“All our clients are mesmerised by our magic and they all behave well,” the Australian designer says. Including the richest most spoiled dogs in the world.” And they’re all here on Thursday night on World’s Richest Dogs.
So how does a dog amass large wealth, you’re wondering ... The old-fashioned way — they inherit it.The top 10 rich list includes — spoiler alert! — the notorious Trouble at number five, who was left $12 million by his mother, convicted tax cheat and billionaire New York property developer Leona Helmsley, a woman known by the sobriquet the Queen of Mean. (Roth said he met her once. “You didn’t know which was going to bite you first, her or the dog.”)Helmsley’s legacy is scraps compared with the estate left to Gunther IV — and look away now if you don’t want to know the figure — a fortune tasty enough to bury in the backyard for later: $400 million. Oprah, at number three, looks like she’s just throwing her five dogs a bone with the $30 million trust fund she’s set up.
Yes, this is an actual television show on Australia’s number one network. So imagine how Henry Roth, a fashion designer who’s worked as a mentor on Project Runway and Bogan Hunters felt making Baby Hope Diamond’s wedding gown (cost: $6000.)
“Look, it is in many ways bizarre,” he says. “When we looked at the wedding dress I said oh my goodness, am I really doing it? And I took a step back and I thought, I’m really proud of it. I’m a designer and I’m there in New York and I’m proud to do the woof woof thing. And I mean, it’s a double edged sword because you think well I’ve lost it, and then you think it’s pretty cool.
“At one point I was watching Planet of the Apes and I was thinking well maybe this is the way things have to go.”
On the other hand, the wedding, orchestrated by Baby Hope’s mother Wendy Diamond, injected thousands of dollars into the Humane Society of New York. Diamond is a renowned animal activist in the US, as are the others in tonight’s show who throw the dogs they live with lavish events such a Bark Mitzvah.
“I took care of her the way I took care of my sons. Maybe a little bit better.” says Rose Ann Bolasny of her dog Bella Mia as she’s having her nails done. Bella Mia’s nails. Roth, who lives in Melbourne but worked in New York for 15 years, where he got to know Diamond, says: “I did say to Wendy one day, what is it with the dog thing, and she said listen, it starts with the animal kingdom, and if you cannot treat a dog or a cat or any animal with dignity and respect then that whittles down to humanity. And it’s true. I don’t even want to think about some of the stories she’s told me about the cruelty to dogs. We’re bad enough with each other, as human beings.”
