Girt by HC

christian lacroix haute couture SS09/style.it

Yet more extravagant haute couture - and more Australian mods - in Paris overnight. Frockwriter mentioned that Skye Stracke is also in town – here she is (^) hooting it up backstage at Tuesday’s Christian Lacroix show. Stracke also appeared at Chanel (along with Myf Shepherd), in addition to Alexis Mabille. And while as we already reported, Stephanie Carta was due to walk at Givenchy – and did - who else should turn up in the same show, but Catherine McNeil (see below). So evidently McNeil's torn ligament healed. With honorary Aussie, McNeil’s Danish girlfriend Freja Beha Erichsen, opening and closing Chanel, Australians have certainly been making their haute couture mark this week.

Although it’s possible that we have missed other Australians, frockwriter is finding it hard to believe that, as reported by Carta via Twitter:

“australia day is so over but at least half of dior wore aussie flags on their faces!”

But hey, if any photos turn up via Facebook or other, thanks for letting us know.

No sign as yet of Alice Burdeu, who was reported to have been in Paris for haute couture castings.

One alleged sighting of Burdeu at Friday's Big Day Out in Australia however, as it now emerges, suggests that those castings may have proven unfruitful.

Here are some haute couture show coverage links to various sites, as well as some details of the quite extraordinary jewellery at Lacroix.



christian lacroix haute couture SS09/style.it

Loving the Givenchy show, to which the work of Australian Toni Maticevski bears a slight resemblance in parts, if frockwriter is not mistaken. Unless it's the other way around.

Needless to say, Maticevski would be in his element, creatively, spiritually and financially, should he ever be embraced by the Paris haute couture establishment.



givenchy haute couture SS09/style.it

Click here for the Christian Lacroix collection on wwd.com
Click here for the Giorgio Armani Prive collection on wwd.com
Click here for the Christian Dior collection on wwd.com
Click here for the Chanel collection on wwd.com
Click here for the Martin Margiela Artisinal collection on wwd.com
Click here for the Alexis Mabille collection on wwd.com
Click here for the Givenchy collection on style.it
Click here for the Anne Valérie Hash collection on style.it

An embarrassment of riches

chanel haute couture SS09/getty

“Bling is over. Red carpety [sic] covered with rhinestones is out. I call it ‘the new modesty’”. So noted Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld in The New York Times on January 15th, a fortnight after Chanel announced 200 job cuts (reportedly one percent of its 16,000 workforce). Here are some early shots of the company's haute couture collection that was just shown on Tuesday morning in Paris. Australia's Myf Shepherd stars once again (^), her second haute couture outing after yesterday’s Christian Dior show.

Difficult to call from these first few shots but the backdrop to the show looks to have been a massive installation of white paper flowers.

The white flower theme was echoed in the whimsical millinery, which frockwriter assumes was created by Maison Michel, the 73 year-old Parisian milliner that was acquired by Chanel in 2002, along with several other specialist suppliers, including embroiderer Maison Lesage. (Correction: The millinery was created by Japanese stylist/makeup artist Katsuya Kamo).



chanel haute couture SS09/getty

Had it not been for Chanel, these houses would no doubt have disappeared, like so many others before them, taking jobs, and of course, skills, with them.

According to the above-linked NYT story, the luxury business in France still employs 200,000 people.

It is easy in this dire economic climate to look at these bespoke, hand-made and highly labour-intensive garments, whose upper prices soar into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and scream “obscene”.

But haute couture is about master craftsmanship and it represents the absolute nadir of fashion creativity. Paraphrasing a quote from the late Christian Dior, Dior's current creative director, John Galliano, told style.com yesterday that the job of couturiers “is to make people dream”.

At the end of the day the super rich will always be among us.

And without them, let's face it, we wouldn’t have the pyramids, Rembrandt or Versailles.

Here’s a video of the Christian Dior show from the UK Telegraph:



For millinery enthusiasts, a video on Maison Michel.

And more on the work of Katsuya Kamo, who was most recently showcased in the November edition of London's Dazed & Confused magazine.

