Australia's next top Miu Miu

miu miu FW1314 via wwd.com

Cassi van den Dungen missed out on winning Australia’s Next Top Model in 2009. But she has just achieved something that has so far proven beyond the grasp of any actual winners of the high rating Australian reality show: she just walked the Miu Miu show in Paris.

Valentina Sykes touches down in Paris - but not at Balenciaga

valentina sykes (R) backstage at john galliano FW1314 via fashionising

When we spotted this recent Sun Herald story about 17 year-old Sydney model Valentina Sykes being "optioned" as they say in the model biz as a potential "exclusive" for last week's Balenciaga show at Paris Fashion Week, we felt the need to Tweet: "one way of reducing your chances of getting a balenciaga exclusive - talking about it beforehand". Sykes did wind up making her international runway debut in Paris, although not for the super prestige Balenciaga show, rather, John Galliano - the namesake line of Christian Dior's disgraced creative director, which is owned by Dior parent LVMH and continues on without him under the direction of Bill Gaytten. Of course any major Paris show is a great get. But the moral to this story is: never count your fashion chickens before they're hatched.  

Paris is burning - Fall/Winter 2013/2014

april tiplady closes junya watanabe FW1314 via wwd.com

Frockwriter was out at dinner last night when we received a call from Brigette Mitchell, director of Adelaide's Finesse Models, direct from a "freezing" Paris. "April just did her very first fashion show" said Mitchell proudly. "She hasn't even walked in a fashion show in Adelaide, but she just closed Junya Watanabe". April Tiplady - that's the 16 year old whose grandmother paid for a grooming course at the same agency two years earlier in the hope of boosting the confidence of her gangly grand-daughter. Last November, literally just signed to Finesse and with no modelling experience, Tiplady was signed by IMG Models worldwide (i.e. all its international agencies). Now she is a card-carrying member of the Australian model delegation at the Fall/Winter 2013/2014 show season. 

Hot fuzz

céline SS2013 via style.com

During the 2012 London Olympics Nike managed to ambush adidas, the event’s official sports apparel marketing partner, with an 18-strong collection of neon yellow trainers that looked to be on every second athlete in the track and field events. With shoes classified as equipment, athletes were free to choose their brand. The Spring/Summer 2013 show season is of course a totally different animal to the Summer Olympics. And yet, based on some early reactions, it seems that another neon yellow shoe may be hijacking more than its fair share of coverage here: Céline’s mink pump.

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. 

Andrej Pejic is James Blond

sonny vandevelde

After a big London booking delayed his arrival in Milan earlier this week and only ultimately walking in one show there - Neil Barrett - Andrej Pejic finally made a spectacular entree to the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 Paris mens show season overnight at Jean Paul Gaultier's show. As both a man - and, surprise, surprise, also as a woman. Inspired by legendary British spook James Bond, the collection was opened by a pistol-packing macho model in a tuxedo. Pejic was second out, also in a tuxedo, but with the shirt louchely loosened to bare his chest and his signature platinum blond locks parted to the side, softly curled and tumbling down over one shoulder à la Veronica Lake. Thence followed a suite of other tuxedo-inspired looks, including some deconstructed tuxes, obviously a Gaultier trademark and yet more examples of the controversial "shuit", or men's shorts suit, which has been gaining popularity on the mens runways for the past few seasons. Presumably more in keeping with Bond's action sequences, a number of sportier ensembles also hit the runway, featuring sprayed-on motocross leggings teamed with glam, gilt bomber jackets and jean jackets festooned with metallic sequins. 

Pawel Bednarek fronts Song for the Mute Autumn/Winter 2011

Elliot Ward-Fear isn't the only emerging Australian fashion designer with big branding ideas. Just three seasons old, Sydney menswear label Song for the Mute has recruited Polish model Pawel Bednarek for its Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign and lookbook shot by Bowen Arico in and around Wollongong. Although not as feminine as Australia's Andrej Pejic, Bednarek nevertheless definitely has the moment's popular androgynous look - as harnessed in editorials by publications such as Dazed & Confused Japan. Which suits the cool, asexual vibe of much of Song for the Mute's clothing. The brand is designed by Melvin Tanaya and Lyna Ty (below), who will take their winter collection - entitled 'Milieu' - to the upcoming Paris mens' Fall/Winter 2011/2012 fashion week (January 19-23), where they will be represented by Showroom Romeo. Song for the Mute is also among five finalists for the 2011 L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Designer Award, a competition that has previously been won by Josh Goot, Friedrich Gray, Romance Was Born and Dion Lee. The event runs from March 14-20 and as previously reported, will be attended by Dazed Group co-founder Jefferson Hack - who apparently won't just be speaking at LMFF's hugely popular Business Seminar, but may even DJ at a soiree.

