New Zealand's next top model: Anmari Botha

david oldham for wonderland via red eleven

It’s not only Australia that is proving to be a major launchpad for international modelling careers at the moment. Scouts and casting directors are also looking towards New Zealand. Frockwriter has talked about Jessica Clarke and Emily Baker, the latter emerging overnight in February 2011 to become one of the most buzzed-about new faces of the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 show season. In the leadup to last month’s New Zealand Fashion Week we wondered if perhaps Cait Kneller might be the next Kiwi star. Noone mentioned Anmari Botha.

Liv life

thom kerr

Whatever happened to Olivia O’Driscoll? In 2008, at age 17, she emerged as one of New Zealand’s most promising modelling newcomers. Repped internationally by IMG, she walked in four Paris haute couture shows in July that year, before flying to to Milan on an exclusive option for the Spring/Summer 2009 Prada and Miu Miu shows. While those gigs never eventuated, she nevertheless shot editorial for French Elle, German Vogue, Japanese RUSSH, Wallpaper, AnOther Magazine, US Teen Vogue and Italy’s Amica. Only to suddenly drop out of the business, sparking various rumours. In spite of the fact that New Zealand has the second-highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the developed world, a pregnancy was not among these whispers. But a baby daughter, Hara Lea O’Driscoll, arrived a day after O'Driscoll's 20th birthday in December 2010. Now as a single mum, with new management back home in Auckland (Red Eleven/MHI) and Sydney (Chadwick) - and as “Liv” O’Driscoll, as she prefers to be known these days - she is attempting a comeback. She joins models Jourdan Dunn, Arizona Muse, Natalia Vodianova and Australia’s Cassi van den Dungen, all of whom took time out under the age of 20 to have children. Herewith an exclusive preview of some new test shots by Australian photographer Thom Kerr.

Krystal Glynn for Zambesi Spring/Summer 2011/2012, designers line up for NZFW

We mentioned that new Australian face Krystal Glynn had recently shot the Spring/Summer 2011/2012 advertising campaign for New Zealand brand Zambesi. Above and below is a first look at the campaign, which stars Glynn alongside Kiwis Josh Skelton and David Kemp and was lensed by Marissa Findlay (makeup by Amber D for MAC, hair by Jason Chong Li for Stephen Marr). Expect to see Glynn front and centre at Zambesi's runway show at the upcoming New Zealand Fashion Week, which runs from August 29th to September 2nd at brand new digs, the Viaduct Events Centre. Zambesi is one of nearly 60 brands that NZFW organisers announced earlier this week would be joining their Autumn/Winter 2012 showcase. Other headliners: World (which frockwriter hears is closing the event), Trelise Cooper, Helen Cherry and Workshop Denim, Jimmy D, Stolen Girlfriends Club and Miranda Brown. Solo debuts include newcomers Celine Rita, Ingrid Starnes and Whiri. Hats off to the resilience of two Christchurch-based labels that are joining this year's lineup: the very well-established luxury eco label Untouched World and newbie MisterR, whose Christchurch store was destroyed during February 22nd's devastating earthquake which claimed 182 lives.  

Kate Sylvester's mothwoman prophecies

Inspired by moths and motocross, Kate Sylvester’s Spring/Summer 2011/2012 collection is called ‘Into the light’. Due to the awkward lighting of her show at the Newmarket saleyard in Randwick last night, however, ironically many have complained that didn’t get to see it. In an uncharacteristically abrasive spray, even Vogue Australia’s Damien Woolnough complained today, “If I want to sit in a dark room filled with smoke I'll visit the share house of my university friends”. Frockwriter stayed backstage for the duration and had a much better view. It was a fantastic, if macabre, collection, with two motifs at its centrifuge: moth markings, which included a full death’s head moth motif used on T-shirts; and then a flame graphic, which doubled up on the revhead theme, as seen on coats, dresses and several fantastic sheer jumpsuits, shown with the tops worn both up and down – on the latter occasion, teamed with a lacy brassiere. 

