Holly Rose Emery for A.D. by Haryono Setiadi

Holly Rose Emery is on a roll. The 16 year-old Aucklander who has been modelling for just one year (and who we first wrote about last August), cleaned up at last month's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, walking in 20 shows - putting her at the very top of the list of the week's top showgirls. With Dion Lee and Toni Maticevski lookbooks and the latest cover of Vogue Australia's youth-nosed online zine Miss Vogue also under her belt, Emery is due to head to New York in June to try her luck at the Resort 2014 shows. Repped in Australia by Chic Management and just signed by Chic's New York affiliate Next Models, we hear there is quite some international interest. Here is an exclusive preview of some of her other new Australian work: campaign images for the A.D. diffusion line of up-and-coming Sydney-based Indonesian-Australian designer Haryono Setiadi. 

Backstage at Riddle Me This - NZFW AW13

I loved everything about the Riddle Me This show on Wednesday. The brand was launched by Mount Maunganui-based Liz Turner in 2008 and the fresh, young, high street vibe of its Autumn/Winter 2013 collection was brilliantly accentuated by the styling of New York-based expat Zara Mirkin, one of numerous, young New Zealand creatives who are finding their feet internationally and who will bring back home some invaluable expertise. On hand were some other local stars such as up-and-coming stylist Thistle Brown - who we first met at last year's event when he called himself Duncan Lamont Brown and who we have a hunch might not be too far behind Mirkin in heading offshore - as well as hair director Lauren Gunn from Sebastian/Stephen Marr and M.A.C. makeup artist Josie Wignall. Great energy - and great backstage vibe. 

Backstage at Zambesi - NZFW AW13

As anyone who is following my Twitter, Posterous and Facebook feeds already knows, I am currently in Auckland covering New Zealand Fashion Week – along with numerous other Australian and international media reps, as a guest of the organisers. I am attempting to see every show and file in real-time as I go. I am also shooting backstage with a DSLR, but this obviously requires a/backstage access and b/time to produce galleries. As I have pointed out on numerous previous occasions during fashion weeks, when you are a one-man band it's impossible to do everything. Just on real-time access to the event, it's worth noting that some NZ designers seem to be a little twitchy regarding pre-show Twitter coverage this year. Hard to say why as it's most certainly not the first time Twitter has been at the event. Perhaps there's just a greater volume of it. If they want to limit backstage access pre-show then that is entirely their choice. Brands such as Burberry, which now Tweets its entire collection from backstage before the models hit the runway, take a very different approach. Here is the first gallery: taken at Monday night's Zambesi show. 

Pacific Rose

holly rose emery by will bailey

Last week, frockwriter reported that Auckland model agency Red Eleven had high hopes for one of its new faces, Holly Rose Emery, on the runways of the upcoming New Zealand Fashion Week. And why wouldn't they? At  5'11.5", the angelic Auckland schoolgirl bears a passing resemblance to a few major modelling names, such as British Sixties fashion icon Twiggy and top contemporary girls, American Lindsey Wixson and Dutch world number #1 Lara Stone. Holly Rose has only been a model for three months but, like many others in her line of work, she is already fielding commentary about her weight – specifically, questions asking if she has an eating disorder. Yes, there are some models who suffer from eating disorders and are painfully thin. Just as there are some actors, athletes, dancers - not to mention people who have nothing to do with modelling, film, sport or ballet - who also suffer from eating disorders and who are painfully thin. Many are convinced that exposure to images of thin fashion models is the root cause of the problem. Others disagree. In any event, with a BMI of 18, Holly Rose is considered to be in a healthy weight range for her age and height. It was a different story two years ago.

The showgirls and boys: Clyne Models - NZFW Autumn/Winter 2013

cait kneller by megan christiansen

Next in our series of New Zealand Fashion Week 2012 showcards from the key Kiwi agencies comes Clyne Models. With more focus than ever before on the Australasian modelling market right now, the ante has most definitely been upped in New Zealand, with Clyne Models at the head of the pack. This is the agency that launched Jessica Clarke, Emily Baker and newcomer Ella Verberne. While Verberne is getting her bearings overseas, Clarke has walked for Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secret. And Baker, of course, emerged out of nowhere to become one of the most talked-about new faces of Fall/Winter 2011/2012, walking in no less than 60 shows in her first international show season last year, immediately nabbing a spot on models.com's hard-to-crack Top 50 Women list - which is almost unheard-of.

