Sarah Jessica Parker tones it down on Oaks Day

Sarah Jessica Parker toned down her headwear for Oaks Day. Picture: Craig Borrow / Source: Herald Sun

The Herald Sun reports

SARAH Jessica Parker toned down her headwear for her Oaks Day appearance with an elegant jewelled design.

The Sex and the City star attended the biggest day for fashion during the Spring Racing Carnival yesterday after dazzling crowds in an oversized Philip Treacy hat at the Crown Oaks Lunch on Wednesday.

She presented the trophy to the winner of the $1 million VRC Oaks, Mosheen.

Meanwhile Shane Warne and Liz Hurley tweeted their arrival at Oaks Day with a picture, and Hurley thanking milliner to the stars Philip Treacy for her own "divine hat."

Joan Collins brought a touch of old-style Hollywood glamour to Flemington's famous Birdcage.

The actress had a few words of wisdom for the young girls on how to look glamorous on a day at the races.

"I think it takes effort and a little bit of mystery and certainly it helps if you wear makeup I think," Collins said.

"I don't think you can be glamorous without wearing makeup."

The 78-year-old English actress, still best known for her role on the 1980s TV soap Dynasty, admitted she wasn't really a horse racing fan, but thought it was "a jolly good day out".

"I'm not really into the horses that much.

"I just find it fun to look at everybody, to admire the hats and the clothes and to have a drink and to really have fun."

And her advice to the young girls at Flemington: "Don't drink too much otherwise you'll end up like they do at Ascot with your skirts over your head. That's not such a good look."

Wheelers Hill bride-to-be Lara Yachou and her entourage of 15 are among the 70,000-plus crowd, using the occasion for her hens party.

Her tips for the day were "colour, lots of flowers, having fun, a couple of horses".
Other famous faces in the crowd were Ashley Hart, Rebecca Judd, Jennifer Hawkins, Kris Smith, Ruby Rose, and Brynne and Geoffrey Edelsten.

Joan 'Superbitch' Collins all charm in Melbourne show

Joan "Superbitch" Collins entertained a Melbourne crowd last night. She hits Sydney on Monday. Source: Supplied

Daniel Ziffer, The Herald Sun, reports

SHE starred as super-bitch Alexis Carrington on Dynasty, but Joan Collins was all charm in her autobiographical show at the Melbourne Town Hall last night.

Encounters with Hollywood greats like Gene Kelly, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Richard Burton were woven into a warm, polished story that had fans swooning.

One example: “Watch out for the wolves in Hollywood,” Marilyn Monroe told her.

In fact, so many anecdotes were peppered through the show that it was almost ridiculous.

Only Joan Collins could finish a sentence with - “And then I ended my engagement to Warren Beatty, which I haven’t had time to talk about” - before gliding on.

The best was Collins fighting back against lecherous studio bosses but for the most part this was an event only for fans of Collins and Hollywood’s golden era.

The 78-year-old has been married five times and wasn’t afraid to poke fun at her often terrible roles.

Still as fiesty as her days on the 1980s soap Dynasty that cemented her fame, it would have been great to hear Collins’ opinion on current stars.

However, apart from pegging Dannii Minogue to play her in any autobiographical movie, this was a nostalgia session.

In a short question and answer session, Collins gave a little more, telling a 29-year-old woman seeking life advice to, “Get married before it’s too late!”

The crowd erupted. “Just joking,” she said.

You can catch a performance of A Night with Joan Collins at Sydney’s State Theatre on Monday 7 November.

A Night with Joan

By Lenny Ann Low, Sydney Morning Herald

Although no stranger to the stage, Joan Collins's one-woman show provides Dynasty's Alexis Marissa Morrell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan in the flesh. Ostensibly a memoir, A Night with Joan sold out in London and New York. Using clips and images, Collins, 78, reminisces about her 55 films, five husbands and many co-stars (including John Gielgud, Bette Davis, Richard Burton and Robert Mitchum).

November 7, 8.30pm, State Theatre, 49 Market Street, Sydney, 13 61 00, ticketmaster.com.au, $100-$160.

Photo: AP

Sydney on Screen: Where Opera Meets Oprah

Click on picture for larger size!

Excerpt:

"Successful daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful (1987- ) chose Sydney for an on-location shoot in 2007 to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. Much of the filming took place on the city's waterfront. On arriving for the opening of the international Forrester fashion boutique, Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) makes a beeline for Circular Quay and Bennelong Point to take in the sights. Hit television series Dynasty (1981-1989) featured establishing shots of Sydney in a 1986 episode that saw Alexis Carrington Colby (Joan Collins) travel to the Australian Outback on a surprise visit to see Ben Carrington (Christopher Cazenove)."

"Just past the intersection of Hickson Road with Towns Place, you may recognise the overpass ahead of you featured in The Matrix (1999). In the classic scene shot in front of the overpass, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) rushes towards and into a phone booth seconds before it is crushed by a truck. When Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) inspects the wreckage, Trinity’s body is gone. The same overpass was used in Kangaroo Jack (2003) and Better Than Sex (2000) starring David Wenham and Susie Porter."

"Argyle Place underwent an incredible transformation during the filming of Mission Impossible 2 (2000) when it stood in for Spain. In one shot, a religious procession celebrating the “Fallas de Valencia” marches up a dusty and gravelled-looking Argyle Street, past the Garrison Church. In another, Tom Cruise runs up candlelit stairs that link Argyle Street to Watson Road. These steps as well as the church can be seen in Playing Beatie Bow (1986)."

For information on how to obtain your copy of "Sydney on Screen: Where Opera Meets Oprah", contact sydneyonscreen@hotmail.com