Cameron Silver: Duke of Melrose

photo: supplied by foxtel

I first met Cameron Silver at the Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2004 when he was guest speaker at the event. A cabaret singer-turned-vintage retailer, Silver operated a by that stage seven year-old boutique called Decades on LA’s Melrose Avenue and he had established himself as a go-to guru for high-end, pre-loved couture gowns from upwards of the 1920s; seducing a swag of Hollywood power stylists and their A-list clients such as Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow. Silver’s comrade-in-couture is Christos Garkinos, a former marketing manager for Disney and Virgin Megastores, who joined the business in 1999, launching what was up until 2011 an adjacent contemporary designer resale boutique called DecadesTwo, which sources pre-loved designer fare from a global network of over 3000 consignors – including many celebrities. The businesses have since merged. The duo – who have arguably peeked inside more private wardrobes than anyone on the planet - are the stars of Bravo’s brand new reality show Dukes of Melrose which debuted on Foxtel’s Arena channel in Australia last night at 10.00pm. Part of Arena’s new triple fashion reality show bill for Thursday nights, the show follows straight after The Rachel Zoe Project (Season V) and It’s a Brad, Brad World (Season II). I have also watched a further three episodes and it’s as funny as hell. I caught up with Silver earlier this week to yack about the show, vintage, “insane” and “unscrupulous” red carpet politics - and what kind of milk Catherine Deneuve takes in her coffee.

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.

Alison Veness-McGourty's 10 network

jordan graham/10 magazine australia

Kirstie Clements isn’t the only editor-in-chief to have toppled from the totem pole of Australian fashion magazines over the past two years. In December 2010, 17 months before Clements’ 13-year tenure at Vogue Australia was abruptly terminated, Alison Veness-McGourty upped stumps from Australia’s biggest magazine publisher, ACP Magazines [since acquired by the Bauer Media Group], after 11 years with the company, initially as deputy editor, then editor and editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar and launch editor of Grazia Australia. Following a short stint as a freelance brand consultant, in August last year the Bristol-born fashion veteran announced a joint venture with UK-based Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou to publish Australian editions of Neophitou-Apostolou’s 11 year-old indie style bible 10 and its menswear offshoot 10 Men. After bubbling along on 10magazine.com.au’s digital platform since September, the Australian print editions finally see the light of day on February 1st. What will 10 and 10 Men Australia offer fashion consumers in an already-saturated magazine market and what are Veness-McGourty’s thoughts on the fashion and publishing industries, almost three decades after she launched her career on a London tabloid chasing Linda Evangelista and the Princess of Wales? Frockwriter asks her more than 10 questions.

Where's Abbey Lee? Good question

backstage david jones SS1011, sydney, august 2010

It's been a week since frockwriter reported that Australian supermodel Abbey Lee Kershaw looked to have severed ties with Chic Management, the Australian agency that launched her career. Although we have still yet to hear from the agency in any official capacity, it's pretty clear by now that it's splitsville between Kershaw and Chic. So where has she gone? Frockwriter caught up with her father and financial mentor, Kim Kershaw. 

Kirstie Clements' Vogue Factor

vogue australia september 2011 - via fashionmodeldirectory.com

Judging by the response to Frockwriter’s Salute to Kirstie Clements tribute last May – one of our top 10 posts of 2012 – there is a huge amount of interest in, and goodwill towards, the former Vogue Australia editor. Her shock axing last year, followed by the dismantling of pretty much the entire Vogue Australia team she worked with, had the Australian fashion industry abuzz. But Clements fell on her feet quickly, snapped up by Melbourne University Press to pen an autobiography about her 25 year career – nearly all of it spent at Vogue, starting as a receptionist in the 1980s. The book, called The Vogue Factor, is due out February 28th (you can pre-order it here). We caught up with Clements to learn a little more about her fashion “tell-all” and what she’s up to. Incidentally, you’ll never guess who she was about to put on the cover at the time of her departure.

Five minutes with Ruby Jean Wilson

Born in Scotland and raised in the UK, Ruby Jean Wilson emigrated to Australia with her family at age 13 and started modelling three years later. In a very short space of time she has certainly made her mark. One of Australia's most high profile catwalkers on the international show circuit over the past couple of seasons, at the Spring/Summer 2013 shows in September and October she opened and closed Marc Jacobs and then opened Louis Vuitton, subsequently scoring ad campaigns for both brands. The campaigns were lensed by Juergen Teller and Steven Meisel, respectively, and she is the sole star of the Marc Jacobs campaign. Back home briefly from her new, New York base for a summer holiday, frockwriter caught up Wilson just before Christmas at the Australian Fashion Foundation party to announce the winners of the foundation's 2013 burrs. Among the topics canvassed with RJW: which other family members might follow in her fashionable footsteps? And whose name does she have tattooed on her left wrist?