Louis Vuitton's glitch in the Matrix

There is no spoon, OK? As consolation, in approximately half an hour (ETA 14.30 CEST, 23.30 AEST), the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2011 womenswear show will take place in Paris. Head to Louis Vuitton's Facebook page to watch the live stream and Now Fashion for still photos in (almost) real-time. And as if runway models didn't have enough backstage photographers to contend with the nanosecond they exit the runway, they are due to be assaulted by 52 cameras in-the-round backstage, via which every outfit will be clocked in 360. Check back in back at LV Facebook central at 20.00 CEST (05.00 AEST) to see the fruits of those Matrix-style photo sessions (in the interim, you can practice rotating Jacobs with your cursor via LV's handy little player, above). After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and Marc Jacobs shows you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

Short black: Bambi Northwood-Blyth also snags Chanel - Spring/Summer 2011

The Australia's Next Top Model judges seemed to enjoy giving flak to some of the shorter contestants on this year's show. In the end, the taller model - Amanda Ware - won Cycle 6. But a lack of runway regulation height (5'6"-5'7") hasn't stymied Bambi Northwood-Blyth's chances of an international runway career. Her Paris Fashion Week started with Thursday's Balenciaga show, moving onto to Loewe and yesterday's back-to-back Ungaro and Giambattista Valli shows. Well she has just added to that impressive Paris show list with no less than Chanel, joining three other Australian models on the French luxury brand's Spring/Summer 2011 runway: Chanel face Abbey Lee Kershaw, Julia Nobis and Lauren Brown. Judging by this video below (thanks to TFS for sourcing), Northwood-Blyth has been working on her walk, which raised a few eyebrows after New York Fashion Week. She's up at around 1.07. It seems the sky may well now be the limit for her.

There's no other store like... Balenciaga - Spring/Summer 2011

Much will be made over the coming days of the inclusion of a five months pregnant supermodel in the Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2011 show in Paris. It's not the first time a pregnant model has walked a runway. But this is Balenciaga. And given how much hoo-haa is normally made about model weight at the elite end of the fashion business, it does seem like some kind of watershed moment. The model in question, Miranda Kerr, is of course now not just a model, but a celebrity. And she has already walked in Balenciaga's shows on two previous occasions. Kerr's appearance at Balenciaga comes almost two months after she pulled out of the Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway showcase of Australian department store David Jones, to which she is currently contracted, after marrying fiance Orlando Bloom. Since confirming her pregnancy, Kerr has spoken of her morning sickness in the first trimester, which presumably would have made the David Jones show difficult for her. That's assuming that David Jones would have been perfectly happy to put a pregnant model on its runway. In an odd coincidence, Balenciaga creative director Nicolas Ghesquière chose a large abstract houndstooth motif for this collection. The houndstooth motif being an integral part of DJs' brand identity (as is the advertising slogan, "There's no other store like David Jones").

Bambi bags Balenciaga - Spring/Summer 2011

balenciaga SS11/nowfashion.com

Did we say there was buzz about Bambi Northwood-Blyth going into Spring/Summer 2011? We did. Far more importantly, of course, so did Ashley Brokaw, one of the world’s top casting directors who started beating the Bambi drum in an interview with The New York Times’ Cathy Horyn on the eve of New York Fashion Week three weeks ago. And then cast her in her first international show, Rag & Bone, alongside Julia Nobis. Brokaw had told Horyn that both Northwood-Blyth and Nobis were at the top of her casting list this season. Well Brokaw has just cast the duo again - along with five months pregnant Miranda Kerr - this time, in the Balenciaga show in Paris. Given that Nobis already has one international show season under her belt and is regulation runway height, however, it’s nothing less than an extraordinary coup for Northwood-Blyth, who started modelling six months ago and also happens to be 5’7” tall – that’s the official version, with some suggesting she may in fact be 5’6”. How many girls have been turned down by model agents because they’re too small? Legions of them. Kate Moss is one of the rare exceptions and you have to say, Northwood-Blyth could be shaping up to be Australia’s version. 
 

