Social (fashion) workers

@mythreads

A quick update on the Myer spring catalogue shoot, which rolled on today in Melbourne. Frockwriter mentioned yesterday that there was some confusion over the social media aspect of the campaign, with representatives of at least one model booked for the campaign, Cassi van den Dungen, surprised at the extent of the coverage. This morning frockwriter received an email from Myer rep Tim Evans, from the DT Digital agency, which is handling the campaign. Evans revealed that this was the first time that Myer had covered a campaign shoot in real time. He also wanted to clear up any “misunderstanding” over yesterday's post and insisted that all permissions were indeed sought from all the agencies – and duly granted. According to the van den Dungen camp, this is "absolutely not" correct. Confusing, it is. Update 11/06/10 @ 1.30pm. Van den Dungen's Melbourne agency, Cameron's, which negotiated the deal, claims that it did know about the social media coverage and did not have a problem with it. Work Agency, van den Dungen's mother agency in Sydney, which manages her career, has a different position.

Woollahra Council agrees it should lighten up, but issues dotwa on subversive Kiwi paintjob

On May 19 frockwriter mentioned the trials and tribulations of Kiwi fashion brand World over a recent polka dot paintjob of its Paddington, Sydney boutique. The company is being pressured by Woollahra Council to take the dots down. Well it seems the story has travelled a little further afield. On June 2nd, it made the local rag The Wentworth Courier. And last night it was picked up by Channel Ten prime time news (above), which reports it will cost $1000 to remove the dots - and that the Council moved on the matter after a complaint by just one person. Talk about customer service. Most amusing: comments by a local galériste who says the store should be applauded for being part of a new, post-Howard, rage-against-beige World order. And Woollahra Mayor Andrew Petrie, who is on record agreeing that the Council needs to lighten up.

Every move she makes: Cassi van den Dungen stalked by client paparazzi

stylestalker's Facebook via TFS

You don’t need to wait to see Myer’s spring catalogue starring Cassi van den Dungen and Bambi Northwood-Blythe. Today’s shoot was Tweeted throughout by at least two parties Melbourne blogger Kat George, guest blogging for Myer on the company’s Twitter feed and her personal Twitter feed. Van den Dungen seemed to be a particular focus, with seemingly every nanosecond of her time on set accounted for in a Tweet. From “Cassi in braids” to “Cassi and the amazing legs that go on until forever…” to “Cassi does a balancing act backstage as she has a Cinderella moment with the stylist slipping shoes on her feet!” Beyond actually photographing the catalogue - the principle purpose of the job - Myer’s social media approach to the session apparently was, to use the parlance of Australian television industry, to “shoot the s**t out of it”. Terrific publicity for Myer of course. It’s just a shame they didn’t think to run this by van den Dungen’s agent beforehand - whose express wish, we understand, was for a closed set. Van den Dungen's Melbourne agent, Camerons, which negotiated the deal, claims that it was fully apprised of the social media aspect of the shoot. This information appears not to have been clarified with van den Dungen's mother agent in Sydney. See updated post.

Flake's Alexander McQueen fake

Interesting new tv spot by iconic British chocolate bar maker Cadbury Flake, which airs tonight in the UK. Produced by an outfit called Fallon, according to Creative Review the clip was directed by Baillie Walsh and features Russian model Yulia Lobova, who is suspended mid-air dressed in a flowing yellow dress that was fashioned from 200 metres of fabric. The dress was designed by British couturier Antony Price, who just told vogue.co.uk that "The idea came from looking at the edges of the Flake bar and the look of a Portuguese man of war jelly fish... It took a while playing around with the frills of the dress to make it look like Flake bar edges. I do think this form of pleating is very directional - it may well creep into my next collection." Frockwriter can't help thinking that there may have been another source of inspiration for the concept - one a little closer to home for Flake and Price than Portugal.

Below is a video of the finale of the Widows of Culloden Fall/Winter 2006/2007 show of the late, great British designer Alexander McQueen, who took his own life in February.

Staged in Paris in March 2006, the show concluded with a spectacular, ghostly illusion of Kate Moss that was projected inside a giant glass pyramid in the centre of the stage. Wearing a diaphanous ballgown - that is not too dissimilar to the Price/Flake version - Moss appeared to float in the air inside the structure.

