Paul de Gelder: Navy diver, shark attack survivor, smoking hot swimwear model

silke stuckenbrock/the navy diver

 

Aimee Mullins meet Paul de Gelder. Much has been written – and broadcast - about de Gelder’s near brush with death on February 11, 2009, when the then 31 year-old Royal Australian Navy clearance diver and former paratrooper and East Timor peacekeeper came face-to-face with a three metre bull shark, which savaged his right hand and leg. A double amputation, extensive rehabilitation and two years later, de Gelder is back at work as a Royal Australian Navy diver trainer, with several brand new spinoff careers, including motivational speaker and conservationist, who has called on the United Nations to protect sharks from over fishing. Earlier this year he also became a published author, with the release of No time for fear: How a shark attack survivor beat the odds. But de Gelder has another new career that’s a little less well-documented: fashion model. To be precise, underwear and swimwear model for new Sydney-based brand The Navy Diver. 

Rock on - David Jones Spring/Summer 2011/2012

Miranda Kerr has done rather a lot since she headed offshore to try her luck on the international fashion stage in 2005, like so many other eager Aussie hopefuls before her. The following year, after scoring a Maybelline contract, she landed what would evolve into a highly lucrative deal with US intimate apparel giant Victoria’s Secret. Kerr returned to the Australian market in 2008 in a big way as the new face of Australian department store David Jones, an astute marketing investment that is presumably costing DJs much less today than it is currently worth in media coverage. In the eighteen months since Kerr last walked DJs' biannual runway showcase, she has emerged as a truly global star – not just one of the world’s highest-paid models, but a household name whose every move is charted by the paps. Sure, the marriage to Hollywood heartthrob Orlando Bloom hasn’t hurt her profile, ditto the birth of their beautiful baby boy Flynn in January. So refreshing, then, to see Kerr backstage at DJ’s Spring/Summer 2011/2012 showcase on Wednesday night, hamming it up as just another one of the girls. 

Blue rondo à la Turks & Caicos: Behind-the-scenes at Zimmermann's high summer shoot

So the world’s biggest bikini fest has just wrapped in Miami. No, not IMG’s runway event, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Swim at the Raleigh Hotel, but that’s certainly part of the action that revolves around the Miami SwimShow, the premier swimwear showcase staged each July by the Florida Swimwear Association. Zimmermann was front and centre at the latter event, as they have been for over a decade (only appearing on IMG’s runway a couple of times). After checking out the summer popup store in New York and continuing to scout for a more permanent NY location, most of the Zimmermann camp then headed to the West Indies’ Turks and Caicos Islands last week to shoot a campaign for the brand's new high summer collection, which bows in October. Here are a few behind-the-scenes shots of New York-based photographer David Roemer, model Jessica Marie and the Oz hair, makeup and styling team of Louisa Gent, Jodie Boland and Tamila Purvis shooting in and around the islands' turquoise waters. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

Tallulah Morton crams White Sands, Harpers Bazaar and Escada into her art school holidays

russh magazine via tfs


Did we say Tallulah Morton had nixed modelling for art? Yes we did. That didn’t stop her from walking 12 shows at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week last month. And today, comes word from Sasha Strebe that White Sands designer Leah Madden has been photographing a mystery "supermodel" who looks very much like Morton on the Gold Coast. Frockwriter checked with Morton’s mother agency Scene Models, which confirmed that she has indeed booked an ad campaign with the Gold Coast-based swimwear label - its first ever, according to Scene - although that's just a lookbook being photographed today. The main campaign won't be shot for another month, reports Scene. In the interim, Morton won’t be twiddling her thumbs. Next week she will shoot the second of two new Harpers Bazaar Australia editorials, this one on Lord Howe Island. Morton will virtually step off that plane and board another on the 27th bound for Munich, where she has been booked to walk in an Escada runway show. She may also do Berlin Fashion Week, which runs July 7-10. Morton is currently on holidays from TAFE and while in Germany, also plans do an internship with a yet-to-be-named Berlin artist.

