Six AFIs for The Black Balloon

It made a modest A$2.3million at the Australian box office, but won a Crystal Bear when it debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in February and led the nominations field at last night's 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards with 11 nods. The Black Balloon has just won six of those awards, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and the most prestigious Oz film award of all, Best Film.

Gemma Ward was overlooked in the AFI acting categories - and the film itself sidelined from the winner's podium at the recent IF Awards - but congrats to writer-director Elissa Down and her cast and crew, who also won AFIs for Best Supporting Actress (Toni Collette), Best Supporting Actor (Luke Ford) and Best Editing.

The awards certainly won't hurt the film's chances in the US, where it opened on Friday night - and is already garnering some impressive reviews.

Click here to read the full list of the 2008 AFI Awards winners.

Pic: buycostumes.com

Carine to cross the pond?

new york magazine


Is life about to imitate art for Anna Wintour? According to Gawker, the world’s most powerful fashion magazine editor is to be replaced by her Paris Vogue counterpart Carine Roitfeld (^). Fans of The Devil Wears Prada may recall the book’s subplot to replace Runway editor Miranda Priestley – who is loosely based on Wintour herself – with Jacqueline Follet, the editor of Runway’s French edition.

Speculation has been raging since November 18 that Wintour, 59, may be about to depart Vogue after 20 years at its helm.

Although the claims were refuted by Conde Nast, sources told The New York Post that Wintour’s contract is due to expire and that she feels she has “done it all and had enough”.

Recent coverage of Russian Vogue editor Aliona Doletskaya prompted chatter that Doletskaya might one day be a suitable Wintour replacement.

But could Roitfeld, whose English, by her own admission “is not perfect”, realistically helm Condé Nast’s high-profile flagship fashion title, which was launched in the US in 1892?

Roitfeld also came to the editor’s chair of Paris Vogue via a styling background, as distinct from journalism, as was the case with Wintour and Diana Vreeland. That said, in between the latter two US Vogue editors, Grace Mirabella boasted a retail background.

And is Roitfeld's edgy personal and editorial style, moreover, the most obvious fit with the ultimately conservative US marketplace?

UPDATE: Since flatly denied by Conde Nast chairman Si Newhouse Jr, Roitfeld's daughter, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld - and now, Roitfeld herself.

If you build it: Vale Jørn Utzon

smh.com.au

Much will no doubt be written in the coming days about the legacy of architect Jørn Utzon, who has died in his native Copenhagen at the age of 90. Just as a litany of analysis has already been dedicated to Utzon’s masterwork, the Sydney Opera House. Accorded World Heritage List status by UNESCO in 2007 - the youngest cultural work to have ever made the list - the building was described by the International Council on Monuments and Sites in UNESCO’s expert evaluation report, as “one of the indisputable masterpieces of human creativity, not only in the 20th century but in the history of humankind". Which is incredible really, when you consider the controversy in which the project was mired. The original – and, some have suggested, critically underestimated – A$7million budget, eventually blew out to A$102million, with Utzon reportedly telling one colleague, "I don't care what it costs. I don't care how long it takes. I don't care what scandal it causes. That is what I want." In 1966, eventually politically sidelined from the project, Utzon pulled the plug, fled the country and vowed never to return. He kept that promise.

Although designed by Utzon, the building was completed without him and finally opened in 1973, with some of the original design details jettisoned.

It took until 1999 for the Sydney Opera House Trust to reengage Utzon as an architect, in a bid to restore the building to at least some of its original intended glory.

The refurbishment project was managed from a distance, with Utzon himself remaining in Europe.

On April 9 this year, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Utzon was serenaded inside the Concert Hall.

Apparently a day did not go by when Utzon did not think about the building.

As he told The Guardian in 2005:

"No, I will not see it now, which makes me sad. Every day I wake up and think of the Opera House. It gives me such pleasure that the building means so much to the people of Sydney and Australia - that makes me very happy."

A Sydney Opera House memorial service for Utzon seems inevitable.

And one hopes that Utzon’s passing might help ignite further discussion about the role, and appreciation, of the arts within Australia.

Disputes over artistic differences and budget blowouts, in a variety of sectors, are not uncommon. They occur all over the world.

However as a nation, we do seem to give far greater credence – not to mention funding - to sporting pursuits, as opposed to creative ventures.