Although dubbed a life-sized "hologram" by many, McQueen's longtime show producer Simon Kenny later told me that it was in fact a Victorian era parlour trick called Pepper’s Ghost.

UPDATE 09/06/10 at 3.25pm: Creative Review updated its story overnight to point out that the Flake ad director Baillie Walsh in fact also directed the clip of Kate Moss for McQueen's show in 2006. "I'm not sure how Walsh can be 'stealing' his own work" notes CR editor Patrick Burgoyne, responding to comments that the Flake clip is a ripoff of McQueen's 2006 catwalk stunt (comments that were posted after frockwriter's post FYI). On closer inspection, however, the McQueen illusion was created with the assistance of several production houses, including not only Simon Kenny's Souvenir Scenic Studios, but also Glassworks and Gainsbury and Whiting. But who actually came up with the idea?

UPDATE 14/06: Evidently McQueen's company believes he did. The company is now considering legal action against Cadbury.

Eye of the Tiger: Melise Williams rocks Nicola Finetti's lookbook

Melise Williams is definitely on frockwriter’s Ones 2 Watch list. We first spotted her in November 2008 in a student fashion show in Sydney when she was just 15. Clocked her February 2010 cover of NZ’s Metro magazine. And bumped into her at last month's Rosemount Australian Fashion Week – noting that she recently jumped ship from the Platform agency to Chic Management. Sadly Williams only did three RAFW shows - Gary Bigeni, Camilla and Therese Rawsthorne. Nicola Finetti was not one of them, however she did just score Finetti’s Spring/Summer 2010/2011 lookbook. Click here to see frockwriter’s preview of the lookbook on Posterous. Sixteen year-old Williams was also included in a series of promotional video interviews that were recently shot in Sydney to coincide with the launch of a new film called Tiger, a fictional story about models working in Tokyo.

Here's the trailer:



The film was produced by the Beaufort collective – which is fronted by the enigmatic, multitasking Sydney actor/producer/comedian and erstwhile model James McFay.

Also known as James Maclurcan, he is apparently best-known for playing Mackenzie 'Mack' Hartford, the Red Ranger, in Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive and was once part of a comedy group called The Nice Guys.

What does Williams have to do with Tiger or McFay/Maclurcan?

Absolutely no idea. But here she is:

World number #1 Lara Stone lands triple Calvin Klein exclusive (just don't call her fat)

wwd

Well Lara Stone is certainly having a moment. Womens Wear Daily reports today that Stone has booked a triple exclusive with Calvin Klein, as the advertising and runway face of Calvin Klein Collection, ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans for the upcoming Fall 2010/2011 season. The Dutch native isn’t the only model in the campaigns (Australia’s Abbey Lee Kershaw is one of several others who feature, in Kershaw’s case, in cK Calvin Klein). But according to WWD it’s the first time “in years” that the company has used one model across three brands – and the newspaper suggests this could propel Stone’s career “into the stratosphere”, given that Calvin Klein contracts were pivotal in launching the careers of several other models, including Christy Turlington and Kate Moss. But Stone is already the world number 1 on models.com, having just dethroned Brazil’s Raquel Zimmermann from the top spot. Her success and in particular, the Calvin Klein coup, are interesting for several reasons.

In March (although not screened until early April), in talking about his decision to cast several 30 and 40 plus models in his Fall/Winter 2010/2011 show, Calvin Klein Collection creative director Francisco Costa told Australian current affairs television program Today Tonight that “the 16 year olds are fantastic, they’re fresh...” but that older women “represent some kind of truth”.

Later that month, a New York modelling agent hinted that “Calvin Klein has discontinued their use of the Size 0-2 Models and trade them in for a 2-4 … a sign of the times indeed”.

This must presumably have been around the same time that busty, size 4 Stone was being earmarked for the campaigns.

Where does that leave 16 year old Monika Jagaciak, who had previously booked two back-to-back Calvin Klein campaigns? Without a Calvin Klein campaign this season, that's where. Although Jagaciak did in fact open the FW1011 Calvin Klein womens runway show, which featured plenty of other teenagers, notably Australia’s Julia Nobis, who was booked as a runway exclusive.

So is it a victory for the "older, curvier" woman?