Emily Baker, the girl who would be queen

After an unknown 17 year-old Kiwi called Emily Baker emerged at New York Fashion Week, we mentioned that New Zealand had a potential new superstar on its hands. Modelling for just six months, Baker, who hails from Matamata on NZ's north island, certainly grabbed the attention of New York casting directors, who placed her in the week's top shows. Not to mention that of modelling authority models.com, which makes a Top 10 New Faces list every season and dedicated its first slot for Fall/Winter 2011/2012 to Baker. At the conclusion of the season, in which she walked 60 shows, including almost every major name, some believe Baker could be fashion's Next Big Thing. Here's what MDC's editorial director Wayne Sterling told frockwriter, regarding this season's rush of Australasian models - with downunder, according to Sterling, emerging as a top 3 casting market after Russia and Holland. Noted Sterling, "As an editor though I think a great model transcends any trend. My training is not to fixate on a group of girls but to home in on an extraordinary new face with long distance potential. For me the girl poised to nab everything is Emily Baker. In the modeling sweepstakes she is THE sensation. There is a reason why she nabbed the first Top 10 newcomer slot. She is... rare, rare rare".

ANZAC day at Marc Jacobs

Frockwriter mentioned that a larger-than-usual contingent of Australian models was heading to New York Fashion Week this season. And that after day one, some of them were off to a cracking start. We have previously talked about upwardly-mobile New Zealand faces, notably Jessica Clarke, who was spotted by a Calvin Klein rep in Sydney two years ago and then in September 2010, walked a Calvin Klein Collection exclusive in New York. Another Kiwi has just emerged from left-of-field to become one of the most buzzed-about models of the season: Emily Baker. Modelling for just six months, Baker has a smouldering, sunkissed beauty that is reminiscent of 1970s American modelling icons Cheryl Tiegs and Patti Hansen, blended with a little modern Lara Stone moxie. This morning Baker added Marc Jacobs to her bulging top show list. And she was joined by three upwardly mobile Australians: Julia Nobis, now in her third international season after her own Calvin Klein exclusive this time last year and Codie Young and Dempsey Stewart, both of whom are working in New York for the first time. You could say the antipodians are having a bumper season. And waiting in the wings behind them on some interesting options are several other new Aussie girls... 

Boutiques.com: Downunder's biggest fashion blogger buddies up with Google

gala darling

The countdown is on to tonight’s unveiling of Google’s new Boutiques.com fashion portal. After revealing the name and details of the site’s looks-matching technology, frockwriter thought we would hone in on one last, local, element: New York-based Kiwi Gala Darling. Frequently cited as one of the world’s most influential fashion/personal style bloggers - who calls her blog "The playgirl's guide to radical self love” and claims it boasts close to a million individual page views per month - Darling is one of a dozen fashion bloggers invited by Google to curate their own virtual fashion boutiques. Update 18/11: Now launched. Click (here) to check out her boutique and see who else is involved. Not bad for a magenta haired, tutu-rocking, tatt-emblazoned self-help dilettante, who launched into the blogosphere in December 2006 with a post entitled “Fashion help for recovering Goths”. Those in her native Wellington might know her better as Amy Paape. Reportedly a graduate of that city’s Chilton St James and Samuel Marsden Collegiate Schools, she moved to Melbourne in 2006, legally changed her name that year, then decamped to New York in 2008. Retail, as it happens, runs in the Paape family. Darling’s mother, Janet Paape, operates a Lower Hutt fashion boutique called She Designer Excitement, while her Porsche-racing uncle, Digby Paape, sells highend audio equipment at Bose Wellington. 

World's spot of bother in Woollahra

Those kooky kids over at World have come to blows with Woollahra Council, which apparently doesn't have much of a sense of humour. The Auckland-based fashion brand, which bills itself as a “factory of ideas and experiments” (the dress, below, is from their AW10 collection) and operates eight stores in NZ and Sydney, has come to the attention of the council regarding a paint job that was recently given to its Paddington, Sydney store. As it emerges, multi-coloured polka dots are illegal in Sydney's trendiest shopping strip. In a letter dated May 17th, Craig Jenner, Woollahra Municipal Council’s Team Leader – Compliance, gave World’s landlord 28 days to nix them.


both images/world

Here are a few terms of the order:

1. Restore the subject premises to the condition in which they were before work was unlawfully carried out by:

(a) Removing from the shop window the multi-coloured polka dots and:

(b) Painting the walls to the façade of the shop in a uniform colour, to remove the unauthorised multi-coloured polka dots that have been painted onto the front façade of the shop adjacent to Glenmore Road.

