The snow must go on - New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2013/2014

catherine mcneil walks jason wu FW1314 via style.com

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers" goes the creed of the United States Postal Service. With 4700 flights cancelled in anticipation of Winter Storm Nemo - a blizzard of potentially historic proportions that is currently bearing down on the northeastern US - that remains to be seen. Although Marc Jacobs has had to postpone his show until next Thursday, New York Fashion Week rolls on regardless. Among those turning up for duty is a swag of Aussie models. So far we've counted eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen, but there are no doubt more to come, including new faces Gabby Dover and Jordan Cohayney. Of note, Catherine McNeil, who is looking better than ever and was third out at the high profile Jason Wu show on day two yesterday, also closing Kenneth Cole. Here are her catwalk compatriots thus far.

Girls on the Avenue

The beginning of this month kicked off with a manic week in which frockwriter flew to Brisbane, Adelaide and Auckland in the space of five days for three separate events – in each case as the guest of the respective organisers (but just to clarify, no appearance fees). Before heading to New Zealand Fashion Week, I was in Brisbane on August 29 to facilitate the Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE fashion industry panel for the third consecutive year. Then on September 1, I headed to Adelaide to see an in-season fashion showcase called Fashion Avenue that is now in its third year and is organised by Pride Models, one of the two major modelling agencies in town.

Ksubi paid its MBFWA models in cash - with a 'trade' bonus

nicole pollard backstage at ksubi SS1213

Couldn’t help noticing a tweet from top Australian model Melissa Johannsen this morning, thanking Ksubi for a AUD 500 gift voucher which had just arrived. “Oh yea! thanks @Ksubi...such an awesome show!” read the accompanying caption on Johannsen’s Instagram shot of the voucher (below). Knowing how endemic the practice of payment “in trade” has become in the modelling business - i.e. designers offering clothes and accessories instead of cash - we assumed the voucher might have been Johannsen’s fee for the Ksubi show at Mercedes-Benz Australian Fashion Week on April 30th. Not so, responded Johannsen, who told us that she never works for trade – at least not in Australia.

Best in show - the Australian models of Fall/Winter 2012/2013

julia nobis after the miu miu FW1213 show/altamira via ford models

That's a wrap for Fall/Winter 2012/2013 folks. Above is a shot of Julia Nobis taken just after Miu Miu on Wednesday, the final day of Paris Fashion Week. She's looking a little dazed and confused. Considering that by our count, Nobis walked in 73 shows from New York to London, Milan and Paris - besting her record from last season by one show - no surprises there. Nobis led the Australian model pack once again and quite possibly will also emerge as the season's number one catwalker for the second consecutive time. So far, we have counted 34 Australians on the FW1213 runways. There was pretty much an Australian in every major show of the season. At Chanel, there were five: Nobis, Miranda Kerr, Montana Cox, Rose Smith and Caitlin Lomax. They walked in so many shows, they corrupted frockwriter's interface. No joke. After battling data problems for the past two seasons with the increasing size of these showlist posts, we have now had to put the show details of the busiest Australians into drop-down boxes. 

Australia's next top models

montana cox at bottega veneta FW1213 getty via daylife.com

So how is modelling's so-called 'Aussie invasion' going? The Fall/Winter 2012/2013 Paris shows kick off today and so far, by our count, 31 Australians have turned up on the runways of New York, London and Milan, with one notable newcomer making her mark in the latter city. That is, Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 7 winner Montana Cox (above). Fresh off the ANTM 2011 winner's podium, Cox has yet to even make an appearance at Australian Fashion Week. In her first ever runway season, however, she has already bagged five shows, including some of the most prestigious Italian luxury names: Bottega Veneta, Pucci and Etro. Frockwriter hears that the casting directors of some of the bigger Paris brands may be equally interested. ANTM Cycle 6 winner Amanda Ware was also in Milan, ditto the 2010 winner of the Girlfriend Model Search, Jemma Baines. Julia Nobis meanwhile - who of course never emerged from any modelling competitions - is up to 48 shows already this month. Will she close the Paris shows next week as the season's top catwalker for the second consecutive season? Updated lists below and a photo gallery of the showgirls of London and Milan. The NY shows are in black type; London, blue; and Milan, red.  