The showgirls and boys: 62 Models - NZFW Autumn/Winter 2013

elena buckley via 62 models

New Zealand Fashion Week is just around the corner. But already, we hear, the world's biggest model agency, IMG Models, has been busy scouting in The Land of the Long White Cloud, with interest in a few new Kiwi faces. So who will rock next month's runways in Auckland and which new names might emerge? Next in frockwriter's NZFW showcards series,  the showcards from 62 Models.  

The showgirls and boys: Red Eleven Models - NZFW Autumn/Winter 2013

holly rose by amanda betts/red eleven models

New Zealand Fashion Week is rapidly approaching - September 3-7 – and as with any fashion week, eyes will of course not only be on the designers, but the models. With more focus on Australian and New Zealand modelling talent than ever before - not to mention the recent antipodian beachhead recently established in Sydney by the world's biggest modelling agency, IMG Models - we thought we would preview some of the models who will be walking Auckland's runways next month. Continuing on from the showcard series we previewed in the leadup to May's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, here are the NZFW showcards from a few of the key New Zealand agencies. First up, Red Eleven Models.

Huffer's flag dance

Another day, another US flag-waving collection in Auckland. Following Trelise Cooper’s True Blood-inspired Cooper show on Wednesday, yesterday sportswear outfit Huffer wrapped one black model in a US flag and sent US-born, Auckland-based celebrity and Ralph covergirl Aja Rock out onto the runway in a US-flag-emblazoned birthday cake and itsy bitsy string bikini. Rock is the daughter of US music producer Bob Rock, who has worked with Metallica, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and David Bowie among many others. Dubbed “Golden Days”, the collection was supposedly inspired by the “Golden Days of Communist Russia” and also included Kiwi model Michael Whittaker swathed in a Soviet Union flag. Whittaker, whose nose was broken 30 times during an altercation following last year’s Stolen Girlfriends Club show, has clearly made a remarkable recovery. Some cute knit dresses, colourblocked anoraks, plaid shirting and platform brogues with crafty, colourblocked espadrille platforms (which frockwriter is dubbing espadrogues - dead ringers for a shoe done by Prada for Spring/Summer 2011), but the cheesy girl-in-a-birthday-cake stunt stole the show, which was presumably the intention in a bid to boost publicity and was so very reminiscent of Pamela Anderson’s 2009 sortie at the event.
 

Zambesi's World Cup

The Rugby World Cup is just a week from kickoff in New Zealand, so it’s hardly surprising that some of its athletic chic appears to have rubbed off on the locals. The focal point of Zambesi’s Autumn/Winter 2012 collection was an oh-so-sportif fluorescent yellow, that Zambesi patriarch Neville Findlay quipped to frockwriter backstage has seen his wife, business partner and the brand’s womenswear director, Elisabeth Findlay, move into “high vis Liz” gear for the season. He may not not be wrong on the collection's visibility factor. This was a strong collection from Zambesi, arguably one of its best ever. Deconstructed sportswear is the fulcrum of this brand’s DNA, on this occasion given a shot of adrenalin with a unisex vibe and the eye-popping palette, that also included an electric kingfisher blue. Opening with a slick, Mod-like black knitwear series slashed with fluoro yellow banding, then followed a fluoro yellow mens anorak – courtesy menswear designer Dayne Johnston – that will no doubt be equally coveted by women and a loose fluoro yellow and black womens’ sweater dress that looked like an oversized footy jumper filched from the bf. 

Cooper's Lite

All backstage media were kicked out just as Trelise Cooper's show was due to start yesterday. So, given that our runway photo skills tend to be hit and miss, the best shots we managed to take were the first looks from Cooper's Cooper diffusion range which opened. Cute show, whose opening number - Jace Everett's True Blood theme toon 'Bad Things'- had everyone tapping their toes. The military jackets, denim blousons, nubby wool high-waisted trousers, prairie shirts embellished with smocking or bullion fringing and microshorts galore, in American flag-printed denim and crochet, seemed tailor-made for True Blood's feisty fairy Sookie Stackhouse, who is played by Canadian-born Kiwi Anna Paquin, even if the pretty, drop-waisted teadresses with fruit prints were probably a little too virginal for same. Frockwriter couldn't help including two shots from Cooper's palate cleanser in between the Cooper and Trelise Cooper shows: an army of models in black blazers and corsets/knickers. Minus the word "boardroom" printed across the models' derrières, it was a knockoff of Dolce e Gabbana's finale for the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 show in Milan in February 2010. Here is a photo gallery, best viewed on the blog. The final Style.com shot is from the original Dolce e Gabbana show.  