In full Bloom: After ditching DJs, five months pregnant Miranda Kerr walks for Balenciaga

balenciaga SS11/in my shoes

Last month, much was made of Miranda Kerr's mysterious pullout of the David Jones Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway showcase in Sydney. Kerr, who is under contract as the new face of the upmarket Australian department store chain, released a statement at the time saying she had just eloped with her fiancee Orlando Bloom and the couple wanted to spend some quality time together. Abbey Lee Kershaw, Catherine McNeil, Nicole Trunfio and Alexandra Agoston filled in as high profile replacements. A deafening chorus of gossip pegged her as being three months pregnant at the time - later confirmed by Kerr. Well, while a pregnant model may have been far too awkward for DJs, this just in: Kerr, now five months pregnant, is about to walk in the Balenciaga show in Paris. According to WWD's Twitter, husband Orlando Bloom is front row waiting to see Kerr on the runway. Interesting times indeed. You have to wonder exactly what David Jones thinks about this. And hilariously, the collection - including the outfit worn by Kerr - features a giant abstract houndstooth check. David Jones uses a black and white houndstooth check for its corporate identity. 

The (lady) boys of Spring Summer 2011

wwd

Andrej Pejic may have only done four shows during the just-wrapped Paris menswear season, but he proved the talk of the town. Since frockwriter caught up with his news on Friday and Saturday, where hasn't he been? A spot in WWD (above), complete with the headline "Gender bender", Fairfax's WA Today and The New Zealand Herald (and The Sydney Morning Herald on July 3), while influential modelling website models.com asked on Facebook, "Andrej Pejic is getting a lot of buzz lately, do you like his look?". Profiles popped up on Pages Digital and Tokyo Dandy, with the Beauty Hunter blog asking “Is Andrej Pejic the most androgynous male model on the planet?”. On Twitter, MusaKL reported "Everyone in Paris last week kept talking about this one model from Down Under: Andrej Pejic", while Homotography noted "i keep getting asked who's the blond in these shows" and “Even professional fashion databases are mistaking Andrej Pejic for a girl!” According to photographer Antonio Barros, "he was the icon of this season".

The big question - will all this buzz translate into bigger bookings for Pejic?

Beyond the Facebook mention, the chatter did not appear to cut any mustard with models.com, which curiously left Pejic out of both its top walkers and Top 10 Newcomers lists for the SS11 menswear season.

According to his Australian mother agency Chadwicks, Pejic was already booked for one advertising campaign in Milan next week. There is as yet no update on other bookings. But frockwriter predicts we may well see him in some capacity at next week's haute couture shows in Paris. Yes, they are women's shows but men make the occasional appearance.

The New York Times' fashion critic Cathy Horyn, meanwhile, made no mention of Pejic in her review of the week, but she did seem a little perturbed by the feminisation of the collections, which featured skirt-like shorts - and even dresses at Comme des Garçons.

Noted Horyn:

"men are having a hard time, as Hanna Rosin observed in an article in the current issue of The Atlantic, its tag line, “How women are taking control — of everything.” Men are wimping out, in the example of Judd Apatow’s chronic adolescent characters, or being mowed down by Beyoncé and Lady Gaga....You sensed a little of this problem at the shows, and it was not a pretty sight".

At least two other Australian men walked the Spring/Summer 2011 runways. Priscillas has yet to confirm exact show numbers, but they report their very cool-looking Jakub Vasak walked in at least Alexander McQueen, while Broed Dillewaard nabbed Louis Vuitton, Prada and Gazzarrini.


jakub vasak at alexander mcqueen SS11/style.com


broed dillewaard at louis vuitton SS11/style.com


Below is a great little video on the boys of Paris Fashion Week just-posted by Paris-based photographer Justin Wu.

Pejic makes a very brief cameo at 1.57.

