Cosette too close for comfort for those whose castles are built on social media cloud

Staff at troubled luxury fashion boutique Cosette in The Rocks probably have a much better understanding of the trials and tribulations of the store’s fictional namesake from Les Miserables following claims – strenuously denied by the store’s owners – that customers had allegedly been sold “superfake” designer handbags.

The Cosette store at The Rocks this week.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Claims of designer bags costing several thousand dollars arriving with suspicious odour and labelling have created a public relations nightmare for the store that could do with its own Valjean about now.

The fallout following the exclusive investigation by the Herald’s national fashion editor Melissa Singer has been swift and wide, creating an awkward predicament for “Australia’s leading luxury marketing consultant”, the usually unflappable Emma van Haandel, whose publicity company EVH was hired to promote Cosette.

And she’s not alone, with a conga line of glamorous influencers, including red carpet fixture Pip Edwards, bikini model Tash Oakley, “content creator” Elle Ferguson and social media influencer Maxine Wylde, now inadvertently caught up in the controversy.

All of them had been enlisted to spruik the brand and its bags, in return for either payment or freebies, to their hundreds of thousands of collective online followers, such as Edwards tagging Cosette in a party snap shared with her 189,000 Instagram followers while artfully posing at a swanky champagne party brandishing a chic clutch purse.

Women of influence:  Maxine Wylde, Tash Oakley, Pip Edwards, Elle Ferguson and Emma van Haandel.

But this week they were keen to distance themselves from the erupting scandal, declining to respond to PS’s queries.

In May EVH publicly welcomed the Cosette brand to its portfolio after it had been represented by several other publicity firms during its relatively short life. Van Haandel’s team got to work spruiking the store – now under investigation by watchdog Fair Trading NSW – to Australia’s top fashion editors, presenting it as an avenue to buy purportedly designer accessories at greatly discounted prices.

However, this week Cosette, which still claims all its bags are authentic and not copies – and are sourced from unspecified “third party suppliers” around the world – was not listed on the EVH website register of clients.

Taking on the Cosette business had already raised eyebrows within Sydney’s tight-knit fashion world given van Haandel’s firm had also worked directly with traditional luxury brands including Mulberry, Hublot, Dion Lee, Zegna, Cartier and Hermes, all of which go to great lengths to protect their highly valued intellectual property.

Fashionista Emma van Haandel with Sydney luxury fashion identity Eva Galambos in 2019.

Van Haandel, who mixes in elite social circles and has previously served on the prestigious Gold dinner charity committee, did not respond to PS’s specific queries if her company was still promoting Cosette, directing our questions to corporate “crisis management” communications specialists Citadel-Magnus.

Paddington’s Parlour X boutique owner Eva Galambos, considered one of Australia’s top luxury brand fashion retailers, said the issue was not just about authenticity and provenance, but also about customer protection.

“We have direct relationships with the brands, we buy directly from them. If you are buying from a mystery third-party supplier, then what do you know about the item’s provenance?” Galambos asked PS, claiming such grey areas were “tainting” Sydney’s luxury fashion business.

“The customer is risking a lot of money on something you don’t really know anything about. They don’t have any valid warranty from the maker, let alone means of authenticating it with the brand it is claiming to be because the store has no direct relationship with that brand. I go to Paris and Milan twice a year, I have relationships with those houses that span decades, my reputation is just as important as theirs, customers can trust in that.”

According to OECD data on counterfeiting and international trade, the total value of counterfeit and pirated goods was about US$1 trillion in 2013, tripling to US$3 trillion today.

A recent study by the World Economic Forum revealed nearly a fifth of all items tagged as luxury goods on Instagram were actually fakes. Of the 150,000 posts tagged with luxury good brand names that were examined by researchers, 20 per cent came from accounts based in China, Russia, and Malaysia.

Perry’s hope on hold

After dishing up 800,000 free meals for Sydney and Melbourne’s needy in three years, and sinking about $100,000 of his own money into it, chef Neil Perry has called time on his Hope Delivery initiative. But he promises it’s not the end.

Chef Neil Perry says he has to “hit the pause button” on Hope Delivery. Credit: James Brickwood

“I have a lot going on right now with the new bar, Song Bird, Margaret and bakery. I started this during the pandemic as a way to keep my kitchen staff busy, and it proved to be a huge success. We have established a dedicated team of volunteers who come in, some of them several times a week, to help out, but fundraising is very difficult and time-consuming, so I have had to hit the pause button,” Perry told PS.

Hope Delivery was launched to feed international students, visa holders and unemployed hospitality workers who were ineligible for government assistance during the pandemic. It relaunched as Hope Hospitality Foundation in 2022, providing vulnerable and underprivileged people with access to nutritious and wholesome food, free of charge.