Her name is Lola. She was a showgirl

Kia Ora from sunny/rainy/sunny/rainy Auckland, where frockwriter is, once again, the guest of the organisers of New Zealand Fashion Week. Due to other commitments, we only touched down yesterday so missed some early shows. Beyond the event's spectacular new digs at the newly-unveiled Viaduct Events Centre, what has struck us so far is the fact that while it's not at all unusual to see Oz models on NZ runways, on this occasion, they seem a little more prominent than usual. To wit, Krystal Glynn, the face of Zambesi's Spring/Summer 2011/2012 campaign and also the covergirl of New Zealand Fashion Week's official 2011 handbook (bottom). Glynn is already en route to New York so won't be attending. Another Aussie will be opening tonight's Zambesi show - Lola Van Vorst. The name sounds familiar? A contestant on Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5, Van Vorst has barely done any modelling in the interim, moving instead behind the camera as a photographer. But she suddenly finds herself much in demand in front of the lens. 

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.  

Stolen Girlfriends Club has ordered 1000 jam jars for its Sydney party, but there won't be any Stolen Generation T-shirts

stolen girlfriends club AW11/kent vaughan

Next Thursday, Auckland hipster collective Stolen Girlfriends Club will stage its second Sydney shindig in five months, this time to unveil a new short film shot by renowned Kiwi snapper Derek Henderson, to promote SGC’s new Heavy Metal jewellery line. The film stars photogenic Kiwi lovebirds Dempsey Stewart and Jasper Seven modelling the inaugural collection, We Are Ugly But We Have The Music (below). Frockwriter has previously documented SCG’s predilection towards serving alcohol in jam jars at events and next week will be no different with, we are told, 1000 jam jars ordered for the occasion. One thing we won’t be seeing at the event, however, is an “I belong to the Stolen Generation” T-shirt, as appeared on SGC's runway in Auckland last month. 

Sydney and Auckland street style in WWD

Street style photography is an enormous component of the fashion blogosphere, which has in fact launched blogging empires (The Sartorialist and Jak + Jil to name but a few). This photoreportage genre however definitely predates the net. Bill Cunningham’s first street style shots were published in The New York Times in 1978, but he first began documenting the fashion choices of ordinary people on the street during WWII. British style magazine i-D has a 30 year archive of its signature street style shots - aka “Straight-Ups” - on its website. And WWD, where Cunningham worked briefly, has had its own longstanding series of street style shots called They Are Wearing. As the paper's Australasian correspondent since 1996, I have shot quite a few “TAWs” in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Seoul and Taipei for WWD FAST and (Fairchild News Service's now defunct menswear paper) DNR. During the Spring/Summer 2011 show season WWD kicked off a series of global TAW galleries in the 'Eye Scoop' section and yesterday two of mine went up, both shot last month. Here is the Sydney gallery and here is the Auckland one, which was shot around Vulcan Lane during New Zealand Fashion Week. Not including this random shot, above, which was taken for WWD FAST at Sydney's Glenmore Road, Paddington intersection in May this year. Perhaps you might recognise some of your mates. 

Inside Sabatini

Frockwriter had always wanted to visit the head office of New Zealand knitwear brand Sabatini, which showed in a group show during New Zealand Fashion Week a fortnight ago. On this NZ trip we did finally made it out to the Mt Roskill factory, about 20 minutes outside of Auckland’s CBD. Founded 57 years ago by Croatian refugees Zarko and Sonja Milich as Sonny Elegant Knitwear Ltd, this third generation family-run knitwear business is unique in Australasia. From 1967, it was also one of the original partner’s of the International Wool Secretariat’s Woolmark program (and yes, they use Australian wool - most of New Zealand's clip goes into high quality carpets and rugs). Operated today by Zarko's and Sonja’s son and daughter Tony Milich and Margie Evans-Milich and granddaughters Anja Milich and Danielle Evans-Milich, Sabatini has been likened to Italy’s Missoni clan. It’s fascinating to see the beautiful jacquards being woven on equipment that includes some quite spectacular postwar machinery. The company’s stable of brands includes Sabatini and the highend Sabatini White, which is sold around the world. 

On with the shoe: Kathryn Wilson's showgirls put their best feet forward at New Zealand Fashion Week

kathryn wilson AW11 backstage/kent vaughan

A runway show dedicated exclusively to footwear is always going to be a tough call. Terry Biviano did it in 2003 and 2004 at Australian Fashion Week by teaming up with show producer extraordinaire Tony Assness, who created some of the most memorable shows that the event had ever witnessed. But while Biviano put the focus on her shoes by initially teaming the footwear with nude-coloured corsets and silk parachutes (later going over the top with horses, contortionists and bird suits, as you do), NZ's Kathryn Wilson kept her debut show dead simple by putting her girls in black leotards and dispatching them onto a raised catwalk. Precariously navigating back down the stairs in their skyscraper heels and booties - as so well documented by Kent throughout the show – there seemed to be more than a little Broadway musical going on backstage. I really couldn’t resist putting a selection of shots to some music to create this slideshow below. 

