Philip Seymour Hoffman’s memorial service was held Friday in NYC. Many celebrities and A-listers came out for the event, including: Meryl Streep, Joaquin Phoenix, Cate Blanchett, Louis CK, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux, Ethan Hawke, Ellen Burstyn and John C. Reilly. The header photo is Amy Adams and her partner Darren. Amy and PSH worked together at least three times that I can see – Doubt, Charlie Wilson’s War and The Master. Apparently, Amy appeared on Inside the Actor’s Studio this past week and when she was asked about Hoffman, she broke down in tears and she was crying so hard she could barely get out any words. My point? Amy adored Hoffman and she came to his memorial out of love, respect and sadness. But the PR people at Valentino thought Amy’s appearance was a good time to promote the fact that she was carrying one of their bags (see photo here).
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s wake was just another runway for one fashion house. A tone-deaf publicist for Italian designer Valentino blasted out pictures of a downcast Amy Adams — taken outside of Hoffman’s wake Thursday — to promote one of its newest fashion accessories.
“We are pleased to announce Amy Adams carrying the Valentino Garavany Rockstud Duble bag from the Spring/Summer 2014 collection on Feb. 6 in New York,” Valentino’s flack, Upasna Khosla, e-mailed to journalists and bloggers.
Adams, who co-starred with Hoffman in “The Master,” was photographed outside the Frank E. Campbell funeral home on the Upper East Side standing near a town car wearing dark shades and a scarf — and carrying the hot new tote that retails for $3,275.
Valentino spokeswoman Mona Swanson apologized for the crass marketing blitz, calling it an “innocent mistake.”
“We sincerely regret releasing a photo to the media this morning of Amy Adams with a Valentino bag,” Swanson said in a statement to The Post. “We were not aware the photograph was taken while she was attending the wake of Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was an innocent mistake, and we apologize to Ms. Adams who was not aware, or a part of, our p.r. efforts.”
The blast from Khosla, a “celebrity relations manager,” included two pictures of Adams from photo agencies Getty and Zumapress. The captions on both photos said they were shot at Hoffman’s wake.
“Amy Adams attends the wake for actor Philip Seymour Hoffman at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel on February 6, 2014 in New York City,” the caption on the Getty image says. Khosla’s marketing e-mail didn’t include the photo captions, only pictures followed by a promotion for the bag.
When asked whether the publicist saw the captions, Valentino did not respond to the question. Khosla’s e-mail was also riddled with typos — including the name of the bag, which is actually called the Valentino Garavani Rockstud Double bag.
The company insists she will keep her job. Valentino was quick to emphasize that Adams had no role in the promotion and did not know the pictures would be used for publicity. Adams’ own rep agreed.
“Amy Adams is not a paid spokesperson for Valentino, and the suggestion she would use this moment to participate in a promotion is truly appalling,” spokeswoman Megan Moss Pachon said in a statement.
The actress has no public contract with Valentino but did wear a red Valentino dress to the Golden Globes to accept her award for “American Hustle.”
Meanwhile, an UGG Australia source said the company sent out sheepskin boots as gifts to celebrities in New York for Hoffman’s wake and funeral in the hopes they would wear them and be photographed. The associate said the company did the “gifting because they knew a ton of celebs were in New York City and the weather sucks.”
A company spokeswoman insisted the celebrities had made requests for the popular boots.
“UGG Australia has received a number of requests this week,” the spokeswoman, Kristen Scaravaglione, said in a statement to The Post.
[From Page Six]
Yeah… that’s really awful. And I agree, that’s not on Amy Adams at all. She just grabbed a purse, and it wasn’t like she was screaming “LOOK AT ME!” at the funeral. It was very tacky and graceless of the Valentino PR people to do an email blast about it.
One exception to the “don’t pay attention to what celebrities are wearing at funerals” rule: when the funeral is for a fashion designer. Whenever a major designer dies, the women who loved the designer tend to wear the designer’s clothes to the funeral. Remember Alexander McQueen’s funeral? It was all A-listers wearing gorgeous McQueen clothes. And that’s what McQueen would have wanted too, I’m sure. But that’s not the case for Hoffman’s memorial.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
Thanks to Cele Bitchy