The letter goes on to say:

1. Condition 9 of development consent DA625/2004 requires the exterior colour scheme for the subject premises to accord with the requirements of Part 5.2.9. of the Paddington Development Control Plan 1999.

4. Council is satisfied that the multi-coloured polka dots displayed on the window and wall surfaces of the building are an advertisement. “Advertisement” is defined in Woollahra Local Environmental Plan 1995 as “a display by the use of colour, pattern, symbols…for promotional purposes… whether or not the display includes the erection of a structure of the carrying out of work”.

6. The advertisement does not satisfy the exempt development criteria for a flush wall sign or a window shop front sign, or the criteria for advertising in Heritage Conservation Areas, as specified in Woollahra Development Control Plan Exempt & Complying Development 2005.

It is not the first time that the council has taken issue with a fashion retailer in this vicinity.

In 2004, Woollahra Council deputy mayor Keri Huxley described the green used by World’s neighbour, Scanlan & Theodore, for its new Sydney flagship on the corner of Oxford Street and Glenmore Road, as a "hideous" and "particularly disgusting colour".

Huxley was unable to veto the colour however, because it was included in the building's development approval.

World's response?

“We are outraged the council is so ignorant and lazy!” World director Francis Hooper told frockwriter.

“If they just took the time to ask us why?! World wanted to make a statement for the season, to bring colourful cheer to the neighbourhood, to take away the doom and gloom and recession fever that has gripped the city. All the locals love it! We have become a mini tourist attraction. We have only had positives from everyone. Even our landlord has commended us on uplifting the area. It’s obvious this wonderful spotty art is just a temporary installation. Trust the council to bully a small business out of business. Arse holes!”

The bloggers of RAFW Part 1: Aych blog's Hannah McArdle

For those who followed my RAFW coverage on Twitter, this particular video will be a repeat: a quick chat with Auckland’s Hannah McArdle of Aych Blog. It was part of a short series of blogger interviews I shot at last week's event. Given that it only went on frockwriter’s Posterous feed (where it has nevertheless been viewed over 650 times), I wanted to blog the bloggers of RAFW series in order here, so voilà.

Zambesi's speed racer

angie tinker


Frockwriter mentioned that Zambesi’s Neville Findlay is a rev head. Here’s a shot of the co-founder of the iconic Kiwi fashion label – which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year – that was just snapped at the Taupo Motorsport Park for today's second and final round of the 2009 North Island Endurance Series, a four-hour race. Findlay qualified fifth. As you can see, Findlay has upgraded from his brother’s Datsun 260Z, that he raced in March, to what we understand is a very rare BMW ZM coupe. We also have it on good authority that Findlay and his wife/business partner and the head Zambesi designer, Liz Findlay, are making a real weekend of it – having booked the honeymoon suite at Lake Taupo’s luxury motor lodge Chantilly’s. Can a Zambesi-customised car be far away?

Backstage with Kate Sylvester

Zambesi invites Sydney to its 30th birthday party

zambesi AW09/zambesi

Two thousand and nine marks the 30th anniversary of one of New Zealand's best-known fashion labels - Zambesi - and to kick off celebrations, founders Elisabeth and Neville Findlay will return to Rosemount Australian Fashion Week after a one year hiatus. The show is locked in, Neville Findlay told frockwriter, for the Tuesday 28th April 12.30pm time slot and will be the first of a series of birthday events that are planned for the year.

The business originally started out as retail-only in 1976, with two Auckland multibrand boutiques called Cachet and Tart, whose offer included Kiwi Marilyn Sainty and Oz brands Adele Palmer and JAG Jeans.