They love a sunburnt country

melissa johannsen backstage at rodarte FW1213, vogue.it via TFS

Fashion really is having a love affair with all things Australian at the moment (and for anyone not familiar with the line in this post's title, it's borrowed from the iconic Australian poem My Country by Dorothea MacKellar). Sydney's urban beach culture was the inspiration for Michael Kors' Resort 2012 collection and in New York last week, Jeremy Scott looked to have deployed an army of Ms Fitz clones to model his Fall/Winter 2012/2013 collection. Scott said the collection was "inspired by the computer and the way information is disseminated today" and his show styling and even invitation certainly bore a striking resemblance to the work of the New York-based, Sydney expat artist, stylist and blogger. The Mulleavy sisters, meanwhile, themed their Fall/Winter 2012/2103 Rodarte collection around the "rugged Australian outback". Their cast included two Australians, Codie Young and Melissa 'MJ' Johannsen (above). Johannsen, who turned 17 yesterday, is of course more than a little au fait with Australia's Red Centre, hailing as she does from Alice Springs. Young and Johannsen were among at least 28 Australians to walk the New York Fashion Week runways last week. Below are their New York Fall/Winter 2012/2013 showlists.

Summer of the thirty-eighth doll

dempsey stewart at louis vuitton SS12/getty via daylife

Take a bow ladies - and gentlemen. Thirty-eight Australian models have just helped wrap up the Spring/Summer 2012 ready-to-wear runway season in New York, London, Milan and Paris - by frockwriter's estimate, a 35percent increase in numbers from the previous season. And what a season it has been, culminating over this past week in Paris, where the 18-strong Australian contingent included Miranda Kerr. No Balenciaga exclusive for Kerr, for the first time in four seasons. But after making her name as one of the world's highest-paid models, thanks to a lucrative contract with lingerie giant Victoria's Secret, how fantastic to see Kerr take her place alongside the world's top high fashion girls in a string of other blue chip brand shows, from Christian Dior to Lanvin and Chanel. Flanked by Abbey Lee Kershaw and Catherine McNeil, who is looking better than ever after a year's break from the shows, it was like the holy triumvirate of Australian modelling reunited. They were joined by Julia Nobis who walked in, wait for it, 72 shows, opening six. This may well make Nobis the busiest model - of any nationality - of the SS12 season by show numbers. Oddly, Nobis has yet to even be accorded a ranking on models.com's Top 50 Women list. One assumes this may soon change.   

Mambo Italiano

rose smith, dolce e gabbana SS12/getty via daylife

If fashion weeks were like marathons and they awarded a medal for every show finisher in the Big Four fashion cities, Australian models would be buying some extra suitcases right about now to repatriate their hauls. Welcome to the business end of the Spring/Summer 2012 season. Milan wrapped yesterday, Paris starts today and a clear antipodian vanguard has emerged. Milan and Paris are where the big luxury brands are headquartered and this season the Italians chose 12 Australians to showcase their wares (out of a total of 34 who have also appeared on the runways of New York and London over the past three weeks). Abbey Lee Kershaw might not have the SS12 show numbers - she ditched New York Fashion Week altogether, due to New York commitments with her band, Our Mountain - but her showlist reads like a Who's Who of fashion. With 49 shows already under her belt, Julia Nobis could well finish as one of the season's busiest catwalkers. Rising stars include Rose Smith, whose biggest claim to runway fame as of February this year was David Jones. In the interim she has walked for such prestigious names as Chanel (x three shows), Fendi and in Milan this week, Dolce e Gabbana. Here are the updated showlists, with the Milan shows marked in red.

