Lara Stone rocks it out with Myles Crosby and Steven Klein for Calvin Klein Jeans FW1213

The US might be in the grips of a record heatwave but the Fall/Winter campaigns keep on rolling out. Today, American sportswear icon Calvin Klein unveils five new campaigns for the upcoming winter season. Here is a first look at the Calvin Klein Jeans campaign that was shot by Steven Klein and stars world number one model, Lara Stone - the face of Calvin Klein for the past two years - alongside American Myles Crosby, in his second season with the company. All the campaigns were shot in New York under the creative direction of CRK, Calvin Klein Inc's in-house ad agency, in tandem with consultant creative director Fabien Baron. Go the metallics.  

Couture Chic

Australian agency Chic Management might be girding its loins for the imminent touchdown of IMG Models in Sydney and a potential run for its money as the toughest model negotiator in town, but when it came to the crème de la crème of world fashion events – the Paris haute couture shows, which wrapped yesterday – it had a clear monopoly. In the biggest Australian haute couture season that frockwriter can certainly recall, a total of nine antipodians worked the runways, seven of them repped in Australia by Chic: Montana Cox, Chrystal Copland, Nicole Pollard, Jemma Baines, Alexandra Agoston, Catherine McNeil and Ajak Deng (Deng is represented in Sydney only; her mother agent/personal manager is Stephen Bucknall from FRM Management in Melbourne). While it was the first haute couture season for Cox, Copland, Pollard and Baines, interesting to see McNeil and Agoston back at the couture for the first time in, by our estimate, three years.

Julia Nobis - the face of Fall

nobis backstage at thierry mugler FW1213 via style bistro

It was just two years ago when Julia Nobis came to the fashion world's attention, thanks to a New York Fashion Week exclusive with Calvin Klein. She then proceeded to power ahead on the world's runways, booking some of the best shows in the business: 33 in that first international show season, Fall/Winter 2010/2011; 43 shows in her second, six months later; 50 in her third; 72 in her fourth; and 73 shows in total in her fifth and most recent season – Fall/Winter 2012/2013 in February and March this year. For two consecutive seasons, the now 19 year-old Sydney-ite has had the biggest individual show tally of any international model. And all that hard work looks to have finally paid off.

UN expert to Rodarte: Hands off Aboriginal culture

rodarte FW1213/getty via daylife

In writing about Rodarte’s Fall 2011 show in February last year and specifically, about the casting of Alice Springs-based model Melissa Johannsen, frockwriter noted, “When the Mulleavy sisters were dreaming up their Fall 2011 collection with the Great American Plains in mind, chances are there weren't any pictures of Australia’s Red Centre on their mood board”. Twelve months on, coincidentally, what inspired Laura and Kate Mulleavy, the designer siblings behind the New York-based label, for their Fall 2012 range? “Australia!” and “the rugged outback”, they told reporters backstage in New York last month, in spite of the fact that neither has ever visited Australia. The inspiration “came out of nowhere”, according to the Mulleavys. No, it did not, says Megan Davis, an indigenous Australian lawyer who is the head of the University of NSW Indigenous Law Centre and an expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). UPDATED: The Mulleavys claim the prints were licensed, but they still won't reveal the identity of the artist/s (see below). 

Best in show - the Australian models of Fall/Winter 2012/2013

julia nobis after the miu miu FW1213 show/altamira via ford models

That's a wrap for Fall/Winter 2012/2013 folks. Above is a shot of Julia Nobis taken just after Miu Miu on Wednesday, the final day of Paris Fashion Week. She's looking a little dazed and confused. Considering that by our count, Nobis walked in 73 shows from New York to London, Milan and Paris - besting her record from last season by one show - no surprises there. Nobis led the Australian model pack once again and quite possibly will also emerge as the season's number one catwalker for the second consecutive time. So far, we have counted 34 Australians on the FW1213 runways. There was pretty much an Australian in every major show of the season. At Chanel, there were five: Nobis, Miranda Kerr, Montana Cox, Rose Smith and Caitlin Lomax. They walked in so many shows, they corrupted frockwriter's interface. No joke. After battling data problems for the past two seasons with the increasing size of these showlist posts, we have now had to put the show details of the busiest Australians into drop-down boxes. 

Abbey Lee Kershaw makes a miraculous recovery from surgery to walk in Kanye West's show

After his mercilessly-slaughtered first collection, the only way was up, frankly, for Kanye West's sophomore show in Paris. The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others, gave yesterday's show much kinder reviews. In other terrific news for West, Abbey Lee Kershaw apparently made such a rapid recovery from last week's knee surgery, she beat a path to his backstage door to walk the show for the second season - at least according to a number of media outlets.

