The circuiteers - Australian models at the Spring/Summer 2013 shows

Julia Nobis is currently enjoying something that she likes to call “fat month” – the period immediately following the gruelling ready-to-wear show season, when she winds down. Show seasons are hard work for leading models such as Nobis, who was the season’s top runway face for two consecutive seasons up until the latest shows round that finished a few weeks ago in Paris, walking in more shows than any other model. This season Nobis lost that crown - she walked in 62 shows, making her Spring/Summer 2013's third busiest showgirl, in terms of show numbers, after Tilda Lindstam (69 shows) and Ava Smith, Erjona Ala and Tian Yi (64 shows each) according to the modelwatchers at The Fashion Spot (and many thanks to TFS for its painstaking show-combing). But that's still an impressive tally. How many Australians followed in her footsteps this season? Nineteen by our calculations. And if you have been tracking the progress of Australian models on the world’s runways for the past four years via frockwriter, you’d be right in thinking that that sounds like a steep dive in numbers on the previous Spring/Summer season – a 50percent drop in fact.

There's no other store (for top models) like David Jones

As the August vacations wind down in the northern hemisphere and the fash pack contemplates getting back to work, starting with the Spring/Summer 2013 season which kicks off in a few weeks, Australians are heading into our own summer season. David Jones was the first cab off the rank last night with its Spring/Summer 2012/2013 launch, a riot of colour and cartoon heroes. To showcase the store's edit of some of the best Australian collections of the season from leading names such as Josh Goot, Dion Lee, Camilla, Zimmermann, We Are Handsome, Lisa Ho and new Djs stablemate Gary Bigeni, was a swag of top Australian models. Joining DJs' high profile ambassador Miranda Kerr was Sports Illustrated covergirl Jessica Gomes - who looked like Wonder Woman in some novelty swimwear courtesy Romance Was Born - and rising stars such as Rose Smith, Montana Cox, Jemma Baines, Nicole Pollard, Bambi Northwood-Blyth, Jack Vanderhart and Jordan and Zac Stenmark, all of whom have made waves on international runways in recent seasons. The biggest of all, after Kerr, was Julia Nobis, who was booked as a David Jones exclusive, which means you won't be seeing her at Myer's show tomorrow.

Couture Chic

Australian agency Chic Management might be girding its loins for the imminent touchdown of IMG Models in Sydney and a potential run for its money as the toughest model negotiator in town, but when it came to the crème de la crème of world fashion events – the Paris haute couture shows, which wrapped yesterday – it had a clear monopoly. In the biggest Australian haute couture season that frockwriter can certainly recall, a total of nine antipodians worked the runways, seven of them repped in Australia by Chic: Montana Cox, Chrystal Copland, Nicole Pollard, Jemma Baines, Alexandra Agoston, Catherine McNeil and Ajak Deng (Deng is represented in Sydney only; her mother agent/personal manager is Stephen Bucknall from FRM Management in Melbourne). While it was the first haute couture season for Cox, Copland, Pollard and Baines, interesting to see McNeil and Agoston back at the couture for the first time in, by our estimate, three years.

The Distance Between: LIFEwithBIRD - Spring/Summer 12/13

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia is a fortnight away and the off-schedule action has begun. This morning, under the spectacular raw concrete arched ceiling of the Utzon Room inside the Sydney Opera House - directly across the harbour from MBFWA's Overseas Passenger Terminal base - Bridget McCall and Nicholas van Messner presented the Spring/Summer 2012/2013 collection of their LIFEwithBIRD label, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. 

The showgirls: Chic Management - MBFWA SS 12/13

gabby westbrook-patrick/chic management

The big kahuna of Australian fashion showcases – Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia – is just around the corner, April 30th – May 4th. The official schedule is now confirmed. But who is going to walk the runways? Frockwriter has some answers. For their Spring/Summer 2012/2013 'show packages' - that is, the models promoted by each Australian model agency to designers for the season - the agencies have gathered together an exciting mix of new faces, local runway veterans and some internationals who are flying in as we speak for castings. Here is Chic Management’s MBFWA lineup. 

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. 

Cox plate

montana cox at chanel FW1213/getty via daylife

"Everyone you've worked with said you were ready to take on the fashion world" Australia's Next Top Model host Sarah O'Hare told Montana Cox on live television last October, after announcing the 18 year-old Melburnite as the winner of the 2011 series. Just five months later, it seems O'Hare and co may have had a point. Over the past fortnight Cox has scored some of most coveted runway jobs in the business, just adding top Paris shows Lanvin, Christian Dior, Kenzo, Mugler, Cacharel, Andrew Gn and Vanessa Bruno to a Fall/Winter 2012/2013 showlist that already included Italian luxury names Bottega Veneta, Pucci and Etro. Cox leaves Paris today after adding just one more name to that list. It's a big one (UPDATE: Chanel, see above, where Cox walked alongside compatriots Miranda Kerr, Julia Nobis, Caitlin Lomax and Rosemary Smith). Then it's straight to Charles de Gaulle airport for a flight to Melbourne, to star in Thursday night's David Jones parade which will open the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (her only LMFF gig). Stand by to see if Cox scores an equally coveted spot on any of the Top 10 Newcomer lists that are published by various outlets at the end of the season. But just how unusual is her 'overnight success' against the broader backdrop of Tyra Banks' Top Model franchise, which was launched in the US in 2003 and is now produced independently in some 50 countries? And with Cox as its latest star, just how successful is the Australian version of the show?   

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.  

Once upon a time in David Jones

the great restaurant at david jones, 1938

With apologies to Miranda Kerr, the terrific cast and some great Australian designer offerings at David Jones' Autumn/Winter 2012 showcase on Wednesday, in frockwriter's opinion the real star of the evening was DJs' just-restored On Seven space. This was no mere refurb, but essentially the fruit of retail archaeology - not to mention a multimillion dollar budget that must have made the David Jones board hyperventilate when it was first proposed mid 2011, shortly after ceo Paul Zahra issued a shock profit downgrade. Originally launched in 1928 as The Great Restaurant, the space was shuttered in 1965 and eventually cut in half with a floating ceiling in 1981, to make room for an international designer brand floor. The remaining void became home to over 200 different utility cables and a lot of dust. The space has been hidden from public view for the best part of 50 years.