Alexa Chung hits the decks to DJ for Moschino fans at Fashion Night Out in New York

She is the fashion world It girl that everybody wants on their guestlist and last night Alexa Chung's port of call was the Moschino store in the Meatpacking district, New York.
The 28-year-old model swapped the red carpet for the DJ decks as she spun some tunes for dancing partygoers.
Dressed in a tight black dress with floral, ruffled embellishment and her trademark red lipstick, she looked glamorous but cool and her chunky headphones added to her stylish appeal.

Alexa Chung looked stunning in a fitted black dress and matching black clutch as she posed for photographers at Moschino

Alexa caught herself in a style faux pas as she attempted to put on her headphones

Alexa is our best-dressed export, consistently topping style lists and influencing the wardrobes of woman across the UK so it came as no surprise that she looked every inch the part.

She showed off her stylish and bright coloured floral nail art as she attempted to keep her hair in pristine condition using the headphones.

Alexa Chung showed off her cool nail art at the event

TheTV persenter looked confused as she tried to work the DJ decks, but help was at hand

The star has won the Style Icon award twice at the British Fashion Awards, she has a Mulberry handbag named after her and this year she was was rewarded for all that hard work being fabulous with a specially created ambassador role for the British Fashion Council.
She has even recently confirmed that she will launch her own clothing label.

Other glamorous FNO attendees included slim Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, 30, who clashed her magenta lips with her long-sleeved red dress and kissy platforms at QVC in New York.

The model was in good spirits as she played some great music for dancing guests in the store

Also at QVC was the usually fabulous Nicole Richie, 30, who took a fashion misstep in her drab and busy teal dress and black booties.
Alessandra Ambrosio bordered on ice-skater chic with her pleated pink mini-dress while posing in the trendy Soho district.
So You Think You Can Dance host Cat Deeley, 35, looked lovely in her black starry dress at the Woolite Washed Boutique in New York.
Meanwhile, the amply-charmed model Kate Upton, 20, could barely contain her assets in a simple turquoise knee-length dress.

Alessandra Ambrosio did ice skater chic in Soho and Cat Deeley came out on top in her starry LBD at the Woolite Washed Boutique

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The Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl helped judge a karaoke contest at Michael Kors' Madison Avenue store alongside the designer and Will & Grace actress Debra Messing.

Meanwhile down under in Sydney, Miranda Kerr broke the 'don't wear white after Labor Day' rule in her ladylike floral dress and red pumps.
The 29-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel looked chic and polished at the Kora Organics pop up store in Martin Place.

When David Harewood landed the role as a tough, do-it-by-the-book CIA spymaster for the Golden Globe-winning drama series Homeland, he arranged to meet a real-life spook to learn how to make it authentic. After all, as a former barman from Birmingham, he could hardly be expected to know much about the highly classified world of America’s fight against terrorism. And who better to turn to than the glamorous woman who — as a professional veteran spy — was advising the show’s writers, and on whom the main character, CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is based? Spymaster: David Harewood, centre, with Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody and Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison Spymaster: David Harewood, centre, with Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody and Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison But Harewood — cast as CIA boss David Estes — found himself being given a full-on interrogation. ‘It was supposed to be me pumping her for information,’ he recalls. ‘Instead, I suspect I told her far more about myself than I wanted to — or realised I was doing. If I’d been a terrorist, she would have had a confession out of me within minutes’. They met for what Harewood had hoped would be an informal briefing over lunch. ‘She was in her 40s and had been working for the CIA since she was 18. That much I got out of her. There was a hint of cleavage, and to anyone watching, we would have seemed like an ordinary couple. More... * That's classified information! Pregnant Homeland star Claire Danes plans to keep baby's sex a secret * From Slough with love: BOND ON BOND: THE ULTIMATE BOOK ON 50 YEARS OF BOND MOVIES BY ROGER MOORE * Live And Let BUY! Bond memorabilia including Quantum Of Solace Aston Martin, Solitaire's tarot cards and Scaramanga's golden bullet buckle up for sale ‘But the moment we sat down, she fixed her gaze on me and not once did she avert her eyes. I was aware that she was forensically examining me, making a mental note of any habits or flaws, storing away everything about me. ‘On the surface, it was all very affable. But I was unnerved. I tried looking away, but she kept her eyes locked on to mine. She was very, very good at not giving anything away. I knew I was being given a highly professional once-over, and I was never going to penetrate that hard outer shell.’ Private lesson: David Harewood got a one-to-one with a CIA spy in preparation for his Homeland role Private lesson: David Harewood got a one-to-one with a CIA spy in preparation for his Homeland role So what did he learn from her? ‘That these people are very intense, ruthless in their determination to hunt down the bad guys, and they never take anyone at face value — they are burrowing deep inside your psyche.’ He says the CIA’s attitude permeates the Homeland set. ‘Normally, I’m looking for a bit of fun when the cameras aren’t rolling. But everyone is so consumed with the stories that it’s as if we really are immersed in a very serious fight. ‘The script calls for me to be closely analysing everything that’s said and done, never taking anything for granted, and I find myself doing it off the set, too.’ Homeland, shown here on Channel 4, follows the story of Nicholas Brody (played by another Brit, Damian Lewis), a U.S. Marine captured in Iraq by al-Qaeda, and presumed dead. When he returns home after eight years, he is greeted as a hero. But one CIA operative, Carrie Mathison, suspects he has been brainwashed by his captors and will carry out an attack on U.S. soil. It is Estes’s job to remain neutral at all times, which adds to Carrie’s frustration because, while she’s trying to persuade him to take her suspicions seriously, she’s struggling to hide her bi-polar disorder from him. It’s unmissable stuff, generally held to be authentic, and President Obama’s favourite TV show. ‘He really enjoys it’, says Harewood, who was made an MBE in the 2012 New Year’s Honours. ‘He sneaks off to watch it in his own room at the White House when Michelle and the kids are busy. It’s great to know it’s not far from the truth of what could happen.’ The cast know this because Lewis was told by none other than Obama himself, at a White House dinner this year. Says Harewood: ‘Even in that cordial atmosphere, there was a whiff of how seriously they take the threat of terrorism. Damian made a joke about it, but the President remained impassive. He immediately changed the subject as if nothing had been said.’ As the two resident Brits — albeit playing Americans — Harewood and Lewis have bonded. ‘We are both a long way from home for almost six months a year, so it’s natural to try to overcome the homesickness by sticking with one of your own.’ Previous adventures: David Harewood stars as Tuck in BBC's Robin Hood against Jonas Armstrong as Robin and Lara Pulver as Isabella Previous adventures: David Harewood stars as Tuck in BBC's Robin Hood against Jonas Armstrong as Robin and Lara Pulver as Isabella The series is filmed in Charlotte, North Carolina — almost 4,000 miles from Harewood’s home in Streatham, London, his wife Kirsty and their daughters, Maize, nine, and six-year-old Raven. ‘It’s not as much fun as working in TV at home, and although I’m enjoying the experience, I’m finding it all a bit cut-throat. The US has a different attitude to celebrity and publicity, so Damian and I feel we are not fully plugged in.’ Harewood, 46, feels that his landing the role in Homeland was due to a divine intervention. ‘My best mate Louis, who I’d known since I was eight, died in 2009. A routine operation on his knee went wrong. He was the life and soul of the party and a cartilage removal operation ended it. Pregnant Claire Danes walking in New York City on Thursday I spy... pregnant Claire Danes in New York yesterday ‘It destroyed me. I didn’t know what to do, so I took a year out. I couldn’t work, I was broke. I felt the crushing of reality. ‘Eventually, I did a show at the National, but I felt very vulnerable the first time I was on stage since his death. ‘When I was sent the script for Homeland, I didn’t think anything of it. Three months later my manager rang and said: “They are interested in you”. I read it and I realised, yes, I do want this. Then I got an email saying I’d got it. My wife said: “You know what day it is? It’s Lou’s birthday.” ‘He always used to say the one job I always wanted I was going to get. Whenever I was down he’d say: “You’re going to make it.” So this happened on his birthday.’ He’s lost for words, choked up. ‘I like to think it was him.’ Harewood got his big break after leaving RADA in 1989, playing a bisexual murderer on stage in Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane. Some of the audience walked out and he was criticised by the black community for setting a bad example. He said at the time: ‘It’s like having a gun to your head. There was a huge pressure of being the ultimate black man. I started turning up to the stage drunk.’ After that he would have episodes where he would forget who he was. He ended up in a psychiatric ward and then had to retreat to his parents’ house in Birmingham for a few months. Therapy saved him, but he found relationships with women destructive. After seven years he got a grip on himself and in 2002 met Kirsty. Did he know Homeland would be groundbreaking? ‘It was very different. I love the serious nature of the plot, and the personal dynamics. None of us know how it’s going to end until we get a script three or four days before filming. It’s very exciting. We just found out that one of the characters with us in the first series got shot. None of us saw that coming. ‘The way the stories unfold, no one is sure who’s next in line for a bullet. Claire Danes is probably safe, but anybody else could go. Could it be me? I’ll have to wait and see.’

