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Eugenia Volodina (Russian: Евгения Володина, born September 17, 1984 in Kazan, Soviet Union) is a Russian model.

Career[link]

Volodina's modeling career began in 1998 when she attended an open call at a Russian casting agency. Although she didn't win, she was invited to take part in a Parisian modeling agency in 2000. Soon after, she was sent to Paris, where Volodina began to establish her career. Increased attention came in 2002 when fashion photographer Steven Meisel featured her in Italian Vogue. That same year, Volodina took part in a Gucci ad campaign alongside fellow Russian Natalia Vodianova and opened and closed the Gucci fall/winter 2002 show in Milan.

Since then, she has been featured in the editorials of magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, ID, Numero and Elle. She has also appeared in the catalogs of Bloomingdale's, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Kenzo, Hermes and Victoria's Secret. Volodina's résumé includes advertising campaigns for Escada, Bvlgari, Bill Blass, Versace, Valentino, Zac Posen, Salvatore Ferragamo, Fendi, Chanel eyewear, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vittadini, Ann Taylor, Elie Tahari, Biotherm, Thierry Mugler beauty and Céline.

Volodina was planned to be the newest face of J'adore Dior instead they stayed with Carmen Kass, Volodina signed with Yves Saint Laurent cosmetics that same year.^[when?] Valentino chose her as the face of his fragrance Valentino V. Volodina is also the face of the underwear brand Eres. She appeared in the 2005 Pirelli Calendar alongside Julia Stegner and Adriana Lima.

Volodina walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2007.

In May 2009, she was photographed intimately with actor Mickey Rourke on two separate occasions.^[1][2]

In a recent issue of Marie Claire Russia, Volodina has said she is studying interior design in Paris, where she lives.

Agencies[link]

• Grace Models (Moscow)
• DNA (New York)
• Why Not (Milan)
• Viva (Paris)
• Viva (London)
• Modelwerk (Hamburg)
• Traffic (Barcelona/Madrid)
• Elite (Stockholm)
• Paparazzi Models (Amsterdam)
• Joy Model Management (Sao Paulo)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Eugenia Volodina's profile @ the Fashion Model Directory

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Pete Tong
Pete Tong at Glastonbury in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Peter Tong
Born	(1960-07-31) July 31, 1960 (age 51) Dartford, Kent, England
Genres	Electronica, Balearic beat, house
Occupations	Disc jockey, music producer
Website	petetong.com

Peter "Pete" Tong (born July 30, 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for his record label FFRR Records, and for his own performances at nightclubs and music festivals. Tong has worked as a record producer and is known by the nickname of Lord of the Dance.

The phrase "It's all gone Pete Tong", where the name is used as rhyming slang for "wrong", was reputedly first coined by Paul Oakenfold in late 1987 in an article about acid house called "Bermondsey Goes Balearic" for Terry Farley and Pete Heller's Boys Own fanzine. It's All Gone Pete Tong is also the title of a 2004 film which portrays a fictional DJ's experiences as he realizes he is becoming deaf. Tong appears briefly in the film. It is also the name Tong has adopted for his club night at the nightclub Pacha in Ibiza.

In 2008 he was involved with the founding of the International Music Summit in Ibiza.

Early years[link]

Pete Tong was born in Dartford, Kent in July 1960 and was educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent.

Tong's original musical interest was in drumming, but he soon moved on to DJing. He played his first public gig at a friend's wedding at age 15. While at school he and a couple of friends earned some extra money by promoting a couple of local bands, booking halls for gigs etc. He also worked as part of the Kent "Soul Mafia" bringing soul weekenders to seaside towns like Caister-on-Sea and Prestatyn. Tong was heavily influenced by the late DJ Froggy in his early years and most of Tong's success is down to Froggy's originality in style of record mixing presentation.

Initially after leaving school he set up a mobile disco based in a transit van, but he soon started his own club in Baker Street called Family Function. He also booked bands for an alternative night, the first of which was the then unknown Culture Club. Later he became DJ/Promoter at the Kings Lodge club in West Kingsdown and quickly gained a faithful following, who were prepared to travel from far and wide on a Wednesday night to hear him playing underground Jazz, Funk and Soul. Later moving venue to the Hill Top also in West Kingsdown, he was responsible for breaking classics such as Lonnie Liston Smith's "Expansions" and Ritchie Cole's "Groovin on a New York Afternoon".

In 1979, he became a staff writer for Blues & Soul Magazine.^[1] After a year he was promoted to features editor, a position he would hold until 1983. He left Blues & Soul to join London Records as an A&R manager.