The Zambesi label and store (31 Lorne Street, Auckland) launched three years later:



Thirty years down the track, Zambesi's trademark sauvage chic sells through 50 doors internationally, including Moscow's Cara & Co and the Tokyo luxury mecca Restir.

With, moreover, their industrial chic vibe and avant garde multibrand mix - that also includes NOM*d, Martin Margiela, Rick Owens, Raf Simons menswear and AF Vandevorst, NDC and Costume National accessories - Zambesi's six standalone stores in New Zealand and Australia count amongst the best Australasian fashion retail.

Considering that Elisabeth Findlay's sister Margi Robertson helms the iconic Dunedin fashion brand NOM*d, the Findlay-Robertsons have got to be the First Family of New Zealand fashion.

What has Neville Findlay, who is a qualified industrial design engineer, learned about the ragtrade in the last 30 years?

He told frockwriter:

"I've learned that my lovely wife is a machine, she’s a natural and she’s just brimming with creativity. As an engineer, I've learned that it doesn't really matter what you do in your life, you apply it. I've also learned that you’ve got to roll with the punches and enjoy yourself. And don’t listen to the press too much, especially the business press. I stopped reading the paper [specifically, he later added, The New Zealand Herald] about six months ago".

neville findlay racing his bro's datsun 260Z two weekends ago

And it seems that fashion isn't Findlay's last career tangent.

According to Findlay, his latest passion is fanging around a circuit race track - the next instalment of which is slated to be in the Open Class section of New Zealand's BMW Race Series.

Quipped Findlay, "I'm calling it adventure before dementia".



Click here to see the updated RAFW schedule (details confirmed independently by the designers or their reps, prior to IMG's official April 15 release).

all pics: zambesi

Tallulah says NO

NO magazine/the girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Apart from a few shows at London Fashion Week, and a couple of low profile Milan shows, Tallulah Morton's FW0910 season has yet to take off. With the Paris leg just kicked off however, things may pick up (07/03: Morton appeared overnight in several Paris shows, notably Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood). Meanwhile, here's a preview of Morton's latest cover - the 5th edition of New Zealand's NO magazine, courtesy Kiwi blog The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes. Yes that's the cover/editorial that was shot by Mark 'The Cobrasnake' Hunter, in somewhat controversial circumstances, a couple of months back. This is one of two covers of the edition - the second depicting New Zealand actress, stuntwoman and Quentin Tarantino acolyte, Zoe Bell.

Calvin Klein's latest obsession?

frankie

Meet Jessica Clarke. She’s a 15 year-old Kiwi, has been modelling for a mere month and says she already has an upcoming cover of Australia’s Frankie magazine in the bag (UPDATE 17/12 3.20pm: the Jan/Feb 09 issue, which came out today, funnily enough). Well it seems there's a chance Clarke might find herself with something a little bigger than Frankie on her agenda. Like, say, Calvin. That’s if rave reviews by Kevin Carrigan, the creative director of Calvin Klein, ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans, are anything to go by.



clyne models

New York-based, Carrigan was in town for last night’s Calvin Klein party on Cockatoo Island, on Sydney Harbour.

After a two-day casting session, Carrigan flew Clarke to Sydney, booking her as one of 40 Australian and NZ models to take part in a static presentation within the party venue.

Wearing CK Calvin Klein collection, jeans, lingerie and eyewear, the models – who included Australians Stephanie Carta and Tallulah Morton - were positioned in and around three quite spectacular ‘lightscapes’, created by Australian Aboriginal artist Jonathan Jones.

Frockwriter had a quick chat with Clarke at the party afterwards.


clyne models

But here is what Carrigan had to say about her in an interview I did with him earlier in the afternoon.

Carrigan was talking about the casting session and what the company was specifically looking for.

“I was looking for more fresh faces. I think that’s what we’re about as a house as well. I think that we’re always about trying to discover somebody. And there’s one girl in particular... I feel we might have. I hadn’t seen her before we flew her in and there was this little video [made by her agency, Clyne Models] and she was literally walking in a backyard. It was so cool. To see like a runway showreel. She’s only been modelling a month, this was kind of like her second job. Because I liked the reel and I thought also, you get fresh, beautiful, just really... lots of energy too she has, which is really nice. It’s also about personality, especially with jeans - it’s denim”.