Juliana forges ahead

Frockwriter mentioned that Chic Management’s new star Juliana Forge walked in 21 shows at her first Rosemount Australian Fashion Week earlier this month. We were sworn to secrecy over Forge’s recent Ralph Lauren Rugby campaign, because, well, sometimes models shoot and are paid for campaigns, only to wind up on the cutting room floor. But in the case of the 18 year-old Victorian, that's not the case, because here she is in the Ralph Lauren campaign. And now here is a sneak peek at two Max Doyle images from Forge's upcoming Seafolly Limited Edition campaign – that’s the new high-end line from the 35 year-old Australian swimwear brand. It’s a pretty great get for a new model, especially considering the established names who have previously been cast: Alyssa Sutherland for the inaugural Seafolly Limited Edition campaign, with everyone from Miranda Kerr to Catherine McNeil and Jessica Hart modelling for Seafolly proper.

Add to this a multigirl Harpers Bazaar Australia cover, together with campaigns for Just Jeans and Red Earth, and Forge appears to be well en route. If not to be the next Miranda Kerr, as Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported yesterday, then at least certainly Australia's latest rising Australian modelling star.

Some of the information in the SH story is inaccurate, at least according to Chic Management, which reports that there was interest in Forge from German Vogue at one point, which however came to nought. There is no second Ralph Lauren Rugby campaign. And Forge does not leave for New York this week.

According to Chic, Forge is heading to New York in June, where there may well be a go-see with Victoria's Secret, as reported.

Chic Management and its New York affiliate Next do of course have a knack for getting their models into the VS show, so let's wait and see.

Lingerie was however apparently far from Forge's mind in 2008, when she was a Melbourne schoolgirl modelling part-time and repped by Melbourne's Camerons agency. In August that year she told The Age's Janice Breen Burns:

"I have a say in what jobs I do too - like, I won't do underwear. And I wouldn't be pressured into being really skinny".

At the time Forge also reportedly described catalogue gigs as "cheesy". But that doesn't appear to have precluded her recently doing what looks very much like an online lingerie catalogue gig for Bloomingdales.



both images: max doyle for seafolly, courtesy seafolly

Zimmermann's 'Vanishing Point'

A little futurism from Zimmermann, the Sydney fashion brand that had never done swimwear before the birth of Australian Fashion Week in May 1996, but which launched a capsule swimwear collection there specifically with an eye on the export market. In the 15 year interim, Zimmermann has established itself as one of the world's most fashion-forward swim brands. Unlike many swim brands however, fashion is at the heart of Zimmermann. The collection, entitled 'Vanishing Point', featured a collision of linear graphics and soft florals in a romantic futuristic vision, that was ably assisted by some spectacular silver neckpieces, courtesy Sydney jewellery brand MANIAMANIA. An easy summer wardrobe of sheer, fluid trousers, jumpsuits and maxi dresses, many of them featuring geometric cutout panelling. The best maillots had wrapped bodices with cutout detailing. The showstoppers: a series of fringed tops and dresses in eye-popping turquoise. Click here for frockwriter's Posterous gallery of photos.

In the swim: Melise Williams

metro/platform models

Remember Melise Williams? Frockwriter spotted her back in November 2008 at the graduation show for Sydney Institute's Fashion Design Studio. Then just 15, the statuesque Olga Sherer lookalike was too young to participate in 2009's Rosemount Australian Fashion Week. However Williams is now 16, RAFW's Spring/Summer 2010/2011 showcase - the fifteen year anniversary of the event - is just three months away and it will be interesting to see how she fares. Platform Models is not a major Sydney agency, but here's a player alert: Josh Flinn has just joined the agency as a booker. Well-connected Flinn is ex-IMG FASHION Asia Pacific, a great mate of Sydney expat uber-stylist Ms Fitz (and a Banana in Pyjamas in his spare time) and could help raise the agency's profile.

Williams has just returned from a month-long stint in Auckland, where she shot a multi-girl swimwear editorial for Metro magazine (above/below), with one of the shots making the cover.

While in New Zealand, where she is repped by Nova Models, Williams appears to have done at least one other swimwear shoot. This could enhance her chances of booking RAFW shows this particular season. Not every model is, of course, cut out for swimwear.

With the cancellation of IMG's Swim Fashion Week which was due to take place later this month, IMG has announced it will amp up the swimwear focus of the SS1011 showcase.

In the interim, the Gold Coast Council is planning to stage a smaller replacement event called BusinessGC on March 2-3.

