Emma Balfour shoots Willow... and Céline?

Here is a sneak peek at Australian modelling veteran Emma Balfour in Willow’s Resort 2010/2011 collection. The lookbook was shot yesterday by Max Doyle at designer Kit Willow’s Sydney headquarters and it was styled by Melanie Huynh. A stylist at Paris Vogue for five years and a former assistant to editor Carine Roitfeld, the now freelance Huynh flew out from her Paris base on Friday specifically for this job. It’s not the first time that Kit Willow and Huynh have worked together. Huynh styled Willow's 'Eclipse' Fall/Winter 2010/2011 show in New York in February (she also styled Joseph Altuzarra’s FW1011 show). Willow's Resort collection, entitled 'Bachelor Girl', will begin dropping into stores here in September and overseas, from October. Balfour was once a very big modelling name, who emerged in London in the early 1990s as part of the so-called “waif” brigade, that was spearheaded by Kate Moss. Balfour only recently returned to the business and frockwriter hears that she could be in for a major career boost - courtesy one very high profile French luxury brand.

Rachel Rutt scores her second international cover - so why can't she get a gig downunder?

dazed & confused japan via chic management

In the deluge of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week coverage, frockwriter somehow managed to miss this cover. So congrats are due to one of this blog's faves, Sydney model Rachel Rutt, who scored this month's cover of the Japanese edition of Dazed & Confused. And while sure, it's not as visible as the cover of the UK parent edition (which Rutt's better-established Chic stablemate Abbey Lee Kershaw has cracked twice), it is nevertheless a fantastic get. It represents, moreover, her second international cover - after scoring one of 12 multicovers of the autumn/winter 09/10 edition of French Revue de Modesmade the cover of Dazed & Confused Japan last October, alongside big names including Coco Rocha, Ali Stephens, Karmen Pedaru, Dree Hemingway, Constance Jablonski and Maryna Linchuk. Coincidentally, in February, another Chic-ette, Rutt's great mate Myf Shepherd, scored the cover of Dazed & Confused Japan. So you could say that "MUTT" has this mag covered. 

Casting clout: Kannon Rajah carves up the show circuit, from Karl to Ksubi

Frockwriter has mentioned Sydney expat Kannon Rajah on several previous occasions. During 2008’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show – on which he has worked in casting and show production since 2006 – and last year’s VS show, which we profiled in a tv story on Today Tonight. We caught up with the casting dynamo yesterday down in Bondi. Rajah, who now lives in New York with his Australian wife and son, returned to work on Ksubi’s show which closed RAFW. It was a bit of a homecoming for Rajah who started his career working for the then Mercedes Australian Fashion Week from 2001-2005, initially as a runner and eventually designer relations director and show producer. Victoria’s Secret isn’t Rajah’s only coup – in February he became the casting director for Italian luxurygoods maker Fendi, the latest in an expanding roster of personal clients, which also includes Gareth Pugh, Pedro Lourenco and Willow.

Master blaster: Indie Kiwi startup asks "WTF has happened to magazines today?"

Last night, frockwriter’s attention was drawn to Master Mouse Patrol, an interesting new, free magazine from New Zealand which describes itself as "sexy, yet polite". Developed by three Kiwis - Sam Williamson, Benny Castles (whose day job is menswear director of Auckland-based fashion brand WORLD) and Richie Wildman - the magazine is edited in Sydney, printed in Auckland and designed in New York. Here is the link to the website, which adds new material on an ongoing basis and also includes a PDF of print edition one: a compendium of musings on New Zealand, Australia, travel, food, the arts, photography and a comic from Kiwi illustrator Jooles Clements. It’s the second magazine to have launched from within the NZ fashion community – after Karen Walker’s travel site, Runaway Now.

But not even Walker’s more illustrious guest contributors in the form of Sir Richard Branson and model Shalom Harlow are a patch on Master Mouse Patrol’s anonymous "fallen drag queen" scribe “Bambi”, who lets rip on a wide variety of topics and, elsewhere in the issue, plays resident Agony Aunt.

With kind permission from Bambi and Master Mouse Patrol, here is her dissertation on the state of contemporary fashion magazines, which frockwriter believes deserves far wider play. Enjoy.




WHAT THE F*** has happened to magazines today?

It’s bad enough the publisher thinks he/she/it is doing us (the reader) a favour by keeping the cover price under $10 (f***ing arseholes) in a genuine and deluded attempt to remain relevant in the market, and to keep competitive so that they can slim up to advertisers and lie that they have a readership! What readership!? Even lithium-fuelled subordinates are turning off magazines by the millions!

DO YOU know why?