From the Cobrasnake to the couture

givenchy SS09 ready-to-wear/style.com


"PARIS COUTURE, starting tomorrow!! And pretty over the bad PR back in sydney". So Twittered Stephanie Carta less than one hour ago after attending a fitting for Givenchy, whose show is due to take place at 5am tomorrow morning Sydney time (7pm Tuesday Paris time). That's at least one haute couture show which Carta looks to have in the bag. Given that she walked in Givenchy's SS09 ready-to-wear show in October (^), it looks like Carta is a personal fave of Riccardo Tisci, the creative director of the prestigious Paris haute couture maison, which was founded by Hubert de Givenchy in 1952 and made its name by dressing Audrey Hepburn. It makes a change from being a personal fave of Cobrasnake party snapper Mark Hunter, whose trashy NYE shot of Carta in Kings Cross certainly got people talking three weeks ago (even The Sydney Morning Herald). Carta also looks to have taken some proactive PR measures by either deleting or moving her Magna Carta blog. Not that her partying days are behind her. In this just-posted quick chat with PAPER mag's Julia Frakes, Carta reveals that Le Baron is her favourite Paris nightclub and that Australians have earned a bit of a Paris rep as the life of the party. This is no doubt music to the ears of Hunter, who has just popped back up on the radar at the haute couture shows.

Carta tells Frakes:

"The the night before last I sat for about two hours at a casting with some model friends that I did not expect to see, including two other Aussies. When I finally walked into the casting (I had chosen to wear the sheerest dress out of the selections given since I knew nobody else would choose it and I wanted to leave more quickly) and was instantly blamed for all the noise... along with any other Australians that they knew were waiting there!"

There are at least four other Australian models in Paris this week: Skye Stracke, Alice Burdeu, Myf Shepherd and Alexandra Agoston-O'Connor. Both Shepherd and Agoston-O'Connor were spotted in the Christian Dior show overnight.

That's not counting Harper's Bazaar's Christine Centenera, who turned up overnight in a Dior pic portfolio on The Cobrasnake. Apparently Hunter has moved on from Byron Bay.

We do look forward to seeing the party shots.

And will be interested to see if this week's runway shots of Carta, Stracke, Burdeu, Shepherd and Agoston-O'Connor prove the biggest talking points of their respective haute couture seasons.

What Myf did Next

numero/chic management

Myf Shepherd might have missed out on recounting her SS09 highlights to models.com - even though, at 51 shows, she surpassed Heloise Guerin’s 47 - but that hasn't stopped Australia's next top model from clocking up those belt notches.

According to Shepherd's Australian agency, Chic Management, Shepherd has just been photographed by Cedric Buchet for London's edgy 10 Magazine.

Even more interesting - she is currently on option for a very big Euro campaign for SS09.

The only hint we can provide is that it's one of the 51 SS09 shows Shepherd did not do - due solely to a prior runway commitment with an equally big name.

Marc Jacobs gives good massage - Karlie Kloss cites throwing up as a SS09 highlight

backstage LV SS08/frockwriter

On models.com’s just-posted “Model memorable moments SS/09”, Russian supermod Anna Gushina reveals that Marc Jacobs provided a 3 Minute Angel-type service for his models at fittings for the Louis Vuitton show earlier this month in Paris.

Gushina tells models.com:

“One of my most memorable moments was in Paris this year during the Louis Vuitton fitting. There were a couple of masseuses there to give quick shoulder rubs and provide a few minutes of complete relaxation! After three weeks of travel, fittings, casting and shows, a quick massage gave me a jolt of energy to finish up the shows!”

With three separate models talking about the payment-in-trade issue recently - and let's be fair to Jacobs here, the practice would appear to be fairly endemic across the fashion industry - nice to hear that Jacobs thought of pampering his LV girls. Most of whom would have been pretty whacked by that stage.

The Vuitton show is one of the very last shows of the season. At the end of the show, as the models walk backstage off the runway, you can usually hear a resounding cheer from those girls who are finishing up then and there.

Models.com's other model SS09 highlights include:

• A highway motorcycle race between east Euro moneygirls Kasia Struss, Vlada Roslyakova, Natasha Poly and Georgina Stojiljkovic, to get to the Galliano show on time (Stojiljkovic)
• Another mad get-to-show panic which induced a booker’s asthma attack (Ali Stephens)
• A bout of food poisoning following a dodgy Milanese risotto (Karlie Kloss)

The cynics would probably have a field day speculating why Kloss nominated a vomiting episode as a season highlight. To the anecdote, frockwriter notes, Kloss did in fact add:

"Give me a burger and fries any day!"

Frockwriter’s memory has nevertheless just been jogged on a couple of other gut-wrenching fashion episodes.