When David Harewood landed the role as a tough, do-it-by-the-book CIA spymaster for the Golden Globe-winning drama series Homeland, he arranged to meet a real-life spook to learn how to make it authentic.
After all, as a former barman from  Birmingham, he could hardly be expected to know much about the highly classified world of America’s fight against terrorism.
And who better to turn to than the glamorous woman who — as a professional veteran spy — was advising the show’s writers, and on whom the main character, CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is based?

Spymaster: David Harewood, centre, with Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody and Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison

But Harewood — cast as CIA boss David Estes — found himself being given a full-on interrogation. ‘It was supposed to be me pumping her for information,’ he recalls. ‘Instead, I suspect I told her far more about myself than I wanted to — or realised I was doing. If I’d been a terrorist, she would have had a confession out of me within minutes’.
They met for what Harewood had hoped would be an informal briefing over lunch. ‘She was in her 40s and had been working for the CIA since she was 18. That much I got out of her. There was a hint of cleavage, and to anyone watching, we would have seemed like an ordinary couple.

 

‘But the moment we sat down, she fixed her gaze on me and not once did she avert her eyes. I was aware that she was forensically examining me, making a mental note of any habits or flaws, storing away everything about me.
‘On the surface, it was all very affable. But I was unnerved. I tried looking away, but she kept her eyes locked on to mine. She was very, very good at not giving anything away. I knew I was being given a highly professional once-over, and I was never going to penetrate that hard outer shell.’

Private lesson: David Harewood got a one-to-one with a CIA spy in preparation for his Homeland role

So what did he learn from her? ‘That these people are very intense, ruthless in their determination to hunt down the bad guys, and they never take anyone at face value — they are burrowing deep inside your psyche.’
He says the CIA’s attitude permeates the Homeland set. ‘Normally, I’m looking for a bit of fun when the cameras aren’t rolling. But everyone is so consumed with the stories that it’s as if we really are immersed in a  very serious fight.            
‘The script calls for me to be closely analysing everything that’s said and done, never taking anything for granted, and I find myself doing it off the set, too.’
Homeland, shown here on Channel 4, follows the story of Nicholas Brody (played by another Brit, Damian Lewis), a U.S. Marine captured in Iraq by al-Qaeda, and presumed dead. When he returns home after eight years, he is greeted as a hero. But one CIA operative, Carrie Mathison, suspects he has been brainwashed by his captors and will carry out an attack on U.S. soil.
It is Estes’s job to remain neutral at all times, which adds to Carrie’s frustration because, while she’s trying to persuade him to take her suspicions seriously, she’s struggling to hide her bi-polar disorder from him.
It’s unmissable stuff, generally held to be authentic, and President Obama’s favourite TV show.
‘He really enjoys it’, says Harewood, who was made an MBE in the 2012 New Year’s Honours. ‘He sneaks off to watch it in his own room at the White House when Michelle and the kids are busy. It’s great to know it’s not far from the truth of what could happen.’
The cast know this because Lewis was told by none other than Obama himself, at a White House dinner this year. Says Harewood: ‘Even in that cordial atmosphere, there was a whiff of how seriously they take the threat of terrorism. Damian made a joke about it, but the President remained impassive. He immediately changed the subject as if nothing had been said.’
As the two resident Brits — albeit playing Americans — Harewood and Lewis have bonded. ‘We are both a long way from home for almost six months a year, so it’s natural to try to overcome the homesickness by sticking with one of your own.’