The CK Calvin Klein womens collection is due to be showcased in Milan in March.

Let's wait and see what transpires...

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Speaking of NZ models....meet supernova Olivia O'Driscoll

img

O'Driscoll is 17, already repped by IMG and, according to her Auckland mother agency, has hit the ground running.

Nova Models reports that O'Driscoll is/has:

• Shooting French Elle
• Shooting for Italian Amica (for the second time)
• Walked in four FW0809 Haute Couture shows in Paris (Nova mentions Alexis Mabille, Georges Hobeika and Dany Atrache)
• Shot a portrait to feature in US Teen Vogue for the launch of Jean Paul Gaultier’s new fragrance – "a portrait with Mr Gaultier himself shot by Benjamin Huseby"
• Either already shot for/is booked to be shot for, Another Magazine, RUSSH Tokyo, Pin Up magazine, Wallpaper and German Vogue

She sounds like a very busy girl.

Beyond vogue.com.au/TFS chatter, the only media outlet/blog to pick the story up as far as I can see so far is Kiwi blog, The Girl With The Kaleidoscope Eyes.

O'Driscoll will apparently be back in Auckland from 31st July - 20th August, with "limited availablity".

Shame she won't be there for NZFW.


img

The Tatiana mystery: Is Kiwi Jenna Sauers Jezebel's model mole?

Jenna Sauers/elite milano

This is waaay more fun that trying to work out who is/was behind 4inchnails (as one wag dubbed it). Following on from the Model blogs post, comes word (many tks Timo) of another model blog penned by Summer Rayne Oakes. Then there is the ongoing mystery hovering over the real identity of the author of the hugely-entertaining – and well-written - Modelslips column that is currently running on high profile New York-based women's blog Jezebel, as penned by the anonymous “Tatiana Anymodel”. After a few clues were dropped by Fashinfags and TFS, I did a little sleuthing.

The only ID info provided by Tatiana is that English is her first language and that she has “attended” college.

Three names have been tossed in the air as potential candidates.

>
Emina Cunmulaj in Stella McCartney R09/style.com

The first is 23 year-old Albanian American Emina Cunmulaj. Born, and now based, in the US, Cunmulaj lived from the ages of 4-17 in Yugoslavia.

Perhaps I’m not looking in the right places (and thanks to anyone who can point me in the right direction) but I can find no reference to any tertiary education – or indeed writing experience, blogging or otherwise. I have overheard Cunmulaj chatting backstage at shows and from memory, she sounds pretty fluent in English – with an American accent. She also sounds quite bolshie.

Cunmulaj is, however, pretty high profile and enjoys a lot of prestige work. Tatiana, I suspect, may be much more under the radar.


Shea Prueger/IMG

The second name is 21 year-old Shea Prueger: a Peggy Moffitt/Charlotte Gainsbourg hybrid who, according to model maestro Joseph Tenni, is an Iowa-born Leo.

Leos tend to love attention.

According to what looks to be her Friendster profile, Prueger is currently attending Iowa State University, studying Fine Arts and philosophy.

And....she blogs!

Two blogs pop up under Prueger's name: Blushed Out, which does not look to have been updated since January 2005.

Far more interesting is the current (RED) CHARDONNAY, which is subtitled:

“just some things that happen to me or whatever”

The writing style is nowhere near as fluid as Tatiana’s. But my God, this blog is funny.

Prueger's social commentary is acerbic. Given the age of this blog (three years), it deserves more visibility.