Make me a Zimmermann model

Frockwriter mentioned that newly repatriated sex bomb Lisa Seiffert would be shooting the SS10 campaign for stellar Australian swim label Zimmermann this week. But hot diggity dog, if US Make Me A Supermodel model mentor, imminent NIDA student and newbie jeweller Nicole Trunfio isn't in the campaign as well. As it happens, Trunfio, like Seiffert, recently defected from Sydney’s Viviens agency to Chic Management. This behind-the-scenes shot from the shoot popped up in frockwriter’s inbox today. Photographer was Simon Lekias, with New York import art director Louisa Gent, stylist Tamila Purvis, Sophie Roberts on hair and Linda Jefferies on makeup. Anyone in and around Sydney’s Hamptons northern beaches over summer, meanwhile, should definitely pop in to Zimmermann's popup store at Whale Beach. Supremely cool idea for a summer store.



 

Swim Fashion Week axed

swim fashion week SS09/IMG

In what is no doubt some extremely sad news for the Australian swimwear sector, the sophomore edition of IMG's new swimwear showcase, Swim Fashion Week, has been axed. The event was due to take place at Sanctuary Cove on Queensland's Gold Coast from February 23-26 2010. According to The Gold Coast Bulletin, the event collapsed after it failed to receive backing from Queensland Events. Why the organisation was not locked in for a multi-year arrangement remains to be seen.

Guess who's back in town?

the fashion spot


Frockwriter last looked at Lisa Seiffert in October 2008, on the occasion of her topless cover of Danish art magazine S. We noted at the time that since Seiffert departed these shores, she has specialised in the sultry sex bomb niche. That’s a niche, of course, that’s not without its rewards, notably if you can land a Victoria’s Secret campaign. But Seiffert’s most prominent gigs to date have merely seen her hanging off the arms of various male pop stars in video clips. From Robbie Williams' 2001 hit The Road to Mandalay and Eternity to Jay-Z & Pharrel´s 2004 Change Clothes. And not forgetting Sean Combs’ racy ménage à trois clip for his 2006 Unforgivable men’s fragrance – reportedly banned by US broadcasting authorities for tv, with the print ads also reportedly banned by some US department stores. A Sisley campaign with Terry Richardson and the 2003 Pirelli calendar, alongside Sienna Miller, were also in the mix.

A far cry, as we noted, from the demure Vogue Australia September 1998 cover with fellow Queenslander Alyssa Sutherland.

Well now Seiffert and Sutherland have something else in common. Seiffert has just joined Chic Management in Sydney – having apparently ditched Viviens.

Seiffert has not worked in Australia for four years, but tomorrow shoots an editorial with Madison magazine and next week, a swimwear campaign with hot Australian swim brand Zimmermann.

According to Chic, Seiffert has also just shot a global campaign for Guess swimwear and lingerie in LA.

It will be interesting to see what happens from here.

Seafolly backstage at RSFF

sonny vandevelde

A mini backstage portfolio by Sonny Vandevelde from today's Seafolly show at the Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival. Among models who joined RSFF face Elyse Taylor (right, above) on the runway was under-the-radar Shanay Hall from Sydney's Viviens/IMG New York + Milan (shots #1, #3 and #6), who bears more than a passing resemblance to models.com's world number three Lara Stone. For more Seafolly show images head to Sonny Photos.







all photos: sonny vandevelde

White Sands headed to the Miami runway - but Zimmermann bypasses IMG for New York

white sands

It’s July, it must be time for the world’s biggest bikini show. Yep, the Swimwear Association of Florida’s SwimShow runs from July 18-21 at the Miami Beach Convention Center and as usual, a swarm of local swimwear brands is heading to it. At least 13 Antipodian brands are listed in the lineup, from Anna & Boy to Camilla, Tigerlily, Jets, Seafolly and Zimmermann. With 350 exhibitors, 2000 swimwear lines, 2000 US buyers - and buyers from 50 other markets - Miami is the place to be for anyone in the swimwear biz. Separate to this event - which takes a traditional trade show booth format - IMG runs a smaller, glitzier runway showcase called Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim at Miami’s Raleigh Hotel. This year it runs from July 15-19 and on July 18 at 8pm, Leah Madden’s White Sands will become the second Australian brand after Zimmermann to appear on IMG’s runway. Interestingly, after two consecutive years showing at both the SwimShow and IMG's event, this year Zimmermann is ditching IMG's schedule and heading straight from the Miami Beach Convention Centre to New York for an independent presentation at the Empire Hotel on July 22. Then again, Zimmermann has already invested in two IMG FASHION Asia Pacific events this year: February's inaugural Swim Fashion Week and May's RAFW.

