Pamela Anderson: Superstardom, after a fashion

DEDICATED FOLLOWERS OF FASHION: Kiwi model Nicky Watson, Richie Rich and Pamela Anderson. Watson modelled in the A*Muse show.

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Pamela Anderson is about to enter the building. Media who watched her model in the A*Muse New Zealand Fashion Week show are running into the lobby of Auckland's Westin hotel. The show's just finished.

TV motormouth Paul Henry rushes in, lit up by a camera spotlight. There's nothing to film. His cameraman films him rushing to the loo.

The six reporters granted sitdown interviews are escorted to the sixth floor. Pam is 15 minutes away. We drink free Moet. Eat tiny canapes.

It's 6.30pm on Friday. This is A*Muse's after-party. The idea is, we party and then get our one-on-one time with Pam. There are three people plus the media and hotel staff. A*Muse is the label of veteran New York Club "Kid" Richie Rich, best known for being one half of fashion label Heatherette, which he has now quit.

PR Cathy Campbell announces our five-minute slot has been reduced to three. It started as 10. "If you don't all play nicely and keep to your three minutes, some of you probably won't get anything."

Henry and one of his daughters get first pop despite his show not airing until Monday. They re-arrange bamboo screens to shield themselves from the other media, though Pam's not there yet. I poke my head in. "I'm trying to persuade Paul to stay," says his producer.

Pam and her entourage enter the room. We've been here an hour. Pam wears a long wife-beater singlet. She has a bright smile. Her pasty sidekick Richie Rich shakes my hand, locking eyes in a meaningful way. He does this twice more during the evening, with no recognition. He looks about 45.

Henry doesn't play nicely, and hogs Pam for ages.

Is that Lucy Lawless? She's nearly unrecognisable in a pony tail. How did she like the A*Muse show? "Isn't that a dead ringer for Heather Mills?" she says of a passing hotel waitress. "What I want to know is, how does she make that leg look so real?" She floats away.

Fashion Week's managing director Pieter Stewart is here. "Pam seems like a good sport," I offer. "Pam is very nice, and very intelligent," she says. In what way? "I've spent two days with her." Further questions are not welcome.

Henry finally winds himself up. Pam and Richie deflate like balloons. There is a problem. No vegetarian canapes. A member of the entourage taps his watch. A journalist steps in: "Does she need dairy free?" Hotel staff are dispatched.

We queue. "Take a Moet," says one journalist to another. "Otherwise they won't take you seriously."

I'm up. What I want to know is, what does Pam think of Kiwi men?

"They're beautiful. Look at them. See how gorgeous they are?"

Richie jumps in. "I think men and fashion should be, like, kind of like, on the runway and just having fun."

How did our men measure up?

Richie: "Awesome. Have a canape." No thanks. "No, have a canape."

He burbles about his label. "Fashion should be like, fun and sexy." I tune back in to hear him say: "We're both the same in the way that, I go home and play with my doggies, and Pam goes home and plays with her doggies..."

Pam: "...My children! He comes over to my house, and we all relax and go to the beach, and it's not a glitterfest all the time. It's like real life. And then you go out. And then you go crazy and have fun. And then you go wild [unintelligible]. And a lot of the line is really wearable, like T-shirts and fun little dresses."

Is she wearing his line now?

"Of course. It's got his face on it."

I have brought photographs to help the conversation. I show her Dan Carter.

"Oh, he's nice. He's not wearing a shirt."

Richie shuffles through the pics.

Pam: "Is that Pierce Brosnan?"

Who? You mean John Key?

"I don't know."

There is a shot of Phil Goff with a bear. Pam: "That's terrible. That's a stuffed bear. That bear is not alive. It's dead. Is that a real bear?"

Richie starts tossing pics over his shoulder.

You're not interested?

Pam: "No."

None of them?

"No."

Richie picks Carter off the floor. "This is Dan Carter. This is the one who sent you a shirt today."

Pam: "I'm so hungry."