Previous adventures: David Harewood stars as Tuck in BBC's Robin Hood against Jonas Armstrong as Robin and Lara Pulver as Isabella

The series is filmed in Charlotte, North Carolina — almost 4,000 miles from Harewood’s home in Streatham, London, his wife Kirsty and their daughters, Maize, nine, and six-year-old Raven.
‘It’s not as much fun as working in TV at home, and although I’m enjoying the experience, I’m finding it all a bit cut-throat. The US has a different attitude to celebrity and publicity, so Damian and I feel we are not fully plugged in.’
Harewood, 46, feels that his landing the role in Homeland was due to a divine intervention.
‘My best mate Louis, who I’d known since I was eight, died in 2009. A routine operation on his knee went wrong. He was the life and soul of the party and a cartilage removal operation ended it.

I spy... pregnant Claire Danes in New York yesterday

‘It destroyed me. I didn’t know what to do, so I took a year out. I couldn’t work, I was broke. I felt the crushing of reality.
‘Eventually, I did a show at the National, but I felt very vulnerable the first time I was on stage since his death.
‘When I was sent the script for Homeland, I didn’t think anything of it. Three months later my manager rang and said: “They are interested in you”. I read it and I realised, yes, I do want this. Then I got an email saying I’d got it. My wife said: “You know what day it is? It’s Lou’s birthday.”
‘He always used to say the one job I always wanted I was going to get. Whenever I was down he’d say: “You’re going to make it.” So this happened on his birthday.’ He’s lost for words, choked up. ‘I like to think it was him.’
Harewood got his big break after leaving RADA in 1989, playing a bisexual murderer on stage in Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane. Some of the audience walked out and he was criticised by the black community for setting a bad example.
He said at the time: ‘It’s like having a gun to your head. There was a huge pressure of being the ultimate black man. I started turning up to the stage drunk.’
After that he would have episodes where he would forget who he was. He ended up in a psychiatric ward and then had to retreat to his parents’ house in Birmingham for a few months. Therapy saved him, but he found relationships with women destructive. After seven years he got a grip on himself and in 2002 met Kirsty. 
Did he know Homeland would be groundbreaking? ‘It was very different. I love the serious nature of the plot, and the personal dynamics. None of us know how it’s going to end until we get a script three or four days before filming. It’s very exciting. We just found out that one of the characters with us in the first series got shot. None of us saw that coming.
‘The way the stories unfold, no one is sure who’s next in line for a bullet. Claire Danes is probably safe, but anybody else could go. Could it be me? I’ll have to wait and see.’

Top marks in the style stakes: Mena Suvari struts her stuff in bra-let and high-waisted skirt for Fashion Night Out

It's a night dedicated to fashion so it is only right that attendees dress up for the occasion.
And Mena Suvari soared to the top of the class in the style stakes with her on-trend ensemble for Fashion Night Out in LA last night (Thursday).
The 33-year-old actress opted for a black bra-let and a figure-hugging high-waisted skirt.

Using the pavement as a runway: Mena Suvari was seen looking stylish in a bra-let and a high-waisted pencil skirt as she shopped during Fashion Night Out last night (Thursday)

The outfit emphasised Mena's tiny waist while accentuating her curves.
The pencil skirt boasted baroque print panels sat next to white and grey stripes and the actress finished the look off with a pair of peep toe heels.
She had her hair pulled back into a slick oversized bun on top of her head, and had eyeliner flicked out at the corner of her eyes for an 1950's inspired make-up look.

She bagged it: The 33-year-old actress visited the Farbod Barsum boutique and left holding on their new handbags

How to get out of a car: Mena made an elegant exit from her car as she arrived for the style event in West Hollywood

Mena was seen browsing through the Farbod Barsum boutique and it appears that a number of products on offer caught her eye.
She was seen leaving toting a black leather bag by the brand and a large smile, indicating she was rather pleased with her new accessory.
Mena also popped by to jewellery designer Suzanne Felsen's store, who she is close friends with.
The actress, who is gearing up for the release of her latest film You May Not Kiss The Bride, had left her diminutive boyfriend at home for the evening.

Getting ready: The actress tweeted a snap of herself as she was having her make-up done for the event

Going hell for leather: The actress had donned this dominatrix-inspired ensemble for the Fendi party on Wednesday night

Paving the way for an even bigger Kardashian clan? Kourtney doesn't 'believe in' taking birth control pills anymore

Between Kim, Kris, Khloe, Kourtney, Kylie, Kendall, and Rob - there are a lot of Kardashians storming pop culture.

But if it were up to Kourtney, who already has two children with partner Scott Disick, there will be many more future Kardashians on the airwaves.

'I'm not going on the pill [after giving birth to Penelope]. I don't believe in it anymore!' the 33-year-old reality star tells Disick in a preview for this Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Baby-maker: Kourtney Kardashian, who gave birth to baby Penelope in July, announces she will stop taking birth control pills in a preview of this Sunday's episode

A then-pregnant Kourtney, who has two-year-old son Mason and gave birth to Penelope in July, is seen in the just-released clip discussing the idea of more kids with Scott.

