And by “Jack of all Trades” we mean.…he does every­thing. After estab­lish­ing him­self in the mod­el­ing indus­try, he uti­lized his tal­ents, expe­ri­ence and love of art to develop his own world of fash­ion, unique inde­pen­dence, and an over­all brand to make him­self not only one of the most ver­sa­tile indi­vid­u­als in fash­ion, but one of integrity and passion.

In the midst of his busy sched­ule, Bran­don gave Emer­ald Chic’s fash­ion cor­re­spon­dent, Patrick, a few moments of his time for some insight into his career, his expan­sion, and even a few point­ers for you men out there look­ing for some fash­ion advice.

PH: What can you say is an “unfor­get­table mod­el­ing moment”?

BT: That’s a hard one for me to answer and nar­row it down, I thank God daily for what he’s given to me in this busi­ness. Most of my guy friends would say its prob­a­bly a job I’ve had play­ing Heidi Klum’s lover for Vogue over a few days work, a sexy rolling around shoot with Alessan­dra Ambro­sio on the beach, sleep­ing in Elle Macpherson’s house or hav­ing Gisele Bund­chen top­less on me for a shoot for a jeans com­pany cam­paign but that (as crazy as it sounds) became nor­mal. I would prob­a­bly say it was stay­ing in a 17 bed­room Igloo in the top of the Alps in Switzer­land for work for two weeks and get­ting paid to be in the most beau­ti­ful place I’d ever seen while snow­board­ing, snow­mo­bil­ing, and eat­ing fon­due daily!

PH: So, what’s new with you? You are quite the DJ-​​in-​​Demand. How is the dj career going?

BT: The career is amaz­ing! It’s mov­ing a lit­tle faster than I wish but how do you com­plain about that? The prob­lem with being a jack of all trades is God only made 24 hrs in a day. Recently, I’ve been spin­ning fun stuff like Sun­glass Hut Store Open­ing with the Strokes, a celebs birth­day party with The Fugees, and a one on one gig with R Kelly with me mix­ing and him per­form­ing for the club (he’s still got it).

PH: Like a num­ber of mod­els, you have branched out into another busi­ness. For me, it has been jour­nal­ism and event pro­duc­tion. And I hear rumors of you dab­bling in inte­rior design. Fill us in on this. What is the name and what are the origins?

BT: Well I grew up with a dad that taught me how to make every­thing with my own two hands. I watched him sin­gle hand­edly build our house and teach me all of this along the way. I love being a handy­man and actu­ally think­ing out­side the box for dif­fer­ent ideas. Such as my old walk­ing stick as my cur­tain rod and recy­cling old pieces and turn­ing them into my creation.

PH: What is the focus? Are you like Cindy Craw­ford Home and Kathy Ireland’s line, focused on devel­op­ing prod­ucts for the home, or are you more focused on design­ing inte­ri­ors by shop­ping for items that fit into a client’s par­tic­u­lar style philosophy.

BT: I am actu­ally try­ing to do a triple play. I want to make my own art, sell them their apart­ments or con­dos (yes I also do real estate too), and design their apart­ment with my art inside.

PH: What are your upcom­ing design projects? Any clients of note that you can mention?

BT: Well I’ve actu­ally now been asked about putting my art in a gallery here now and I’m prep­ping for a hair salon I’m design­ing in SoHo, which should be very inter­est­ing as I have full lee­way to do as I wish.

PH: CONGRATS on both counts. What were the design cues/​inspirations for your space?

BT: I have always been in love with design­ing to look like you stepped foot into another coun­try or time era. My place is now really Moroc­can style with col­ors and fur­ni­ture that I’ve made.

PH: What else is going on in Bran­don Trentham’s life? I hear a char­i­ta­ble orga­ni­za­tion is on the hori­zon, fill us in.