Kelvin Ho and co in WWD FAST

Click here to download the latest edition of WWD's youth-skewed sportswear mag FAST (you will need Adobe Reader v 9). My Australian content includes a full-page feature on how Kelvin Ho became Australia's premier independent fashion retail architect, designing 13 boutiques for sass & bide and Belinda Seper, with other clients including Willow, Fleur Wood and Terry Biviano (p 28). There are also mini profiles on Chic Management's Kate Budrodeen (p 14), Hotel Bondi Swim (p 22) and Gideon sneakers (p 58) - together with the latest data from the best arbiters of Oz youth stats, LifeLounge.

Swim Fashion Week: Seventh Wonderland

Well the inaugural Swim Fashion Week is underway at Sanctuary Cove on Queensland’s Gold Coast. For a variety of reasons frockwriter could not get there, however we will be covering the event. First up, a preview of new Sydney-based, fashion-nosed swimwear label Seventh Wonderland, which will make its runway debut at the event at 4pm tomorrow. Operated by ex Jets and Karolina York designer Bonnie Coumbe and her business/life partner Carlos Aviles – a multitasker, who also happens to gm of AM Eyewear – Seventh Wonderland launched in July 2008 at no less than the Miami SwimShow, the world’s biggest swimwear trade showcase. Coumbe and Aviles are also gearing up to show on-schedule at RAFW in April, one of at least two labels participating in this week’s Gold Coast event that are doing a double IMG header (with Zimmermann already confirmed for RAFW).





All images: Seventh Wonderland SS0910.

Swim Fashion Week: First look at the schedule

zimmermann

Frockwriter mentioned Swim Fashion Week in November. That is, the very first swimwear-dedicated Australian fashion trade showcase, which is due to run from February 25-28 at Sanctuary Cove, on Queensland's Gold Coast. Well hot off the BlackBerry and apparently yet to land on the Swim Fashion Week website, here is the first look at the official schedule.


WEDNESDAY 25TH FEBRUARY
2-10pm: Designer suites @ The Hyatt
6-10pm: Designer pavilions on The Lagoon
7.30pm: Zimmermann

THURSDAY 26TH FEBRUARY
10am-10pm: Designer suites @ the Hyatt
2-10pm: Designer pavilions on The Lagoon
4pm: Seventh Wonderland
6pm: Whitesands
8pm: Lisa Blue
10pm: Hotel Bondi Swim

FRIDAY 27TH FEBRUARY
10am-10pm: Designer suites @ the Hyatt
2-10pm: Designer pavilions on The Lagoon
4pm: Watersun
6pm: Ed Hardy & Christian Audigier
8pm: Anna & Boy
10pm: TBC

SATURDAY 28TH FEBRUARY
10am-10pm: Designer suites @ The Hyatt
10am-10pm: Designer pavilions on The Lagoon
10am: Group show (Inikib, Karen Nielsen Swimwear, Wahine)
12noon: New Generation (Sol Bellow Swimwear, April Hewat, Kooey, Aguaclara, Colin Heaney)

Swim Fashion Week (eventually) launched in Sydney

Late Tuesday night frockwriter mentioned that IMG was about to announce a new swimwear dedicated showcase to run February 25-28 2009 at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast. IMG’s local division had in fact, as it later emerged, flown up to Sanctuary Cove on Tuesday to stage a full press conference. To which only the local press was alerted - a full two days before announcing the event to the rest of the Australian media. And notably, the fashion media. This is curious because once this event is up and running, IMG FASHION Asia Pacific md Simon Lock (pictured below) will presumably be hoping to generate national, and also international, coverage – and at a time when there’s plenty of competition for media space from the Fall/Winter 2009-2010 European collections, which will be underway. Today's press call was staged at Jackie’s Café in Paddington.




On deck were Nicky and Simone Zimmermann and two Chadwicks models in Zimmermann’s latest swim collection (pictured at the top of the post).

Great to chat to the Zimmermanns, as usual. For a recent story in WWD, Nicky Zimmermann told me that in spite of the tough economic climate, which has witnessed at least one local fashion chain on the brink of closure, her company has been doing “Christmas figures”.

We will talk more about this next Wednesday at the FGI panel discussion.

As for Swim Fashion Week, it sounds like a great idea, provided everyone is happy to trek to Sanctuary Cove to see the season’s swim collections.