'How many children do you think we could fit in this house?' Kardashian asks her boyfriend of five years. 'In the playroom, I could build bunk beds for four.'
Scott, 29, panics at the idea and snaps: 'I don't want to be outnumbered by my children!'
The socialite then tells her partner that having kids 'is what life is about' before announcing she's finished with oral contraceptives, as her younger sister Khloe watches on.

The more, the merrier: The 33-year-old reality star, seen here attending church with sister Kim, two-year-old Mason, and baby Penelope last Sunday, is ready to let nature take its course from now on

Bundle of joy: Kourtney gave birth to the infant last July

The brunette beauty told Us Weekly how it feels to have a little girl after raising a son.

'Nothing could prepare me for how hard I fell in love with her,' she said.
'With Mason, we have such a love affair that I never knew existed. I didn't expect it to happen again. It's such a magical feeling.'

However, it's all about fashion for the doting mother tonight as the entire block on Melrose Avenue will be celebrating Dash LA's Fashion Night Out Event.
The fashionista's block party will have a DJ, black carpet photo booth, specialized 'DASH-ing' cocktails from Lola's Martinis, and pop-up booths featuring brand new fall merchandise from seven designers.
Last Sunday, the petite brunette took her brood along with sister Kim for church, and last Monday Kourtney took her momager Kris and two children for delicious Greek food at Taverna Tony's in Malibu.

And while his kids were with Kourtney, Scott hosted a boozy Labor Day soiree at the Pussycat Dolls Dollhouse at the Keating Hotel in San Diego.
When asked about life as a father, Disick told People Magazine that while Mason is 'taking on the big brother role well, nothing major has changed.'

The couple enjoyed a picturesque family picnic in Calabasas last week where they took turns cuddling with their new infant girl.
Kourtney recently revealed she put on 45lbs during her pregnancy - but said she is in no rush to shift the pounds.

'I gained nearly 45 pounds,' she explained. 'I'm 5 feet tall, so that's a lot.'

Doctors recommend 25lbs to 35lbs as an appropriate weight gain for a woman of normal weight, but Kourtney is 'not really' thinking about losing the weight just yet.

'While I'm here around the house, I just eat healthy,' she told Us Weekly.

Grandma bonding: Last Monday Kourtney took her momager Kris and two children for delicious Greek food at Taverna Tony's in Malibu

Her relaxed approach to losing the weight will come as a relief to her family, after Kourtney collapsed following the birth of Mason.

Having also gained 45lbs in that pregnancy Kourtney went on a fitness and health drive, which led to the breast feeding mother losing 33lbs in three months as she slimmed down for a bikini photoshoot.

The speed of her weight loss led to health issues, documented in an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians in which she collapsed.

The previous episode of the popular E! show documented the family's tearful therapy session where Rob broke down and Kim accused Khloe of lying about their late father's office as his cancer worsened.

Family day: The couple enjoyed a picturesque family picnic in Calabasas last week where they took turns cuddling with their new infant girl