Through his connections in London Records Tong was exposed to the newly emerging house music sound from Chicago. In 1986, Tong organised a compilation album, The House Sound of Chicago, Vol. 1, the first British release to gather and expose this genre.

Radio career[link]

Tong's first appearance on radio was in the late 1970s on Radio Invicta 92.4fm, Europe's first soul station. He joined a rotation of nightclub djs including Steve Walsh, Chris Hill, Chris Brown and others to present monthly guest shows. Later he appeared on local radio station BBC Radio Medway in the 'Soul Mafia' and doing occasional mixes for Radio London. In 1981 he made his first appearance on Radio 1 hosting a 15 minute feature on Peter Powell's show, playing the new tracks and covering the latest gossip and news from the dance world.

When Invicta Radio started up in Kent in 1984, Tong joined them to host a regular soul show, where assisted by local Kent journalist Eddie Gordon of the Kent Messenger he built up a big county profile. Tong stayed at Invicta until 1987. He was then hired by Capital Radio in 1988 at the suggestion of DJ Jeff Young to present a weekly dance programme. DJ Jeff Young having initially been offered the slot by Capital went to BBC Radio 1 to broadcast a weekly Friday night show called The Big Beat.

In 1991 Tong returned to national radio taking over the "hot" Friday night slot from the retiring Jeff Young. Thus Tong began his long stint as the host of the Essential Selection.

The Essential Selection was a BBC Radio 1 show that aired on Friday evenings, at varying times from 6-10pm between 1991 and 2006. From 1992 to 1993, a second weekly edition of the show aired on Sunday evenings from 7-8pm. From 29 September 2006 onwards, the show dropped its name in the UK from Essential Selection and was referred to as simply "Pete Tong: The Official Start To The Weekend", airing from 7-9pm until 2009 when it changed to 9-11pm. The programme showcases the latest dance & electronic music, and informs listeners what club nights are on around the United Kingdom at weekends. It is endorsed by Radio 1 as the official start to the weekend, and attracts one of the highest audiences for a radio show in the UK. There are no plans to change this successful format.

DJing[link]

Tong is one of England's most recognised DJs.^{[citation needed]} From 2003 to 2007 he was resident at the Pacha nightclub in Ibiza, drawing people from all over the world to his Pure Pacha nights. In 2008 he left Pacha and signed with Eden in Sant Antoni de Portmany to host his own Wonderland night. In March 2011 he announced that he would be returning to Pacha on Friday nights with his new event named 'All Gone Pete Tong'.

Pete Tong plays the Together Winter Music Festival in London at the Alexandra Palace on Saturday 26 November.

Mix album discography[link]

All chart positions are in the UK Compilation Chart^[2]

• Cream Live (1995) (#3) (CD1, mixed with Paul Oakenfold)
• The Annual (1995) (#13) (CD1)
• The Annual II (1996) (#1) (CD1)
• Dance Nation 3 (1997) (Mixed by Pete Tong and Judge Jules)
• Essential Selection Summer 1997 (1997) (#4) (Orange cover)
• The Annual III (1997) (#3) (CD1)
• Essential Selection Winter 1997 (1997) (#10) (Light blue cover)
• Dance Nation 5 (Mixed by Pete Tong and Boy George)
• Essential Selection Spring 1998 (#4) (Green cover)
• Essential Selection Summer 1998 (1998) (#4) (Red cover of strawberries)
• Essential Selection Summer 1998 (1998) (Limited Edition) (#2) (Yellow cover of strawberries, CD3 is Twelve Ibiza Classics mixed by Paul Oakenfold)
• Essential Selection '98 Tong/Oakenfold (1998) (#13) (Orange cover of oranges)
• Essential Selection '98 Tong/Oakenfold (1998) (Limited Edition) (#11) (Purple cover of tinted oranges, CD3 is mixed by Carl Cox)
• Essential Selection Spring 1999 (1999) (#13) (Cover of gold, green and purple easter eggs)
• Essential Selection Spring 1999 (1999) (Limited Edition) (#3) (Gold cover of easter eggs, CD3 is Hacienda Classics mixed by Graeme Park)
• Essential Selection Ibiza 1999 (1999) (#11) (Cover of blue, red and yellow buckets and spades)
• Essential Selection Ibiza 1999 (1999) (#7) (Cover of green, purple and virdian bucket and spades, CD3 is mixed by DJ Pippi)
• Essential Millennium (1999) (#10) (Mixed by Pete Tong/Fatboy Slim/Paul Oakenfold)
• Essential Selection Spring 2000 (2000) (#8)
• Essential Selection Ibiza 2000 (2000) (#11)
• Essential Mix 2000 (2000)
• Twisted Beats (2001)
• Essential Selection Presents The Clubber's Bible Winter 2002 (2001)
• Fashion TV Presents Pete Tong (2003)
• Essential Selection Pete Tong (2003) (did not chart)
• Pure Pacha Ibiza: Mixed by Pete Tong and Andy B (2004)
• It's Showtime! (Pete Tong Presents Pure Pacha Vol.II Summer Season 2005 (2005)
• Essential Classics (2005)
• Pure Pacha Vol.1 (2006) (Mixed by Pete Tong & Sarah Main)
• Essential Dance Mix (2006)
• Pure Pacha 3 (Mixed with Pete Tong and Sarah Main)
• Wonderland (2008)
• Pete Tong Presents Wonderland 2009 (2009)
• Pete Tong Presents Wonderland 2010 (2010)
• Pete Tong and Riva Starr: Future Underground (2011)
• All Gone Pete Tong & Felix da House Cat Ibiza '11 (2011)
• All Gone Pete Tong & Groove Armada Miami '12 (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Pete Tong at BBC Programmes
• Pete Tong Interview - Laptoprockers (2009)
• Pete Tong Interview (2006)
• Pete Tong discography at Discogs
• Interview with DJ Times, 2000
• Video; Pete Tong interviewed by Paul Morley, 2010

