EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Dress designer to the stars fails to pay £100,000 Belgravia rent
The transparent dress that Meghan Markle wore in her engagement photos cost a staggering £56,000. But its designer, Michael Russo, apparently can’t afford to pay his rent.
I can disclose that the former Australian banker, who was one half of Mayfair couturiers Ralph & Russo, has three county court judgments against him, totalling almost £100,000 for rent arrears on his flat in Eaton Place, the Belgravia address where classic television drama Upstairs Downstairs was set.
The first judgment was for £46,741, issued in August 2020, the second was for £12,687 in November of the same year, and the third was for £40,522 in February 2021. The property is believed to be owned by a Russian entity based offshore.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in their official engagement photos; the transparent dress worn by the Duchess of Sussex cost a staggering £56,000
The judgments are just the latest in a string of financial woes for Russo and his former business and romantic partner, Tamara Ralph, who set up their label in London in 2010.
Their couture dresses studded with crystals, feathers, iridescent metallic features and floorsweeping trains, attracted famous clients including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, and Beyonce.
However, the business went into administration last year, with Ralph blaming ‘unprecedented trading conditions throughout the pandemic’ which had ‘put a tremendous strain on our business and retailers across the world’.
The pair have been accused in court papers of using the fashion house to fund their lavish lifestyles, with allegations that the company’s pension pot was raided before it went into administration.
Ralph, who is being sued by the firm via its administrators for £20.8 million in damages, has strenuously denied those allegations.
The judgments are just the latest in a string of financial woes for Russo and his former business and romantic partner, Tamara Ralph (pictured together in 2020), who set up their label in London in 2010
She was also accused of instructing staff who were on furlough to redecorate two luxury homes that she shares with her super-rich boyfriend, Bhanu Choudhrie.
She alleged in court documents that Russo had launched a campaign of ‘bullying, harassment and abuse’ against her.
She says her romantic relationship with him ended in 2017 and that their professional relationship ‘steadily deteriorated from 2019 as a result of Russo’s discrimination, abuse, harassment and bullying’.
My disclosure will raise fears that property developer Nick Candy, who is suing Russo after investing £22.5million in the company, may struggle to get his money back. Russo could not be reached for comment.
Famed for her fancy creations, Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain doesn’t exactly push the boat out when cooking for her husband and children. Nadiya, 37, describes her family weekend eating thus: ‘Saturday is a hearty scrap soup dinner using leftover root veg from the freezer. Then on Sunday, we eat jacket potatoes.’ Er…yum!
Kate meets with a therapy queen
She is the charismatic therapy queen of Instagram with a ring through her nose who’s loved by young people who are seeking balm for bruised souls.
And now clinical psychologist Dr Sophie Mort is being sought after at the Palace.
I can disclose that the Duchess of Cambridge held private talks on Tuesday with Dr Mort. A royal source tells me: ‘This meeting was held as part of the Duchess’s work with the Centre for Early Childhood.’
Catherine has long been committed to raising awareness of the importance of early childhood experiences and launched the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood last summer.
The Duchess of Cambridge held private talks on Tuesday with Dr Sophie Mort (pictured), according to a royal source
Every element of the extraordinary life of John Rendall was on display at his packed funeral service at Chelsea Old Church yesterday — the two wives, his three children, and a church full of his friends from the worlds of animal conservation, polo and philanthropy.
The only element missing was any real wild animals. Rendall, who died last month aged 76, was best known for buying a lion from Harrods’ pet department in the Swinging Sixties and calling it Christian.
The big cat became a regular sight in Chelsea, as it was taken for walks along London’s King’s Road. Christian was returned to the wild in Kenya after Rendall became a dedicated conservationist.
Have Jagger and Moss kissed and made up..?
They do say time is the greatest healer. Kate Moss and Jade Jagger looked like they had always been bosom buddies when they partied this week at the Royal Academy of Arts.
In fact, Sir Mick’s daughter had considered the supermodel a good pal until she discovered in 2001 that her boyfriend, the aristocrat Dan Macmillan, had been seeing Moss behind her back.
Jade had been going out with the louche male model son of the Earl of Stockton for two years.
Kate Moss and Jade Jagger pictured together at ‘The Fendi Set’ book launch at the Royal Academy of Arts on Tuesday
In the final gesture in a simmering feud, jewellery designer Jade, now 50, carefully created a necklace with the word ‘SLAG’ prominently picked out in decorative stones and had it delivered to Moss, 48.
Now, Kate’s going out with another aristocrat, Count Nikolai von Bismarck, 35, and she met Jade at the launch party for his new photography book, The Fendi Set.
A fellow guest tells me: ‘There is still a bit of lingering tension between the two women.’
I dare say!
Mystical man can’t tame Cotton’s kids
They were always ambitious, but Fearne Cotton’s plans to tame her children using yoga and meditation have come to naught.
‘They like running around and being naughty and doing s*** that you don’t want them to do,’ admits the 40-year-old broadcaster, who has a son, Rex, aged eight, and a daughter, Honey, six, with her husband, Jesse Wood, son of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie.
She tells me: ‘I have tried online meditation with a mystical man, but they just want to go on the Nintendo. I’ve tried to get them to do yoga, but they don’t want to do yoga — they just want to push me over and climb on my back.’
Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn together in New York, in 2019. The pair started dating each other in 2017
Taylor’s love Alwyn is in an affair…on telly
Pop superstar Taylor Swift’s British boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, plays a husband whose wife permits him to enjoy an affair in the forthcoming BBC TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel Conversations With Friends.
In real life, his American girlfriend, 32, is more than enough to keep him satisfied, he insists.
‘People can do what they want and makes them happy,’ says Alwyn, 30, the son of a London psychotherapist and a documentary maker.
‘I’m obviously happy in a monogamous relationship.’
Alwyn, who started courting Swift in 2017, adds of ‘open’ relationships: ‘It’s exhausting — at least for me it would be.’
While many of us enjoyed baking during lockdown, New Tricks star Amanda Redman took it a step further and turned her culinary skills into an enterprise.
‘It turns out we’re really quite good at it,’ says the actress, 64, who has opened Redport Bakeries with her assistant, Suzy Davenport.
‘We’ve been baking for 18 months now and have set up a business — we bake loads of cakes for friends and neighbours, really anyone who asks,’ Redman adds.
‘We don’t charge — we just have a lot of fun.’
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