A degree in decadence: The Oxbridge student clubs that make Cameron's Bullingdon chums look like the Girl GuidesCurry-throwing, vomit- ing, broken glass, incoherent drunkenness and the parading of a newly elected captain of boats naked around a city centre super- market. Ah! What happy memories it all brings back of my undergraduate days at Oxford. Yes, I know. It’s disgusting, it’s inexcusable, it’s the very last thing one might hope for in the supposed brightest and best of their generation. Nonetheless, reading a recent selection of discipline reports from 15 Oxbridge colleges — newly released under Freedom of Information legislation — I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of nostalgia about the days when I, too, yearned to be a dissolute member of an infamous Oxford drinking club. Ideally, I would have liked to join my contemporaries, Boris Johnson and David Cameron, in the Bullingdon Club, but the Buller — as it’s known — wouldn’t have me. (I got terribly excited one evening when they turned up at my house to initiate a new member. But it turned out the room they’d come to trash — part of the initiation process — belonged to my more socially acceptable flatmate, Ewen.) Instead, I found a less glamorous group of reprobates to join. Every Oxbridge college has at least one. Most have several — women-only ones as well as all-male ones. Traditions and rituals vary, from drinking club to drinking club, but the aim is always the same: to get heinously drunk, to behave quite appallingly and to show that the spirit of Evelyn Waugh’s Bright Young Things did not die with the Vile Bodies and Brideshead Revisited. Here are a few of the contenders for the title of Oxbridge’s most debauched drinking club. CAMBRIDGE THE WYVERNS (aka The Gentleman Wyverns of Magdalene College) WHO? Cambridge’s most notorious drinking society. Open only to members of Magdalene who have played in at least two college sports teams. Their dark blue tie with a gold wyvern (a legendary winged creature) emblem is believed by members to exert magical powers over members of the opposite sex. (It doesn’t.) DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: First class. Initiation: Students participate in a drinking club initiation ceremony during 'Suicide Sunday' organised by the Wyverns drinking society during the University of Cambridge May Week Initiation: Students participate in an initiation ceremony during 'Suicide Sunday' organised by the Wyverns drinking society during the University of Cambridge May Week INITIATION CEREMONY: In a small room lined with plastic sheeting and wheelie bins, initiates must spend an afternoon and evening consuming a 24-course meal of ostentatiously disgusting delicacies. These can include raw leeks, sheeps’ eyeballs, pigs snouts in wasabi sauce, raw squid and live goldfish that should — ideally — be regurgitated alive. OTHER TRADITIONS: Banned from the city centre, their infamous garden party on so-called ‘Suicide Sunday’ — the last day before exam results are published — has to be held out of town, where attractions include semi-naked female ‘jelly-wrestling’ in a paddling pool full of, er, jelly. If members are in the college bar when the Seventies song Tiger Feet by Mud is played, tradition stipulates that by the end of the song they must have downed their drink and removed all their clothing. THE PITT CLUB FOUNDED: 1835, in honour of Pitt the Younger. WHO? Still mainly public schoolboys, drawn by its traditions, exclusivity and old-fashioned club-house in rooms above Pizza Express. Former members include Edward VII and George V; economist John Maynard Keynes; spies Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt; and TV presenter David Frost. Dotty: A Cambridge University drinking game sees a girl covered in clingfilm whilst she downs her beverage Dotty: A Cambridge University drinking game sees a girl covered in clingfilm whilst she downs her beverage DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:2. Depravity is not encouraged, but vulgar displays of wealth are. Quattro formaggi pizzas are washed down with magnums of champagne. Drunkenly propositioning the Pizza Express waitresses at the end of the evening is almost mandatory. INITIATION CEREMONY: Having been to the right sort of school; having a bottomless wallet. BEEFSTEAK CLUB WHO? Mainly for young men who wish they could join the Bullingdon but can’t because they’re at Cambridge, not Oxford. DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:1. INITIATION CEREMONY: Members are treated to a lavish seven-course dinner, each dish accompanied with a full bottle of wine. The meal is served in a room with a tarpaulin covering every surface to avoid damage to the property. FERRETZ WHO? A men’s drinking club originally limited to Cambridge rugby players, but now open to any male university member of an aggressively bibulous disposition. DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: First class. INITIATION CEREMONY: Consuming an initial 80 units of alcohol, beginning with a bottle of gin and finishing with a bottle of port consumed through a condom. ‘You have to bite the condom. If you bite too much and spill the port you have to do it again.’ OTHER TRADITIONS: Lying under a keg of beer and drinking until you vomit; stripping naked and covering your private parts in ultra-spicy Dave’s Insanity sauce; drinking tequila from 10am until you drop. Most initiates end up in hospital or jail. High-class fun: A party organised by Cambridge's Newnham College Drinking Society, the Newnham Nuns famous for jelly wrestling and initiations involving eating cream off topless men High-class fun: A party organised by Cambridge's Newnham Nuns, famous for jelly wrestling and initiations involving eating cream off topless men GENTLEMEN PATRICIANS WHO? Gentlemen who love to booze, but aren’t necessarily great sportsmen. (Though cricketer Michael Atherton was reportedly a member). All-male, Downing College drinking society. DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:1. INITIATION CEREMONY: Drinking a minimum of eight pints in two hours (known as the ‘eight before eight’.) The more pints downed, the greater the kudos. ‘Any less than 11 is pretty weak.’ OTHER TRADITIONS: No fancy rituals — just more drinking. One member woke to find himself in France having somehow clambered aboard the Eurostar; another tried to walk across the roof-tops from Downing College to the town centre. THE MISFITS WHO? All-female club founded in the Eighties. ‘We are nice young ladies who get together dressed as schoolgirls for the purpose of dining with the pick of the university’s buffest sportsmen.’ DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:2. INITIATION CEREMONY: Only the president is initiated and rituals are tailor-made by their predecessor. They involve alcohol, a little humiliation and some degree of skill. For example, the last initiation was to consume an entire raw cabbage and three pints of ale within three minutes.’ Not very nun-like: Members of the Newnham Nuns at Newnham college are known to indulge in to odd jelly wrestling tournament Not very nun-like: Members of the Newnham Nuns at Newnham college are known to indulge in to odd jelly wrestling tournament NEWNHAM NUNS WHO? Open to girls at Newnham College. DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: Third. INITIATION CEREMONY: Eating liquorice held in a man’s teeth — the girl then kisses him when she reaches his lips. Next, a topless man covered in whipped cream and chocolate buttons must be cleaned by the girl using her mouth. Finally, girls must put a condom on a banana, again using only their mouths. OTHER TRADITIONS: Though probably no more debauched than any other Cambridge college, Newnham did acquire a reputation when, two years ago, the college authorities issued a memo urging undergraduates to be more discreet with their nocturnal activities because the walls were ‘very thin’. Also known to indulge in a spot of jelly-wrestling. OXFORD THE BULLINGDON (aka the Buller) FOUNDED: 1780. WHO? Plutocrats, aristocrats, would-be world leaders from the richest homes and finest public schools, desperate for the chance to sport the distinctive £3,500 Bullingdon tailcoat and follow in the footsteps of such alumni as Edward VII, David Dimbleby, Boris Johnson, George Osborne and David Cameron. DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:1. Apart from the two notorious occasions in 1894 and 1927 when its members smashed almost every window in Peckwater Quad, Christ Church, Buller members are not quite the worst. Bullers: A picture of the 1993 Bullingdon Club which included Chancellor George Osborne (far left) Bullers: A picture of the 1993 Bullingdon Club which included Chancellor George Osborne (far left) INITIATION CEREMONY: On election to the Buller, an initiate’s rooms and possessions are ritually destroyed by his fellow members. OTHER TRADITIONS: Members are famously discreet about their antics and are rich enough to buy — in cash — the silence of those dining establishments they damage during their riotous evenings. Wild thing: Hugh Grant at the annual Piers Gaveston Ball in 1983 Wild thing: Hugh Grant at the annual Piers Gaveston Ball in 1983 PIERS GAVESTON FOUNDED — though they would rather you didn’t know it — as recently as 1977. WHO? Poseurs, homosexuals, pretend homosexuals, exquisites, degenerates. And also actor Hugh Grant, Rory Stewart MP, banker Nat Rothschild, Tom Parker Bowles. Its Latin motto ‘Fane non memini ne audisse unum alterum ita dilixisse’ roughly translates as: ‘Truly, none remember hearing of a man enjoying another so much.’ DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: First class on a good day, though some observers have found its attempts at decadence a little strained and self-conscious. INITIATION CEREMONY: Named after Edward II’s court favourite and lover, the club organises Bacchanalian parties at grand country mansions fuelled by champagne, caviar and illegal drugs. Excess, high camp, ostentatious decadence and public copulation are encouraged. But in practice only a minority really go for it. GRIDIRON CLUB FOUNDED: 1884. WHO? Public schoolboys, mainly, determined to behave like crusty old men in a miniature version of a London gentleman’s club. Alumni include John Le Carre, the Marquess of Bath, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski and David Cameron (president in 1987). DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: Ordinary (that’s what you get if you’re too dull even to pick up a Third). INITIATION CEREMONY: None. You are put up for membership by a proposer and seconder (just like in a gentleman’s club) and if no one blackballs you, then you’re in. Very civilised. Leopardskin and chains: Actor Hugh Grant and a female friend dressed up for debauchery Leopardskin and chains: Actor Hugh Grant and a female friend dressed up for debauchery BEER VEDGE WHO? Men-only drinking society for members of Christ Church (aka the House; aka the ‘Hice’). Not as smart as Christ Church’s poshest drinking society, the Loder. DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:2. INITIATION CEREMONY: None. The only requirement is to be able to drink five pints of beer — usually while playing drinking games — followed by five tequila slammers without vomiting. Ed Ball's plastic breasts: The future MP, who then liked to be known as Eddie, admires a friend's plastic chests, left and wearing a Nazi uniform, right Ed Ball's plastic breasts: The future MP, who then liked to be known as Eddie, admires a friend's plastic chests, left and wearing a Nazi uniform, right Ed Ball's plastic breasts: The future MP, who then liked to be known as Eddie, admires a friend's plastic chests, left and wearing a Nazi uniform, right STEAMERS WHO? A now defunct Keble College drinking club founded by shadow chancellor Ed Balls. DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:2. INITIATION CEREMONY: Unclear, though there is an incriminating photo of Balls in Nazi uniform staring at the crotch of a fellow student wearing comedy plastic buttocks. PENGUINS FOUNDED: 2009. WHO? A male drinking society open to members of Hertford College. Maroon tie with penguin logo. DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:1. INITIATION CEREMONY: Eating raw squid; running naked round the university smeared in goose fat. In 2009, 15 members were suspended after private emails were publicised by a whistleblower. These contained a ‘list of fitties’ (the most attractive girls) they planned to invite to a dinner; a girl’s photo with the ungallant message ‘Only if we’re desperate’; and the memo: ‘Buy condoms.’