Well it’s because they write shit about shit! All they worry about is getting that prestigious tampon or Gatorade advert, coupled with the drug-f***-lust for the freebee! What makes it even worse is that the freebees you are getting are so pathetic and cheap you actually don’t realise that even your advertiser hates you! You lazy Mother F***ers, all you care about is how fat you look in those jeans!! F*** I hate you so much! The reader gets a regurgitated piece of nothing filled with press releases whilst you plump your lips with free arsecream!

You fly around the planet consuming stuff and not really believing in any of it because you are basically the nerd outsider from the schoolyard that everyone hated!

Magazines were once fantasy-filled bibles of style, fashion, modernity! They allowed us, the great unwashed, to dream, to aspire, to want to work harder for a better life… OR was that all an illusion and really the fuckers never ever dreamed for us!?

I loved looking through National Geographic. Reading about exotic travels, looking at bizarre and beautiful people, things, places. Even the advertising was aspiring: Rolls Royce engines, Lufthansa flying to Machu Picchu! Or the Rolex Oyster, how it was made and how good it looked whilst scuba diving in St Tropez, ads telling you of an excellence that you may want to experience or have! Old Vogues, old any magazine were different, you know why? Well they were alive, they had a soul, the writers cared, the photographers cared, the editors cared, everyone actually cared!

It’s so simple - money was not the only frikkin object! The craft of the story, the committment to the photo, this was what mattered, the money came later! That’s why we have iconic publications (only a few), they remain beacons amongst a sea of vile, useless, fat, hideous, mundane magazines that do nothing but kill the planet!

I was recently lucky enough to meet with the Editor At Large for American Vogue, and it struck me how nothing mattered to him except the moment, the creation of the moment and the recording of the moment! Perfect for Vogue! I realised spontaneity, campness and humour all made taste and that really is Vogue. It’s an amazing formula, a recorder of fashion, he made the moment and then recorded it and off he went first class to Sydney and back home to NYC and then Paris! And here lies the thing! It’s that exact free spirit! That powerhouse of character, a career spent seeding a drag aesthetic that makes a magazine great! Remember it’s not war and peace, it’s a frikkin magazine! It is ephemeral, a thing that exists only to record the moment!

Magazines are still extremely important vehicles in connecting our planet, moving culture and society forward away from ignorance, bigotry and hatred towards Prada, Louboutin and Gucci!

But more and more I see a cancer creep into the industry and slowly killing it; this cancer of seriousness, of self-importance - and, unfortunately, there are too many mediocre people fuelled up with degrees, believing that they are the elite, the one that has the god-given right to take the freebee and then basically lie to us all about society today, distorting the truth and assassinating the moment!

I hate you all!

To all the f****ing hideous magazines that I see on the newsstands around the world I dearly hope you all go under or even better you end up under the umbrella of ACP, where your life will be a slow living hell, where even your shit has to be justified to a manager, then quantified by an accountant! I hate you all and you deserve to die!

X Bambi


All artwork supplied by master mouse patrol

Letters from TED (x)

TEDxsydney pic gallery on frockwriter's posterous

I was honoured to be invited to be among 650 audience members at TEDx Sydney on Saturday down at the Everleigh Carriageworks. Like many others, I live reported from the auditorium on Twitter (hence the bombardment of #TEDxSydney Tweets). For the uninitiated, TED is a non profit think tank dedicated to “ideas worth spreading” that has been staged annually in the US since 1984 (and more recently, also in the UK). The TED acronym stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and it has showcased some of the world’s most fascinating people. Some you know (Bono, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bob Geldof). But many, you have never heard of. They are all invited to give “the talk of their lives” in 18 minutes flat. Sadly I have never attended a TED, but pioneering Sydney e-tailer Remo Giuffrè has since 1993. TEDx is a new program of independently-organised events that aim to provide a potted "TED-like" experience and Giuffrè obtained the license to stage TEDx Sydney this year – after a much smaller Sydney showcase last year organised by other parties. And what a day it was.

Eighteen speakers (including several not mentioned in the official program, who spoke for three minutes) covered subjects ranging from microinsurance for the world’s poor (Andrew Kuper) to the sexually-ambiguous Intersex community (Gina Wilson); homophobia (retired High Court judge Michael Kirby - whose comments about Seven Network’s treatment of former NSW Transport Minister David Campbell last week drew a round of applause); nanotechnology (Amanda Barnard) and psychoterratic diseases (Glenn Albrecht).

My personal favourites were digital activist Brett Solomon who helms accessnow.org, which assists political dissidents jump firewalls imposed by repressive regimes, in addition to Rachel Botsman, co-author of the upcoming book ‘What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption’, who spoke about the rise of swap/share/recycle culture. Here is the video with which Botsman wrapped her chat:



And not forgetting aquanaut/aquabat Dr Sarah Jane Pell, who had the audience spellbound with a presentation about the very serious plans that are afoot to colonise the ocean. For anyone who wants to read more about this, head to the Atlantica Expeditions website. Team leader is former NASA bioengineer Dennis Chamberland. James Cameron is planning to be a crew member. Clearly, science fiction is about to become science fact.

