FORMERLY one of fashion's most anti-establishment figures, Vivienne Westwood was made a Dame in the Queen's New Year Honours list last week. The 64-year-old designer, who let her skirt ride up to reveal that she was knickerless under her tights when she collected her OBE from Buckingham Palace in 1992, said she was both honoured and surprised by the news, and that would provide her with a higher platform from which to campaign for human rights issues. "I'm a private person, so this was sort of unexpected," she told PA. "It titillates and amuses or bemuses, but it was something I knew that I would accept straight away. My reaction is that it all helps, it's very good to have this ? it's an honour. I always feel I'm trying to do something over and above my career as a fashion designer. One thing I'm really pleased about it that my fashion credibility has given me a voice and I feel I have to say what is really important to me." Veteran menswear tailor Ozwald Boateng, meanwhile, was awarded an OBE, along with actors Imelda Staunton and Robbie Coltrane, Tom Jones was awarded a Knighthood and television chef Gordon Ramsay was named Commander of the British Empire. (January 3 2006, AM)

AFTER frenzied tabloid coverage of her romance with Pete Doherty last year, Kate Moss has given us all something new to gossip about by being pictured snogging someone else. The 31-year-old British supermodel apparently insists she is "just friends" with the 20-year-old hottie she was spotted with in Aspen, Colarado, over the New Year break. Thought to be singer-songwriter James Burke, the new man was introduced to Kate by Richard Branson's son Sam ? and while we're told it's very early days, he has already met the model's mother Linda and brother Nick, both of whom joined her on holiday. Formerly a pupil at Charterhouse School in Surrey, Burke signed with Models One before moving to New York to try and set up a band. (January 3 2006, AM)

EVA HERZIGOVA has revealed her ambition to make a film about her life. The Czech supermodel wants to direct a movie that, she says, would cover her tough upbringing, the Wonderbra ads that made her famous and her brief marriage to Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres. "I would like to direct a movie, but not a glossy feature film. I am thinking it would be more like a full-length documentary type of movie about my life," Herzigova told Prestige Hong Kong. "It would be a bout a girl from the Eastern bloc who makes it in the fashion world? A Cinderella story." (January 3 2006, AM)