Curry-throwing, vomit- ing, broken glass, incoherent drunkenness and the parading of a newly elected captain of boats naked around a city centre super- market. Ah! What happy memories it all brings back of my undergraduate days at Oxford.
Yes, I know. It’s disgusting, it’s inexcusable, it’s the very last thing one might hope for in the supposed brightest and best of their generation.
Nonetheless, reading a recent selection of discipline reports from 15 Oxbridge colleges — newly released under Freedom of Information legislation — I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of nostalgia about the days when I, too, yearned to be a dissolute member of an infamous Oxford drinking club.
Ideally, I would have liked to join my contemporaries, Boris Johnson and David Cameron, in the Bullingdon Club, but the Buller — as it’s known — wouldn’t have me. (I got terribly excited one evening when they turned up at my house to initiate a new member. But it turned out the room they’d come to trash — part of the initiation process — belonged to my more socially acceptable flatmate, Ewen.)
Instead, I found a less glamorous group of reprobates to join. Every Oxbridge college has at least one. Most have several — women-only ones as well as all-male ones.
Traditions and rituals vary, from drinking club to drinking club, but the aim is always the same: to get heinously drunk, to behave quite appallingly and to show that the spirit of Evelyn Waugh’s Bright Young Things did not die with the Vile Bodies and Brideshead Revisited.
Here are a few of the contenders for the title of Oxbridge’s most debauched drinking club.

CAMBRIDGE

THE WYVERNS (aka The Gentleman Wyverns of Magdalene College)
WHO? Cambridge’s most notorious drinking society. Open only to members of Magdalene who have played in at least two college sports teams.
Their dark blue tie with a gold wyvern (a legendary winged creature) emblem is believed by members to exert magical powers over members of the opposite sex. (It doesn’t.)
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: First class.

 

Initiation: Students participate in an initiation ceremony during 'Suicide Sunday' organised by the Wyverns drinking society during the University of Cambridge May Week

INITIATION CEREMONY: In a small room lined with plastic sheeting and wheelie bins, initiates must spend an afternoon and evening consuming a 24-course meal of ostentatiously disgusting delicacies.
These can include raw leeks, sheeps’ eyeballs, pigs snouts in wasabi sauce, raw squid and live goldfish that should — ideally — be regurgitated alive.
OTHER TRADITIONS: Banned from the city centre, their infamous garden party on so-called ‘Suicide Sunday’ — the last day before exam results are published — has to be held out of town, where attractions include semi-naked female ‘jelly-wrestling’ in a paddling pool full of, er, jelly.
If members are in the college bar when the Seventies song Tiger Feet by Mud is played, tradition stipulates that by the end of the song they must have downed their drink and removed all their clothing.

 

THE PITT CLUB
FOUNDED: 1835, in honour of Pitt the Younger.
WHO? Still mainly public schoolboys, drawn by its traditions, exclusivity and old-fashioned club-house in rooms above Pizza Express.
Former members include Edward VII and George V; economist John Maynard Keynes; spies Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt; and TV presenter David Frost.

