Zimmermann swaps MBFWA for New York Fashion Week

krystal glynn backstage at zimmermann SS1213

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia is counting down to the Spring/Summer 2013/2014 showcase from April 8 -12 at its brand new venue, Carriageworks. That’s nearly a month ahead of the event’s traditional time slot of late April/early May, a change that was made last year after concerns were raised by many in the industry that the timing was too late for contemporary buying cycles. But it seems you can’t keep everyone happy.

Gary Bigeni's shape shifters

Gary Bigeni proved he could do much more than a draped dress last night. A wardrobe of smart separates complemented his draped silk jersey repertoire, much of it in a much harder material: leather. Leather blazers, boleros, T-shirts and even shorts in rich brick and a soft dove grey, were juxtaposed against silky sweaters in block colours with intricate, knotted cutout backs, full-legged woven trousers and candy-striped silk dresses with matching longline cardigans and button-up shirts in oranges and crisp blues. To be sure, there were plenty of his signature draped dresses and tunics, the most beautiful in aquamarine, turquoise and teal. But Bigeni gets the vote for the best synergy between sponsor and creative, via his hookup with shapewear manufacturer Spanx, which supplied a dazzling variety of undergarments that got people talking but which were by nature completely invisible on the runway – and of course totally irrelevant on his size 0 cast.

The year of the Rutt

backstage @ gary bigeni

I first noticed Rachel Rutt one year ago, after Chic Management included her in the agency's RAFW 2008 newbies list when I was compiling this NEWS.com.au blog post on the season's new faces. One month later, when local media caught onto the lack of runway diversity story, which provided the catalyst for Vogue Italia's all-black July 2008 edition, the Eurasian beauty, who is half Singaporean and half English, told The Australian that the local fashion industry was "very Caucasian-oriented". But we didn't have to wait long before seeing a lot more of Rutt. In August, she walked in the David Jones Spring/Summer 0809 show and booked a series of lookbooks, from Akira to Gail Sorronda to Minty Meets Munt. And as became increasingly obvious at this year's RAFW, 18 year-old Rutt was Chic Management's breakout star at the event, walking in more shows than any other Chic Management model according to the agency.

Some might recall that this time last year, the same applied to Myf Shepherd. Although unknown prior to RAFW, Shepherd went on to be booked by Gucci and Prada for the Resort 2009 shows last June, before blitzing the SS09 shows three months later.

Well guess who is New York-bound at the end of this month? That's right, Miss Rutt.

For those northern hemisphere modelwatchers reading this blog, please note - as was pointed out on frockwriter's parallel Twitter coverage during RAFW - Rutt was not only in high rotation on Sydney's catwalks three weeks ago, she was also booked for two videos which provided the backdrop to two separate shows over consecutive nights at the event: Kirrily Johnston and Gary Bigeni.

For those who haven't already seen the first one via a couple of other blogs which filmed straight off the runway, here is the Kirrily Johnston film made by Alex Goddard over at Oyster Productions:



And here is Nick Waterman’s 'Beside Ourselves' film, which played the following evening during Bigeni's show.

Bigeni kindly uploaded this to YouTube for frockwriter and after that version seemed a little fuzzy, reuploaded to the better-quality Vimeo hosting service. The video is however still extremely fuzzy. But you get the gist.

Beside Ourselves from Nick Waterman on Vimeo.

Looking forward to tracking Rutt's progress over the coming months.

Gary Bigeni finale