At the first opportunity, it seems, we celebrate and promote mediocrity, overlooking genuine innovation in favour of middle-of-the-road. And on more than one occasion, an ambitious plan has been sabotaged by short-sighted investors in search of a speedy ROI.

Some have said that the Sydney Opera House would have never been passed by contemporary regulators. Certainly not in Sydney.

Indeed, it seems miraculous that it managed to be built in the first place. It was almost by accident that Utzon’s design was selected – having been fished from a reject pile at the last minute.

Vale Jørn Utzon. He never gave in.

Myf nabs Miu Miu - apparently alongside Katie Holmes

myf shepherd, miu miu SS09/style.com


Well she missed out on Lanvin. That was the big European campaign for which Australia’s new modelling supernova Myf Shepherd was recently on hold - and to which frockwriter recently alluded, although without mentioning the name. As reported by Supermodels.nl) via The Fashion Spot however – and as just confirmed by Shepherd’s Australian agent, Kathy Ward - Shepherd has just shot the Miu Miu campaign with photographic duo Mert & Marcus. That’s Prada’s high profile diffusion line. Just how prominent a role she plays in this multi-girl campaign remains to be seen. According to sources close to the Miu Miu shoot, months-long speculation that Katie Holmes was due to star in the campaign were on the money.

The complete Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2009 cast is reportedly:

Katie Holmes
Darya Kurovska
Elena Lomkova
Imogen Morris Clarke
Katie Fogarty
Myf Shepherd
Sophie Srej
Tilda Lindstam
Yulia Leontieva

According to Kathy Ward, Shepherd shot the Miu Miu campaign last week – and she has also just shot a Levi’s campaign, in addition to editorials for both Paris Vogue and German Vogue.

Not a bad get for a 17 year-old who has been modelling for less than 12 months – and who was famously overlooked by the producers of Australia’s Next Top Model for a role on the 2008 show.

Frockwriter has been tracking Shepherd’s career since she first popped up on our radar in April, in the leadup to Australian Fashion Week - to her first lowkey shows in New York, in July, for Resort 09. Not to mention, the 51 shows she walked in her very first international runway season, Spring/Summer 2009.

Shepherd's SS09 shows included some of the fashion industry’s biggest names, including Prada, Gucci, Fendi and Balenciaga.

And 17 year-old Shepherd did all that whilst reportedly also managing to score straight A's in her Year 12 exams in Brisbane.

'Too Young': The Cobrasnake exposes 200 girls, Tallulah does a pants-free iv

screen grab/the seen

Tallulah-gate rocks on, with 16 year-old Oz module Tallulah Morton popping up overnight in a video interview with her great mate, and apparently defacto media advisor, Mark 'The Cobrasnake' Hunter, on NZ cable fashion show The Seen. Throughout the iv, Morton giggles like the schoolgirl that she would be - if she hadn’t quit highschool to model fulltime. According to sources, not only did Morton not have any local agency representation on the ground throughout the interview, she didn’t even have any pants on. Clutching a giant Jaeha faux fox stole as a modesty panel, Morton did the entire interview in a pair of knickers. Much to the chagrin of the tv crew – members of which valiantly tried to get Morton to put her jeans on, to no avail. Hunter, meanwhile, is having a little vernissage tonight at Ksubi’s Bondi store. The title of the exhibition? “Too Young”. Oh the irony.

In ksubi’s press material, the exhibition is described as a showcase of:

“200 photos of young girls from The Cobrasnake’s photo blog; shot in London, Paris, LA, New York, Tokyo and Sydney over the last four years”.

Here’s the video interview, done by Isaac Hindin Miller. In the iv, Hunter – who says he is 22, but seems older, although perhaps that’s due to all the partying – describes himself as “an expert photographer” and Morton as “the Next Big Thing” in New York.

Well, she once was - and let's hope that is still the case.

Incidentally, Morton recently severed ties with the world's biggest model agency, IMG, which previously repped her in New York.




RELATED: TALLULAH MORTON - APPARENTLY STILL PARTYING WITH THE COBRASNAKE

Absence of Melise - but perhaps not for much longer

Meet Melise Williams. No, you have never heard of her, that’s right. Nor had frockwriter - until we spotted her at last week’s graduation show for Sydney Institute’s Fashion Design Studio. In fact, the doe-eyed beauty really stood out from the pack. We tracked her down to her Australian mother agency which, as it turned out, was just about to launch Williams into orbit.




Williams is 15 and has been modelling for three years.

