Abbey Lee Kershaw has been MIA on the runways since taking some time off after shooting George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road in Namibia last year. But one of her Mad Max co-stars will
be at MBFWA next month: Courtney Eaton, who heads up the womens’ show pack from
Sydney agency Viviens Model Management.
Aimee Mullins meet Paul de Gelder. Much has been written – and broadcast - about de Gelder’s near brush with death on February 11, 2009, when the then 31 year-old Royal Australian Navy clearance diver and former paratrooper and East Timor peacekeeper came face-to-face with a three metre bull shark, which savaged his right hand and leg. A double amputation, extensive rehabilitation and two years later, de Gelder is back at work as a Royal Australian Navy diver trainer, with several brand new spinoff careers, including motivational speaker and conservationist, who has called on the United Nations to protect sharks from over fishing. Earlier this year he also became a published author, with the release of No time for fear: How a shark attack survivor beat the odds. But de Gelder has another new career that’s a little less well-documented: fashion model. To be precise, underwear and swimwear model for new Sydney-based brand The Navy Diver.
On the occasion of her groundbreaking recent cover of Vogue Italia, alongside two other plus-sized models, we mentioned that Australia’s Robyn Lawley had another high fashion coup up her sleeve, just shot in Australia with Max Doyle. Frockwriter can reveal that that shoot is in fact a 10-page designer fashion editorial called 'Belle Curve' in the September edition of Vogue Australia, which is out on August 3rd. Subscriber copies landed today (thanks to our tipster who emailed the shots in). The editorial is accompanied by a double-page interview with Lawley. According to Kirstie Clements' editor's letter, this is the first time in Vogue Australia's 52-year history that the magazine has shot a plus-sized model for a fashion editorial. Hot on the heels of Lawley’s Vogue Italia cover and herElle France cover in April, 2011 is turning out to be a banner year for Lawley, Bonner and the plus size-specialist modelling industry.
Another day, another big buzz new model, it seems, is springboarded out of the Australasian market. Twenty year-old Anja Konstantinova is not, however, just another sultry, sun-kissed Aussie blonde. Russian-born, Konstantinova has spent half her life downunder, moving here in 2001 with her prima ballerina mother Irina Konstantinova and father Sergei Konstantinov, both former principal dancers with the Kirov Ballet who now teach at The Australian Ballet School. Signed to Sydney agency Priscilla's six months ago, Konstantinova did just two shows at May's Australian Fashion Week (Ellery and Friend of Mine). But she has obviously caught the industry's eye. Since then, according to Priscilla's, she has shot for Vogue and GQ Australia, Oyster (five stories), Grazia (four stories), Marie Claire, No, Pages Online, Poster magazine, a Ksubi calendar, an Oroton catalogue and the Spring/Summer 2011/2012 campaign for rising Sydney jewellery brand Mezi. Above and below is a first look at the Mezi campaign shot by Patrick McGreal.
When Australian Robyn Lawley recently landed the cover of ELLE France's 'curvy' issue, frockwriter mentioned that she had just been shot for the June edition of another, even more prestigious European title by one of the biggest names in fashion photography. They don't come much bigger than Vogue Italia and Steven Meisel. Congratulations to Lawley, who appears on the June 2011 cover of Vogue Italia (above, far right) with two other plus-sized models, Tara Lynn and Candice Huffine. Lawley, an Australian size 14, is also prominently featured inside the issue, in the remainder of the Meisel-lensed cover story (see another shot, below), but also in an only-girl editorial shot by Pierpaulo Ferrari (see further down for three behind-the-scenes images from that shoot, taken by Lawley). Lawley has more high fashion gigs on the horizon, having just shot with Max Doyle back home in Australia.
Karl Lagerfeld severed ties with H&M in part because the company wanted to produce his collection in large sizes, while he was reportedly only interested in designing “fashion for slender and slim people”. But it seems the Swedish fast fashion behemoth hasn’t let this rain on its plus size parade. From early March, H&M will offer a 20-unit capsule collection called, simply, Inclusive, which will be available in sizes 32-54 and sold exclusively online (these would appear to be Swedish sizes, which equate to an Australian 6-28). Many thanks to Runway Revolution for the headsup. Why online only? In 2008, when Australian designer Leona Edmiston decided to double her size range to a 24, coincidentally she also only offered the larger sizes online, after her research indicated that many larger women felt uncomfortable in boutiques.
