Hanne Gaby Odiele for JASU

Hanne Gaby Odiele made a whistle stop tour of Sydney for last month's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, walking exclusively for Kym Ellery's show. The top Belgian model - who is ranked world number 34 by models.com - also shot this Australian autumn/winter 2013 lookbook campaign for the event's e-tail partner JASU. JASU specialises in Australian designers and live streamed all of MBFWA's on-site shows. Here's a first look. 

New faces: Nicola Walsh

chadwick models

The 2013 edition ("Cycle 8") of Foxtel's Australia's Next Top Model has just commenced production and already the dramas have begun. As you may recall, frockwriter thought to blog the full cast list of the David Jones Autumn/Winter 2013 runway showcase on Tuesday 5th February - the day before the show. We had a hunch a good story might arise. As it emerges, it’s one that involves the world’s biggest model agency, a model agency that noone has heard of, Australia’s growing profile as a fertile hunting ground for new models – and the fever pitch that that hunt has now reached, with IMG Models not only opening an Australian bureau last year, but also inking a deal with Fox8's high-rating modelling reality show. Not only is IMG Models the show’s new agency affiliate, which will offer contracts to the winner and potentially other contestants, the company dispatched two of the industry’s most influential scouts, IMG Models’ Vice Presidents of Scouting and Development, David Cunningham and Jeni Rose, down under last month to personally oversee Next Top Model’s state-by-state auditions roadshow. Amongst their numerous other achievements, Cunningham put Gemma Ward into international orbit and Rose is credited with reviving the flagging career of the Netherlands’ Lara Stone and propelling her to the world number one spot. We hear IMG Models is thrilled with the talent unearthed during auditions for Cycle 8. Which brings us to the David Jones cast list, which included one brand new face who was essentially unseen up until last Wednesday. Or so we thought.

Miranda Kerr on how to avoid a wardrobe malfunction

AKM-GSI/splash news

As far as wardrobe malfunctions go, they don't get much more embarrassing than Anne Hathaway's experience at the premiere of Les Misérables in New York on December 10. Hathaway had chosen a dramatic Tom Ford ensemble for the occasion: a black gown with a thigh-high split over a pair of knee-high gladiator boots. And not much else, as it unfortunately emerged when she alighted from her limo to a blaze of paparazzi flashes - and a knicker-less Hathaway flashed them back. The photos, naturally, travelled around the world. After spotting some recent images of our own Miranda Kerr emerging from a limo looking pulled together and intensely focussed, frockwriter thought we would pick her brains on the subject at last week's David Jones show. 

Birthday girl - David Jones Autumn/Winter 2013

Australia’s David Jones celebrates its 175^th birthday this year, making it the oldest department in the world to be operating under its original name. Last night in Sydney, DJs staged its Autumn/Winter 2013 fashion showcase. Thanks to a dramatic expansion of the backstage area - 250sqm of it in fact, over double the space allocated for the previous two seasons - there was so much more room for the media in attendance, from DJs’ outside broadcast camera crew, who were shooting for the live stream, to all the photographers and social media chroniclers on deck (see our backstage portfolio, below). The latter included many of the models themselves, who were happy-snapping and Instagramming in the lineup in their first looks.

Show ponies - David Jones Autumn/Winter 2013

grey wasp/blue wasp/splash news

Miranda Kerr has touched down (here she is, above, arriving at Sydney airport on Friday, Louis Vuitton luggage in tow) which means it's show time at David Jones. All eyes and cameras will be trained on the Australian department store's 7th floor tomorrow night for the Autumn/Winter 2013 showcase. Frockwriter will, as usual, have all the backstage action but in the interim, we were interested to take a peek at the list of 50 other names who will be flanking La Kerr on the runway. Not surprisingly, this season's cast list is reflective of the dramatic changes that the Australian modelling industry has undergone over the past 12 months, with the launch of a major new competitor in IMG Models. This time last year, a number of names - including Kerr - were repped by other agencies. 

