angelfire
09-06-06, 04:15 PM
Getting the goods on Simpson swag
Is Jessica Simpson the Queen of Swag or - as her flack insists - Our Lady of Largess?
After the perky pop tart was caught with an amazing haul of freebies during last week's MTV Video Music Awards - tens of thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry, clothes, high-tech electronic gadgets and a $50,000 Chrysler convertible - Simpson's damage-control guru, Rob Shuter, vowed that she'll donate her VMA gift bag to Operation Smile.
"People like her don't really need these things because they already have everything," Shuter told The News, explaining that she's giving to the charity that provides cosmetic surgery to children with facial deformities. Sometime later, Shuter hastily notified Operation Smile.
"He didn't say anything specific, but she wanted to donate some stuff," the group's celebrity liaison, Dee Dee Sides, told Lowdown. "I think the car. Maybe we'll do an online auction? I don't really know."
But still later, Simpson's flack appeared to backtrack.
"I don't think she has thought about it yet," Shuter E-mailed Lowdown.
Meanwhile, Simpson's stylist, Jessica Paster, hit up the Sirius Suites at the W Times Square for 10 pairs of shades from the Solstice Sunglass Boutique - including the Dior and Gucci glasses that Simpson was later photographed using. Jessica was sporting the Diors when she picked out more goodies from Luxottica in the Style Villa at the Bryant Park Hotel - three pairs of Ray-Ban aviators, and a pair each of Wayfarers and Shield shades, selected after her posse told her they looked fabulous.
Stockpiling $4,000 worth of G-Star denim, Simpson told PR reps, "I know we're taking a lot. I promise I'll wear it." Meanwhile Paster also scarfed up G-Star items for Simpson's younger sister, Ashlee.
Simpson also walked off with a bagful of Freeze 24-7's anti-wrinkle cream - for the Operation Smile kids? - and picked up three New Era hats while checking the fit of a Penguin shirt. Leaving the Style Villa, Simpson flashed a diamond Rosalina ring she'd picked out upstairs, and at the VMAs showed off a different Rosalina sparkler.
At the preshow cocktail party at Radio City, a Lowdown spy overheard Jessica - suffering from a burst blood vessel in her vocal cords - hoarsely interrogating Manhattan attorney Salvatore Strazzullo about the tax implications of swag.
"Just out of curiosity, how would the government find out about these gifts that everybody is getting?" Simpson croaked.
He replied: "Each company has to file gift tax returns pertaining to everybody that received gifts, and then the IRS will compare those to the individual tax returns of the recipients."
Simpson, said the spy, looked dumbfounded.
source.. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/449491p-378342c.html
Is Jessica Simpson the Queen of Swag or - as her flack insists - Our Lady of Largess?
After the perky pop tart was caught with an amazing haul of freebies during last week's MTV Video Music Awards - tens of thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry, clothes, high-tech electronic gadgets and a $50,000 Chrysler convertible - Simpson's damage-control guru, Rob Shuter, vowed that she'll donate her VMA gift bag to Operation Smile.
"People like her don't really need these things because they already have everything," Shuter told The News, explaining that she's giving to the charity that provides cosmetic surgery to children with facial deformities. Sometime later, Shuter hastily notified Operation Smile.
"He didn't say anything specific, but she wanted to donate some stuff," the group's celebrity liaison, Dee Dee Sides, told Lowdown. "I think the car. Maybe we'll do an online auction? I don't really know."
But still later, Simpson's flack appeared to backtrack.
"I don't think she has thought about it yet," Shuter E-mailed Lowdown.
Meanwhile, Simpson's stylist, Jessica Paster, hit up the Sirius Suites at the W Times Square for 10 pairs of shades from the Solstice Sunglass Boutique - including the Dior and Gucci glasses that Simpson was later photographed using. Jessica was sporting the Diors when she picked out more goodies from Luxottica in the Style Villa at the Bryant Park Hotel - three pairs of Ray-Ban aviators, and a pair each of Wayfarers and Shield shades, selected after her posse told her they looked fabulous.
Stockpiling $4,000 worth of G-Star denim, Simpson told PR reps, "I know we're taking a lot. I promise I'll wear it." Meanwhile Paster also scarfed up G-Star items for Simpson's younger sister, Ashlee.
Simpson also walked off with a bagful of Freeze 24-7's anti-wrinkle cream - for the Operation Smile kids? - and picked up three New Era hats while checking the fit of a Penguin shirt. Leaving the Style Villa, Simpson flashed a diamond Rosalina ring she'd picked out upstairs, and at the VMAs showed off a different Rosalina sparkler.
At the preshow cocktail party at Radio City, a Lowdown spy overheard Jessica - suffering from a burst blood vessel in her vocal cords - hoarsely interrogating Manhattan attorney Salvatore Strazzullo about the tax implications of swag.
"Just out of curiosity, how would the government find out about these gifts that everybody is getting?" Simpson croaked.
He replied: "Each company has to file gift tax returns pertaining to everybody that received gifts, and then the IRS will compare those to the individual tax returns of the recipients."
Simpson, said the spy, looked dumbfounded.
source.. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/449491p-378342c.html