Ah the Tom Ford issue of Vogue Paris. It just keeps on giving. Following the 'Forever Young' editorial in which a blinged-up grey-haired couple is caught by Ford's camera in flagrante delicto - and Ford's proclamation that he has had it with the cult of youth, the stigmatization of wrinkles and all those who "cheat" time - comes an editorial spread starring some of the women who modelled the new Tom Ford womenswear collection at his exclusive media launch at New York Fashion Week in September. And a couple of ringins, including Ali McGraw. (In order below) Betty Catroux, Marisa Berenson and Lauren Hutton look like ultra glamorous 60+ women - although any thinner and Berenson would have been at grave risk of being mistaken for a light stand in Vogue's studio. The Love Story star, however, doesn't look a day over 45. Which is fascinating, since McGraw is in fact 72. Granted, she has been practicing yoga for the past 20 years, but considering that this is what McGraw looked like in 2006 and here she is in an interview with Oprah Winfrey several months ago - looking absolutely fantastic, we must say - is it just a question of good lighting or has she in fact been Photoshopped by Vogue to within an inch of her life? Given Ford's vigorous stance on ageing in the 'Forever Young' editorial, the latter scenario would seem more than a little inconsistent.
Following the Crystal Renn editorial in which the world's most famous plus size model receives a gamut of cosmetic surgery procedures - and some oral pleasure - yet more images of the Tom Ford-edited December 2010 edition of Vogue Paris have surfaced. In an editorial spread entitled 'Forever Love', this time Ford tackles the subject of old age, shooting two apparently septuaganarian models groping each other while showcasing the latest in fine jewellery. In a post-script, Ford, who also photographed the editorial, notes:“I am tired of the cult of youth. The cultural rejection of old age, the stigmatization of wrinkles, grey hair, of bodies furrowed by the years. I am fascinated by Diana Vreeland, Georgia O’Keeffe and Louise Bourgeois, women who have let time embrace them without ever cheating. Society today condems this, me, I celebrate it. For this session of fine jewellery, I imagined a man and a woman who had been together for a long time, faithful to each other and always incandescent with desire”.
Naomi Campbell is never far from the headlines. On Sunday she managed to inadvertently embroil an Australian publisher in one. In a story headlined 'Editor sacked in racism row', Campbell told the UK Telegraph, "One time, I went to Australia. The editor-in-chief of a magazine there told me that she got fired for putting me on the cover. I do remember going there and saying, 'Where's the Aboriginal model? There should be one. They're beautiful women.'" No names are mentioned. But coincidentally, another Brit by the name of Marion Hume edited Vogue Australia for 18 months in the late 1990s, during which time she commissioned Peter Lindbergh to shoot Campbell for the June 1997 cover, above. In 1998 Hume was fired, following a controversial tenure, during which, it should be noted, she did not manage to stem the erosion of circulation and advertising that had begun prior to her appointment with the arrival of marie claire in 1995 and continued with the 1998 rebirth of Harpers Bazaar Australia. From 1995-1999 Voguelost almost a quarter of its readers and two-thirds of its ad share. In 2002, Conde Nast withdrew from Australian publishing, selling the Vogue license to FPC Magazines, which in turn was acquired by News Limited in November 2006.
Jean Paul Gaultier is no stranger to runway diversity, having sent arguably the world's most high profile plus size model, American Crystal Renn, down his Spring/Summer 2006 runway in October 2005. The following year, plus-sized Paris-based American actor Velvet d'Amour made her Gaultier appearance (here is the interview I did with her at the time). Yesterday Gaultier upped the plus size ante by having no less than three plus size models on his Spring/Summer 2011 runway in Paris: Renn, Marquita Pring and Beth Ditto, the frontwoman of US indie rock outfit Gossip, who opened the show and later delivered an a cappella performance. A photographer mate, the inimitable Steve Wood, just zipped me these backstage shots of Ditto with Gaultier and some other members of his show cast, including Sasha Pivovarova and Eliza Cummins (but no sign of former Gaultier face Tallulah Morton, who is in Paris at the moment).
