From the Lucire behind-the-scenes photo ?les: here’s LA correspondent Karen Loftus with Mario Batali, whom she regards as the chef of the moment in her town, with his restaurant Mozza. (Thanks to Emily DeBevoise of BluPRint.)

The Golden Globes are still going to wind up in the print edition of Lucire but meanwhile, here are two shots we received from the Screen Actors’ Guild awards from jeweller Roberto Coin. ‘SAG winner for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, Jenna Fischer wore two bracelets from Roberto Coin’s Diamond Collection. Valued at a total of $64,000, Fischer dressed up her out?t with the diamond bracelets which shined with approximately 25 carats of diamonds.’
   Roberto Coin is increasingly highly regarded. In business for 25 years, Coin now has Christy Turlington as his spokesmodel, and can count Ashley Judd, Salma Hayek, Diane Lane, Brooke Shields, Emmy Rossum, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Love Hewitt among the wearers of his jewellery.

In the ’box today: Australian women’s motoring website SheBuys.com.au has found in a survey that 85 per cent of Australian women say that ‘money is no object when it comes to being green’. It also revealed that a third of all women would trade in their car for an environmentally friendly scooter. ‘With increasing pressure for an ongoing solution to climate change, Aussie women are amongst the most environmentally conscious on the planet and are prepared to spend more in order to assist in their bid to go green,’ says the site.
   The results are more signi?cant than the site might know, given that women play a huge part in car purchasing decisions in relationships. When I still keep seeing gas guzzlers come out of some companies, I have to wonder what strategy is being followed.
   As far back as 2000, Lucire tried to push home the message that SUVs were passé, that there would be a fuel crisis and that subcompacts would become increasingly trendy. It’s why the ?rst Lucire Car to Be Seen in was an Audi A4 Avant, not a Dodge Durango.
   Companies like Suzuki, encountering a sales’ surge for models like the Swift, deserve to do well.

Karen Loftus’s story on San Diego is online now, for those who want a break away from Los Angeles that’s not too far away from the southern Californian metropolis. It was a case of ‘Who knew?’ as Karen uncovers some of the hidden gems in the San Diego area, just two hours from her home base.

   Meanwhile, Brad Green, formerly of the US Navy, has emailed to say that he has started a T-shirt line called Peace Love Life, with a clever and simple idea. Each T-shirt has the words peace, love and life, plus a city’s name—in the written language of the place that it’s touting.
   Brad writes, ‘We exist to connect people of different cultures and languages by promoting and celebrating peace, love and life around the world through socially-conscious fashion. Our collection began with major cities and capitals of the world, and quickly grew to include areas of con?ict like Baghdad, Darfur, Haiti and New Orleans. A donation from each purchase is made to organizations that bene?t struggling or con?ict regions of the world. We’ve also recently added a special edition San Diego t-shirt. $10 from each special edition shirt is donated to the San Diego American Red Cross to bene?t victims of the 2007 ?restorm and other local disasters.’
   We didn’t time these two things about San Diego, California to coincide—but it’s always nice to notice when they do. Someone up there is telling us that we’re on the right course.

Lucire, the international fashion magazine headquartered in New Zealand, has announced that it has collaborated with the Twinpalms Phuket resort and Asia Design Consultants Ltd. to see an extra print edition in Thailand.
   Twinpalms Lucire launches February 20 with 5,000 copies distributed through the Surin Beach, Phuket resort and its sister properties.
   The magazine has features on fashion, lifestyle and travel, with a lesser emphasis on beauty when compared to Lucire’s other print editions.
   Miguel Kirjon of Asia Design Consultants oversaw the production and editorial mix, in collaboration with Lucire founder and publisher Jack Yan, deputy editor Sylvia Giles and assistants Dominique Whittaker and Ashleigh Berry.
   Many of the Lucire articles had been commissioned by Laura Ming-Wong, the magazine’s editor in New Zealand.
   Mr Yan says, ‘This is another small step in growing the Lucire brand, targeting it at an aspirational audience that says, “I want to be a step ahead.” We’re con?dent that the Twinpalms audience will love our mixture and socially responsible approach to fashion and lifestyle reporting.
   ‘I’m also delighted that Miguel has created a unique look founded in the Swiss school of design. It’s very different from the home edition and it’s a classy production.’
   In addition to its design direction, Mr Kirjon has commissioned many additional, original articles for the Twinpalms’ side of the magazine.
   Twinpalms Phuket is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, one of the most exclusive collectives of hotel properties internationally. The resort is privately owned, with a private beach club and an enviable location next to Millionaires’ Cove.
   Lucire started as an online fashion magazine in 1997 and is notable for having diversi?ed into print, rather than adopt the print-to-web approach of its competitors. Its Webby-nominated website remains a popular destination for fashion leaders, while the print magazine is regarded as a luxurious and socially responsible publication.