As we noted, in an earlier blog incarnation, at the FW0708 shows, upon coming down with what at the time we assumed may have been a gastric flu:

“An antiemitic should be de rigueur in the handbag of anyone contemplating covering a fashion season. But not solely due to the fact that an inevitable percentage of the clothes that they will see are bound to make them feel sick.”

Beyond the flu and adverse Stilnox reactions (we are still not 100% sure about the exact cause of the latter) frockwriter has only experienced food poisoning twice. From the same restaurant in Paris. Coincidentally, it was an Italian restaurant (which has since closed).

Burberry’s PR Erika Johnston told me that she was struck down with food poisoning after enjoying room service at one of the company’s Milanese hotels one particular season. Burberry has since changed hotels.

In between showings of her Sabatini collection at the Tranoi trade show in Paris, Margie Milich was once obliged to run to the bathroom following an entree of escargots at Le Grand Cafe.

And according to frockwriter’s usually tremendously reliable backstage sources, minutes prior to the commencement of Sonia Rykiel’s 40th anniversary show in Paris earlier this month, one dresser projectile vomited over three models.

Some time was reportedly spent fishing particles out of the models' hair and clothes.

Mythical Myf's nifty fifty

sonny vandevelde

We know Myf Shepherd walked a lotta runways across four cities over the past month. Lose count? You’re not alone. Well, according to the preliminary “season leaders” lists just posted by those model otakus over at The Fashion Spot, Shepherd walked in 51 shows to be precise, placing her in the season’s Top 29 girls in terms of show numbers.

That’s no mean feat for a newbie, with the rest of The Fashion Spot's list dominated by very well-established names such as Natasha Poly, Vlada Roslyakova and Olga Sherer.

As far as frockwriter can ascertain, Shepherd may well be one of only two models this season who made the Top 29 in their first show season. Certainly, she is the only Australian on the list. Little wonder she also made the Top 10 New Faces of SS09 on both model industry blogs COACD and models.com's Of The Minute.

At 47 SS09 shows, Abbey Lee Kershaw just misses out in the Top 29, but then Kershaw did not walk in any shows before Gucci in Milan – wrapping up five shows in very quick succession over the following 24 hours. At 30 New York shows however, Kershaw tops the TFS New York SS09 shows sub-list and she also makes the season's top show closers list, closing a total of six shows across the four cities.

Shepherd is the third consecutive Australian model to shoot to prominence in her first international show season, following Kershaw and Catherine McNeil. All three models, coincidentally, are with the same agency amalgam (Chic/Next).

Gemma Ward (Viviens/IMG) was of course booked for a Prada/Miu Miu exclusive for her first season, SS04.

However Shepherd scored not only both the coveted Prada and Miu Miu shows, but also some other very big names, from Marc Jacobs to Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Hermes and Gucci.

Shepherd’s tally just beats Kershaw’s first season show effort from the Fall Winter 0809 season earlier this year (44). But then, Kershaw did only do one show in Milan that season - Gucci.

In McNeil’s first show season, Fall Winter 0708, she did 35 shows. That was however across just two cities - Milan and Paris - where the then unknown model stunned the industry by opening seven shows and closing four.

As revealed by frockwriter, both McNeil and Tallulah Morton pulled out of the SS09 season after New York.

We can also reveal that Alexandra Agoston had to return to Australia immediately following the London shows due to a family matter.

More to follow.

A Miu Miu, a Miu Miu - they still all fall down

miu miu SS09/style.com

And there I was, having a SS09 debrief with Oz shoe guru Matt ‘Imelda’ Jordan earlier this afternoon, saying how fascinating it would have been to be a fly on the wall at Prada over the past two weeks. And if, keen to avoid yet more bad press over model stacks in killer heels, Prada might have done an eleventh-hour switch of shoes for the show of its diffusion label Miu Miu. Because dang, how terribly sensible the shoes of last night's Miu Miu show in fact appear to be, by comparison with some of the other footwear monstrosities that we have seen on the past month’s runways. Overlooking the nouveau pauvre-look burlap uppers of course. As it emerges however, what happened to the very last girl modelling the very last look of the very last show of SS09?

According to the testimony of The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman via her virtual Style.com alterego:

“As the last girl was going backstage she yes, fell down onto the catwalk, to many sympathetic gasps. You definitely knew that this was the season of the extreme shoe and I knew at that point that it was time to go home”.