New Zealand Fashion Week (the rest)

jimmy D AW11 backstage/kent vaughan

Apologies for the delay in posting the remainder of the New Zealand Fashion Week coverage. Returned to Australia and have been otherwise occupied. So here is a series of last posts with a few bits and pieces. Just a reminder once again that frockwriter attended the event as the guest of New Zealand Fashion Week. An enormous thank-you to my partner Kent Vaughan – who provided brilliant photo backup this year, both at the shows I attended and notably, those I could not, while attending to all the backend management (and who nailed some absolute cracker shots). Thank-you also to New Zealand Fashion Week, for the very kind invitation once again, PR Anna Jobsz and our minder Tim Holmberg, lovely guy. I did a brief wrapup post of the event for Pages Digital, which you can read here. To see frockwriter’s complete coverage of the event, click on the “New Zealand Fashion Week” tag below or use the search box to the right-hand side (the new NZFW splash will also hyperlink through). There are shows covered on frockwriter's Posterous which were not reviewed on the blog. It was just too difficult to get to everything and on occasions, eg Huffer, which we did attend – a great little show and a fab way to end the week – we simply ran out of time unfortunately. Along with all the main shows already covered, new to Posterous are galleries for Huffer, Jimmy D, the NZFW retrospective show, Miramoda, Blak Luxe, Annah Stretton, Sabatini White, Kathryn Wilson and Michelle Yvette.

Kiwiana

Just back from New Zealand Fashion Week. Apologies for the lack of posts. Frockwriter spent the weekend about an hour and a half outside of Auckland at the beach - a divine spot called Pauanui - and there was no internet access. There is a lot of backlogged NZFW material coming up soon. Meanwhile, snapped a few iconic Kiwi bits and bobs in the local supermarché. Yes I know that Marmite originated in the UK, but New Zealand apparently put its own stamp on the product and claims this version as NZ's own. The last two items are not so well-known. But the beer should definitely be - the most delicious beer frockwriter has ever tasted. And who knew Kiwi blogger Isaac Hindin Miller was expanding his line of merch?

Fight Club - Stolen Girlfriends Club Autumn/Winter 2011

backstage at stolen girlfriends club AW11

Stolen Girlfriends Club is New Zealand’s Ksubi. Founded by surfers (Dan Gosling, Marc Moore and Luke Harwood), it’s a streetwear specialist and has a cult following back home, evidenced by the massive turnouts to its hipster magnet shows. Last night’s presentation at the Mercury Theatre, Auckland’s oldest surviving theatre built in 1910, was a case in point. Frockwriter had to negotiate a queue half way around the block to get in. Inside, platters of of jam jars awaited the post-show revellers, while in the claustrophobic backstage area, models were already drinking out of them. As they milled around, the hair & makeup team applied fresh sweet peas and cigarettes to the girls’ messed-up hair and bruisers and hickies to the guys’ eyes and necks. The theme of the show was ‘Last Night’s Party’ and the mood the SGC trio was trying to conjure was the walk of shame of a bunch of kids after a big night out. It starred a stellar Australasian cast that included top Kiwi names Dempsey Stewart, Ella Verberne and Michael Whittaker (above). 

If genetic engineers like AgResearch had their way, the world could be populated by models

AgResearch is a taxpayer-funded R&D facility whose mission statement is to develop business opportunities for New Zealand's agricultural and biotech sectors. Yesterday it sponsored a group show which showcased the work of ten local designers using four new woollen fabrics: Stitch Ministry, Annah Stretton, Blak, Salasai, Sable & Minx, NYNE, Emma Ford, Michelle Yvette, Trix & Dandy and Alexandra Owen. Owen created a white fencing suit, using a new synthetic wool blend that’s been developed for martial arts wear. Joined the backstage lineup: a burly security guard, who kept constantly checking the monitor for signs of any anti-GM protestors. The latter formed a picket line outside the venue two years ago, when AgResearch last showed at the event. Considering that the organisation’s proposed “Frankenstein” genetic modification of six animal species using human genes has been met with criticism, this is hardly surprising. But there were no protestor dramas - or clones. The doppelgangers in the cute knits and suspenders were Australian identical twins Aimee and Morgan Hurst, joint winners of the 2008 Girlfriend Model Search. Check frockwriter's Posterous for a full picture gallery.