BT: My Favorite Sub­ject to talk about!!!!!! I have been work­ing with so many dif­fer­ent char­i­ties and groups for many years now but never had a sole pur­pose or project. The “Hope House Hon­duras” is just that, a Chris­t­ian run orphan­age that gives them hope and light at the end of the tun­nel. I am work­ing full time with it now as well and just built the web­site for it myself. Peo­ple can find out on the site how to become a part of it and see the bless­ings that I have got­ten to. www​.Hope​house​hon​duras​.org

PH: Finally, no one can deny that you are one of the most styl­ish mod­els around. While the rest of us fall back to the “Reli­able Model Uni­form” of white v-​​neck t-​​shirt, jeans, boots, and a really good watch, you are always turned out in some­thing über-​​tasteful and edgy. Be it see­ing you on the red car­pet, bump­ing into you at a restau­rant, or even train­ing with you at the gym (yes, we are train­ing partners…lifting upper body today), you always get it right. What is your per­sonal style philosophy?

BT: It’s not about being on the brink of the new trend, it’s about being dif­fer­ent from every­one else. By the time peo­ple start wear­ing the same thing as me I wanna be over it. I like to buy a nice piece and change it to my lik­ing, whether its patches and new but­tons or cut­ting off a col­lar or half the sleeves. I once cut a whole in the top back of my jeans to have a place for my ban­dana to go through and tie. Dif­fer­ent is good. Your style should match your per­son­al­ity and never con­form. That’s BORING!

PH: What is your present fash­ion obses­sion? That one piece you have/​want to get? Mine is a Pey­man Umay bespoke suit, I wore one on the red car­pet and have cov­eted one ever since?

BT: HHHMMM well in the win­ter it was my heated under­wear (lol), but now my new bowtie obses­sion for the sum­mer. The web­site is called www​.ties​for​char​ity​.com and just as it sounds when you pur­chase them money gives back! What bet­ter way!

PH: What tips would you give guys out there for “get­ting it right”?

BT: Well that’s a broad ques­tion but if it’s about fash­ion, only wear what your com­fort­able in, if your not peo­ple can tell. If it’s about women, be your­self and never use a line, a sim­ple hello goes along way. If it’s about life, I’ll have to get back to you I’m still read­ing the book now.

Wall St. was all a buzz last night as celebri­ties, socialites, and phil­an­thropists filed in to Cipriani’s for the annual gala for Oper­a­tion Smile, a world­wide non-​​profit orga­ni­za­tion which adamantly works towards giv­ing chil­dren the one thing that always remains a uni­ver­sal sign of encour­age­ment, hap­pi­ness, and heart…a smile.

With paparazzi swarm­ing, camera’s flashed and videos recorded (includ­ing ours) as guests stepped out on the red car­pet and into the lime­light. Hon­orary guest, Jes­sica Simp­son, gra­ciously greeted those seek­ing her com­ments and expe­ri­ence she’s had with Oper­a­tion Smile over the past year. As a Smile Ambas­sador, Jes­sica, has donated her time and tal­ents to sup­port and reach out to those chil­dren who are born with a cleft lip or cleft palate, the cen­tral goal for this non-​​profit. Last year’s efforts in India were the main rea­son for last night’s cel­e­bra­tion, which also cul­mi­nated in rais­ing sev­eral hun­dreds of thou­sands of dol­lars for the cause.

Thanks to styl­ist, Wayne Har­ris, who styled me up in a beau­ti­ful long gown from Jovani, I ven­tured in Cipri­ani where I met Patrick, our fash­ion cor­re­spon­dent who looked fab in his Byb­los tux and Gucci shoes.

The gala began with a per­for­mance by a Bol­ly­wood dance troupe and post-​​dinner was an amaz­ing duo of DJ plus vio­lin­ist, Caitlin Moe, who lit­er­ally rocked the house. Dressed to impress, designer labels adorned every­one seated inside Cipriani’s, which in itself is a piece of art with huge mar­ble columns and his­tor­i­cal archi­tec­ture. Other celebrity atten­dees included the evening’s host,  Nick Can­non, Nigel Parry, Melanie Dunea, Lydia Hearst, Jai Rodriguez, and sev­eral others.