Elle Macpherson closes Louis Vuitton

louis vuitton FW1011/getty via daylife


Well we can add Elle Macpherson to the list of Australian models walking in Fall/Winter 2010/2011. Returning to the runway after what frockwriter estimates could be a 20 year hiatus (the last time we recall seeing Macpherson on a catwalk was the Bicentennial Wool Collection in Sydney in 1988), she closed Louis Vuitton's 1950s-nosed collection yesterday in Paris. Although not technically the last show of the season - that was Miu Miu last night - it was a fascinating climax to a season marked by its interesting show casting. Much has been made of the "curvier" models on show alongside the stock standard teenage skeletors, even though the Victoria's Secret Angels who appeared at Prada and Balenciaga are still whippet thin. But the choice of 46 year-old Macpherson, after Calvin Klein cast fortysomethings Kristen McMenamy and Stella Tennant, alongside 33 year-old Kirsty Hume in New York, with McMenamy also showing up at Viktor & Rolf last weekend, seems more a victory for the older woman, than her curvier cousin.

From Churchill to Cassi-Gate, insulting the French is "nothing new" - The Times of London

After last week's post about Cassi van den Dungen's ill-fated Paris Fashion Week trip, where hasn't the story appeared? First The Sunday Telegraph, then The Melbourne Herald Sun, The Brisbane Courier Mail and Ninemsn.com.au. Yesterday, Seven Network's Morning Show devoted an entire panel discussion to the subject, with The Herald Sun's Luke Dennehy - who apparently "broke the story" - crossing live from Melbourne to anchors Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur and fashion commentator Melissa Hoyer, to discuss van den Dungen's Facebook rant against "frog eaters" and "snail slurpers" - as if it was an international incident (see below). Even the UK Telegraph picked it up.

Alexander McQueen's final collection saluted in camera by "all who loved him"

WWD twitter


Frockwriter predicted that an Alexander McQueen show would go on in Paris on March 9th. It concluded several hours ago. Perhaps not on the original scale planned by McQueen prior to his death on February 11th, but in its place, a sobre, dignified presentation of just 15 showpieces in a gilded salon, according to WWD, which uploaded one shot to Twitter. At time of writing it had been viewed over 3,000 times. Although you can see photographers in the background, it is unclear if they were working for the house. Reportedly, the latter is due to supply press images, with all other photographers banned. Update: Here are 11 of the (in fact)16 looks. Which is not dissimilar to the way the Paris fashion show system used to work way back in the mid 20th century. A second presentation will, by all accounts, take place tomorrow, the final day of the FW1011 season, which commenced with the terrible news of McQueen's suicide. In closing, frockwriter would just like to share the following comment which was left on our original post yesterday. It’s anonymous, so obviously we have no idea about the identity of its author. But we would like to believe that it was genuinely one of McQueen's colleagues:

“I have worked with Alexander McQueen for 10 years. Out of respect for the man, the person, and all of those who are still trying to come to terms with Lee's untimely demise, the brand will not be putting on a blow out catwalk show, but will indeed present the collection (which was indeed already cut and finished) in a very intimate setting as it is sure to be emotional for all who loved him. The brand will go on, not in Gucci's bid to cash in, but as all of us who had the joy and pleasure of working with Lee remain committed to building our brand, and carrying on his legacy.”

Viktor & Rolf's Freaky Saturday

Alexander McQueen might be gone, but we still have a a couple of showmen/women left, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren at the top of the list. The Dutch duo is renowned for the theatricality of its shows (which frequently upstage the actual collections). Some experiments have gone wrong – a case in point the Fall Winter 2007/2008 show from three years ago, in which models were forced to walk the runway in bizarre metal light rig harnesses. Noone ate the catwalk and just as well, as they could have seriously injured themselves. The duo was subsequently widely accused of misogyny (a common criticism of McQueen). Here is the post I did from that show from Paris for smh.com.au. No such criticism of Saturday’s show, which is being billed as one of the best of the season, if not the best.

The collection, called ‘Glamour Factory’, was set against a monchromatic backdrop painted with graphics of industrial cogs.