Further reading[link]

• "Pete Tong Issues a Wikipedia Correction and Announces Concert at Mansion October 27" blog post by S. Pajot on "CrossFade, the Music Blog", Tue., Oct. 19 2010 @ 1:00PM, accessed October 19, 2010

An Elie Saab gown in a Beirut, Lebanon shop window, 2005.

Elie Saab (Arabic: إيلي صعب) (born July 4, 1964), sometimes known simply as 'ES', is a Lebanese fashion designer.

In 1982, Saab launched his Beirut-based fashion label when he was 18 years old. His main workshop is in Lebanon. He also has workshops in Milan and Paris.

Born to Maronite Catholic^[1] parents in Beirut, Saab is self-trained. He started sewing as a child and knew that one day he would make a living out of it. In 1981 he moved to Paris to study fashion, but ended up returning and opening his workshop in 1982. In 1997 Saab was the first non-Italian designer to become a member of the Italian Camera Nazionale della Moda, and in 1997, showed his first collection outside Lebanon in Rome. In 1998, he started ready-to-wear in Milan, and in the same year, he held a fashion show in Monaco which was attended by Princess Stéphanie of Monaco.

He became an overnight success after he became the first Lebanese designer to dress an Oscar winner, Halle Berry, in 2002.^[2] Berry wore a burgundy gown by Saab to the 2002 Academy Awards when she won for Best Actress. Berry later wore another dress by Saab, this time a gold dress, to the 2003 Oscars.

In May 2003, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture invited him to become a member, and he showed his first haute couture collection in Paris in July 2003. His first ready-to-wear collection in Paris was the Spring-Summer 2006 collection, and Paris is now his permanent ready-to-wear runway.

His creations can be found all over the world, with boutiques located in Beirut, Paris and London (also in Selfridges and Harrods).

Notable clients[link]

Saab is an established designer for royalty. At his show at Paris Fashion Week, October 2011, front row guests included Princess Beatrice and Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana of Thailand. ^[3]

Other royalty dressed by Saab include:

• Queen Rania of Jordan^[4]
• Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden,^[5],
• Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg.

Saab has dressed celebrities such as

• Emma Watson
• Beyoncé^[4],
• Aishwarya Rai ^[6][7],
• Anna Kendrick ^[8],
• Christina Aguilera^[9],
• Catherine Zeta-Jones^[4],
• Angelina Jolie^[10],
• Celine Dion^[11],
• Elena Anaya^[7],
• Elsa Zylberstein^[7],
• Kristen Stewart,
• Rihanna
• Mila Kunis.
• Jessica Biel.
• Katy Perry.
• Sonam Kapoor.
• Nawal Al Zoghbi
• Halle Berry
• Milla Jovovich.
• Haifa Wehbe.
• Rachel McAdams

References[link]

External links[link]

• Elie Saab Official Website
• Elie Saab designer profile at Fashion Model Directory
• Elie Saab Beirut Store