The great Gatenby - Menswear Spring/Summer 2014

james gatenby walks fendi SS14 via style.com

The Spring/Summer 2014 menswear shows are underway in Milan, with the second London Collections: Men and Pitti Uomo events just wrapped in London and Florence, respectively. The season's Paris leg starts on Wednesday. By frockwriter’s count 11 Australian men walked the Fall/Winter 2013/2014 runways in February and March this year, including several new faces such as Nathaniel Visser, Elijah Tyedmers, Saint Laurent fave Reuben Ramacher and of course James Gatenby, the Sydney Uni science major who made his international debut opening Louis Vuitton as an exclusive. So far this season, we have spotted eight ten twelve thirteen. Not to mention one Kiwi woman - frockwriter fave Holly Rose Emery, on no less than Prada's runway, in one of a handful of women's Resort 2014 looks that were thrown into the show.

Corey Micari swaps the AFL for IMG

Nice to see one Schoolies story with a happy ending. Meet Corey Micari. The 17 year-old from Dandenong, Victoria is the 2012 winner of the MMS ['Mr and Miss Schoolies'] Model Search. Although he has no modelling experience beyond the competition and is as yet unsigned by an Australian agency, Micari has just been signed to IMG Models New York. But modelling isn't the only arena in which he has been a competitor. 

Six degrees

The Fall/Winter 2013/2014 menswear season is in full swing in Europe and our new face from Friday Nathaniel Visser did indeed, as predicted, make his international runway debut at Sunday's Calvin Klein Collection show - joined by Brisbane native Joel Meacock. So far we have counted twelve Australians on the menswear runways in London, Florence, Milan and Paris. Joining Visser as a new face of the season is Elijah Tyedmers - an 18 year-old Sydney University medical student who was scouted last year by Sydney's eMg Models in line buying popcorn at a Hoyts cinema. Canadian-born, but an Australian citizen (his father is Australian), Tyedmers is not spending his summer holidays lazing on a beach in Oz or Vanuatu for that matter, where his parents are based - but rather, rugged up in furs and flannels walking for the likes of Fendi, Salvatore Ferragamo, Z Zegna and Joseph Abboud. 

New faces: Henry Payten

justin smith via the agency models

And now for the boys. Third up in frockwriter's new series about new modelling faces from down under is Henry Payten, who was recently signed to Sydney's The Agency Models. 

Chesty Bond market

Australian women were all over this week’s haute couture runways in Paris - playing tag team, in fact, with their male counterparts, who wrapped up the Spring/Summer 2013 ready-to-wear menswear season in the City of Light last Sunday. Aussie male models continued their assault on the menswear market, with at least nine names nabbing blue chip shows in London, Milan and Paris. Leading the pack, once again, was Brisbane’s Angus Low who walked in 16 shows, with fellow Brisbanite, Joel Meacock and Byron Bay’s Kye D’Arcy, hot on Low’s heels.

Man up

Australian women have become a force to contend with on the international runways, now here come the guys. The Fall/Winter 2012/2013 menswear shows are currently underway in Europe and while there is no sign so far of androgynous superstar Andrej Pejic (who nevertheless looks like a sure bet for at least Jean Paul Gaultier), in his place is a cadre of antipodian Adonises with chiselled jaws and razor-sharp cheekbones. At least thirteen to be precise. This time last year, Calvin Klein booked Jack Vanderhart as an exclusive for its menswear show. This season, the brand had three Australians, all on exclusives: identical twins Zac and Jordan Stenmark, who opened and closed the show and Joel Meacock. Overnight, on the first day of the season's Paris leg, the Stenmarks opened a second show: Nicola Formichetti's sci-fi Mugler show. Meacock is confirmed as a Paris exclusive for Louis Vuitton later in the week, opening the show no less.