Also of note, the eight wonderful musical performances which acted as palette cleansers in between each presentation.

Missy Higgins delivered a mesmerising live act, ditto Darren Percival, aka Mr Percival, a former backup vocalist who these days accompanies himself on stage: a solo a cappella performance, via the use of live sound mixing/looping. This guy really does deserve to be better known. I recorded this short sample.

The talks were all livestreamed and, according to the terms and conditions of the TED site, they must be made available to the public for free on the TEDx YouTube channel within one week of each TEDx event. So check there and the main TEDxSydney website for updates.




Beyond the 650 who made it into the auditorium, there would have had to have been another hundred or so, perhaps more, milling around the Carriageworks foyer area. They watched a live broadcast of the presentations on a large screen, in addition to the TEDxSydney Forum: a series of short interviews with the speakers, conducted by The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel. Reucassel’s Chaser colleague, Julian Morrow, did an excellent job producing the Forum, which provided non-stop entertainment throughout the day, whenever the proceedings in the main auditorium took a break.

At the very end of the program, MC Giuffrè took to the stage for one last time and called up his organising committee, which included Morrow and Baz Luhrmann's musical director Anton Monsted – who presumably curated the excellent musical component.

It was actually quite touching to see Giuffrè flanked by this new team, which has already vowed to produce a TEDxSydney 2011. They received a standing ovation.

It would have reminded anyone who did know Giuffrè in the days of his cult bricks-and- mortar REMO store, of his annual team photos. Housed in the location where American Apparel sits today, on the corner of Oxford and Crown Streets, REMO's “the community is the brand” motto, quirky product offer and award-winning mail-order catalogue gave a shot in the arm to Australian retail for eight years – before Giuffrè went bellyup in 1996. After several years working in the US, he reopened in March 2000 as an online operation. The business today has 46,649 customers in 137 countries.




If Saturday is any gauge, then Giuffrè should take heart that there is still definitely room for a bricks-and-mortar environment where people come together to share ideas and a common experience.

Part of this shared experience was community graffiti.

When we broke for the first coffee break, Giuffrè drew our attention to the fact that in each of our delegate bags, was a felt-tipped marker pen. He told us, words to the effect, 'You’ll work out what it’s for when you head to the coffee room'. In a dimly-lit space partitioned off behind the main stage, we were confronted by dozens of polystyrene cubes covered in white calico. Each served the dual purpose of chair - and blank canvas.

People immediately whipped out their marker pens and started scribbling – also on the white floor - quotes, observations and drawings. No idea what the organisers plan to do with the results (perhaps a TEDXSydney quilt?) but I thought I would record as many as possible for posterity with my camera.

Click here to see my Posterous pic gallery of almost 70 of them.

Included is a shot of three generations of Giuffrès: Guiffrè with his mother Marie, teenage daughter Lola and wife Melanie.

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

The models of RAFW

Frockwriter profiled some of the designers and a few of the bloggers of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, but what about the models? Sadly we ran out of time in the leadup and our planned RAFW newbies post remained unfinished in story drafts. But we did photograph quite a few models as we went along, in our Twitter/Posterous feed and show photo galleries (which have also, conveniently, been archived on Facebook – thanks Posterous). But we also wanted to check with each of the major Sydney agencies to see which of their models were the busiest at the event. Some of their nominated newbies were included. Of course there were many, many other models who worked during the week and it’s not necessarily about who pulled the most shows. There was in fact an exceptionally strong cross-section of Australian model experience on RAFW's runways this season. As distinct from runway diversity, which Australian designers - like their New Zealand counterparts - have yet to fully embrace, with Asian and black models still fighting hard for visibility above the bevy of über-popular blondes and Europeans. "It's like they'll only use a black girl if there's a tribal theme to the collection" noted one observer.

World's spot of bother in Woollahra

Those kooky kids over at World have come to blows with Woollahra Council, which apparently doesn't have much of a sense of humour. The Auckland-based fashion brand, which bills itself as a “factory of ideas and experiments” (the dress, below, is from their AW10 collection) and operates eight stores in NZ and Sydney, has come to the attention of the council regarding a paint job that was recently given to its Paddington, Sydney store. As it emerges, multi-coloured polka dots are illegal in Sydney's trendiest shopping strip. In a letter dated May 17th, Craig Jenner, Woollahra Municipal Council’s Team Leader – Compliance, gave World’s landlord 28 days to nix them.


both images/world

Here are a few terms of the order:

1. Restore the subject premises to the condition in which they were before work was unlawfully carried out by:

(a) Removing from the shop window the multi-coloured polka dots and:

(b) Painting the walls to the façade of the shop in a uniform colour, to remove the unauthorised multi-coloured polka dots that have been painted onto the front façade of the shop adjacent to Glenmore Road.