February is when swimwear manufacturers present their main summer ranges, so the timing certainly makes sense. IMG is also hoping to tap into the burgeoning Asia Pacific resort market.

IMG and Sanctuary Cove will no doubt pull out all the stops to ensure maximum eye candy for the inaugural event.

Lock was talking about A$8million mansions and superyachts being thrown open for events and parties. Sanctuary Cove is a beautiful location and vis-a-vis Australian newsrooms, it’s hard to go wrong with a bunch of beautiful women in swimsuits.

Beyond shining a spotlight on swimwear, the event will also undoubtedly be a tremendous new opportunity for the local modelling industry.


chadwick's hope watson (L) and trine nielsen stop glenmore rd traffic

But let's just clarify one thing here which so far appears to have been overlooked in the face of IMG’s marketing muscle.

In a press release, IMG refers to the “heritage” of its Miami swimwear showcase, which is staged in July. The company hopes that the Gold Coast event might match the latter's success.

As reported by The Gold Coast News, Swim Fashion Week:

“would be a southern sister event to IMG Fashion's successful Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim in Miami, Florida, which has a huge following among fashion circles in the northern hemisphere”.

Yes, Miami is the world epicentre of swimwear.

Miami is the backdrop for a very well established event called the SwimShow which takes place each July.

SwimShow is the biggest swimwear trade show in the world and is operated not by IMG, but the 26 year-old Swimwear Association of Florida.

Staged at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the event claims to attract 350 exhibitors, 2000 swimwear lines, 2000 buyers from the US alone - and other buyers from an additional 46 markets. Many Australian swimwear designers/manufacturers have either participated in the show or attended it. Zimmermann has taken part for 12 years.

Concurrent to the SwimShow, IMG operates a much younger, smaller showcase of runway collections at Miami's Raleigh Hotel called Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim.

This year there were 16 shows – including Zimmermann.

How would IMG’s Miami event stack up on its own without the juggernaut of the SwimShow taking place behind it? That's a hypothetical obviously.



Australia’s Swim Fashion Week is due to have a trade show component, however it’s worth remembering that IMG’s forte thus far in Australia has been with high-glamour runway showcases, as opposed to traditional trade shows. The Source trade show which is attached to Australian Fashion Week, is a very small component of the event.

According to Lock, the Swim Fashion Week runway shows – four a day – are most likely to take place at night, with the day reserved for showroom appointments.

On site, IMG will build a large showroom, boasting, according to the release:

“world-class state-of-the-art staging, lighting and audio-visual display, alongside a fully-equipped media pit and onsite media centre, delegate registration area, designer and sponsor exhibition spaces and VIP bar”.

But Zimmermann and co certainly seem very excited about it so that’s a good sign.

IMG's new waterbaby: Swim Fashion Week on the Gold Coast

seafolly

Anyone who is wondering precisely what is the nature of the mystery pow-wow being convened by IMG FASHION Asia Pacific head honcho Simon Lock in Sydney on Thursday morning, frockwriter's sources say that IMG is about to announce the launch of an Australian swimwear showcase on Queensland’s Gold Coast for February. (Updated 19/11/08 @ 9.00am: now confirmed).


UPDATED: SWIM FASHION WEEK (EVENTUALLY) LAUNCHED IN SYDNEY

Although neither Lock’s nor IMG’s names are mentioned in this story that has just gone up in a Gold Coast newspaper, according to Geoff Grady, the ceo of Sanctuary Cove, the Gold Coast luxury resort will host an event called Swim Fashion Week from February 25-28 2009.

The actual venue will be the Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove.

Sources have told frockwriter that this is one and the same event being planned by IMG.

Although staged, according to Grady, as part of the resort’s 21st birthday celebrations, reference is made to the event becoming “one of only two swimwear fashion weeks in the world” and “the southern hemisphere equivalent to Miami fashion week”.

IMG of course operates an annual swimwear showcase in Miami.

Frockwriter is curious just how the event will work on, at the very least, the publicity front, given that it is due to take place at exactly the same time as the northern hemisphere autumn/winter 09/10 ready-to-wear collections.

The February timing however synchs perfectly with the selling cycle of Australian swimwear manufacturers.

Zimmermann in Miami

getty

Here is a preview of Zimmermann’s Cruise 2009 collection show staged a couple of hours ago at Miami's Raleigh Hotel as part of the Miami Swim event.

The swimwear includes bodycon balconets and underwired construction in 50s-look bikini tops and cutout maillots, as well as soft triangle and string bikinis in geometric prints and western chambray.

