To Marcs with love

Another day, another Australian Autumn/Winter 2012 campaign reveal. After casting Julia Nobis for two seasons, opposite rising Oz stars Broed Dilleward and Nick Hinman, sportswear chain Marcs upped the ante last summer with five fresh Australian faces. Creative director Rachel Allen has gone for a multi-girl and –boy look yet again for AW12, this time with four models: in her second Marcs season, Chic's upwardly mobile Nicole Pollard, alongside the 2010 winner of the Girlfriend Model Search, Jemma Baines, Belgian Cesar Casier and Brit Sid Ellisdon. Shot by Steven Chee at two Sydney cafes – Mohr Fish in Surry Hills and Coffee Tea & Me in Redfern – the styling and indeed collection proper have a cool Sixties vibe. To be sure, there’s a hint of Burberry here. And while mid market Marcs is by no means selling luxury handbags, the brand's leather goods - which are designed by Brydie O’Neil and start at $79, maxing out at $249 – are not only looking pretty sharp, but, unless frockwriter is imagining things, far more centre stage than ever before. 

Bath party: Marcs' five faces of Spring/Summer 2011/2012

Australian sportswear brand Marcs has been producing some cool advertising campaigns of late. Nabbing new Australian modelling superstar Julia Nobis was a good start of course. Nobis co-starred in the Spring/Summer 2010/2011 and Autumn/Winter 2011 campaigns with Broed Dilleward and Nick Hinman, respectively. Here is a first look at the SS1112 campaign, for which Marcs' creative director Rachel Allen has upped the ante with not two but five rising Australian stars: Chic's Rachel Rutt and Nicole Pollard, Viviens' Rosie Tupper, Priscillas' Andy Smith and EMG Models' Jack Vanderhart (who made his international debut at New York Fashion Week in February, with a Calvin Klein exclusive). Shot by Steven Chee, the campaign also showcases one of Australia's most beautiful sea baths: the heritage-listed Wylies Baths in Sydney's Coogee.