Dotty: A Cambridge University drinking game sees a girl covered in clingfilm whilst she downs her beverage

DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:2. Depravity is not encouraged, but vulgar displays of wealth are. Quattro formaggi pizzas are washed down with magnums of champagne.
Drunkenly propositioning the Pizza Express waitresses at the end of the evening is almost mandatory.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Having been to the right sort of school; having a bottomless wallet.
BEEFSTEAK CLUB
WHO? Mainly for young men who wish they could join the Bullingdon but can’t because they’re at Cambridge, not Oxford.
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:1.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Members are treated to a lavish seven-course dinner, each dish accompanied with a full bottle of wine.
The meal is served in a room with a tarpaulin covering every surface to avoid damage to the property.
FERRETZ
WHO? A men’s drinking club originally limited to Cambridge rugby players, but now open to any male university member of an aggressively bibulous disposition.
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: First class.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Consuming an initial 80 units of alcohol, beginning with a bottle of gin and finishing with a bottle of port consumed through a condom. ‘You have to bite the condom. If you bite too much and spill the port you have to do it again.’
OTHER TRADITIONS: Lying under a keg of beer and drinking until you vomit; stripping naked and covering your private parts in ultra-spicy Dave’s Insanity sauce; drinking tequila from 10am until you drop. Most initiates end up in hospital or jail.

 

High-class fun: A party organised by Cambridge's Newnham Nuns, famous for jelly wrestling and initiations involving eating cream off topless men

GENTLEMEN PATRICIANS
WHO? Gentlemen who love to booze, but aren’t necessarily great sportsmen. (Though cricketer Michael Atherton was reportedly  a member). All-male, Downing College drinking society.
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY:  2:1.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Drinking a minimum of eight pints in two hours (known as the ‘eight before eight’.) The more pints downed, the greater the kudos. ‘Any less than 11 is pretty weak.’
OTHER TRADITIONS: No fancy rituals — just more drinking. One member woke to find himself in France having somehow clambered aboard the Eurostar; another tried to walk across the roof-tops from Downing College to the town centre.
THE MISFITS
WHO? All-female club founded in the Eighties. ‘We are nice young ladies who get together dressed as schoolgirls for the purpose of dining with the pick of the university’s buffest sportsmen.’
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:2.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Only the president is initiated and rituals are tailor-made by their predecessor. They involve alcohol, a little humiliation and some degree of skill.
For example, the last initiation was to consume an entire raw cabbage and three pints of ale within three minutes.’

 

Not very nun-like: Members of the Newnham Nuns at Newnham college are known to indulge in to odd jelly wrestling tournament

 

NEWNHAM NUNS
WHO? Open to girls at Newnham College.
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: Third.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Eating liquorice held in a man’s teeth — the girl then kisses him when she reaches his lips. Next, a topless man covered in whipped cream and chocolate buttons must be cleaned by the girl using her mouth. Finally, girls must put a condom on a banana, again using only their mouths.
OTHER TRADITIONS: Though probably no more debauched than any other Cambridge college, Newnham did acquire a reputation when, two years ago, the college authorities issued a memo urging undergraduates to be more discreet with their nocturnal activities because the walls were ‘very thin’. Also known to indulge in a spot of jelly-wrestling.

 

OXFORD

THE BULLINGDON (aka the Buller)
FOUNDED: 1780.
WHO? Plutocrats, aristocrats, would-be world leaders from the richest homes and finest public schools, desperate for the chance to sport the distinctive £3,500 Bullingdon tailcoat and follow in the footsteps of such alumni as Edward VII, David Dimbleby, Boris Johnson, George Osborne and David Cameron.
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:1. Apart from the two notorious occasions in 1894 and 1927 when its members smashed almost every window in Peckwater Quad, Christ Church, Buller members are not quite the worst.

 

Bullers: A picture of the 1993 Bullingdon Club which included Chancellor George Osborne (far left)

INITIATION CEREMONY: On election to the Buller, an initiate’s rooms and possessions are ritually destroyed by his fellow members.
OTHER TRADITIONS: Members are famously discreet about their antics and are rich enough to buy — in cash — the silence of those dining establishments they damage during their riotous evenings.

Wild thing: Hugh Grant at the annual Piers Gaveston Ball in 1983

PIERS GAVESTON
FOUNDED — though they would rather you didn’t know it — as recently as 1977.
WHO? Poseurs, homosexuals, pretend homosexuals, exquisites, degenerates. And also actor Hugh Grant, Rory Stewart MP, banker Nat Rothschild, Tom Parker Bowles.
Its Latin motto ‘Fane non memini ne audisse unum alterum ita dilixisse’ roughly translates as: ‘Truly, none remember hearing of a man enjoying another so much.’
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: First class on a good day, though some observers have found its attempts at decadence a little strained and self-conscious.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Named after Edward II’s court favourite and lover, the club organises Bacchanalian parties at grand country mansions fuelled by champagne, caviar and illegal drugs.
Excess, high camp, ostentatious decadence and public copulation are encouraged. But in practice only a minority really go for it.
GRIDIRON CLUB
FOUNDED: 1884.
WHO? Public schoolboys, mainly, determined to behave like crusty old men in a miniature version of a London gentleman’s club. Alumni include John Le Carre, the Marquess of Bath, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski and David Cameron (president in 1987).
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: Ordinary (that’s what you get if you’re too dull even to pick up a Third).
INITIATION CEREMONY: None. You are put up for membership by a proposer and seconder (just like in a gentleman’s club) and if no one blackballs you, then you’re in. Very civilised.

 

Leopardskin and chains: Actor Hugh Grant and a female friend dressed up for debauchery

BEER VEDGE
WHO? Men-only drinking society for members of Christ Church (aka the House; aka the ‘Hice’). Not as smart as Christ Church’s poshest drinking society, the Loder.
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:2.
INITIATION CEREMONY: None. The only requirement is to be able to drink five pints of beer — usually while playing drinking games — followed by five tequila slammers without vomiting.

 

 

Ed Ball's plastic breasts: The future MP, who then liked to be known as Eddie, admires a friend's plastic chests, left and wearing a Nazi uniform, right

STEAMERS
WHO? A now defunct Keble College drinking club founded by shadow chancellor Ed Balls.
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:2.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Unclear, though there is an incriminating photo of Balls in Nazi uniform staring at the crotch of a fellow student wearing comedy plastic buttocks.
PENGUINS
FOUNDED: 2009.
WHO? A male drinking society open to members of Hertford College. Maroon tie with penguin logo.
DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY: 2:1.
INITIATION CEREMONY: Eating raw squid; running naked round the university smeared in goose fat. In 2009, 15 members were suspended after private emails were publicised by a whistleblower.
These contained a ‘list of fitties’ (the most attractive girls) they planned to invite to a dinner; a girl’s photo with the ungallant message ‘Only if we’re desperate’; and the memo: ‘Buy condoms.’

