Three is a magic number (maybe)

leoni milano

Happy Independence Day to my American readers. July 4 is also frockwriter’s birthday and today we turn three. How time flies. It seems like only yesterday that I was saying sayonara to mainstream media blogging (for smh.com.au and news.com.au) and venturing into the wild blue yonder of the indie blogosphere. What a ride it has been. And what can I say but, once again, thank you for your interest, your comments, your Tweets, your links, your trackbacks, your feedback and your shit-canning. Over exuberance of the latter at one point over the past year prompted me to finally upgrade my comments system. Couple of milestones. It took two years to reach one million page views. But just one to reach two million. What might it take to hit one million PIs per month? Certainly much more of an effort than currently goes into this blog, due to paid work commitments and other distractions (such as a family drama, which has occupied a huge amount of time over the past few months). But I’m working on it. Thanks to new advertising partner Pages Digital, the first ad campaigns have gone up. Early days of course. But baby steps. 

From a tattoo parlour to a Givenchy exclusive - Lydia Willemina Collins

givenchy FW1112/getty via daylife

There are three days to go in the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 show season. So far, frockwriter estimates that 24 Australians have walked its runways, several among them clocking up over 30 shows apiece from New York to Paris - and one (Julia Nobis), over 40. We've seen circuit veterans, circuit virgins and several models who have returned to the runways after taking a break - in Miranda Kerr's case at Balenciaga, two months after giving birth. But as the arrival of Lydia Willemina Collins overnight at the prestigious Givenchy show attests, it's not too late to throw a wild card into the ring. Modelling for a month, the 18 year-old Sydneysider - who is working under her two first names - was originally scouted three years ago by Work Agency's Helena Vitolins, working in her mother's tattoo parlour. "But she wasn’t ready" reports Vitolins from Paris. "I just waited for the right time. We got her passport on Thursday, flew her out on Saturday. All of this happened very quickly. We’re going to New York tomorrow, she has some major, major holds and some major, major appointments". The Givenchy exclusive was Collins' second job, after this lookbook for Australian label Scanlan & Theodore, shot by Max Doyle. A natural brunette (see below, from a February 3 post on models.com), her hair was dyed red by Givenchy's hair stylist Luigi Murenu specifically for the show. 

Givenchy's gender bender

mert + marcus via givenchy

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).

Hollywood's risk takers

reuters via daylife

Just a couple of personal favourites from last night's Oscars. Most of which, frockwriter notes, are already turning up on worst-dressed lists. In a sea of safe, so-so goddess gowns and meringues, however, we applaud their bravura: Charlize Theron, Zoe Saldana and Sarah Jessica Parker in haute couture, respectively Christian Dior, Givenchy and Chanel. Then there was Nicole Richie's quicksilver boho de luxe gown by Lebanese American designer Reem Acra. And the statuesque Kathryn Bigelow, who looked striking in her gunmetal Yves Saint Laurent sheath. Although the latter design was far more conservative than that of Theron and co, when you are the first woman in 82 years to be awarded a Best Director Oscar, who needs haute couture?







all images: daylife

sarah jessica parker/getty
nicole richie/getty
zoe saldana/AP
charlize theron/reuters

Frankie goes to fashionwood

givenchy SS10/wwd.com

Jethro Cave might have an edgy look, a famous dad and good connections, not to mention a Gumby earring. But the real dark horse of the Australian mens modelling scene was, as it turns out, right under our nose whilst reporting on the recent menswear season. Meet Frankie Elliss-Galati. The 19 year-old Gold Coaster was discovered by Sydney-based photographer Chris Ferguson in a Brisbane sushi bar in January. After booking jobs for Vogue Australia and Bisonte, among others, he headed to the mens Spring/Summer 2010 shows in Europe. In his first international season he walked for names including Christian Dior Homme, Givenchy, Thierry Mugler, Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, Calvin Klein, Trussardi and Tim Hamilton (which he closed) - a feat noted by models.com, which included him on its Top 10 Men’s New Faces for SS10. Not that anyone thus far appears to have been aware of his nationality.

Although repped in Australia by Viviens, Elliss-Galati's mother agent is in fact LA-based Australian Patrick Corcoran, who, like Ferguson, is a former Chic Management booker.

At Givenchy (above), Elliss-Galati got to wear one of the more extreme studded pieces which were inspired by the proposed collaboration between Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci and the late Michael Jackson, for Jackson's O2 Centre concerts in London. Tisci was reportedly due to meet with Jackson about the costumes on Monday 29th June, obviously an appointment that Jackson never made.



christian dior homme SS10 (top); robert cavalli SS10/wwd.com

The trompe l'oeil necklace trend - it never ends!

lutefisk


On Sunday, sparked by Karen Walker’s reedition of the broken string of pearls print from her own archive for her FW0910 show, frockwriter showed a trompe l'oeil necklace trend chronology, showing which big fashion names picked up the look after Walker first showed it for Resort 2000. Well apparently Givenchy has also hopped on board. Because here is Bryanboy, just snapped outside - and also backstage - at Marc by Marc Jacobs in a Givenchy T-shirt – part of what he reports was a limited edition run done for the luxury e-tailer Luisa Via Roma and based on the heavy multi-chain necklaces from Givenchy’s FW0809 show. Click here to see the Marc by Marc Jacobs collection on wwd.com - the show featured two Australian models, newcomer Bridget Malcolm (look #21, contrary to reports, Malcolm did not walk in Monday's Marc Jacobs main line show) and Myf Shepherd (#40). How’s Bryanboy doing in New York BTW?

As revealed by WWD, Bryanboy is in New York filming a 25-minute documentary on Marc Jacobs' FW0910 season for the Japanese market.