Initially signed to Platform Models' Cute Kids childrens division, she quickly moved into the modelling division after becoming too tall.

Work to date has consisted of some very low profile fashion shows, including those of UTS, Rosie Hogan, Antonia Paris and the Fashion Design Studio – including the latter’s Australian Fashion Week show in May this year. And evidently in spite of the under-16 ban that had been imposed on the event.



A kind of Ivanka Trump/Olga Sherer hybrid, Williams boasts, perhaps not surprisingly, a Turkish/Bosnian heritage.

Just out of braces - and turning 16 next month - Williams will remain at school but hopes to continue to model in her school holidays.

Frockwriter has a hunch that she is going to do well.



two shots above/platform models

Tallulah Morton - apparently still partying with The Cobrasnake

the cobrasnake

Four months after controversial party photographs of 16 year-old Australian model Tallulah Morton first surfaced on the high profile website of US party snapper Mark ‘The Cobrasnake’ Hunter – and kept on surfacing – yet more classy Cobrasnake party snaps of La Morton have appeared. The latest were taken in Auckland over the weekend at a party for No Magazine.

There to celebrate the first anniversary of the quarterly indie Kiwi mag – whose fourth cover, of Peaches Geldof, was taken by Hunter – Morton and Hunter appear to have been the guests of honour.

Morton lived up to her reputation as a hard partying gal, snapped arm-in-arm with other partygoers, couch and podium dancing and even handing out poppers. That's poppers of the innocuous streamer variety, frockwriter trusts – as we trust that was mere orange juice being knocked back by Morton, who is of course still under the legal drinking age in Australia and New Zealand.



the cobrasnake

I did not mention it at the time, because frankly, I thought I'd give her a break, but the fact is, Morton was wandering around the party which followed Myer's Sydney show in August, with a glass of champagne in her hand.

At a big party, that was crawling with photographers, that’s really a great look for a 16 year-old who had made the news in Australia several weeks beforehand over a series of Paris party shots.

In the latter photographs, taken by Hunter, Morton had looked very much under the weather, whilst holding a magnum of Absolut vodka.

Morton's mother agency, Scene Models, laughed off the Paris party shots at the time.

Scene’s Nicolas Alexander told The Sydney Morning Herald:

"Tallulah is always such a responsible young lady, and this seems out of character. She always has someone in each country with her when away and is always with a chaperone, so it would appear the pictures are being made out to be more than what they actually are."

Although some assumed Morton might have consolidated her nascent international runway career in the Spring/Summer 2009 season, as revealed by frockwriter in late September, Morton was recalled to Australia after the season’s New York leg, after failing to shake a nagging flu.

The Troyt Coburn editorial that we mentioned was coming up in Australian Vogue’s December issue is now out. The spread is called, funnily enough, 'Indecent Exposure'. Speculation in Auckland suggests that Hunter may be shooting Morton for the next No Magazine cover today.

Pedestrian TV was evidently on the money when it asked, back in July, ‘Is Tallulah Morton the new Cory Kennedy?’.

Morton would appear to have definitely supplanted Kennedy as Hunter’s muse.

Although denied by Morton, there is much speculation that Morton and Hunter may even be romantically linked. Shots of Morton brushing her teeth in what one assumes is an Auckland hotel room, don't really help quell that speculation. But look, we're sure it's great for Hunter's image as a playboy.

As for Morton's image, it should be noted that Cory Kennedy was a teenage nobody before being snapped by Hunter and transformed into an overnight net celebrity.

Morton, on the other hand, is a professional model who was being paid for her image from the age of 13. Her career, or at least the kind of career to which one assumes Morton and her management aspire, hinges on the propensity for prestige international publications and luxury fashion and beauty brands to continue to pay her for it – because they think her look aligns with their brands.

Is she at risk of cheapening that image by continuing to give it away in this way?

Or is there no such thing as bad publicity?

Time will tell.

UPDATED: 'TOO YOUNG' - THE COBRASNAKE EXPOSES 200 GIRLS, TALLULAH DOES A PANTS-FREE IV

Allan Powell, fashionisto

karen walker via mintshop.com.au


Designers the world over love to spruik the names of celebs who wear their clothes. Just how much of that is the result of PR, paid product placement or of course ‘gifting - the means via which fashion companies get their products seen on opinion leaders via freebies – is frequently very hard to gauge. But here is one example of designer fandom that has nothing to do with any spin or graft. On Saturday night I attended a quite memorable birthday party in Melbourne for a very dear friend (Randal Marsh). Of the plethora of other architects and artistes in attendance, I was seated next to Allan Powell.

