Mishael Morgan Quit the Y&R!

Mishael Morgan is finally speaking out on her decision to depart The Young and the Restless. Last week, it was confirmed by Daytime Confidential the actress was leaving her role as Hilary Curtis. The Emmy-nominated phenom took to Instagram to reveal why she decided to vacate the scheming talk show host alter ego she's played for five years. Morgan stated:
It is with a heavy heart that I announce my departure from The Young and The Restless. There were many factors that lead to this decision, but ultimately, five years just felt right to me. I feel blessed to have worked with some of the most talented, hardworking and fun-loving people in television. Thank you to the cast, the crew and everyone at Sony and CBS who made the past five years truly unforgettable. A special thanks to my partner in crime Bryton James, who always brought out the best in both me and Hil. Last but definitely not least, I want to thank all of my amazing fans who have supported me on this journey. Your gifts, love and kindness over the years (and days) have warmed my heart and fuelled my soul more than you could ever know. Although my adventure as Hilary Curtis is coming to an end, my work on screen is far from over. This may be a goodbye from Hilary, but I’ll just say “see you soon”.Love Always,
Mishael

Will General Hospital be CANCELLED?!

Soap Opera Ratings Race: Good News For Three Soaps, SHOCKING News For One!

General Hospital
General Hospital (GH) was the only soap to see falling numbers all around. The 55-year-old soap has been struggling with story of late, with many fans complaining that the Jason return fell flat, while the tale of Henrik Faison took over.

GH garnered 2,505,000 viewers on average overall, down 2,000 from the week before and 48,000 from the year before. While the drop from the week before was not steep, it still shows viewers losing interest.

The soap also lost ground in all three female demographics, dropping to number four with women 18-49 and 18-34.

Days of Our Lives
Days of Our Lives (DOOL) continued the upswing it’s been enjoying all year, pulling in 2,283,000 viewers on average overall, up 28,000 from the previous week and 201,000 from the previous year.

DAYS also gained ground from the prior week and prior year with women 18-49 and 18-34.

The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless (YR) remained in its number one spot, as per usual, garnering 4,169,000 viewers on average overall, up 106,000 from the week before and 6,000 from the year before.

However, it was not all good news for Y&R as it lost ground from the previous week and previous year in the female demos.

The Bold and the Beautiful
Sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful (BB) saw the most gains, pulling in 3,500,000 viewers on average overall, up 180,000 from the prior week and a whopping 294,000 from the prior year.

Liam leaving Hope at the alter and Steffy going into labor certainly helped the soap’s numbers rise.



For Kate Spade, Her Name Was Everything & Nothing

Today, Katherine Noel Frances Valentine died in her apartment in Manhattan, having taken her own life. Few would know her by the name she chose for herself just last year (Kate Valentine), but the name she had abandoned — Kate Spade — is as revered and recognized as Jack Daniels or Estée Lauder. The name change copped to the fact that Kate Spade, the woman, had become nearly inextricable from Kate Spade, the fashion label. In fact, even diehard fans would be surprised to know that the brand actually came first. As such, it’s a twisted sort of irony that it will continue to live long after the woman is gone.

Kate Spade’s relationship with her own name has taken a roundabout path that might seem whimsical at first glance. When Kate first wanted to name the handbag line she was creating with her boyfriend Andy Spade in 1993, she went by Katherine Brosnahan. After rejecting names like 'Olive' and ‘Alex Noel,' Kate told The New York Times in 1999 she finally gave into her boyfriend’s suggestion to combine both their names. When they later married, Kate took Andy’s last name and finally became Kate Spade, too.

In the six years that Kate helmed her company, the Kate Spade brand had ballooned in clout and ubiquity, much in part to how special it felt to carry her bag compared to anything else. The specific contours of that name — kate spade (mind the lowercase) — was as much a part of the brand’s allure as the discreet, parcel-like nylon bag the tiny labels came on. After all, in a decade of logos and branding, Kate Spade handbags were among the first to feature absolutely nothing. For many of us who associated wealth and success with interlocking C’s, F’s and LV’s, to see the sublime blankness of a Kate Spade backpack or shoulder bag was like waking up from a boring dream. Once you learned about what to call it — and who was responsible — the name Kate Spade became one of the worst-kept Shibboleths of the ‘90s that also contained fashion’s greatest secret: that you could have taste without being snobby, that you could love fashion and not its frills, that you could be the kind of person who needs to keep their papers on their person, to bring your lunch with you, and to require the constant accessibility of a day-planner, but look goddamn chic doing it all. Indeed, a woman could be many things. And in fact, our “contradictions” were not so much quirks and whimsies but rather evidence that women have long outgrown their labels.

