Backstage at DVF

diane von furstenberg backstage in sydney 24/10/12

So the Diane von Furstenberg show rolled into town last week. One runway show, one Business Chicks lunch and one Hayman Island penthouse launch down, where is von Furstenberg now? Cooling her heels, she told me backstage on Wednesday night, at a mate’s Kangaroo Valley farm in the NSW Southern Highlands. A pretty spot, we assured her (here’s a Highlands wrap we did a couple of years ago). “I have my book to finish you know” she noted, arousing our curiosity as to precisely how long she is planning to hang around. With Hurricane ‘Frankenstorm’ Sandy currently bearing down on the US east coast and thousands of flights cancelled, perhaps a little longer than originally planned.

Deep in Vogue - LMFF 2011

Second up on the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival's main runway schedule was the Vogue Australia showcase, featuring the finalists of LMFF's 2011 Designer Award: Melvin Tanaya's and Lyna Ty's three seasons old menswear brand Song for the Mute, which won the award, plus Arnsdorf, Bassike, Dress Up, Ellery, From Britten, Laurence Pasquier and Lui Hon. Styled by Vogue's Trevor Stones, it was an edgy showcase of exciting, emerging Australian design talent. And it wasn't only the new brands that attracted frockwriter's attention. Rachel Grasso (above) was also a standout. Modelling for four years and repped in Sydney by Priscilla's, the 20 year-old Perth native of Irish/Italian ancestry must have walked in front of our camera on more than one previous occasion. For some reason, we really noticed her this week.

In with the new - David Jones Autumn/Winter 2011

Tuesday's David Jones show felt the same, but different, to previous years' events. There was no Mark McInnes, Colette Garnsey, Miranda Kerr or even sass & bide. With the exception of relatively recent fashion ambassador addition Kerr, all had been front-and-centre at the show for almost a decade, laying the foundations for the "house of brands" into which the department store subsequently evolved. Taking their places and for a variety of different reasons - which ranged from scandal and resignations, pregnancy and defection, all in the space of eight months - was a new management team (albeit one promoted from within) and a swag of new labels, the absolute standout of which on the night just had to be Josh Goot and his colourblocked bodycon dresses and tulip skirts and tops with wildly expressionistic graphics. Not forgetting some highly polished Australian modelling talent, that included girls who have walked for some of the world's biggest fashion brands: Nicole Trunfio, Alexandra Agoston, Myf Shepherd, Stephanie Carta, Tiah Eckhardt and Christina Carey. And some newcomers who may soon follow them. Think Rosemary Smith (above, in Josh Goot), who is off to the European shows with at least one big name in her appointment book. Click (here) for frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of backstage shots taken before and during the show. 
 

The show goes on for David Jones... without sass & bide

 

As per David Jones' famous advertising slogan, there used to be no other department store in Australia for sass & bide. But after days of rumours, it is now confirmed that David Jones' arch rival Myer will become the brand's exclusive Australian department store partner moving forward, having just acquired a 65percent stake for A$42.25million plus a performance bonus based on fiscal 2011 sales results. David Jones, which has winter 2011 sass & bide stock on its hands and features the brand in its winter 2011 "brand book" catalogue (above), has responded with its own Australian Stock Exchange announcement this morning that it is ending its 10 year association with sass & bide following David Jones' decision not to acquire a stake. Oh and it wasn't doing very well anyway, added DJs (at least at DJs - Myer reports that sass & bide overall delivered 50percent year on year sales growth for the past two years). Noted ceo Paul Zahra, “We did the calculations and could not justify the price paid for the business, particularly given the lack of growth in our sass & bide business with sales and gross profit in FY10 at approximately FY05 levels". This is fascinating, given that David Jones gave sass & bide its prestigious finale spot in the Autumn/Winter 2010 show one year ago. What the Myer decision ultimately means for the sass & bide brand remains to be seen. Not surprisingly perhaps, the brand has been yanked altogether from tomorrow's lineup, David Jones has confirmed to frockwriter.

Christina Carey nabs Marc Jacobs

marc jacobs fw1011/style.com

Word just in from backstage at Marc Jacobs (via Sonny Vandevelde) is that Priscilla's Christina Carey is the only Australian model booked for the show (confirmed). The Marc Jacobs show, which is due to kick off at 12.00pm AEST (8.00pm EST), is one of the most prestigious modelling gigs at New York Fashion Week - if not the most prestigious. You can watch the show live stream on marcjacobs.com. Great get for Carey.

The Rutt pack

rachel rutt/TFS street style NYFW

Sadly frockwriter has been otherwise occupied for the duration of New York Fashion Week, so this blog has been incredibly quiet. Australian models, on the other hand, have been busy, with at least 12 local names walking in shows. Anyone we have missed, feel free to add in. According to Chadwicks Jessica Hart and Louise van der Vorst were also on deck, but so far the photos have yet to emerge. Priscillas says that Lauren Brown did eight shows, but we have only managed to spot her in two. A few models of note. After skipping last season altogether due to an ankle injury, Abbey Lee Kershaw powered back last week booking an impressive 20 shows, including some of the week’s biggest names. As expected, Rachel Rutt made an impressive RTW debut, also clocking 20 shows.

In Vogue: Christina Carey

greg lotus

Christina Carey has been flying under the radar for some time. If you can call being the face of Japanese beauty giant Shiseido low profile. Still, Carey's sophisticated look - which is evocative of that of 1940s model Lisa Fonssagrives and other faces of the glory days of haute couture – has definitely taken some time to catch on. Carey’s show tally for FW0910 earlier this year, for example, embraced a mere handful of names. Well after spending four years shuttling between Paris, New York and Milan, perhaps things are about to change for the 23 year-old Melbournite. Here are three shots from a 20-page editorial spread in the upcoming August edition of Vogue Italia. Shot by Greg Lotus (with the complete editorial on his website), it stars Carey alongside Belarusian supermod Tanya Dziahileva (above L) and a third model. It is Carey’s second Vogue Italia spread this year, after Tim Walker’s Fairy Time story in February.




greg lotus