Patrick, myself, along with friends in tow, all par­tic­i­pated in the evening’s affairs. A video shown dur­ing the night show­cased all the hard work and effort that paid off dur­ing much of the time spent in India pro­vid­ing surg­eries for chil­dren in need of care. One par­tic­u­lar guest of note was brought on stage, but this time, it wasn’t a celebrity or famous social fig­ure. It was a sweet lit­tle girl from India who was liv­ing proof that Oper­a­tion Smile is worth keep­ing alive. With a per­fect smile and per­fect teeth, you would have never known that this young lady was born with a cleft palate and had gone through sev­eral major surg­eries for some­one as young as she.

Def­i­nitely tap­ping into my inner phil­an­thropist and my urge to shed a tear, it was with great appre­ci­a­tion that I watched and learned about this orga­ni­za­tion and their inten­sive efforts all around the world. Hats off to those who sup­port, vol­un­teer, and part­ner with Oper­a­tion Smile. Besides, smiles are so con­ta­gious, why wouldn’t we want every­one to have one!!

WHAT A NIGHT!!

The loca­tion — gor­geous… The drinks — potent… The crowd — super sexy… The “Oceans 07” Pisces birth­day event did not disappoint!!!

Orig­i­nally started at Bruce Willis’ Spy­der Room sev­eral years ago, then only mod­els, Patrick Hazle­wood and Adam Cringler hosted the 1^st annual “Swim­ming with the Fishes” birth­day party.  It was a small but chic affair with an all white theme.

The “lit­tle gath­er­ing” has expanded to include other Pisces e.g. graphic design guru Michelle Foer­ster, leather designer Aaron Arling­haus, model and tal­ent man­ager Bran­don Mills, and actress Ash­leigh Jen­nifer Parker (her absence regret­tably was due to a seri­ous auto acci­dent, we wish her bet­ter).  Pre­vi­ous events have been held in such chic New York spots as Ruby Falls, Aer, Upstairs.  This year guests enjoyed the amaz­ingly hos­pitable Hud­son Terrace.

This year, the event’s theme was “Glam­our Glam­our” — and more glam­our was deliv­ered.  Sev­eral guests were bedecked in evening gowns, chic suits, and tuxe­dos.  The glass ceil­ing was lit with thou­sands of tiny stars, as guests sipped on the cus­tom designed “Oceans 7″ cock­tails.  The beats were pro­vided by DJ Jeff Haze, the “new kid on the block” who is mak­ing a seri­ous name for him­self around New York City.

Guests received the sig­na­ture neck­lace cre­ated by Haus Leather, which has become a much-​​sought– after memento of each year’s ‘do’ and were then directed to the cen­ter cabana where the cel­e­brants held court. Our fab­u­lous fash­ion cor­re­spon­dent, Patrick Hazle­wood was sport­ing a clas­sic din­ner jacket, bow-​​tie and dark rimmed glasses… “a Tom-​​Ford-​​Moment” that only a clas­sic man like him could pull off.  Deadly-​​chic Bran­don Mills rocked a killer black suit by Paul LaFontaine — the gents looked dapper.

The ladies didn’t dis­ap­point either. Dark-​​haired beauty Fabi­ana Por­tolano, of Por­tolano cashmere-​​fame, and the enchant­ing green-​​eyes, was resplen­dent in a floor length Tadashi gown with a daz­zling train, which con­trasted with the BCBG Max Azria short dress and Chris­t­ian Laboutin heels worn by actress Fiona Kuchina. Other nota­bles present included super­mod­els Ryan Daharsh, Oliver Bork, Jis­lain Duval, Tim Rev­ell and Sean Harju, pho­tog­ra­pher Ren Sal­iba, actors Thomas Beau­doin, Sam Sny­der, and John Vit­ulli, dancer Ash­ley Lay­field, and Moulin Rouge star Brook­lyn Pascoe.