Here’s a New York Fashion Week entry from February 11th, in which she talks about a casting session:

“The Calvin Klein wait was over two hours. After an hour and a half of sitting in a narrow hallway on a dirty, cold, tiled floor a chair opened up. I found myself sitting across from an extremely beautiful Russian with long red hair. She introduced herself immediately to me and then said, do you have any drugs?. After laughing and telling her "no", her phone rang. It was her agent who told her that after the Calvin Klein casting she needed to go to the Bronx for a job. She hung up the phone exasperated. Is it true that if I go the Bronx I will get KILLED the second I come up from underground? She asks me this while wildly making quick stabbing motions with her hand above her head. I choked back laughter and a series of sarcastic comments. And then after a second thought, replied, maybe not the second you reach sunlight, but yeah it happens. You should be really careful. Wide-eyed, she stared at me for a second and said, this is no good".

Prueger is currently based in Taipei. This entry dated May 28th describes a nightclub scene:

“Upon arriving to my table filled with tall, thin girls in short dresses and heels - most of them younger than both of my sisters (probably), I was already cringing. When a Guns and Roses song came on the speakers and my roommate looked at me and said, see this isn't so bad, they even play rock like you like, I really didn't know if I was going to last ten minutes. And then immediately some guy walks up to me, some guy that all of the models seem to know, and offers me a line of blow. I declined nicely, no thanks. And he persisted:

I heard you are from NY. Everyone in NY does blow. Come on.

No, really. I don't touch that shit. Thanks anyway.

All right. So what about some K?

Are you kidding me? K is the LAST thing I want right now. I'm fine.

Champagne?

No. I'm fine.

What can I get you then? One line won't hurt you, I promise.

“I mean this dialogue was absolutely ridiculous. This is what you hear on TV talk shows when those tragic cases of supermodels turned drug addicts with eating disorders finally come forward to "tell their story." It's something I've never experienced in the industry. And now I know why. I don't hang out at clubs with weird, old, strange men.

“Here is the thing I have learned from my few years of working in a bar. People who always "have" drugs, are always "on" drugs, are not the biggest drug addicts on the planet. When you are doing something wrong, you don't tell anyone about it - definitely not offering it to friends and people you don't know. In the bar world, we call these guys, 'fashion druggies'".

Jenna Sauers/Cynthia & Philippe Barigan

Prueger’s name was dropped by another model called Jenna Sauers in this TFS thread – and possibly as a red herring, after one poster suggested that Sauers in fact might be the author of Modelslips.

Sauers flatly denied that she is Tatiana.

As it happens however, she also has her own blog.

In her bio entry, Sauers mentions that she is also a university graduate – coincidentally, of the University of Iowa - with English (creative writing) and French (literature and culture) majors. She mentions that she has also been published in The Daily Iowan newspaper - and freelanced.

Not mentioned in Sauers’ provided bio, but easily spotted online, are a couple of other achievements: she won a Presidential Scholarship to Iowa U – and the university's Scott Anderson prize. A 2007 Iowa U press release announcing the latter mentions that, upon graduation, Sauers,

“plans to pursue jobs in journalism”.

Of particular interest to the New Zealand media will be the fact that Sauers is originally from Christchurch and a 2003 graduate of Rangi Ruru Girls' School.

Sauers discloses to TFS that she has joint US/NZ citizenship and modelled in NZ as a child and part-time during high school.


Jenna Sauers/Cynthia & Philippe Barigan

In her blog, she notes:

“Rather than enter the writing world the traditional way — by getting the kind of assistant-assistant-assistant job that is Sisyphean in its reading but permits you to write only post-its on other people’s manuscripts — I moved to San Francisco, got a wicked day job with the kind folks at Freight Baggage, sewing messenger bags and listening to NPR and John Cale all day, and started freelancing

“Seven weeks and a few lucky connections later, I was in Paris working as a model — a job I suppose I technically started back when my eight-year-old shit-eating grin first graced department store and mail-order catalogues in my home country, New Zealand. University in the Midwest was my attempt to connect with the culture of my American parents, and to short-circuit the question of whether I would one day model full time, but the biz just keeps bringing me back.

“Modeling is very uneven: within the same working day, I might be exhausted, elated, crushed, told I’m fat, or given a job that starts now, get on the Métro, run, don’t walk! In my experience, every good model (even the most vapid) has a special preserve of consistency and solidity in her regular, non-working life: the place from which you draw the equanimity and presence of mind to deal with the turbulent surface. One of mine is writing”.

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