And if that’s not funny enough – in a very macabre way of course – then have a look at Style.com’s just-posted portfolio of runway images from the Miu Miu show.


miu miu's relatively 'sensible' - but apparently still unwearable, SS09 shoes/style.com

If this sequence of images is as per the show, then the very last girl of the Miu Miu show was none other than Russian Yulia Kharlaponova (pictured at the top of this post).

That’s right, the very same girl who famously fell directly in front of the camera pit during last week’s Prada show in Milan – images of whom, AOT on Prada's fish mosaic of a runway floor, wound up splashed over newspapers across the globe.

A lucky escape then for Australia’s Myf Shepherd who was, according to the Style.com images, the fourth last girl in the Miu Miu show.


myf shepherd, miu miu SS09/style.it

Collette Dinnigan's three strikes on Style.com

collette dinnigan SS09/style.com

Critics, at the end of the day, voice personal opinions and I must admit there are many times when I don’t necessarily agree with some of the reviews on major fashion sites such as Style.com or The New York Times. Critics also don’t buy the clothes. Retail buyers - and of course consumers – buy the clothes. And critics and buyers often have quite different viewpoints on runway collections. That said, I can’t help thinking that Collette Dinnigan won’t be taking too kindly to the Style.com review of her SS09 show in Paris yesterday. To make matters worse, it’s Dinnigan’s third bad review on that site.

Notes Nicole Phelps today:

“There was a little black dress midway through Collette Dinnigan's show that reminded people who've followed her career of the early days. The frock's peekaboo-lace back echoed the lingerie-inspired dresses with which she made her name in the nineties. It would've been a good look upon which to build her Spring collection. As it was, it was just a (welcome) blip among many other pleasant but less distinctive dresses, some densely embroidered in metallic paillettes or studs, others cut in a filmy white chiffon with a violet butterfly print. Military touches on jackets struck a timely note, but there wasn't enough here to distinguish the clothes from those found in the contemporary collections seen on the runways of New York. In fact, that might be a good venue for this commercially oriented designer”.

Reviewing Dinnigan's previous FW0809 collection Phelps wrote in March:

“It's the last day of Paris, and if people aren't preoccupied with plotting their exit strategies, they're tallying up the season's strongest shows and asking questions about what it all means. It's not a good day for the Aussie designer Collette Dinnigan to present her modest collection. There are simply too many reasons to overlook it, and Dinnigan's first job should be to address that issue before another season passes”.

And here is what Phelps wrote reviewing the SS08 collection:

“Does Dinnigan, who was on the runway for the second time after a comeback last season, have the goods to compete on the Paris stage? Not yet, and not unless she returns with a collection that has some actual fashion in it”.

Upon Dinnigan's return to the Paris runways in March last year, after a one year hiatus, I blogged the show and an interview on smh.com.au.

The post included reference to one 2006 Sydney Morning Herald news story in which I had reported the industry speculation which had initially followed the news of Dinnigan's decision to take time off to raise her new baby.

At the time, retail sources speculated that Dinnigan may have been dropped by the Paris organising body because she wasn’t pulling her weight in publicity (publicity beyond Australia, that is - where Dinnigan's publicity is almost invariably uncritical).

The Chambre Syndicale denied it - and of course Dinnigan has been back on the Paris schedule now for four seasons.

Part of Dinnigan’s problem, in my humble opinion, lies in the fact that she not only continues to show in the claustrophobic underground Carousel du Louvre venue, but at a time when a major ennui has descended on the fashion caravan (not to mention the media at large) after buyers and media reps have been on the road for four weeks following the season.

Dinnigan moved her time slot to Saturday this season, but it does not look to have won her many favours, at least in Style.com's view. What does WWD have to say about the show? One sentence.

Then there’s the runway collection. Not to mention the show.

Dinnigan has a great brand and she gives good glamour, via both her signature beaded lace cocktail dresses and the longer eveningwear. And she is capable of putting on a sensational presentation.

Dinnigan should try to come up with a fresh new strategy for FW0910. The 'first Australian designer to show on schedule in Paris' schtick has worn thin. In spite of Style.com's criticism that Dinnigan is a "commercially-oriented designer" - which must sting, because Dinnigan has long traded off the idea of the Parisian fashion fantasy - New York is not such a bad idea. At least for a change of pace.

Yes the New York event is an absolute monster however Dinnigan is a well established brand, the American market is an intrinsic component of her business, the New York shows take place at the very start of the season and furthermore, they are infested with the kind of celebrities who like to wear her clothes. Dinnigan would presumably be able to leverage considerable star power there.

