Las Vegas Weekly

October 5, 2009 · 1:28 PM

Photo Galleries: Paris Hilton’s visit is all business(-related), shopping aside

By Robin Leach

Doug Reinhardt, Paris Hilton, Michael Boychuck and Vince Neil at Ago in the Hard Rock Hotel.

Photo: TVT

Party princess and hotel heiress Paris Hilton is one smart businesswoman. Forget the seemingly frivolous fluff of her reality TV shows and instead focus on the tycoon who plans to knock Donald Trump from the top!

Paris has carefully crafted an image loved by her fans and headlined by the media, but she works it to keep an ever-growing spotlight on her less spotlighted business empire and interests. When she launched her debut line of sunglasses here last week, crowds waiting for her autograph and photo in the Sands Convention Center at The Venetian stretched hundreds of yards, snaking through rival booths at the Vision Wear exhibits.

When she modeled the new line of unique sunglasses with its patented magnetics that the competition can’t copy until 2018, she combined it with a runway display of her fashions and accessories lines. Simultaneously, the Hard Rock Hotel fashion show poolside also was a subtle way to promote her Siren line of fragrances.

Just to give you an idea of her conglomerate’s earning power, the fragrance line alone is a $200 million-plus business for Paris. The sunglass products feature 12 designs in three colors each. Working with Gripping Eyewear designers and President Jimmy Jongebloed, she was committed to the project for a year.

“This was all her -- hands on. Not just licensing her name. She sketched out each one herself and developed each design personally,” Jimmy told me. “We’ve solved the problem of forever losing sunglasses by adding a unique magnetic patent to the frames so they clip onto a jacket or a sun visor by themselves. They will be incredibly successful. Another multimillion-dollar business for the tycoonette!”

Paris added her personal decorative touches, too: a tiara, a heart, a crown, a little doggie and other icons that immediately make one think of Paris. The glasses, which will be in department stores beginning in March, will sell for $100.

“I love the look. I love what we have created, ” Paris told me. “I’ve been wearing -- and losing -- sunglasses since I was a little girl. I must have thousands at home. For me, it’s all about the look, be they expensive or just $10. But from now on, when we start distributing these, they will be all I need!”

Paris and boyfriend Doug Reinhardt were all over the Hard Rock over the weekend with her BFF Stephen Hampton. They hit Nobu, Rare 120 and Ago, where she joined me while I was dining with Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil and hairstylist to the stars Michael Boychuck. There also were two nights of play at Body English, with fans going crazy when DJ Clinton Sparks announced that she was partying there.

Our contributing photographers Erik Kabik and Scott Harrison and Cody Boor of the Hard Rock Hotel were on red carpet, runway and nightclub duty throughout her visit for our photo galleries.

Paris took time for a quick shopping spree inside the erotic Love Jones boutique at the Hard Rock, where she purchased Halloween costumes, a Carol Malony dress, several purses and pieces of rhinestone jewelry, plus a Tarina Tarantino necklace. My super-secret spywitnesses tell me she also purchased panties with Doug’s name on them -- let’s keep that a secret between us! I also can tell you that after their Body English excursions, Paris took Doug and a group of friends up to their penthouse for post-midnight bowling.

Tomorrow, we’ll have our one-on-one candid chat with Paris about her new TV plans and continuing singing career. She’s slowly changing her image from flirty, fun-loving party girl to a more serious side that reflects her tycoonette status.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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