and journalists a sneak preview of the spring and summer collections from the some of the best British designers.

Serious business

While Paris Milan and New York have long held menswear shows separate from the glittering, high powered world of women’s fashion, this is the first time that London has been treated to such a glamour-fest.

But are British men really ready for the challenge? According to designers, retailers and fashion pundits the Brit bloke’s much maligned sense of style is steadily improving.

Senior fashion editor at the men’s magazine Arena, Tamara Fulton, says that men have spent much time and money getting in touch with their sartorial side over the last decade.

“Definitely, without a doubt, men are now more interested in fashion - you just have to look at the growth in men’s lifestyle magazines.”

She said that a special twice yearly edition of Arena solely devoted to men’s fashion, has had an “absolutely fantastic response.”

GQ magazine, the glossy title which has become a byword for a certain type of square-jawed chic, also says that stylish men are now a force to be reckoned with. Publishing Director Peter Stuart said: “Today men’s fashion is taken as seriously as women’s. It is therefore a natural step for a London Fashion Week for Men to be created.”

Big designers stay away

Although the week is billed as “the most exciting development in the history of men’s fashion in the UK” there are few big names in town. Designer Paul Smith, one of the most successful British designers who made his name in menswear, is one of those absent, but he has said he hopes to “take part in some form” in the future.

According to Tamara Fulton, established British designers based in the more traditional Paris and Milan are cautious about the new show and will be watching it carefully to decide whether or not to get involved next year. “At the moment it is a chicken and egg situation, people are seeing what is going to happen and how many buyers come,” she said.

New talent

Even if the big names are staying away the three days are also seen as a chance to showcase new British talent.

The designers whose stuff will be strutted on the catwalk at the Cafй Royal include; Ken Odimah, Allexander Campbell, Burro, Ozwald Boateng and All Saints, along with the presentations from more well known names such as loafer guru Patrick Cox, Nicole Farhi and Paul Costelloe.

The man in grey

Grey is the new black, or is that brown…
The event is backed by the British Fashion Council and a number of big name stores in London are dedicating window displays to it - hoping that the British bloke will feel inspired to part with his cash.

So what can the fashion conscious man, who wants to get ahead of the pack expect in spring/summer 1999?

The show promises to have everything from tailored suits to more daring avant-garde numbers that would definitely lookout of place down the local boozer. But trend-wise the mood is “very relaxed and easy to wear,” according Tamara Fulton, with “lots of different shades of grey”. In other words kind of retro John Major - now that doesn’t sound too hard, does it?