“We generated over a million dollars in fundraising to keep it going, but it is a big task. We have put the kitchen in storage and will look at relaunching in around 18 months’ time,” Perry says. “I’m hoping someone with a free space will be able to offer it to us ... just 100 sq m and ideally somewhere in the eastern suburbs, so we can get it going again.

“The demand will still be there, but right now, I have to focus on the business, and when that’s ticking over I can get back to this, which is something I’m really passionate about.”

The Elaine mansion as it was.

Grand dames in spotlight

While the corporate world has been focused on the future of home-grown tech behemoth Atlassian following confirmation that Mike Cannon-Brookes and wife Annie had separated, around the manicured gardens of Point Piper the focus has been firmly on what the future holds for two of Australia’s grandest private estates: Fairwater and its neighbour Elaine.

Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes had been married for 13 years.

It was back in September 2020 that PS revealed it was the Cannon-Brookes, owners of the $100 million Fairwater, who had raised concerns about their besties fellow Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar and banker Kim Jackson’s, plans to comprehensively rebuild their $71 million future home Elaine.

The ambitious Carl Pickering-designed proposal even featured a rooftop tennis court and bore little resemblance to the majestic old home that had stood on the site for generations.

An artist's impression of the Carl Pickering-designed plans for Elaine.

Both homes once belonged to the Fairfax media dynasty, former proprietors of the Herald.

Today Elaine remains a shadow of its former self after initial demolition works effectively left it a skeleton. And next door at Fairwater, no one has seen the Cannon-Brookes family for some time.

In 2020 PS was offered a firm “no comment” from Cannon-Brookes’ and Farquhar’s offices when asked if it was true that Cannon-Brookes had raised concerns over the $37.3 million rebuild plans for Elaine lodged with Woollahra Council after Farquhar unexpectedly withdrew the development application.

Atlassian co-founder Scott Farqhaur and wife Kim Jackson.

Since then, no amended plans have materialised for the once-grand estate. Instead, Farquhar and Jackson set their focus on their new $130 million “baronial castle” Uig Lodge, which they bought at the end of 2022 and is understood to now be their family home, rather than Elaine.

Message loud and clear

Organisers of this year’s radio industry “Oscars” have given the awards a complete overhaul with a new judging panel and protocols in place to improve transparency and prevent potential conflicts of interest following PS’s revelations last year that one of the key winners was the wife of a judge.

Last year Heidi Tiltins from Smoothfm 95.3 was named Best Metro FM News Presenter. She beamed with her trophy for photographers, clearly chuffed her short, 60-second audio entry and brief bio had been whittled down from dozens of entries from across the country.

The winning decision was based on voting from three judges, all respected senior journalists within the industry with decades of radio experience under their collective belts: Lloyd Jones, Mark Collier and Tiltin’s husband, former Seven News boss Jason Morrison, who later defended his judging, telling PS he was impartial at recognising talent, regardless of it being his wife.

The Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRA) chief executive officer Ford Ennals told PS the identities of all judges for the October event would be made public and any potential conflicts had to be publicly declared from the outset, including if any candidates were married to a judge, which would no longer be tolerated.

“We have had record entries for this year’s competition and judging is well underway,” Ennals told PS. “We have made those changes, not as a result of your article, but in recognition that we could do things better.”

Levant set to rise again

The operators of Kings Cross restaurant Levant say the venue, on the site of the once-popular Bayswater Brasserie, will reopen its doors once a new chef is in place.

John Ibrahim has been helping Chrissie Jaucian get her new club up and running.Credit: Louie Davis

In April Chrissie Jaucian took over the site, owned by Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim, following the departure of the previous tenant, controversial Sydney nightlife figure Ussi Moniz Da Silva, whose failed entertainment empire has left creditors out of pocket to the tune of millions of dollars.

Jaucian, who was Da Silva’s former right-hand executive, told PS she was also owed $100,000 from her old boss, and says since she took over the venue she has borne the brunt of disgruntled former staff and suppliers still chasing payment from Da Silva’s businesses.

“It’s winter, things have slowed down, there are a lot of things going on still over the previous operator, but we will reopen soon, hopefully in just a matter of days, when the new chef is in place and we are ready,” she told PS.

Her old boss has nothing to do with the new venture.

Jaucian is just one of many people in Sydney’s hospitality industry who are keen to discover the whereabouts of Da Silva, who “disappeared” from the city back in March, along with his partner, social media influencer-turned-bar owner Julia Gelonese. The couple were expecting their second child in May.

For months now, staff, landlords and investors have chased unpaid wages, rent and taxes at Eros, Kings Cross Pavilion and his other venues, including Maali, Sinaloa and the fine dining CBD venue Meu Jardim.

Among the biggest creditors is the Australian Tax Office.

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