Cox plate

montana cox at chanel FW1213/getty via daylife

"Everyone you've worked with said you were ready to take on the fashion world" Australia's Next Top Model host Sarah O'Hare told Montana Cox on live television last October, after announcing the 18 year-old Melburnite as the winner of the 2011 series. Just five months later, it seems O'Hare and co may have had a point. Over the past fortnight Cox has scored some of most coveted runway jobs in the business, just adding top Paris shows Lanvin, Christian Dior, Kenzo, Mugler, Cacharel, Andrew Gn and Vanessa Bruno to a Fall/Winter 2012/2013 showlist that already included Italian luxury names Bottega Veneta, Pucci and Etro. Cox leaves Paris today after adding just one more name to that list. It's a big one (UPDATE: Chanel, see above, where Cox walked alongside compatriots Miranda Kerr, Julia Nobis, Caitlin Lomax and Rosemary Smith). Then it's straight to Charles de Gaulle airport for a flight to Melbourne, to star in Thursday night's David Jones parade which will open the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (her only LMFF gig). Stand by to see if Cox scores an equally coveted spot on any of the Top 10 Newcomer lists that are published by various outlets at the end of the season. But just how unusual is her 'overnight success' against the broader backdrop of Tyra Banks' Top Model franchise, which was launched in the US in 2003 and is now produced independently in some 50 countries? And with Cox as its latest star, just how successful is the Australian version of the show?   

Australia's next top models

montana cox at bottega veneta FW1213 getty via daylife.com

So how is modelling's so-called 'Aussie invasion' going? The Fall/Winter 2012/2013 Paris shows kick off today and so far, by our count, 31 Australians have turned up on the runways of New York, London and Milan, with one notable newcomer making her mark in the latter city. That is, Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 7 winner Montana Cox (above). Fresh off the ANTM 2011 winner's podium, Cox has yet to even make an appearance at Australian Fashion Week. In her first ever runway season, however, she has already bagged five shows, including some of the most prestigious Italian luxury names: Bottega Veneta, Pucci and Etro. Frockwriter hears that the casting directors of some of the bigger Paris brands may be equally interested. ANTM Cycle 6 winner Amanda Ware was also in Milan, ditto the 2010 winner of the Girlfriend Model Search, Jemma Baines. Julia Nobis meanwhile - who of course never emerged from any modelling competitions - is up to 48 shows already this month. Will she close the Paris shows next week as the season's top catwalker for the second consecutive season? Updated lists below and a photo gallery of the showgirls of London and Milan. The NY shows are in black type; London, blue; and Milan, red.  

They love a sunburnt country

melissa johannsen backstage at rodarte FW1213, vogue.it via TFS

Fashion really is having a love affair with all things Australian at the moment (and for anyone not familiar with the line in this post's title, it's borrowed from the iconic Australian poem My Country by Dorothea MacKellar). Sydney's urban beach culture was the inspiration for Michael Kors' Resort 2012 collection and in New York last week, Jeremy Scott looked to have deployed an army of Ms Fitz clones to model his Fall/Winter 2012/2013 collection. Scott said the collection was "inspired by the computer and the way information is disseminated today" and his show styling and even invitation certainly bore a striking resemblance to the work of the New York-based, Sydney expat artist, stylist and blogger. The Mulleavy sisters, meanwhile, themed their Fall/Winter 2012/2103 Rodarte collection around the "rugged Australian outback". Their cast included two Australians, Codie Young and Melissa 'MJ' Johannsen (above). Johannsen, who turned 17 yesterday, is of course more than a little au fait with Australia's Red Centre, hailing as she does from Alice Springs. Young and Johannsen were among at least 28 Australians to walk the New York Fashion Week runways last week. Below are their New York Fall/Winter 2012/2013 showlists.

Is Andrej Pejic about to sign a fragrance deal?

jean paul gaultier FW1213/getty via daylife

Frockwriter was interested to watch the following story on Andrej Pejic which aired overnight on Sept à Huit on France’s TF1 Channel. The story followed Pejic in fittings and rehearsals for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fall/Winter 2012/2013 menswear show last week (above) and Friday’s Michalksy womenswear show at Berlin Fashion Week. During one scene filmed inside his Paris agency, New Madison, a booker revealed that he has been booked for this week’s haute couture shows. One specific haute couture show is possibly a safe bet: Jean Paul Gaultier’s show on Wednesday. This time last year, Pejic famously closed Gaultier’s Spring/Summer 2011 haute couture show in a wedding gown. In signing off, the Sept à Huit anchor dropped another tantalising morsel of Pejic gossip in his voice-over: “He will sign, in several weeks, his first contract to lend his image to a major perfume brand”. UPDATE 23/02: Sources say the contract is for Jean Paul Gaultier's new menswear fragrance Kokorico. UPDATE 21/03: Now confirmed by Gaultier. 

Man up

Australian women have become a force to contend with on the international runways, now here come the guys. The Fall/Winter 2012/2013 menswear shows are currently underway in Europe and while there is no sign so far of androgynous superstar Andrej Pejic (who nevertheless looks like a sure bet for at least Jean Paul Gaultier), in his place is a cadre of antipodian Adonises with chiselled jaws and razor-sharp cheekbones. At least thirteen to be precise. This time last year, Calvin Klein booked Jack Vanderhart as an exclusive for its menswear show. This season, the brand had three Australians, all on exclusives: identical twins Zac and Jordan Stenmark, who opened and closed the show and Joel Meacock. Overnight, on the first day of the season's Paris leg, the Stenmarks opened a second show: Nicola Formichetti's sci-fi Mugler show. Meacock is confirmed as a Paris exclusive for Louis Vuitton later in the week, opening the show no less.