Friday, July 10, 2009

Tallulah Morton, Model Citizen



Tallulah Morton is about to add a Nylon editorial to her modelling portfolio. We know this thanks to an iv Morton just recorded with Nylon Guys (and tks models.com for the headsup). Part of a new Nylon TV series called 'Model Citizen', the video was recorded during a recent shoot for Nylon’s denim issue, for which Morton was shot by, you guessed it, Mark Hunter. Apparently in the middle of having lunch while he recorded his piece-to-camera, Hunter is seen to be licking his fingers as he intros the video. Click here for a Morton/Cobrasnake backgrounder. The video is interesting for several reasons. It reports that Morton was discovered at the age of 11, that she harbours a secret ambition to be a monster truck driver and that she has appeared on the covers of Australian Vogue, Marie Claire and Harpers Bazaar. That’s fantastic news. If only it were true. Morton may have shot editorial for these titles but the only Australian covers that appear on her portfolio on the website of her mother agency Scene are indie titles RUSSH and Follow.

Although Morton declines to give her age to Nylon she is nevertheless shot taking a sip of something that could be beer, from a wine glass – and you have to wonder whether this shot was deliberately engineered to provoke commentary, given how much there has already been on the subject of Morton's underage drinking. For the record, Morton is 17.

It is possible that the beverage was non alcoholic.

However it is also possible Nylon serves alcohol to minors on shoots. According to sources, the same applies to at least one local indie Australasian title.

Of course it is not unheard of for models to drink on the job or for champagne to be served backstage at fashion shows.

But while we're on the subject, frockwriter would just like to point out that she has never personally witnessed models served alcohol just as they are about to step onto a runway.

Which is why we were interested to read this backstage report on IsaacLikes that Jean Paul Gaultier served "all" his models champagne “moments” before they took to the runway on Wednesday.

Gaultier’s cast included at least one minor – American Karlie Kloss.

Equally interesting was the attempt by one industry insider to shut this information down on the blog.

In a series of comments, the anonymous insider initially requested that the information be deleted, noting, of Kloss:

“She's still underage in paris and posting something like that will get her, her agency, and those at jpg all in trouble. it's happened before and VISAs have been revoked for that fact”.

All was apparently forgiven however when the blogger jumped to attention to assure the insider that the American model singled out in the anecdote, who reportedly knocked back her champagne flute a little too quickly and then burped loudly, was definitely over age.

Morton was not in the show, as some expected she might have been. Although she walked in both the Jean Paul Gaultier and Hermès Fall/Winter 0910 shows in Paris in March, Morton's last JPG haute couture show was this time last year.

According to Scene, Morton recently had her wisdom teeth removed and has taken some time off work while the swelling goes down.


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

please patti, leave it alone. she's a teenager and that's what teenagers do. the important thing is that she delivers great photography and sells the clothing. let's leave her personal life private shall we.

Anonymous said...

There is a half empty coke bottle next to the glass . The drink in the glass the same colour as coke . So yes you must be right , it's clearly beer ..

Dear me , give it up ..

Anonymous said...

Agree anon. Leave it alone Patty. You're sounding whingey.

Anonymous said...

hmm... I think tallulah should be more responsible. She is in the public eye, young girls idolise models.

So maybe Tallulahs mum should get off frockwriter and not post too many comments...

Patty Huntington said...

anon 1 - she's on a job, not on private time

anons 2 and 3 - i did canvas the possibility that it wasn't alcohol.

everyone else - guys pls remember that i can't post some things for legal reasons. if a comment is legally worrisome, i'll have to clip and repost. thanks for your understanding.

A Colourful Guy Drowning said...

Patty, If the young woman was underaged, and knowingly being served alcohol by her employer, it should indeed be reported. And, if she and her employer get in trouble for it, then so be it.

You and I both know that there's a lot of questionable and unethical behavior that goes in the industry, that some, all in the name of making a dollar, participate in or knowingly allow to go happen.

Anonymous said...

How tabloid. Its clearly coca cola. Why even question whether it might be alcohol, if for any other reason than to stir the pot in a hope to get back at a teenager, who also uses the internet to get back at you. this is pretty low brow. So Nylon magazine got her CV wrong, and credited it as covers rather than editorial. shock horror!
Seriously you do some really great work Patty, but you let these personal vendettas cloud your credibility.

Anonymous said...

Redbull in a glass looks a lot like beer... Food, I mean, drink for thought.

I personally agree with the majority of comments above.

I and am sure a lot of your readers cringe every time another Tallulah Morton hate parade appears on FW.

Your blog is great Patti, it really is, but you shouldn't have to stoop so low as to get all negative on someone half your age.

I think Tallulah is only a few months off 18 isn't she?

Patty Huntington said...

i don't hate tallulah. as i've said before on many occasions, i think she is a great model. and if she scored a major oz fashion title cover, i would be the first person to post about it. i have posted about all her recent covers. for anyone who knows anything about the australian modelling scene however, it is rather difficult to discuss this video without pointing out the rather glaring bio errors. the onus is on nylon here to check their facts. which they failed to do. that's a poor reflection on nylon, not morton.

this video came up on nylon tv overnight thursday, morton is an australian model, that's my beat, that's the reason i did a post. the fact that the video was actually called 'model citizen' was rather ironic given recent commentary that morton needs to be more mindful of her public image. and perhaps that's exactly what she is trying to do now going forward. i hope so. i mentioned the glass simply because i figured someone else would raise the subject. i canvassed the possibility that it was something other than alcohol.

the video is called model citizen. she's drinking - something - out of a wine glass. the post then segues into a general discussion of underage models being served alcohol on jobs. given the events of the past 12 months, i don't see that it's that much of a leap.

Patty Huntington said...

PS i was interested to see that a moderator over at the fashion spot (which, for anyone unfamiliar with the site, is one of the world's biggest online fashion forums - if not the biggest) has just felt the need to step in on tallulah morton's thread to shut down any "continued negative" commentary.

it seems that frockwriter is not the only place where morton has come under scrutiny of late and that some just don't like morton's relationship with hunter and feel that the huge volume of his candid party photographs of her may have overshadowed her professional work over the past 12 months. and that TFS moderators won't hear a bar of it.

little matter that it might be the truth.

Michelle said...

"I and am sure a lot of your readers cringe every time another Tallulah Morton hate parade appears on FW. "

No, a lot of readers cringe at the choices this model and her management have made and continue to make. Choices that have damaged her career. Look at the jobs she's had, and SHOULD have had. Especially as she had support from some of the biggest names in the industry when she began.

Most of us don't comment anymore because it's sad, and because any concerned comments seem to be taken only as attacks on this model. It's a shame. That's why there are few contradictory posts. People give up their personal interest, feel it's too uncomfortable to watch anymore, or don't notice because her exposure is narrowing.

Anonymous said...

I once represented a visiting NY photographer who got an under aged model drunk and shot her nude and in close up. I had Ursula on the phone to me Monday morning threatening to call the COPS on ME!! So it's a very serious matter and trust me, you wouldn't let these girls drink if you had been privy to that terrifying convo with Ursula. My God.
(this is Bec W but am blogging as anon, Patty. My name was different back then but still don't want to incur the Chic-wrath once again!)

Good on you Patty. It's dangerous in more ways than one letting underagers drink.

Anonymous said...

Patty, why don't you stop for a moment and perhaps talk to Tallulah one on one in the flesh. I think it would be interesting for you to talk to the girl on a personal level as opposed to creating ideas about her that are based on a projection of what you think she should be, as opposed to the person she really is.

Anonymous said...

etch

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