Last but not least, never put your showroom on the runway. It's about the brand - not bread-and-butter.

Model faints - New York mag uses psychic powers to suss out the story

the cut

Ah yes, it's fascinating to see how stories unravel online. Although it had already been reported that a model had fainted at Alexander McQueen - on The Fashion Spot three hours ago, as picked up by Fashionologie - almost simultaneously frockwriter named her as Abbey Lee Kershaw. Thanks to an SMS alert from eyewitness Sonny Vandevelde. I also Twittered the post. The Wall Street Journal picked up the story - apparently via fellow Tweeter Julie Fredrickson over at Coutorture, who tells me she alerted the WSJ. But apparently New York magazine's The Cut blog used a crystal ball to determine that the model down was in fact Kershaw and the problem, her corset.

In a post dated 6.50pm October 3 Eastern Standard Time, The Cut blog reported:

"One model fainted as she exited the runway and had to be carried out....We took a close look at the pictures to try to figure out who fainted, and our guess is Abbey Lee. She sure looks distressed doing her walk in this picture. Lest any rumors get started, we're wondering if perhaps her corset was too tight? It's certainly doing something intense to her bust here."

The only backlink provided is to Fashionologie's original item, dated 1.34pm, October 3 (although it is not clear which time zone this is), which does link to both SHOWstudio and the TFS post, but does not name the model.

Logic would appear to dictate that if you spotted the original Fashionologie item, then you probably also spotted Fashionologie's update at 3.04pm, October 3, which reported Vandevelde's eyewitness account on frockwriter, dated 7.20am, October 4 AEST.

Or else the WSJ item, dated 6.35pm, October 3 EST.

Where's Abbey Lee? Apparently in the need of a little TLC!

abbey lee kershaw, alexander mcqueen SS09/getty


Well if the heels don't get you - the corsets will. According to an eyewitness report, three weeks after Abbey lee Kershaw came a cropper at Rodarte due to the show's Nicholas Kirkwood shoes, Kershaw finished off Friday night's Alexander McQueen show in Paris not falling, but in fact fainting on the runway - a combination, in their opinion, of the tight corset and perilously high heels she was wearing.

According to photographer Sonny Vandevelde, who was photographing the show from the auditorium and not backstage, as usual, Kershaw fell just as she was about to exit McQueen's 'runway' space - the bare concrete floor of a venue in the 19th arrondissement.


kershaw just prior to falling/sonny vandevelde

To add to the absurdity of the moment, McQueen had decorated the runway backdrop with a number of plush toy animals [correction, stuffed animals] - and made his bow at the end of the show in a giant rabbit suit.


kershaw's mqueen corset from behind/getty

"She fainted - out cold" said Vandevelde.

"When she was coming to the end [of the runway], back near the [entrance] ramp, I could tell she was having difficulties, because her steps were getting shorter and shorter, they were more like baby steps. I was reading her face and I could see 'struggle' all over it and I was thinking, 'She's not going to make it'. But then she made it to the top of the animals and I thought she was OK, that's why I turned my back on her to to go back to the main room.

"As soon as the show finished, [model] Ali Stephens came running out to her mother to say, 'OMG, did you see that?' - she said Abbey had fainted. I asked if Abbey was OK, Ali said 'Yes, she's fine - the corset was too tight. But she's OK now'"

According to Vandevelde Kershaw was helped backstage by two members of McQueen's production crew and did not walk in the finale.

Stephanie Carta: Even Raf Simons thinks camilla & marc are cool

balenciaga SS09/catwalking via tfs


After a brief industry hiatus, Stephanie Carta popped up on the international modelling radar earlier this year as no less than the only Australian in Balenciaga’s FW0809 show. Following SS09 shows in New York, London and Milan, Carta continues her ascent in Paris bagging, among other names this week, Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten and Givenchy. In this video interview just shot by Fashionlab, Carta talks about April's skinny model furore at Australian Fashion Week, her Australian designer mates and her slow-but-steady career strategy.

Fashionlab shot that amusing Sonny Vandevelde video that I posted on Saturday (and thanks Sunster for the headsup on Carta). It’s a project of the Nokia Trends Lab and the quality of the video is quite remarkable – for what one assumes is a mobile phone.

Just to clarify I have no commercial connections whatsoever to Nokia.

Can anyone ID the Australian interviewer?