From Disney princess to goth girl: Miley Cyrus leads the VMAs red carpet glamour in plunging black dress and sky high quiff

She has become quite the style chameleon recently and for tonight’s MTV Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus mixed up her look yet again.
The star looked like she had come a long way since her Disney days as she transformed into a Goth girl for the evening.
The 19-year-old took the plunge in a black gown with a very low-cut neckline which displayed a lot of cleavage.

 

 

Gothic glamour: Miley Cyrus tried out another new look in a plunging black dress at the MTV Video Music Awards tonight

 

Taking tips from Jedward: The star styled her new pixie cut into a big quiff with plenty of volume

 

Feisty: Miley teamed the racy gown with plenty of attitude and eyebrow pencil in equal amounts
The dress had strategically placed mesh panels with matching sleeves and a train which flowed behind Miley as she walked the red carpet.
Miley is 5ft 5in but came up with a novel way to give herself a boost of an extra few inches.
The Hannah Montana star styled her new peroxide pixie cut into a retro quiff.

 

 

Va va voom: Katy Perry brought lots of sex appeal to the red carpet in her black dress with colourful detailing and a sheer skirt

 

 

Sheer delight: Katy's stunning embroidered dress was sheer and featured and a fishtail hem

The teen, who is engaged to Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth, teamed her look with plenty of attitude and eyebrow pencil.
Her fellow former Disney star Demi Lovato went for a more casual ensemble as she performed at the pre-show in a sequined black dress, studded leather jackets and ankle boots.
Meanwhile Katy Perry was all va va voom in a black dress with blue and red detailing which clung to her slim but curvy figure.
The pop star’s gown had a sheer skirt and she showed off sexy dark hair after having hair extensions put in.

 

 

 

 

Ethereal: Rihanna dressed in a flowing white dress with an interesting knot at the waist

 

She means business: Taylor Swift showed up in a fitted and feminine white tuxedo
Her pal Rihanna had ditched her own hair extensions and went for an ethereal look in a flowing backless white dress which boasted an interesting knot at her waist.
The singer displayed a short shock of jet-black hair and teamed her frock with brown sandals and a generous slick of her favourite scarlet lipstick.
Elsewhere, Taylor Swift showed that she means business in a fitted and feminine white tuxedo.
She wasn’t the only one to rock a trouser led look and Nicki Minaj sported a lace bodysuit with red beads while Rita Ora wore a crystal encrusted one.

 

 

Sharp in silver: Pink (L) and Alecia Keys each wore silver gowns with a split up one side

 

Kiss me quick: Pink puckered up with her husband Carey Hart as they posed for photographers

 

Oh baby: Amber Rose showed off her blossoming baby bump in a lace form-fitting dress

 

Kat Graham also followed suit in a burgundy jacket and trousers with a leopard print bra underneath.
Amber Rose used her time on the red carpet to display her growing baby bump as she and Wiz Khalifa both rubbed her belly.

 

The model chose a dramatic lacy gown which clung to her blossoming figure, while her rapper beau dressed in a black suit.

 

 

Suits you: Rita Ora (L) and Nicki Minaj each showed off their curves in revealing skin-tight bodysuits

 

Cosy co-stars: Emma Watson arrived arm in arm with her Perks of Being a Wallflower co-star Ezra Miller

 

 

 

 

The thigh's the limit: Emma, Ke$ha (C) and Zoe Saldana decided to bare their slim pins in mini-dresses

 

Dressed to impress: One Direction were suited and booted for the star-studded evening

 

Breaking America: Another British export was on hand in the form of The Wanted

Pink and Alicia Keys each wore silver gowns with sexy side-splits.
And Alicia decided the best way to show off her outfit was to strike an Angelina Jolie-inspired pose and stuck her leg out.

Zoe Saldana, Ke$ha and Emma Watson – who arrived with Perks of Being a Wallflower co-star Ezra Miller – all opted to show off their pins the conventional way, in mini dresses.

 

Attempting to do demure: Jersey Shore stars (L-R) Ronnie Magro, Sammi 'Sweetheart' Giancola, Vinny Guadagnino, Deena Cortese and Paul 'Pauly D' Delvecchio

 

 

Coordinated: The Saturdays looked lovely in Grecian inspired dresses as they posed up together

 

 

Going for gold: Olympians Gabby Douglas (L) and Missy Franklin had plenty to celebrate at the bash

 

Dream team: Olympic gymnasts (L-R) Gabby Douglas, Kyla Ross, McKayla Maroney, Jordyn Wieber and Alexandra Raisman

 

Harry Potter star Emma, who was wearing a colourful patterned frock, was one of several British exports.
One Direction looked suave in their suits with no ties, as did The Wanted, while The Saturdays, who are currently trying to break America, coordinated in Grecian inspired outfits.
The Video Music Awards will air in the UK on September 7 at 9pm on MTV.

 

 

Glamour girls: Kat Graham flashed her bra in a burgundy suit while Jessica Szohr vamped it up in a split black dress

 

Party people: (L-R) Regina Spektor, Dana York, Tom Petty and Adria Petty were in the mood to party

 

Set for stardom: The cast of the US remake of The Inbetweeners showed their support at the MTV evening

 

 

 

 

Flamboyant: (L-R) Peter Facinelli and RuPaul toned it down while Alexander Antebi of the group Conquistador courted attention

 

Rock chic: Demi Lovato dressed down a sequined black frock which she teamed with a studded leather jacket