Commissioned by Marc Jacobs Japan (with Stephen Schible, co-producer of Lost In Translation producing), Bryanboy has been filming at both the Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs shows.

Head to Bryanboy's blog to see two of the fashion world’s best-known figures, Paris Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld and US Vogue's Hamish Bowles, in uncharacteristically goofy happy snaps with BB.

Then there is Marc Jacobs himself, who named a handbag from his FW0809 collection after Bryanboy following a series of video/photo/email exchanges.

Here's Sonny Vandevelde's backstage shot of the pair shortly after they finally met in person backstage on Monday night:


bryanboy

Bryanboy told frockwriter:

“The only word to describe my experience here – it’s been magical. I’ve met so many people. And I’m really enjoying my time. It’s just a blogger’s dream come true. I saw Myf. I met Jeanne Beker [host of Canada's Fashion Television], I met Carine again and Anna Della Russo [Vogue Nippon]. But I was so scared to meet Anna Wintour. I was too scared to go up to her. She has this invisible force field around her. I wouldn’t dare”.

From the Cobrasnake to the couture

givenchy SS09 ready-to-wear/style.com


"PARIS COUTURE, starting tomorrow!! And pretty over the bad PR back in sydney". So Twittered Stephanie Carta less than one hour ago after attending a fitting for Givenchy, whose show is due to take place at 5am tomorrow morning Sydney time (7pm Tuesday Paris time). That's at least one haute couture show which Carta looks to have in the bag. Given that she walked in Givenchy's SS09 ready-to-wear show in October (^), it looks like Carta is a personal fave of Riccardo Tisci, the creative director of the prestigious Paris haute couture maison, which was founded by Hubert de Givenchy in 1952 and made its name by dressing Audrey Hepburn. It makes a change from being a personal fave of Cobrasnake party snapper Mark Hunter, whose trashy NYE shot of Carta in Kings Cross certainly got people talking three weeks ago (even The Sydney Morning Herald). Carta also looks to have taken some proactive PR measures by either deleting or moving her Magna Carta blog. Not that her partying days are behind her. In this just-posted quick chat with PAPER mag's Julia Frakes, Carta reveals that Le Baron is her favourite Paris nightclub and that Australians have earned a bit of a Paris rep as the life of the party. This is no doubt music to the ears of Hunter, who has just popped back up on the radar at the haute couture shows.

Carta tells Frakes:

"The the night before last I sat for about two hours at a casting with some model friends that I did not expect to see, including two other Aussies. When I finally walked into the casting (I had chosen to wear the sheerest dress out of the selections given since I knew nobody else would choose it and I wanted to leave more quickly) and was instantly blamed for all the noise... along with any other Australians that they knew were waiting there!"

There are at least four other Australian models in Paris this week: Skye Stracke, Alice Burdeu, Myf Shepherd and Alexandra Agoston-O'Connor. Both Shepherd and Agoston-O'Connor were spotted in the Christian Dior show overnight.

That's not counting Harper's Bazaar's Christine Centenera, who turned up overnight in a Dior pic portfolio on The Cobrasnake. Apparently Hunter has moved on from Byron Bay.

We do look forward to seeing the party shots.

And will be interested to see if this week's runway shots of Carta, Stracke, Burdeu, Shepherd and Agoston-O'Connor prove the biggest talking points of their respective haute couture seasons.

Gladiators of the high-low shoe biz, Myer salutes you!

givenchy backstage, paris, 03/10/07

I thought something looked awfully familiar about the fetish footwear on Myer's runway on Wednesday night. And look, yes I know, every man and his dog has been doing some sort of gladiator shoe or boot of late. It's definitely a trend with, er, legs. One that's been running in fact for several years now.

But something really resonated with me vis-a-vis that specific gladiator shoe boot which appeared in several early sections of the show. Including the opener, Jennifer Hawkins' pretty new Cozi swimwear collection:


news.com.au/charlie brewer

According to the show program (and confirmed by one of the show's stylists) the shoe in question was made by Sachi, the budget Australian shoe brand.

The reason why it looked so familiar was not just because of the omnipresent gladiator trend. There were some quite specific design features.

The heavy ankle cuff with a chunky ankle strap.

The oversized buckle.

The intricate, interwoven straps covering the front of the foot.

The cone heel.

Then I had an epiphany. It started with the letter G.

The Sachi shoe bore an uncanny resemblance to a gladiator shoe boot presented last October in Paris by French luxury brand Givenchy for Spring/Summer 2008:



I had eyeballed the Givenchy shoe, alongside numerous other gladiator boots, at close range backstage during the show.

I photographed the shoes and then blogged a post on Givenchy's gladiator-inspired footwear.




As for the Sachi shoe, you can just see the details in Charlie Brewer's Myer runway pic above. However I managed to find a close-up of what I believe could be the shoe in question on the blog of Oz shoe guru Imelda, who previewed Sachi's SS0809 collection:


imelda

Givenchy’s gladiatorial SS08 shoe collection has proven a celeb hit over the northern summer, snapped on everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Charlize Theron and Rihanna.

Outside Australia, Barneys and Shopbop were selling Givenchy's gladiator shoe boot for US$995-1000. According to Imelda, nothing in the Sachi collection is over A$219.95.

Sachi's prices are of course a far cry from those of the European luxury brands which Myer also offers its customers. A case in point Givenchy. Which, funnily enough, Myer also sells.

Even funnier are the following Myer program credits which accompanied other segments of Wednesday's show.

The dresses in the Nevenka and Arabella Ramsay sections were teamed with a "Givenchy demi wedge".

Accompanying Wayne Cooper's white tuxedo suit was a, wait for it:

"Givenchy gladiator flat"