In the iv Carta talks about the controversy in which she found herself embroiled in Sydney in April – when her agency, then Chic Management, famously pulled her off Michelle Jank’s runway because she was considered too skinny, only to reinstate her the following morning for camilla & marc.

Carta tells Fashionlab:

“I don’t know why they targeted me. Maybe because I’m a local model. So many models were brought into Australia that were skinnier than me....everybody in Australia is looking at me now, but when you come here and look at everybody...”

A few other bits and pieces mentioned by Carta in the iv include:

1. Dan Single scoring some "guest hosting UK tv gig" (beyond vogue.co.uk?).
2. A designer friend Nathan (we assume Smith) is planning to move to Paris.
3. “Collette Dinnigan doesn’t interest me”
4. Carta wore a pair of camilla & marc “tights” to castings (possibly the two-tone Jacoba Pant) and reports she was stopped not only by models, but even Jil Sander designer Raf Simons, asking who made them. She says she was also snapped in them by The New York Times.

Of the new model influx this season, notes Carta:

"The girls are coming around so fast now it seems. Everybody’s new. It’s everybody’s first season it seems. Everyone’s doing 20 million shows at once. And they’ll probably be like, nobody, tomorrow. I'm in it for the long run”.

Here's the vid:


fashionlab

Two men, one woman, coupla million hits?

viktor & rolf

Well if style.com's published traffic figures after each show season are any gauge, then Dutch design duo Viktor & Rolf may well be hoping to generate seven figure page impressions after today's little e-stunt. Following on from Dolce e Gabbana's live show stream last week, comes Viktor & Rolf's virtual fashion show. Starring just one model, Shalom Harlow, the show was advertised to go live from 8am Paris time. It went up a little earlier than planned, which means that the punters have been able to peruse the collection while the frontrowers in Paris are still sleeping off the aftereffects of last night's Rykiel bash.

A mere snapshot, presumably, of Viktor & Rolf's full SS09 collection, the show nevertheless provides a very clear view of some of the garments and accessories - and with etail-like, multi-angle clarity.

Of note, the beaded microdresses, the ruffled trenches, the colourblocked series in a citrus palette of tangerine, lemon and mandarin which included one panelled cocktail dress and blouses teamed with city shorts or cropped Capri pants; and the striking, Aztec-like black-on-white graphic used in T-shirting, a tunic, leggings and a pair of platform ankle boots.

A ram's horn or shell motif, fashioned from pleated silk taffeta, pops up throughout the collection, notably overblown into a gargantuan rosette on one shoulder of the show's solitary big dress.

Beyond the novelty factor, there is no big bucks Viktor & Rolf drama - this is more like an in-your-face shopfront.

But in the current economic climate, and with similarly-sanitised shows seen even on the runway proper this season at big names such as Gucci and Christian Dior, some seem to be overlooking the sizzle this season, in favour of the steak.

The reason given for the virtual show was not to cut costs or pioneer a new fashion frontier - Diesel founder Renzo Rosso recently acquired a majority stake in the company and the duo report that the business is currently "in transition".


Click here to see the show.

Onya Sonia

sonia rykiel SS09/getty

What a hoot Sonia Rykiel’s show must have been last night in Paris. Staged in Saint Cloud, guests were wined and dined beforehand and later pelted the runway with flowers from their table arrangements. Rykiel’s shows have, of late, tended to culminate in mad sashaying romps of barefoot giggling models, but this one was extra giggly – a celebration of the designer’s 40th anniversary in business.

Opening her boutique during the May 1968 riots, at a time when the haute couture establishment was experiencing heavy losses - with one notable subsequent closure, in Balenciaga – Rykiel, now 78, was a pioneer of the Paris prêt-à-porter revolution.

To help celebrate 40 years of skinny knits and jersey suits and dresses, 40 international designers, from Karl Lagerfeld to Martin Margiela, created outfits in homage of la Rykiel – many of them apparently using the designer’s trademark poodle-esque red mane and kohl makeup as their creative kickoff points. There are some pretty hilarious pictures.

No idea at this stage who created Myf Shepherd's rather macabre-looking Sonia doll (^), but note Shepherd's expert pose interpretation - not of Zoolander's Blue Steel, but rather, Ayesha Makim's infamous knicker flash to the camera pit at Fashionassassin.




sonia rykiel SS09/getty

Ali Michael: Bulimia one season, Balenciaga the next

ali michael, balenciaga SS09/wwd

“On Tuesday morning in Paris, as the fashion elite were gathering at the Balenciaga show, 17-year-old model Ali Michael was heading home to the U.S. far earlier than anticipated”. So read the lead of Christina Binkley’s February 28th Wall Street Journal story “Wasn’t skinny supposed to be out of fashion?". Fast forward to Tuesday 30th September and there is Michael, in Balenciaga’s SS09 show.

