Posts with tag bono

Don't call former Wham! front man and serial car sleeper George Michael a narcissist just because he's planning to shell out £1 million pounds to buy a gold and diamond encrusted statue of himself. Please! Philistine! It's art! Modern art!

We bet you think we're calling StyleFoul because of the pink hair, the super goth eye makeup on both of them, or the ripped fishnets that Vyxsin Fiala is sporting.

Nope.

One man's trash is another man's...well, you get it. But $30,000 seems a little excessive for a wastebasket, no?

This week Danish supermodel Helena Christensen held a star-studded auction that raised over $50,000 for Food Bank For New York City and Chernobyl Children's Project International. The highlight of the evening was the live auction of a custom Vipp (the venerable Danish design company) bin by U2 frontman Bono which sold for--yes--$30K.

But, get this: Inside the "circular file" are unpublished lyrics from U2's upcoming album, including a tribute to Nelson Mandela on this 90th birthday. Hello!! Talk about a good investment. I asked Helena how she convinced Bono to donate something so valuable. "I got him drunk," she laughed.

Other participants in the auction included REM's Michael Stipe, Julianne Moore, Christy Turlington, Mena Suvari, and Frederic Fekkai.

Out of all the Hollywood hotshots who have taken a shot at being a clothing designer, we wouldn't have expected Julia Roberts to jump on the bandwagon. However, she is trying her hand at designing, albeit for a good cause. The pretty woman is designing a t-shirt for Giorgio Armani's (RED) label.

The shirt will raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an organization started in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver. The charity has already gotten over $110 million from (RED) apparel and events.

Despite having big names like Oprah, Bono and Giorgio Armani rooting for the cause, the (RED) campaign has been turned out to be well, a complete failure. According web reports, despite having blown close to $100 million in advertising, marketing and branding, (RED) has only raised $18 million in funds for Africa.

The folks at (RED) say they are committed to keeping the dream alive, and that they hope to raise that number to $25 million in the next few months. But still, raising $25 million when you spent $100 million in advertising seems like a laughable proposition. Sure, awareness means something, but if (RED) really wanted to effect change, they should have just sent the cash to Africa in the first place.

Hindsight is 20/20, but someone should have seen that one coming.

[Correction: Consulting company in charge of (RED) contacted me to let me know that this was erroneous info. Apologies for the mistake. Guess you can't trust everything you read on the internet.... AM]

The latest move in Bono's global campaign to help to Africa isn't quite what you'd expect from a rocker. Instead of throwing awesome concerts or schilling red merchandise, Bono will be the guest editor of Vanity Fair's July issue.

VF's editor Graydon Carter told the New York Times: "Bono will make a different issue about Africa than we would. I think there isn't one editor in the world who would not pay attention if Bono pulled up and said he wanted to edit a magazine." I'm sure he's right on both accounts, and no doubt the issue will be worth checking out.

Of course, the only thing better than a Bono-edited Vanity Fair would be a Bono-edited US Weekly -- and that I would definitely buy.

I'm not sure if this fits under the category of celebrity news or if it fits better under the heading of hair style history, but regardless, U2 rocker Bono has officially apologized for popularizing the mullet. (I think Billy Ray Cyrus would protest this claim, but I digress...) But you have to admit, it's a responsible move on Bono's part, isn't it? But I suppose apologizing for an unfortunate haircut trend is the next logical conclusion when one is tackling the problems of the world such as AIDS and international debt. Now that Bono has stepped up to the plate and set an example, I hope other celebrities will start to follow suit. Here is my list of celebrities that I believe who owe us all style apologies:

• Jennifer Aniston: The famed Friends hair-cut that still seems to have outlasted the show itself.
• Don Johnson: Implicitly giving men the false impression that it was okay to wear white suits with colored t-shirts.
• Madonna: Don't think we don't know who to blame for all these fingerless-glove-sporting Hollywood starlets.

We're waiting....

Perhaps you managed to catch Oprah and Bono's hilarious free for all shopping spree a few weeks which promoted the latest in the rock star's philanthropic ventures, RED. RED is a global philanthropic initiative. Among the companies sponsoring RED products are the Gap, Apple and Armani. On Friday, Armani a new line of t-shirts featuring the designs of Ghana-born artist Owusu-Ankomah. The shirts will feature the artist's interpretative symbols for flight, erotic balance and harmony. Each shirt costs $78 and 40% of the proceeds will go to the Global AIDS Fund.

Forget about the cognitive behavioral therapy of Dr. Phil. Give up on the Transcendental Meditation of David Lynch. Move over, Kabbalism because the new it-philosophy is Ubuntu.

Last week, Bill Clinton gave a speech to the Labour Party in the UK, encouraging members to get into the principles of Ubuntu. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, Ubuntu is an African world view, which boils down to a pronoun-heavy catch-phrase of "I am because you are." If you can't quite grasp the logic of that one, Ubuntu suggests that individuals need others to be fulfilled -- that self-identity is created through our relationships with other people.

In addition to Clinton, Ubuntu is also the cause-celeb of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. With Ubuntu conferences, an Ubuntu open-source software company, and Ubuntu-inspired fair trade practices, the only thing Ubuntu lacks is a rock star proponent -- and I dare say that this one has Bono written all over it.

Not so long ago, eco-fashion was relegated to the hemp wearing crowd. But all of that is starting to change. With U2 frontman Bono spearheading a campaign for sustainable fashion called Project Red, ethical clothing is headed for the mainstream. In a collaborative effort with Armani, Motorola, Amex and the Gap, Project Red has garnered the support of a number of A-list celebrities who are trying to help eco-wear make the jump into your local mall. With Scarlett Johannson posing for Vogue in a few of Armani's ethical designs, Project Red hopes that the celebrity endorsement will make consumers consider where and how their clothes were made.