 

Time out London

abbey lee kershaw backstage at burberry SS12/burberry's twitpic

The Spring/Summer 2012 shows rolled on at London Fashion Week, traditionally a bit of a breather between the far bigger and busier New York and Milan schedules. The latter put further than usual strain on the London event this season, with Marc Jacobs pushing his show back by three days, prompting many models to miss LFW's first day. Further demands were made by Gucci - whose show is today - dragging many girls to Milan at the end of the week. Nevertheless, 14 Australian models did the London shows, with Abbey Lee Kershaw, Catherine McNeil and Bambi Northwood-Blyth touching down in the SS12 season for the first time. Contrary to reports that McNeil had not done a runway show for two and a half years, in fact September 2010 was the last time we saw her on the circuit. Expect to see more antipodians in Milan and Paris, where many are already positioned attending castings and fittings.

Six Australians and a Kiwi walked into a show....

richard chai SS12 backstage/sonny vandevelde

So New York Fashion Week is up and running and the so-called ‘Australasian invasion’ of its runways got off to a cracking start again on Thursday, the week's official kickoff. Six Australian models walked the Richard Chai show which, as some may recall, was opened by Aussie newbie Dempsey Stewart last season. Stewart walked Chai’s runway for the second consecutive season, flanked on this occasion by Julia Nobis, Codie Young, Ajak Deng, Rose Smith and Krystal Glynn, in her international runway debut. Joining them was New Zealand modelling sensation Emily Baker, the breakout star of the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 shows. With 26 models in the show, that's almost one third of Chai's cast hailing from the antipodes. 

In Vogue: Emilia Skuza and Melissa Johannsen

nicole bentley for vogue australia via viviens' facebook

Two under-the-radar models, both repped by the same Adelaide mother agent (Finesse Models), but two separate Sydney agencies (Viviens and Chadwick), wind up shooting a 16-page editorial together in Vogue Australia. What are the odds? Voilà a taste of the “Twin Peaks” story from Vogue’s July edition, out tomorrow. Shot by Nicole Bentley in New Zealand, it stars Emilia Skuza (left, above) and Melissa “MJ” Johannsen, who appear to be channelling not so much David Lynch as Alfred Hitchcock, with cateye makeup and windswept '60s flips. Neither model had previously been featured anywhere in the magazine and although Johannsen was one of the stars of the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week runways earlier this month in Sydney, Skuza has never worked at the event – and was in fact booked sight unseen by Vogue according to Chadwick. But regular readers of this blog may recall both names. We first encountered MJ in November at the Adelaide Fashion Festival when the Alice Springs resident had been modelling for a matter of weeks. And Adelaide-bred Skuza popped up on our radar in January, after emerging at the Paris haute couture shows. Both girls went on to walk in a number of top Fall/Winter 2011/2012 shows in New York, London and Paris in February and March. 

Lover comes back

It’s been a long time in between Lover shows at RAFW. Five years to be precise. The Black Rose Army collection, shown in May 2006, was staged in a grungy, inner-city dive. Last night’s presentation of The White Serpent SS1112 collection demonstrates that this Sydney brand with a global cult following, which celebrates its 10 year anniversary this year, has most certainly come of age. A slick, ultra-sophisticated affair staged inside the Sydney Opera House, the collection was dazzling in its simplicity. Rendered in a three note palette of ivory, black and scarlet red, the collection flirted with masculine/feminine stereotypes: ivory tuxedos and jumpsuits with ultra wide-legs and mannish, oversized jackets were layered over sheer white blouses with pie-crust collars and lace inserts, then segued into a suite of killer lace dresses. Although the lace dress is a Lover signature, these sophisticated versions said not so much Woodstock free spirit as red carpet siren and they could give Collette Dinnigan a run for her money. 