Balenciaga is a great get for any model – and it tops off a very successful comeback season for Michael, whose many other SS09 shows have included Burberry and Christian Dior.

However the Balenciaga coup seems nothing short of extraordinary for a model who, as Binkley reported, was told by Paris casting directors last season that she was too fat because she had gained 5lbs – and who later went on the record about her battles with an eating disorder and the unrealistic pressures on runway models to be thin.

Many, including Michael herself, believed this critical commentary on the modelling business could spell the end of her career.

At the time, some of the comments from anonymous industry insiders on blogs such as COACD were fairly revealing.

One commenter suggested that casting agents boycott American models altogether and only use foreign girls - apparently inferring that "foreign" girls can be better counted on to put up and shut up.


lanvin FW0708 - march 07/style.com


anna sui, FW0809 - feb 08/style.com

What happened in the interim? That’s the real story here.

Did Michael return to the shows exactly the same weight that she was in February, but as a ‘celebrity’ this time, buoyed by all the publicity? Or did she in fact lose weight? Some seem to think so.

Balenciaga bullet Myf Shepherd and her runway "zen"

myf shepherd, balenciaga SS09/style.it

Yes, she bagged Balenciaga as well. Is there anything that Australia's latest modelling sensation, 17 year-old BrisVegan Myf Shepherd, can't do? Modelling since February, famously snubbed by Australia's Next Top Model, Shepherd hit the ground running at Australian Fashion Week in April and basically has not stopped. Venturing into uncharted Australian modelling territory in her first international runway season, she has notched up a raft of blue chip brand name shows, from Marc Jacobs to Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Christian Dior and Balenciaga. I managed to grab a quick chat with Shepherd 20 minutes ago as she tore out of Balenciaga en route to a fitting for..........Chanel.





balenciaga SS09/style.it

Click here to see the complete Balenciaga collection on style.it.

What an amazing ride these past few weeks must have been. How the hell are you?
Myf Shepherd: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha [keeps laughing]. Ridiculous!

Ridiculous?
I don't know, it's just so crazy. And I feel like I'm out of my body at the moment.

Has there been a particular highlight so far, or has it all been a blur?
Well I just did Balenciaga, that was pretty amazing.

How was Balenciaga?
It was so cool. The clothes were really incredible. And we get trade for it. So I'm going to try and get some now.

What was the collection like?
It reminded me of Power Rangers in the 90s. It was really futuristic and very structured. Everything seems to be structured.

What kind of styling?
The hair was just a plain ponytail. They bleached our eyebrows. Natural makeup. It was very 'alien'.

Were you the only Australian girl?
No Stephie Carta was in it too.

How about Nick Cave's son Jethro? Reportedly he auditioned.
Jethro - yes I talked to him. He was cool.

There was a huge amount of hype about you in New York going into the season. Sometimes that can backfire. Did you feel there was a lot of pressure on you beforehand?
Well I didn't even realise. Then my booker said one day, 'Hey there are these websites which wrote articles about you'. And it was kind of weird. I feel like it was a different person, not me.

When did you suddenly twig - 'Oh, hang on, it's actually happening'?
I don't think it's really hit yet. Probably once I get home and go back to my normal life, and do my exams. I'll be like, 'Oh wow, I was just in fashion week'.


shepherd backstage @ fendi SS09/style.it

Fashion month you mean! But there are always a lot of shows every season. You have not only done a lot of shows, but a lot of very big names.
After the Marc Jacobs show I said to my mum, 'I don't care if I never walk another show again. I walked Marc Jacobs'.

Did you receive any advice from other models going in such as Catherine McNeil or Abbey Lee Kershaw?
No, not really. It's just kind of been thrown in there. I've got someone coming around with me who's been amazing, a big help.

So how does the reality of the international modelling scene compare to how you imagined it? What surprised you the most?
That everyone is actually quite nice most of the time.

You didn't expect that?
I just know about the fashion industry from the movies and stuff, where everyone is just a bitch.

And you haven't encountered any of that?
No, not at all. Certainly not the girls. The girls are so nice.