Much will be made over the coming days of the inclusion of a five months pregnant supermodel in the Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2011 show in Paris. It's not the first time a pregnant model has walked a runway. But this is Balenciaga. And given how much hoo-haa is normally made about model weight at the elite end of the fashion business, it does seem like some kind of watershed moment. The model in question, Miranda Kerr, is of course now not just a model, but a celebrity. And she has already walked in Balenciaga's shows on two previous occasions. Kerr's appearance at Balenciaga comes almost two months after she pulled out of the Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway showcase of Australian department store David Jones, to which she is currently contracted, after marrying fiance Orlando Bloom. Since confirming her pregnancy, Kerr has spoken of her morning sickness in the first trimester, which presumably would have made the David Jones show difficult for her. That's assuming that David Jones would have been perfectly happy to put a pregnant model on its runway. In an odd coincidence, Balenciaga creative director Nicolas Ghesquière chose a large abstract houndstooth motif for this collection. The houndstooth motif being an integral part of DJs' brand identity (as is the advertising slogan, "There's no other store like David Jones").
Did we say there was buzz about Bambi Northwood-Blyth going into Spring/Summer 2011? We did. Far more importantly, of course, so did Ashley Brokaw, one of the world’s top casting directors who started beating the Bambi drum in an interview with The New York Times’ Cathy Horyn on the eve of New York Fashion Week three weeks ago. And then cast her in her first international show, Rag & Bone, alongside Julia Nobis. Brokaw had told Horyn that both Northwood-Blyth and Nobis were at the top of her casting list this season. Well Brokaw has just cast the duo again - along with five months pregnant Miranda Kerr - this time, in the Balenciaga show in Paris. Given that Nobis already has one international show season under her belt and is regulation runway height, however, it’s nothing less than an extraordinary coup for Northwood-Blyth, who started modelling six months ago and also happens to be 5’7” tall – that’s the official version, with some suggesting she may in fact be 5’6”. How many girls have been turned down by model agents because they’re too small? Legions of them. Kate Moss is one of the rare exceptions and you have to say, Northwood-Blyth could be shaping up to be Australia’s version.
Sera Lilly called her collection ‘The Sisters of San Salvador’ and appropriately, her sister walked in the show (the Diane Pernet-lookalike with the mantilla) - alongside a street cast of non professional models. Although frockwriter is convinced there were a few pros thrown in there. Some pretty floral daywear and evening dresses and a few cool knits, but the collection seemed to lack focus. It’s a great statement to get “real women” modelling in your show – and they certainly looked like they had a lot of fun - but just a reminder that professional models do this for a living, not for fun and they know they are there to showcase the clothes. See frockwriter’s Posterous for more images.
Frockwriter was preoccupied with a fulltime gig during the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 season, so we missed quite a bit of news. Including two new rising Australian modelling stars, Adelaide’s Emily Wake and Melbourne’s Ajak Deng. We did include one mention of Deng in our preliminary SS10 Australian model wrap just after New York Fashion Week, her first international show season, in which she did just a handful of New York shows (and we originally got her surname wrong*). However it was during the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 shows in February and March when Deng really grabbed the industry’s attention, walking in over 20 shows. These included blue chip names such as Lanvin, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier and Chloe – the first black girl to walk the latter’s runway in nine seasons in fact, prompting New York Magazine to ask in June, “Could Ajak Deng be the next Alek Wek?”. Like Wek, Deng is a Sudanese refugee. But while Wek’s family fled the war-torn African nation for the UK, Deng’s family settled in Melbourne in 2004 – among an estimated 23,000 Sudanese refugees who arrived in Australia from 2002-2007. Sixty-two percent are aged 24 and younger and 45percent of the settlers are believed to be female. Like Wek’s story – which Wek recounted in her autobiography in 2007 – Deng’s story is remarkable. The second of eight children, Deng lost her mother to malaria at the age of 12 while living in a Kenyan refugee camp and took charge of her infant sister. Three years ago her father moved back to Sudan and her stepmother left to join him. Since she was 16, Deng has been financially responsible for her seven siblings.