At first, Kate Spade was handsomely rewarded. In 1999, she sold 56% of the company to Neiman Marcus Group. She sold the rest of it in 2006 to Liz Claiborne Inc, which later changed its own name to Fifth & Pacific, and then finally to Kate Spade & Company. She got $124 million for the deal (a big part of which was the intellectual property rights within her name), but the company had performed a full body snatch. The phenomenal omnipresence of the name Kate Spade meant that it would be impossible to use her own name in any future projects. According to Julie Zerbo from The Fashion Law, courts have been strict in holding that individuals do not have unfettered rights to use their own names in commercial capacities.

After 2006, Kate disappeared from public life for a decade as the brand she founded continued to make waves in the industry without her. When she reemerged last year after a decade away, the first thing she did was announce that she was legally changing her name, a decision that seemed extreme, considering that her previous name conveyed so much. Even more disconcertingly, she told press that she was changing it to promote a new accessories line, Frances Valentine — a mash-up of names found in her family tree. Cobbled together from her uncle’s middle name and relatives on her dad’s side, Frances Valentine — and Kate Valentine along with it — would represent a new start. “It is significant that she completely rebranded to Frances Valentine that was completely devoid of her name,” says Zerbo. “It is very unlikely that on the heels of selling her eponymous label and its intellectual property rights, she would have legally been able to use her name even if it was just by saying ‘Frances Valentine by Kate Spade.’”

“It kind of makes [me] sound kind of cool, like a rap star or something,” she told Business of Fashion last year during a publicity blitz. “But we’re not trying to be cheeky or coy. It really was to distinguish the name, and separate the two worlds. Obviously we’re super proud of Kate Spade and we want to be respective of both.” The line received lots of good-faith press upon launch as attestation to the goodwill the industry had for Kate. But Frances Valentine never won even a sliver of the customers or acclaim that her first line received, even though its merits were largely the same (it was modern, minimal, colorful, whimsical). Without the Kate Spade moniker, Kate Valentine and Frances Valentine always seemed like an imposter, even though it was the real-deal.

Kate Spade’s brand was compelling, even as it grew and transformed without her in its zombiefied, corporatized version. But unfiltered and pure, Kate Spade's vision for the world was intoxicating. Every once in awhile, I liked to click through The Selby’s 2010 photo tour of the home she shared with her husband and daughter to reacquaint myself with her aesthetic world. With the initial windfall from the sale of her company, she and Andy Spade purchased a beautiful nine-bedroom apartment they filled with a mismatch of printed sofas, generations of family portraits, and dishes of chocolate eyeballs and candy cigarettes. It is grand but comfortable. Practical but performative. At the end of the slideshow is a handwritten note in which Kate was asked about to define what a good life was. She scribbled the answer confidently: “Family & Friends that are honest & loyal.”

Tellingly, Kate’s new company that she began, once again, with her business and life partner would take on no investors. A police source told The New York Post that they were looking into relationship problems. And while we’ll never fully grasp the intimate circumstances that led to her premature death (nor is it our right to know), a confluence of stressful and painful circumstances can exacerbate mental illness; if Kate’s Selby note was any indication, dishonesty and disloyalty in her personal life would be the ultimate betrayal. “Spade” was the name she chose as a wife, not only as a designer. “Spade” had already been rendered meaningless to her in one regard. Another challenge to that identity might have seriously complicated the good life she had defined and built for herself.

It is a testament to the power of her name — and the power of Kate Spade the woman — that nearly every publication has ignored the name that she chose for herself and is legally tied to: Kate Valentine. It is also a proof of the impact her original brand had on women that it comes as a surprise to most people that Kate Spade had not been affiliated with the brand for a long time. Kate Spade New York (the design house owned by Kate Spade & Company, now owned by Tapestry) put out a statement that clarified the distance in the same breath it eulogized her life, rendering the latter as an afterthought: “Kate has not been affiliated with the brand for more than a decade, she and her husband and creative partner, Andy, were the founders of our beloved brand. Kate will be dearly missed.”

In that 1999 interview with The NYT, Kate reminisced about how she and Andy finally decided on the name. “Andy kept saying the whole time, 'Kate Spade, Kate Spade — listen to how it sounds,” she recounted.

Designer: Kate Spade Found Dead at 55!

The sister of celebrated fashion designer Kate Spade says she may have taken her own life because of a struggle with mental illness. Spade was found dead Tuesday in her New York apartment. In an e-mail her older sister, Reta Saffo, said she believed Spade suffered from bipolar disorder, writing, "It finally took its toll on her. A very tragic and sad ending to the life of a very colorful and delightful being." She also said that she "tried numerous times to get her help." 
A housekeeper found Spade hanging from a red scarf tied to a doorknob in her bedroom, according to police. Her husband Andy was home at the time. The designer left a suicide note addressed to her 13-year-old daughter, telling her it was not her fault, reports CBS News' Jericka Duncan.