Frankie's gold class - LMFF 2011

Frockwriter’s last LMFF was Friday night’s L’Oréal Paris Runway 6 showcase presented by Frankie magazine. Fantastic, upbeat show featuring some great Australasian brands, from Alice McCall to Karen Walker, Kate Sylvester, Alpha60, Dhini, Limedrop and Nevenka, with cool girl styling that perfectly reflected Frankie’s fresh-faced readership, courtesy Jolyon Mason. Not to mention some new faces, notably 17 year-old Gracie Holt (above), who opened the show and walked in four other shows last week. Modelling for just three months, Holt hails from Alice Springs – making her the second great new girl to emerge from the Red Centre in five months, after 16 year-old Melissa 'MJ' Johannsen, who made an impressive debut at New York Fashion Week last month. Expect to see a lot more of both. Click (here) to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery shot backstage during the show. 

Gotham pretty

Abbey Lee Kershaw might have skipped New York Fashion Week this season, but rising up in her wake was no shortage of antipodian runway talent. If international casting directors did not already have Australian and New Zealand model agencies on speed dial, they will do from now on. Australia had at least 18 models at New York Fashion Week, seven of them brand new to the event and among those, several models with less than six months experience who scored some big shows. New Zealand now has its own potential modelling superstar. For the second consecutive season  - and from the same agency, Auckland's Clyne Management - the Land of the Long White Cloud delivered a face to watch. And then some. After Jessica Clarke nabbed a Calvin Klein exclusive last season, a 17 year-old total unknown Kiwi by the name of Emily Baker walked in pretty much every major show of the week, prompting models.com to declare her its first Top 10 Newcomer of Fall/Winter 2011/2012 - and noting that Baker is now “on the watch list of every major casting director, photographer and editor in the trade”. 

Melissa queen of the desert

rodarte FW1112/style.com

When the Mulleavy sisters were dreaming up their Fall/Winter 2011/2012 collection with the Great American Plains in mind, chances are there weren't any pictures of Australia’s Red Centre on their mood board. And yet second out in the ethereal chiffon and guipure lace confections of their New York Fashion Week show on Tuesday was 16 year-old Melissa J who lives slap bang in the middle of Australia in Alice Springs, surrounded by desert. Yesterday frockwriter mentioned that in this bumper antipodian model season, a few, even newer Aussie girls were waiting in the wings. Melissa – aka “MJ”, who we first profiled in November – is one of them. Discovered by Adelaide's Finesse Models in October, she has already walked in seven New York shows and presentations this week (also Charlotte Ronson, Mandy Coon, Dennis Basso, Tracy Reese, Creatures of the Wild and Yoana Baraschi), with Hollywood red carpet favourite Marchesa lined up for today. Now 16, MJ is being chaperoned by her mother, brother and auntie and all were, we hear, in attendance at Rodarte cheering her on. Must have been a big thrill for them. 

A new MJ is born

finesse

Just touched down in Adelaide, where frockwriter is the guest of the South Australian Tourism Commission and the City of Norwood, Payneham & St Peters. We were invited to cover the third incarnation of the Adelaide Fashion Festival, which runs from today until Saturday 13th November. Having never been to Adelaide, it seemed like a great opportunity to check out the local talent. We knew it wouldn't be too long before some emerged. Meet Melissa Johannsen aka "MJ" - who looks like the love child of Uma Thurman and Elvis Presley. She’s 15, lives in Alice Springs and up until last month, had never previously set foot inside a model agency. In Adelaide with her mother in early October doing a spot of shopping, the 5’11" schoolgirl was encouraged by one sales assistant to contact local agency Finesse Models. Within two days, she had won the Finesse Colonnades International Model Search competition. And since Monday last week, she has travelled to and from Sydney, been signed by Viviens Sydney and Wilhelmina Models in New York, walked in a Starlight Foundation runway show, shot a campaign for the Colonnades shopping centre, a lookbook for local label Finders Keepers and an editorial story and cover for this weekend's Sunday Mail magazine. “She’s the hot new face coming out of Adelaide.........via Alice Springs” said Finesse director Brigette Mitchell, who has previously launched Vanessa Milde, Kirsty MacPhail, Lucy Bayet and Emile Wake. The big question.... can she moonwalk?