It’s been interesting tracking the story of plus sized designer clothing over the past two years. In March 2008, at Fully Chic, we incurred the wrath of some plus-sized consumers after reporting that although Target Australia made up to a size 16 in its Stella McCartney collection in 2007, so much size 16 merch was left on the sales racks Target stopped at a 14 when it came to producing its next collab with Zac Posen. Several weeks later we reported that Australian designer Leona Edmiston was doubling her size range to a 24 – but only in her online boutique. The story triggered a heated debate amongst those who lauded Edmiston's pioneering efforts - and those who claimed the move was “normalising obesity". Last year, Today Tonight took size 16 Melbourne blogger Hayley Hughes undercover into Melbourne’s Chapel Street. She found virtually no merchandise over size 12. Eighteen designers and retailers refused to discuss with the program why fashion's high end actively discriminates against larger consumers by ignoring them, with insiders citing concerns the issue was "bad for their image". So it was with some surprise that we spotted what could be the best-kept secret in the fashion business: a report that Saks Fifth Avenue is about to trial plus sizes from luxury brands including Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Dolce e Gabbana and Fendi on its New York designer womenswear floor.
With all the buzz about androgynous Oz model Andrej Pejic at the recent Fall Winter 2010/2011 menswear collections in Europe, it's been easy to overlook Givenchy's intriguing FW1011 womenswear campaign. It's not news - WWD reported it back in May - but alongside several high profile women, including Australia's Catherine McNeil (below), Givenchy creative director Tisci also cast his longtime muse, assistant and fit model, transsexual Lea T, nee Leo (second on the R, above). “She’s always been very feminine: superfragile, very aristocratic” Tisci told WWD. That was until Vogue Paris just published the following shot of Lea in its August edition. (warning NSFW).
On June 1, frockwriter mentioned that our well-placed sources had spotted veteran Australian model Emma Balfour shooting the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 campaign for French luxury brand Céline in New York alongside at least one other model. The first images of the Juergen Teller-lensed campaign have just surfaced and voilà Balfour, together with Martiniquais/French model Sigrid Agren (below). This is a huge coup for Balfour, who popped back up on the modelling radar in September 2008 during New York Fashion Week in the Marc Jacobs and Alexander Wang shows. Pushing 40, she was old enough to be the mother of her teen runway colleagues. By the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 season in February/March this year, which boasted Stella Tennant, Kristen McMenamy and Elle Macpherson, among others, Nineties modelling faces had made a small, yet significant, return to the runways - not to mention the ad pages. Here is 39 year-old Tennant in Balenciaga's FW1011 campaign.
We have been talking about older women creeping intohigh fashion runway shows and advertising campaigns. But as far as frockwriter can recall, fashion magazines are not as yet lining up to put anyone north of 50 on a cover. In fact we can't recall many (if any) that have. Try 64. Not that quarterly US fanzine Crush is a major, or even fashion-dedicated, but interesting nonetheless to see veteran British actor Charlotte Rampling on its latest cover. Below is a short video taken during the shoot. She may no longer be playing the ingénue, but judging by her IMDB page, Rampling is almost as busy now as during her heyday, when she shot to prominence in Georgy Girl, later cementing her position as a major star in The Damned and The Night Porter. The Paris-based grandmother is of course no stranger to the fashion world. Dubbed "the world’s sexiest woman” by British Vogue in 1974, accompanied by a nude Helmut Newton portrait, in September last year Rampling bravely posed nude again opposite models.com’s then world number one Raquel Zimmermann for Juergen Teller and Paradis magazine - and this time full frontal.
In the deluge of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week coverage, frockwriter somehow managed to miss this cover. So congrats are due to one of this blog's faves, Sydney model Rachel Rutt, who scored this month's cover of the Japanese edition of Dazed & Confused. And while sure, it's not as visible as the cover of the UK parent edition (which Rutt's better-established Chic stablemate Abbey Lee Kershaw has crackedtwice), it is nevertheless a fantastic get. It represents, moreover, her second international cover - after scoring one of 12 multicovers of the autumn/winter 09/10 edition of French Revue de Modesmade the cover of Dazed & Confused Japan last October, alongside big names including Coco Rocha, Ali Stephens, Karmen Pedaru, Dree Hemingway, Constance Jablonski and Maryna Linchuk. Coincidentally, in February, another Chic-ette, Rutt's great mate Myf Shepherd, scored the cover of Dazed & Confused Japan. So you could say that "MUTT" has this mag covered.