The letter goes on to say:

1. Condition 9 of development consent DA625/2004 requires the exterior colour scheme for the subject premises to accord with the requirements of Part 5.2.9. of the Paddington Development Control Plan 1999.

4. Council is satisfied that the multi-coloured polka dots displayed on the window and wall surfaces of the building are an advertisement. “Advertisement” is defined in Woollahra Local Environmental Plan 1995 as “a display by the use of colour, pattern, symbols…for promotional purposes… whether or not the display includes the erection of a structure of the carrying out of work”.

6. The advertisement does not satisfy the exempt development criteria for a flush wall sign or a window shop front sign, or the criteria for advertising in Heritage Conservation Areas, as specified in Woollahra Development Control Plan Exempt & Complying Development 2005.

It is not the first time that the council has taken issue with a fashion retailer in this vicinity.

In 2004, Woollahra Council deputy mayor Keri Huxley described the green used by World’s neighbour, Scanlan & Theodore, for its new Sydney flagship on the corner of Oxford Street and Glenmore Road, as a "hideous" and "particularly disgusting colour".

Huxley was unable to veto the colour however, because it was included in the building's development approval.

World's response?

“We are outraged the council is so ignorant and lazy!” World director Francis Hooper told frockwriter.

“If they just took the time to ask us why?! World wanted to make a statement for the season, to bring colourful cheer to the neighbourhood, to take away the doom and gloom and recession fever that has gripped the city. All the locals love it! We have become a mini tourist attraction. We have only had positives from everyone. Even our landlord has commended us on uplifting the area. It’s obvious this wonderful spotty art is just a temporary installation. Trust the council to bully a small business out of business. Arse holes!”

Sarah Jessica Parker gets down to Bassike

splash via popsugar.com

Sarah Jessica Parker gave a boost to the early careers of sass & bide’s Heidi Middleton and Sarah Jane Clarke by sporting some of their clothing on Sex And The City. Her latest Australian fave is apparently Sydney eco label Bassike. Fashion kingmaker Parker would quite obviously have her pick of clothes to wear on and off the big and small screens, with designers throwing their collections at her. Parker is currently on the promo trail for Sex And The City 2 and did a press conference in New York yesterday. And here she is off duty in New York on Saturday in Bassike’s ‘Dot’ logo T. Bassike’s Sydney PR, Emma van Haandel, is very good at getting clothes on visiting celebrities downunder – remember Sienna Miller in another EVH stablemate, Scanlan & Theodore, last year? Just how did the clothes get to SJP? According to a Bassike spokeswoman, the T-shirt was gifted by a mystery “friend” of the brand in the US, where it had its official launch one month ago at Barneys.

But not only did Parker wear the T-shirt, she personally called the Bassike HQ at 4pm yesterday.

According to EVH, Parker rang to say how much she loved the clothes and ask could she "place an order"?

"Yes, it was a surprise" the Bassike staffer who took the call told frockwriter. The call was then passed onto sales manager Jono Alder – who apparently initially thought it was a joke.

En route to Parker now are two pairs of Bassike’s Slimrise jeans, some scoop Ts, one opal print T, the lightweight crew sweatshirt, a denim jacket, a jersey tank, the Galah print trench from the SS1011 collection and some swimwear. No credit card was needed according to EVH.

Launched by Deborah Sams and Mary Lou Ryan in 2006 as a capsule collection of organic cotton jersey T-shirts, pants and dresses, Bassike has grown into a cool little collection of basics, denim and tailoring. The SS1011 show included printed swimwear, some great jackets - two cases in point, the Galah trench and a funnel-necked utility parka – in addition to acid wash-look, high-waisted jeans and some striking striped knits and open-weave sweaters and tunics.

Here is frockwriter’s Posterous pic gallery – only managed to get a few decent shots of that particular show. It’s one of several that I did not get a chance to blog during the week.

You can see the full collection on the Bassike website.

The bloggers of RAFW Part 4: Imelda's Matt Jordan

And finally, a quick chat with Matt Jordan, who blogs about shoes in character as Imelda Marcos on Imelda: The Despotic Queen of Shoes - recently adding a new mens street-style blog called The Style Tyrant. Would have loved to have done more blogger ivs at last week's RAFW, but in between coverage of the jam-packed schedule, there was only so much time. Hope to do more.