Her family said in a statement, "We are all devastated...we loved Kate dearly and will miss her terribly."
"The contents of that note as well as the physical state of the apartment and the comments of the witness lend to the credibility that it is an apparent suicide," NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said.  

The 55-year-old became a fashion industry darling in the 1990s with a simple but whimsical style. She and her husband Andy built a fashion empire around her signature handbags, counting celebrities like actress Ellie Kemper among her clientele."She puts forth a sort of aspirational line, which I think 'Oh I want to be like that! I want to be chic and pulled together and a New York lady.' And then I can!" Kemper said of Spade back in February 2016.
Spade stepped away from the limelight after selling her company in 2007, but she recently mounted a comeback. 
"I, personally, I don't know about Andy – took off a good nine years raising my daughter and absolutely adored every moment of it," Spade said last April.
Police say she may have taken her own life because of money and marital problems. New York Fashion Week creator Fern Mallis, who knew Spade for nearly three decades, was shocked by her death.
"She and Andy, they were a team. I mean they were adorable together," Mallis said. "And I just went 'What?'... The last person on earth you'd think would take her own life."
Many of Spade's friends and famous clientele are sending tributes on social media. Her brother-in-law, David Spade, tweeted a picture of her at his book signing and said: "I love this pic of her. So pretty....Its a rough world out there people. Try to hang on."

Brief Talk: Philip Fusco

What’s not to love about model Philip Fusco? This New York City boy with the body of a demigod and the personality of one of your favorite talk show hosts is only 29 years old, but has been in the industry for more than ten years already, signing with Empire Model Management at the ripe age of 17. Since then, Fusco has amassed an impressive resume, modelling for Andrew Christian, Gregg Homme, Score Underwear, John Falocco, and gracing the covers of DNA, Männer, Exercise Magazine among others. He also devotes part of his time as a personal trainer and in this entry of Brief Talk, Philip gives his fans insight into what makes him tick and the ins and outs of the modelling industry from an insider’s perspective.

Hello Philip, it’s such a pleasure talking to you. Can you tell our readers a little about yourself?
Hey Men and underwear and all readers. I have been modelling for many years now, so I would like to start by saying “Thank You” to everyone who has stuck around and supported me all this time. Besides modelling, I am a personal trainer, lifestyle coach, and underwear model. I do private bartending on the side and I just love to enjoy the fruits of life as much as possible. My favourite hobby is laying on a beach or enjoying a water sport. I am currently writing this in my underwear, on my couch, while enjoying my favourite protein shake.

How did you start modeling?
I started modelling when I was 17, discovered through my Myspace.com profile (which is almost an obsolete social media platform now).What was your best experience as a model?
Traveling around the world has to be the greatest reward of this career. I think Australia was my biggest job for DNA magazine and I loved every minute of it. But I still remember when I got my first magazine cover and what my reaction was when that happened. I think my reaction was jumping up and screaming with excitement
Where do you see yourself in 5 years from today?
Fat and eating candy bars! Just kidding. Currently I am in school in the pursuit of my Masters in Occupational Therapy, so I’ll hopefully be in a career utilising those skills in the future.
Time to talk underwear! How often do you shop for underwear?
I am completely obsessive compulsive when it comes to buying underwear. I must have fresh socks as well as underwear, so I am constantly purchasing.
What is your favourite underwear style and colour?
I love underwear that has a nice tight fit in blue, red, or white.
Sounds a bit silly to ask this to an underwear brand owner but I have to! Do you have any favourite brands?
Other than Philcity, my next “go to” brand is Calvin Klein.
Thank you Philip! All the best of luck in everything you do!

Rudy Bundini for Garcon Models

The model today is Rudy Bundini and his most recent collaboration with Ted Sun for an editorial published in Singapore’s Solstice Magazine featuring underwear by Garcon Model.
Bundini was born in 1987 and he is based in New York. His extensive portfolio includes music videos as well as numerous campaigns, photo shoots and fashion shows. The work you see below is his most recent, photographed by talented Ted Sun. In all photos Rudy is posing in Watson Briefs by Canadian brand Garcon Model.

Remington Jay Perregaux join Uvenio Project!

Remington Jay Perregaux is an Actor, Photographer and Male SuperModel, known for Gotham (2014), Get Well and Hard Surfaces (2017). With 64.5k followers.. Tall, gorgeous Blonde with a body to die for! Remington will be in my menswear collection for the upcoming coffee table book project!