Forty year-old Emma Balfour, who recently returned to modelling after a long break, is tipped as a new face of Céline.

Stone is still just 27. But she has hit the top of her game after being in the business for at least 12 years - perhaps longer. Stone was reportedly scouted at the age of 12.

And her curves do look to have proven problematic in the past.

In the January edition of US Vogue, she spoke of her battles with her weight, which saw her resort at one point to popping pills, which made her "heart race". Stone also talked about a 2009 stint in rehab for alcoholism, but apparently places no blame on the fashion industry.

Stone told the magazine:

“What they say is ‘curvy,’ but you know they mean fat...It’s depressing when the clothes don’t fit and you are always the odd one out....I was on a shoot just last week and the stylist took out this tight corset dress and said, ‘Here, put it on,’ and I was like, ‘Who are you kidding?’ There was no way, so that was very rude of her. It’s like, come on, she’s a woman; whether you’re buying jeans at the mall or wearing couture, you know what it’s like for clothes not to fit. It’s not an easy kind of rejection, because it’s very personal. It’s you, your body. You take it to heart.”

With lucrative advertising contracts piling up and recently wed to Little Britain star David Walliams, who’s having the last laugh now?

Adidas, Beckham, Daft Punk and co do the Star Wars cantina scene

Two weeks ago, Nike broke its own viral record for the most views of an online video in a single week (7.8million) with its Write The Future video, produced in the leadup to the World Cup. Adidas has just returned fire with this epic homage to the famous Star Wars cantina scene starring a raft of music and sports stars, including David Beckham, Snoop Dog, Daft Punk and Noel Gallagher. At a mere 100K views at time of writing, watch this go viral...

Thurley's butterfly effect

Deadlines kept me away from Thurley's Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway show last night at a gracious old home in Sydney's Woollahra. But a few backstage shots were slipped frockwriter's way. The four year-old cocktail and eveningwear line is designed by Helen O'Connor, who has earned comparisons with Collette Dinnigan - much to the latter's chagrin. The new collection is called 'The Butterfly Effect' and the show featured all Chic Management girls, including Samantha Harris, Meg Lindsay, Hannah Saul and Emma Norris. Styling was by Jolyon Mason, with Jon Pulitano for Redken on hair, makeup by Amanda Reardon and shoes by Camilla Skovgaard - the real Camilla Skovgaard, that is and not one of numerous Australian mid market manufacturers who are knocking her off.








all photos: courtesy golightly pr

Zanita Whittington tastes life in the fat lane

zanita whittington's twitpic

Since frockwriter revealed in late April that Sydney model and blogger Zanita Whittington was LA-bound to star in an advertising campaign for American Apparel, she has garnered quite a bit of press. A raft of outlets, starting with Jezebel and New York Magazine, noted that Whittington's win was at odds with American Apparel's claim that the company only uses its employees, and not genetically-blessed professional models, in its campaigns. So was Whittington trying to get a little closer to regular folk today when she used an odious new iPhone app called Fatbooth to don a digital fat suit and Tweet a rather more rotund version of herself? “Better lay off the chocolates” she quipped in a Twitpic caption. (Here is our recent, non-enhanced shot of Whittington, below, for comparison). Anyone launching a modelizer app that turns the plus-sized into size zeros?

sass & bide get their motors running with Range Rover

prestige way

Carla Zampatti once customised a Ford Laser, Collette Dinnigan has had a longstanding relationship with Audi and of course Australian Fashion Week once partnered with Mercedes Benz. Behold Australia's latest fashionable automobile ambassadors: sass & bide's Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, who have just hooked up with British luxury marque Range Rover, coincidentally in the same month that Range Rover celebrates its 40th anniversary. And while a liaison with Queen Elizabeth II's preferred wheels option - a car that is fondly referred to in Melbourne circles as the "Toorak Taxi" - might seem a little establishment for this funky downtown fashion brand, whose hero products are sprayed-on jeans and leggings, Middleton and Clarke are for the moment spruiking the virtues of the newer, slightly more compact Range Rover Sport. According to the sass & bide HQ, Middleton has the keys to a white one, while Clarke's is black. Although British-born, Range Rover was acquired by India's Tata Motors for US$2.5billion in 2008, along with its Land Rover parent and Jaguar, and may soon shift manufacturing to China.