The Zimmermann brand is known for its original prints and this collection features seven designs – including the Russian folkloric-look ‘Babushka’ design pictured below.


getty

The show was styled by Sydney-based Tamila Purvis. It’s Zimmermann’s second consecutive Miami Swim show.

Click here to see IMG's video of the show.







all six images above: getty via mercedes benz fashion week miami

Independence Day

Sunrise screen grab, 8.23am, July 4th, 2008.


So I celebrated [blogging] Independence Day by waking up at 6am and going over an old Fully Chic post. No, it wasn't a sad fit of nostalgia. On Thursday, 7's brekkie show Sunrise invited me to come and have a chat about Speedos on Friday morning's show, pegged on this week's comments by Justin Timberlake that, "You can't bring sexy back in a Speedo!". Earlier this year I had done a post on Speedos - which prompted some debate - and I wanted to refresh my memory.

Five male models had been booked to do a bit of a mini fashion-show in the studio. In the now US-owned Speedo brand? No, funnily enough, in Sean Ashby's evidently now iconic-and-interchangeable-with-Speedo men's swim/knickers brand aussieBum.

That's the brand Ashby originally tried to flog to Oz department stores, only to be totally stonewalled. Ashby went direct to the net and now has a multi-million dollar global business.

I will note (once again) that both Collette Dinnigan and Zimmermann were selling to international department stores before they could get anyone from the Australian department store sector to return calls.

It's abundantly clear that some, if not many, Australian middle managers wouldn't know a good idea if it sat on their face.


Steven Priebe (L) and a model mate head into hair & makeup.

While waiting for hair & makeup, had an interesting chat with Steven Priebe from Chadwicks about the male modelling scene.

Priebe has been semi-based in Miami for the past 15 years, tapping the hitherto-lucrative US catalogue market.

Catalogue work has virtually dried up overnight, reports Priebe, due to retailers drastically cutting back marketing budgets - a very similar story to that told by a number of Australian fashion businesses which have been selling into the US market.


In the chair of Seven makeup artist Sonia.

Seven's new hair & makeup department is located down a flight of marble stairs in the bowels of an old bank in Martin Place.

The H&M room is in fact immediately adjacent to the old bank vault, which I found fascinating. What's kept in there now? Not Seven secrets apparently - but clothes:




Shots from the green room plasma screen outside the studio:





Inside the studio:




Picked up Matt "Imelda" Jordan from his compound in what he reports is the gayest residential developent in Sydney, the sprawling Mary Tyler Moore Park Gardens. Had yum cha at Kam Fook BJ.

We chatted about blogging, his plans for the development of an Australian fashion blog directory - great idea - journos and PRs who get blogging and the many journos and PRs who still don't.

I was fascinated to learn the, according to Jordan, "upstairs-downstairs" view of some, if not many, grassroots bloggers vs anyone with even the vaguest "corporate" [read mainstream media] affiliation who dares ventures onto the net.

I guess this explains why Cathy Horyn is on all those blogrolls.

Finished the night with dinner at Sel & Poivre with my bf, Aunge Tinker (below) and her husband Tinks. They're close friends - and fashion agents in NZ (where the state of the fashion biz sounds marginally better than than that in the US - but not much).



Was sorry to learn that Sydney's favourite frog, S&P owner Daniel Perchey, has been unwell.

That just won't do - especially not with Bastille Day rapidly approaching.

I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone who adores you, your resto and your myriad floral trousers Daniel.

Get well soon buddy.

Shake your Boodie: The Australian swimwear show (mercifully) reaches new heights

I'm sitting on a private ferry en route to the Hallican Boodie show.

We are apparently en route to a private, harbourside residence in Woolwich and this ferry has been deemed the most efficient means of transporting us there. I'm having a bit of a deja vu moment because the last time I was on a fashion week boat, the Azimut yacht this time last year, Sydney restaurateur Dave Evans was doing the catering and was rudely bailed up by my good self on the Elle Macpherson subject in one of the cabins. Well Evans just strode past me en route to the rear deck. There is no catering on this boat I hasten to add, which is a damned shame as most of us have not eaten in hours. As the vessel approaches its destination, a voice over the PA system announces that return ferries will leave at 10.45pm and 11.45pm. Given that it is now 10.16pm, I'd say the chances of us getting out of this before midnight are remote.