The predominantly black and grey collection would most likely have passed largely unnoticed had it not been for the clever staging, which starred 43 year-old American model Kristen McMenamy in her second runway outing this season, after Calvin Klein's show in New York three weeks ago.

McMenamy wore 23 looks. All at once.

Piled, Russian doll-like, under layers of coats and dresses, she walked to a rotating disc in the middle of the runway and stood there like a store mannequin, while the designers peeled off the layers right down to a nude-coloured corset.

As the duo undressed McMenamy, they dressed each of the remainder of the model cast – every last one of them, as per usual, young enough to be McMenamy's daughter - in her discarded clothes. Think Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in Freaky Friday, just swapping sporty fur-lined anoraks, tweed boyfriend jackets and bodysuits, satin smoking jackets and LBDs, instead of minds.

By all accounts, McMenamy was re-dressed in the garments as the models returned from their turns on the runway.

The climax was delivered by way of a giant panniered skirt which was inverted and transformed on McMenamy via a drawstring, to a cape with a behemoth Elizabethan collar.

You had to be there obviously. But for everyone who wasn’t, the above video gives a taste. Here is the entire collection in photos.

Needless to say, no backstage dressers were required.

Lauren Brown bags Balenciaga

nowfashion.com

Well Priscillas is having a great season. Frockwriter mentioned that the Sydney agency had three hot newcomers heading to the FW1011 show season. In addition to Christina Carey - who walked in the Marc Jacobs show in New York. And now, after Julia Nobis landed a Calvin Klein exclusive in New York, comes word (confirmed by Priscillas) that Lauren Brown has just walked in another equally prestigious show: Balenciaga. Fantastic get for Brown and Priscillas, which is presumably having a terrific day, following the news that a model Priscillas and its New York affiliate Elite unsuccessfully attempted to sign after Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Cassi van den Dungen - has just flown back to Oz after missing out on one of Paris Fashion Week's most high profile shows. With Brown apparently having already appeared at last week's Emporio Armani show in Milan, it does not appear to have been a season exclusive. Priscillas reports that Brown has been confirmed for only one other Paris show, as the arrangement with that show and Balenciaga was "semi exclusive" (ie in Paris). It's not the first time a Priscillas model has walked Balenciaga. Stephanie Carta made several appearances. But it's interesting that the agency didn't tip any media outlets in this leadup - as it did with Nobis in Milan, at least according to Pedestrian.tv, which ran a story about Nobis' future coup. Fortunately for Nobis, it didn't kill the option.

Balenciaga packs it in for Fall

nowfashion.com

Reportedly inspired by packing materials and the work of American photographer Irving Penn and French video artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, here are the first shots of Balenciaga’s Fall Winter 2010/2011 collection which just walked the runway in Paris. Both wildly colourful and intellectual - with Australia’s Miranda Kerr walking for the second consecutive season, as tipped by frockwriter, alongside Australian newcomer Lauren Brown - the collection was a futuristic mélange of embellished knit tunic dresses; graphic, colourblocked sweaters over lace-look bellbottom clamdiggers with turnups; sculpted charcoal suiting with origami panelling; and an intriguing series of what appeared to be skinny-legged, ski bib n'brace-look overalls in black and gunmetal grey. The zippered bodices of the latter peeled down to create trapeze-shaped, trompe l'oeil 'tops' out of the lining, which was emblazoned with newspaper graphics. The late, great Alexander McQueen once said he dressed women in "armour". Nicolas Ghesquière just bubble-wrapped them.













nowfashion.com

Cassi van den Dungen takes one step back from her model dream

IMG

Are you ready for the next installment of the Cassi van den Dungen rollercoaster? Sadly this one ends with her 33,000 feet somewhere above Central Asia on a plane en route to Australia. Yes as frockwriter types, van den Dungen is winging her way back downunder, having failed to book a single show at Paris Fashion Week. No interest? Nothing could be further from the truth. Frockwriter can reveal that she was heading to Paris Fashion Week on option for an exclusive. Indeed a tremendously prestigious Paris Fashion Week exclusive which, if secured, would have undoubtedly launched her international career. She didn't get it. Even after three meetings with the design house and casting director. Now anyone who knows anything about the modelling business knows that this could have happened to any girl. There is however a little more to this back story, so buckle up.