Backstage at Riddle Me This - NZFW AW13

I loved everything about the Riddle Me This show on Wednesday. The brand was launched by Mount Maunganui-based Liz Turner in 2008 and the fresh, young, high street vibe of its Autumn/Winter 2013 collection was brilliantly accentuated by the styling of New York-based expat Zara Mirkin, one of numerous, young New Zealand creatives who are finding their feet internationally and who will bring back home some invaluable expertise. On hand were some other local stars such as up-and-coming stylist Thistle Brown - who we first met at last year's event when he called himself Duncan Lamont Brown and who we have a hunch might not be too far behind Mirkin in heading offshore - as well as hair director Lauren Gunn from Sebastian/Stephen Marr and M.A.C. makeup artist Josie Wignall. Great energy - and great backstage vibe. 

Backstage at Zambesi - NZFW AW13

As anyone who is following my Twitter, Posterous and Facebook feeds already knows, I am currently in Auckland covering New Zealand Fashion Week – along with numerous other Australian and international media reps, as a guest of the organisers. I am attempting to see every show and file in real-time as I go. I am also shooting backstage with a DSLR, but this obviously requires a/backstage access and b/time to produce galleries. As I have pointed out on numerous previous occasions during fashion weeks, when you are a one-man band it's impossible to do everything. Just on real-time access to the event, it's worth noting that some NZ designers seem to be a little twitchy regarding pre-show Twitter coverage this year. Hard to say why as it's most certainly not the first time Twitter has been at the event. Perhaps there's just a greater volume of it. If they want to limit backstage access pre-show then that is entirely their choice. Brands such as Burberry, which now Tweets its entire collection from backstage before the models hit the runway, take a very different approach. Here is the first gallery: taken at Monday night's Zambesi show. 

Pacific Rose

holly rose emery by will bailey

Last week, frockwriter reported that Auckland model agency Red Eleven had high hopes for one of its new faces, Holly Rose Emery, on the runways of the upcoming New Zealand Fashion Week. And why wouldn't they? At  5'11.5", the angelic Auckland schoolgirl bears a passing resemblance to a few major modelling names, such as British Sixties fashion icon Twiggy and top contemporary girls, American Lindsey Wixson and Dutch world number #1 Lara Stone. Holly Rose has only been a model for three months but, like many others in her line of work, she is already fielding commentary about her weight – specifically, questions asking if she has an eating disorder. Yes, there are some models who suffer from eating disorders and are painfully thin. Just as there are some actors, athletes, dancers - not to mention people who have nothing to do with modelling, film, sport or ballet - who also suffer from eating disorders and who are painfully thin. Many are convinced that exposure to images of thin fashion models is the root cause of the problem. Others disagree. In any event, with a BMI of 18, Holly Rose is considered to be in a healthy weight range for her age and height. It was a different story two years ago.

The showgirls and boys: Clyne Models - NZFW Autumn/Winter 2013

cait kneller by megan christiansen

Next in our series of New Zealand Fashion Week 2012 showcards from the key Kiwi agencies comes Clyne Models. With more focus than ever before on the Australasian modelling market right now, the ante has most definitely been upped in New Zealand, with Clyne Models at the head of the pack. This is the agency that launched Jessica Clarke, Emily Baker and newcomer Ella Verberne. While Verberne is getting her bearings overseas, Clarke has walked for Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secret. And Baker, of course, emerged out of nowhere to become one of the most talked-about new faces of Fall/Winter 2011/2012, walking in no less than 60 shows in her first international show season last year, immediately nabbing a spot on models.com's hard-to-crack Top 50 Women list - which is almost unheard-of.

The showgirls and boys: 62 Models - NZFW Autumn/Winter 2013

elena buckley via 62 models

New Zealand Fashion Week is just around the corner. But already, we hear, the world's biggest model agency, IMG Models, has been busy scouting in The Land of the Long White Cloud, with interest in a few new Kiwi faces. So who will rock next month's runways in Auckland and which new names might emerge? Next in frockwriter's NZFW showcards series,  the showcards from 62 Models.  

The showgirls and boys: Red Eleven Models - NZFW Autumn/Winter 2013

holly rose by amanda betts/red eleven models

New Zealand Fashion Week is rapidly approaching - September 3-7 – and as with any fashion week, eyes will of course not only be on the designers, but the models. With more focus on Australian and New Zealand modelling talent than ever before - not to mention the recent antipodian beachhead recently established in Sydney by the world's biggest modelling agency, IMG Models - we thought we would preview some of the models who will be walking Auckland's runways next month. Continuing on from the showcard series we previewed in the leadup to May's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, here are the NZFW showcards from a few of the key New Zealand agencies. First up, Red Eleven Models.