We get out of the boat and are ushered along a narrow jetty towards some stairs which lead to the venue. Just to clarify, rather a lot of stairs, which wind up the escarpment to what appears in the distance to be a multi-level luxury mansion. We proceed to climb up the stairs, and up, and up, and our little obstacle course then takes us past a kidney-shaped pool, over some stepping stones and through quite a lot of greenery, including one area in which sprinklers are working for some absurd reason. I thank my lucky stars that I have on a pair of wedge heel Mary Janes and not the patent purple pumps with nail-thin green stiletto heels that I was wearing yesterday although that said, as I climbed the last set of stairs before the pool, I did hear a seam rip in my pencil skirt.

"How unglamorous" sniffs one woman as she scrambles past the sprinklers.

We are now on some open lawn area behind the house, possibly a tennis court. It's quite a large runway setup, complete with scaffolding towers for the lights, a raised runway and surrounding murals painted with images of Tikis and lush, tropical greenery. Some giant wooden Tikis are also scattered around the area and there is a Chinese lantern-decorated bar. It's a kind of Survivor-meets-Gilligan's Island look and it is in fact quite impressive. Some serious money has been spent on this launch (I later hear in the vicinity of 100K).

"It's like a Tiki party" volunteers Kiwi journo Carolyn Enting, before some 70s disco music starts up and she feels the need to qualify her previous statement.

"Actually it's like a Tiki party crossed with Miami Vice" she says.

I cross my fingers that this means there is a possibility Colin Farrell could emerge from behind one of the giant Tikis at any moment. For now, we have to make do with Miro - Simon Lock's glamorous Eastern block replacement for (the much-missed) seat Nazi John Flower who doubles as a personal trainer. Many at Fashion Week have grown accustomed to Miro's very hands-on approach to seating as he guides you to your allocated pew.

Miro gets up onto the stage in front of a band setup and takes the microphone.

"Could we please have the international buyers and media in the front two rows, thanks" he says, as some soft music starts up behind him.

Miro moves off the stage and after a short time, some new music starts - a cover of Que Sera Sera. A model emerges in a dramatically-cut black maillot and wearing some showgirl feathers on her head. She walks around deliberately - we assume - dazed and confused, as if she's not sure exactly what she's supposed to be doing up there - or has a case of early onset Alzheimers. Then other similarly-garbed models emerge doing precisely the same thing. It's always interesting when designers, from Sydney to Milan, ask their models to not just walk in fashion shows, but act. It's usually not a good look.

But enough of the runway 'theatre', as for the swimwear it's pure Hallican Boodie sass. Signature cutout maillots and intricately-cut bikinis, some of the best in a zig-zag or animal print, with one knockout metallic snakeskin motif. There is also some great resortwear to go with - floor-length patio dresses and coverups. All up, and given the minor inconvenience of having to be ferried across the other side of the harbour, it's a pretty spectacular swimwear presentation. The show wraps, a Chinese kitchen opens up in one corner and everyone dives into it, desperate for sustenance. After milling around for a short while a number of us decide it's probably a good idea to head back down the obstacle course to head to the pier. As luck - or sense - had it, a luxury cruiser is standing by to ferry the ten of us who make it down first back to the CBD, ahead of the scheduled ferries. I walked in the door of my apartment at midnight.

It's been a day, nay a week, of spectacular swimwear productions. After last year's abomination of a group swimwear show at this event, it's an exciting development. Swimwear is a big focus of these spring/summer shows in Sydney and three brands really stepped up to the plate this season with their productions: Hallican Boodie, Anna & Boy and of course Azzollini, with its impressive Don Cameron video clip. Zimmermann is always a great show of course - but Zimmermann is most definitely fashion + swimwear, as opposed to standalone swimwear, which is a challenge to put up there by itself for an entire, dedicated runway show.

Earlier in the evening Anna & Boy dazzled with a Milan-worthy production: LED panel at the runway entrance, mirrored runway, a giant "A&B" logo and flashing neon tube lights installed around the parameters of the tent. Great to see this fledgling brand looking so confident in the space of just one year. Also good to see resortwear added to the range - the pintucked shirt-dresses and logo singlet dress looked good and provided a great counterpoint to the charming retro florals and tartans of Anna & Boy's bikinis and one-pieces, which are gradually finding their feet not just on the editorial front (it helps to have connections at Vogue), but at the international retail level as well.


Original post and comments.