Were you disappointed at the time by the ANTM thing?
By the time I found out it was about a month after the auditions so I had kind of forgotten about it.

When did you audition?
I think it was in November last year.


shepherd backstage @ nina ricci SS09/style.it

I mean it's really kind of ludicrous to think that a/you were overlooked in the first place. And b/that had you not been overlooked, you might have been distracted by all that and missed out on this.
Yeah I know. I think it's funny that Alice, who won last season, was in the Marc Jacobs show with me.

How about the fatigue? Many people think modelling is an easy, glamorous job which just entails walking up and down a runway. They don't realise you guys are there until often the early hours doing castings and fittings, only to have to get up at 6am for hair & makeup calls.
I was at Balenciaga until 1am this morning and then had to be back there at 5am.

So how much sleep are you getting?
When I can, I get like 10 hours, but that's not very often.

How has your family reacted?
They're looking on the internet. They find out stuff before I do sometimes. They're like 'Oh did you know that you're doing Ferré?' And I'm like, 'Oh, OK - cool!' I talk to my parents every single day for like an hour.

Any funny anecdotes - particularly surreal scenes?
This was the second time today that I'd had my eyebrows bleached. They bleached them at Marc Jacobs, for an hour and they were still orange, so they had to cover them up with makeup. And then I was wearing a hat and sunglasses [on the runway]. And then one time on the street in New York, I was at some Pride Week festival. I was standing there and this guy comes over to me and says, 'Oh my gosh, Myf!'. And I was like, 'Hi!'. And he goes, 'I'm a really big fan!'. And this was at the stage when I'd really done nothing and I was like, 'Wow - what of? My two test shoots? Thank you!'.

Tell me about the shoes. They have emerged as quite a big story this season. Karlie Kloss was quoted somewhere saying she said a little prayer before Prada.
Well I think the Prada shoes were the worst. I think there were like four stacks in that show.

How scary are they to actually walk in?
They are... I don't know. My mind kind of goes very blank and zen when I'm on the runway. I don't even really think about them. I think if you do think about them then it starts to show on your face and you start pulling some weird ones.

What is the biggest thing that you have learned over the past month?
That everyone wants something different. So, just trying to fit into what they want as much as you can.

What did Balenciaga want?
They wanted very 'androgynous'.

How do you act androgynous?
Don't be too sexy.

You're coming back to Australia to finish your HSC aren't you? You're probably going to wake up one morning and think, 'Was that all just some mad dream?'
Yeah I think that's probably what's going to happen. But when I get back I've only got about three more weeks of school and it's just all exams, exams, exams. And I've been studying while I've been over here and have done some assignments. I'm still getting good marks.

Which other shows will you be doing this week beyond Chanel?
I don't find out until the second I get to the hair and makeup chair.

What's next? Presumably you'll be leaving Australia.
Once I finish my exams, I think so. But that's another thing. You can't really plan more than two weeks in advance. Or more than two hours in advance sometimes.

What's the first thing that you're going to do once the shows are over and you are back in Australia?
See my best friend. I'm going to go and have dinner with my booker and everything. But when I get back to Brisbane I'm going to go and see my friends, because I haven't seen them in way too long.

And how long will it be before you put on another pair of stilettos do you think?
Oh at least a month.

Venus of Willen-Dior

christian dior SS09/getty

Ah yes the podiatric peculiarities of SS09 continued with Monday’s just-wrapped Christian Dior show – the most interesting facets of which, at time of filing, appeared to have been its African-inspired hairpieces and shoes. The latter included one curious platform sandal with a sculpted skyscraper heel fashioned from what looked to be an African fertility symbol, complete with swollen belly and breasts. Considering that by all accounts it's not uncommon for runway models to boast such little body fat that they cease menstruating, the irony was possibly not lost on some.



christian dior SS09/getty

Over at Cacharel meanwhile, the half century old French brand’s new creative directors, Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto, dispatched a charming collection of highwaisted, wide-legged trouser suits, colour-blocked smocks and sweet printed sundresses.

The finale showcased two rare phenomena: a limited edition of 1970s era Liberty print dresses from the house’s archives - and smiling models (who included, if I’m not mistaken, Australian Sarah Stephens, who must be trying her luck in Paris after all).

You’d probably smile too if you could walk one of this season’s runways barefoot.



Click here to see the complete Christian Dior collection on wwd.com.
Click here to see the complete Cacharel collection on wwd.com.