There’s always some speculation every few years on what the next James Bond movie will be called and now, it’s of?cial: Quantum of Solace.
   It’s one of the few Ian Fleming title names left, this time from one of the late author’s short stories in the For Your Eyes Only anthology.
   Some fans had speculated on the possibility of this title in the 1980s as Eon Productions, the company behind the ?lms, began using Bond creator Fleming’s short story titles (e.g. The Living Daylights in 1987).
   The movie is intended to be a direct sequel to the 2006 hit, Casino Royale, and Daniel Craig reprises his role as Bond.
   In Quantum of Solace, to be released November 7, Bond seeks vengeance for the death of Vesper Lynd, played in the previous ?lm by Eva Green.

As Casino Royale was based on Ian Fleming’s ?rst James Bond novel, the ?lmmakers may wish to retain more of the literary elements of the character. It might be fair to speculate that the third Daniel Craig story, if the newest ?lms are to be a trilogy, will also have a Fleming title.
   For more information, the BBC website has an interview with Daniel Craig and an exclusive look at one of the sets at Pinewood Studios.

Lucire editor Laura Ming-Wong, Miss New Zealand 2007 Laural Barrett and I will be among the judges of the StarNow 2008 Australian Model Search. 
   Each time I judge a competition, I get asked what I am looking for.
   The requirements of a fashion magazine for models include talent that can look different each time. We don’t want a Derek Zoolander with a Blue Steel look. We want a model who, depending on angle, poses, mood and just her “look” can convey anything from cool to sultry, playful to dramatic.
   I don’t think conventional beauty always works with models, either. This idea has been helped by shows such as America’s Next Top Model: all the girls on that are stunning but very quickly, Tyra and her judges whittle the contestants down, often starting with the least ?exible and most conventional of them.
   When judging the Cadbury Dream Model Search last year, I really liked how my fellow judges were conscious of family and education commitments, as I was. This is important, too: the maturity of the entrant and whether she has the focus that will enable her to succeed both in her education and in her career.
   Modelling, despite the mischief Kate Moss might get up to, is not fun and games. This is work, and usually very hard work. Discipline is key to the job.
   We look forward to seeing what entrants are signing up the competition and if it sounds like you, surf to www.starnow.com.au/modelsearch.

I still think of Katherine Heigl as the girl I should have tried harder to secure a cover with, because she’s now huge in 2008. Prior to that, Katy came into conversation as she was a classmate of a Lucire team member, and I had probably seen Under Siege 2 more times than I should admit on this blog.
   We read with interest that she has a line of scrubs out, which might ?t in with her role on Grey’s Anatomy more than the fashion icon that she has become this year. According to the release we got from a Katherine Heigl licensee:

Like the ?lm and television star herself, the scrubs are bright, bold and beautiful, a perfect ?t for nurses who are not afraid of making a statement. Inspired by the hot summers of Miami, Monterey, Nantucket and New York—the collection ranges from soft and elegant to bold and sophisticated, incorporating a level of details that has never been brought to scrub wear before. Produced by Dallas-based Peaches Uniforms, each line is approved by Heigl, who was the inspiration for the line’s combination of high-end fashion with down-to earth practicality.

   Nurses deserve great fashion, too, but this does smack a tad of commercialism. Still, without Heigl, there would be fewer people knowing about these designs, and something contemporary might just be, well, what the doctor ordered. I just think of Katherine more with images of glamorous gowns, brand-wise.

Readers will notice the Levi’s 501 Design Challenge graphic on our home page today, which is tied to the Project Runway competition on TV. The challenge: to create iconic looks based on pairs of Levi’s 501 jeans and the trucker jacket.
   But now, you can join in the fun. On the Design Challenge page at the Levi’s US site, you can now create your own designs. Use the 501 jeans and the trucker jacket as raw materials, you can design your own masterpiece, with the important criterion being to capture the originality and spirit of Levi’s.
   Your deadline is February 6, 2008.
   You’ll need to register ?rst, and the online Project 501 community will vote. You can even sign up as a judge.
   After the voting, if your design has been chosen, it will be produced and sold via levi.com. So get your friends to register and rate—the more ?ve-rivet ratings you get, the more likely you’ll make it into the top 20.
   We hope folks will check out Levi’s special section on the 501 Design Challenge!

Australian-born, Oscar-nominated actor Heath Ledger, 28, has been found dead in a Soho, New York apartment.
   The New York Police Department has confirmed his death. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger was found by a housekeeper at 3.26 p.m., who went to tell him that a masseuse had arrived for an appointment. ‘We don’t know the cause of the death,’ said Browne, who also told journalists that investigations were ongoing as to whether foul play was involved.
   Some sources are reporting that drugs may have been involved, and that sleeping pills were found at the apartment.
   Born April 4, 1979, Ledger grew up in his home town of Perth, WA and began his career in amateur theatre at age 10. When he was 16, he went to Sydney to pursue his career and began landing roles on television and independent movies. He moved to Los Angeles at age 19, and starred in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate about You.
   He was cast in the Mel Gibson starrer The Patriot, which then led to his leading role in A Knight’s Tale.
   He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005—the youngest nominee in the Best Actor category—for his role in Brokeback Mountain.
   Ledger was engaged to actress Michelle Williams in 2005 but the couple split up last year. They have a daughter, Matilda Rose, aged two. Most recently, some tabloids have linked him romantically to Australian model Gemma Ward.
   Ledger was due to appear in the Batman film The Dark Knight, as the Joker.