Powell is a distinguished Melbourne architect whose award-winning oeuvre includes Monash University’s Performing Arts Precinct, The TAFE School of Design at RMIT, The TarraWarra Museum of Art and a slew of high profile residential and restaurant projects, from Crigan House to The Prince of Wales Hotel, The Albert Park Hotel, Caffé Maximus, Café di Stasio and DiStasio Vineyard.

As it turns out, Powell is quite the fashionisto as well. And I don’t mean that he was wearing a Dior Homme suit (as was Melbourne galeriste, Murray White). Powell’s sartorial style - at least as observed by frockwriter on Saturday evening - could be described as old-school elegance. In other words he was wearing a classic, conservative men’s suit.

Imagine my surprise then, when, during our dinner chit-chat, Powell recounted with some enthusiasm how he had recently spotted an image of a particular pair of Karen Walker sunglasses - and became so enamoured with the product, he hunted down a stockist to snap up a pair for himself. I got the impression that this process had taken quite some time. The sunglasses boasted pink frames in what Powell described as a “Wayfarer” style.

Although Walker has made a few different styles of sunglasses with pink frames, frockwriter understands that only the Deep Freeze style, which does include a “milky pink” colourway, has a Wayfarer look (pictured above).

Sadly Powell’s Karen Walker love affair ended all too abruptly.

Shortly after the glasses were delivered, the sunglasses were snaffled up by Powell’s 20 year-old son Hugo - who is studying architecture.

“I just loved them” noted Powell, wistfully.

In Vogue (and soon, everywhere else): Emma Summerton

lily cole by emma summerton


Two weeks ago, in a post about Gemma Ward, frockwriter mentioned the name of photographer Emma Summerton. A Summerton shot of Ward appears in this month’s edition of Vogue Italia and Summerton also shot Ward, together with Lily Donaldson, for the February cover of i-D magazine. As it now emerges, Summerton is in fact Australian. And while she once worked for Australian Vogue – and lists the local edition on her client list - her lack of profile downunder could perhaps be explained by the fact that she has not lived here for 10 years. But Summerton is rapidly gaining momentum in the international fashion business via a slew of other major covers and editorial, with models.com founder Wayne Sterling recently hinting that Summerton could be about to “eat” some SS09 campaigns - calling her “the fastest rising new photographer on the scene”.



emma summerton/british vogue via TFS

That’s Summerton’s image of Eden Clark, Jourdan Dunn and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on the November cover of British Vogue and she also shot Lily Donaldson for the magazine’s August cover.

Summerton’s portfolio on the Maxim Fashion Agents website includes three other i-D covers over the past 12 months: Gemma Ward again for the cover of i-D’s September 2007 edition, Kate Moss for the magazine’s November 2007 edition and Raquel Zimmermann for i-D’s March 2008 cover.

As you can see by this list of recent work posted on models.com, Summerton has also recently shot some other big modelling names, including Natasha Poly and Catherine McNeil, for British and Italian Vogue, as well as i-D.



emma summerton/vogue italia via models.com

According to Maxim Fashion Agents, Summerton is a Fine Arts graduate from the National Art School in Sydney.

In this interview which has just gone up on The Ones To Watch, which tracks new talent in modelling and fashion creative, Summerton says she attended art school in 1988. This presumably places her in her late 30s.

Summerton worked as an assistant for five years before moving to London in 1998, where she worked as the assistant of artist Fiona Banner.

Summerton's client list also includes American and German Vogue, 10 magazine, Self Service, Dazed & Confused, Big Magazine and Nylon.

Her listed commercial clients include Yves Saint Laurent, Miu Miu, Strenesse, Topshop, Agent Provocateur, Selfridges, Sony Music and Heineken.


emma summerton/i-D/TFS via i-D

Getty Images also chose Summerton as part of its annual up-and-comer lineup for the photo agency’s New Photographers 2007 selection.

Another Australian, Simon Lekias, also got a lookin in Getty's 2007 new talent list.

Lekias' name, ironically, is much better known in Australia, where one assumes he remains based and where his biggest clients, as listed on his own website, include Harpers Bazaar, RUSSH, Grazia, Zimmermann and Sportsgirl.

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.