SO THERE I WAS WATCHING A FRIEND of mine pack for a job abroad and saw him unfold­ing what looked to be a clas­sic pashmina.

 “J, what’s the deal with the pash­mina? Can’t say I have seen many guys sport­ing those.”

“Patrick, first of all, when you fold it like this (he quickly wrapped it into a clas­sic “scarf knot”) no one has any idea it is as large as it is, it looks like a nor­mal scarf, and sec­ondly, you know how cold those trans-​​Atlantic flights can be and have you seen what they have found on those sup­pos­edly clean, vac­uum packed blan­kets on the planes?!?!”

 He had me with that!!!! I had read the arti­cles and was sold! It was then that I too started trav­el­ing with a pash­mina as a scarf; in fact, there is one I leave in my carry-​​on.

Well, this month’s “PATRICK’S FAVORITE THINGS” includes the ulti­mate in over-​​sized wraps, from PORTOLANO the lux­ury cash­mere and leather goods com­pany. Estab­lished in Italy in 1895, this com­pany not only pro­duces under the fam­ily name, but is also the sup­plier to such labels as Moschino, Alberta Fer­retti, and Armani, to name but a few, and is a favorite amongst many a celebrity. The “hand” of the wrap USD$90.00 defies descrip­tion, but I can say it is a bit smaller than the clas­sic pash­mina, but is a gor­geous alter­na­tive. It is a super thick, light grey-​​ribbed cash­mere that is so incred­i­bly soft to the touch. I have a flight to the Caribbean soon and know this will dou­ble as the per­fect super lux­u­ri­ous in-​​flight blan­ket. It has replaced my $10 sidewalk-​​special ver­sion as my must have for travel.

While check­ing out the wraps, I couldn’t resist a few more of this ven­er­a­ble house’s offerings.

The deer­skin gloves USD$55.00 pic­tured are beau­ti­fully hand-​​stitched and lined in the warmest rab­bit fur. The color is not quite black, not quite brown, so it goes with almost every coat and they are incred­i­bly warm. The leather is noth­ing short of sump­tu­ous and, with time, they become “like but­ter”! They are a replace­ment for a beloved pair from the com­pany that had worn in per­fectly. Unfor­tu­nately, some­one at The Rose Bar liked them more than I, and made off with them…yes, I AM still a bit bitter!!!!

The two other items were pure indul­gences. The striped sweater USD$150.00 is a beau­ti­ful light­weight cash­mere which would be wear­able for at least 8 months out of the year. And those gloves…those gloves, deer­skin palms with cro­chet back­ing USD$30.00 beau­ti­ful. And…SOOOO UNIQUE… 

PORTOLANO mer­chan­dise is avail­able at select bou­tiques, Bergdorf Good­man, Neiman Mar­cus, Saks, Lord and Tay­lor, and Bloomingdale’s, and on line at www. por​tolano​.com.

Pho­tos cour­tesy of Thomas Beaudoin!

Held at The Bow­ery Hotel, which made a fab­u­lously inti­mate set­ting, the Loris Diran’s fall col­lec­tion “Unspo­ken” show­cased beau­ti­ful silks, lace, and vin­tage glam cul­ture into each design that came down the cat­walk. Inspired by the silent movie era, Loris Diran’s designs incor­po­rated a con­tem­po­rary approach to the glam­orous 20s style with stun­ning sil­hou­ettes, struc­tured suits and flow­ing gowns. After chat­ting back­stage with Loris after the show, it is clear that his love for design shows through the strength and close detail that is inter­wo­ven into each piece. The soft­ness and quiet con­fi­dence that came down the run­way cre­ated the illu­sion that I should be sit­ting next to one of the old movie icons of the day.

Alto­gether, the show incor­po­rated designs for both men and woman. At Loris’ after-​​party located at The Gates, we recapped the designs on the big screen where a video of the show played through­out the evening while all gath­ered to toast and cel­e­brate in his beau­ti­ful col­lec­tion. Indeed, it was a fab­u­lous day…and evening!