Tom Ford recommends a head job with that boob job

tom ford for vogue paris via fashion_screen

In the much-hyped, Tom Ford-edited December 2010 edition of Vogue Paris, which is out tomorrow, Ford tackles the subject of cosmetic surgery with an eight page editorial called La Panthère ose (which translates as “the panther dares” - a play on the French version of the film title The Pink Panther). Starring the world’s most high profile plus size model Crystal Renn, the editorial was shot by Ford and styled by editor in chief Carine Roitfeld. Yes, cosmetic surgery makes an interesting editorial backdrop for any fashion magazine, considering that such magazines stand accused of only ever showcasing unrealistic – and frequently digitally enhanced – images of female “perfection” that prompt feelings of inadequacy in “normal” women and lead them to eating disorders and cosmetic surgery. But it is not the first time this has been done. The July 2005 edition of Vogue Italia featured an 80-page cover story by Steven Meisel called Makeover Madness. Shot inside a medical equipment rental facility and a suite at the St Regis, the story depicted Linda Evangelista and eight other models before, "during" and after staged procedures (complete with fake blood). It's interesting to compare the two editorials. 

Sophie Ward and Sebastian Mader team up to create 'My Dirtied Soles'

As the countdown continues to the May 20 2011 release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, in which Australian model-turned-actor Gemma Ward is due to appear as a mermaid (its trailer, due for release on December 17, may well including a fleeting glimpse of same), turns out Ward’s model-turned-writer/publisher sister Sophie Ward has made a movie of her own. Or rather, a haunting “video poem” called My Dirtied Soles, that she has written and narrated and which is directed by New York-based German photographer/filmmaker Sebastian Mader. Sophie Ward is a talented writer, whose first novel, The Beginning of an Inexplicable Journey is downloadable as an e-book from her website). And as she demonstrates with this project (below), she also has a great voice - just like her sister.

Nicole Trunfio to officially replace Miranda Kerr as the face of David Jones' winter 2011 launch

vogue italia

In July, following the news that Miranda Kerr would be skipping David Jones’ Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway showcase to enjoy her honeymoon with Orlando Bloom – amidst a deafening chorus of speculation she was three months pregnant – frockwriter predicted that Nicole Trunfio would replace Kerr as the face of the department store’s upcoming Autumn/Winter 2011 runway showcase and that Kerr would resume her official duties for the Spring/Summer launch in July 2011. So it’s official. Today’s Sunday Telegraph reports that Trunfio will “replace [Kerr] as the star of the David Jones Winter 2011 season”. Trunfio, who is also currently profiled in a video interview on the website of Vogue Italia, was flown by DJs to Sydney this week to shoot the winter catalogue. 

Apparently even American Apparel's store mannequins have to spread their legs

While in town for the Adelaide Fashion Festival a fortnight ago, frockwriter couldn’t help notice the front window of the American Apparel boutique on Rundle Street, the city’s busiest shopping strip. The display included one squatting store mannequin who was flashing rather a lot of va-jay-jay. Not literally, as she was wearing a pair of micro utility shorts and of course, most store dummies aren't that anatomically accurate. But anyone walking past the boutique was confronted by the mannequin's crotch and it did seem a little in-your-face. Not to mention vulgar. 

Jefferson Hack isn't the only big fashion name heading downunder in 2011

purple diary

Last night the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival announced more details of the lineup for its 2011 event, which will run from 14-20 March under a new creative director, Condé Nast's former mens fashion director Grant Pearce. Now in its 14th year, LMFF is a consumer-focussed event of in-season fashion parades and exhibitions that are open to the public. But ironically, it’s the industry-focussed Business Seminar that is arguably its hottest ticket, with a stellar lineup of speakers that has previously included former Selfridges ceo Vittorio Radice, Philippe Starck, Agent Provocateur’s Joe Corre and Serena Rees, Vivienne Westwood and last year, LMFF's first really big fashion kahuna, Calvin Klein Collection womenswear director Francisco Costa. In March, Jefferson Hack, editorial director of London’s Dazed Group, will join ACNE Studios ceo Mikael Schiller and Havas Worldwide ceo David Jones, in addition to 2011 Festival face, New York-based Australian actor Melissa George. George is a Perth native, but will nevertheless inject some Hollywood glamour into the event. 

Behind-the-scenes at the Wish Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign shoot with Iekeliene Stange

Yesterday frockwriter mentioned that Australian fashion label Wish had nabbed Dutch supermod Iekeliene Stange for its Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign, to be shot by Australian photographer Sonny Vandevelde. Here is a sneak peek at the campaign shoot which is underway in New York right now, evidently making the most of the city's iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Stange, we understand, may be heading downunder at some stage in the not-too-distant future to promote the campaign. 

A paparazzo's farewell

big australia

This coming Friday afternoon at Sydney’s Bondi Pavilion, friends and family of the late Sydney photographer Peter Carrette will gather to pay their last respects to a well-loved member of Australia’s media community. Sixty three-year old Carrette died over the weekend at his Bondi apartment/office from a suspected heart attack, almost two years to the day that another Sydney paparazzo, Dave Morgan, died in his sleep at the age of just 53. Much will be made on Friday of UK-born Carrette’s career, which spanned five decades, kicking off in a Fleet Street darkroom when he was just 15, traversing various war zones before settling into celebrity photography in Australia - with a bang. In 1969, Carrette authored what has been described as “the most audacious, arguably the most invasive, picture in Australian photo-journalism”, international sales for which reportedly netted his then employer just US$18,000 (US$104,000 in today’s currency): an image of a comatose Marianne Faithfull inside the intensive care unit at Sydney's St Vincents Hospital. Faithfull had been in town visiting her then boyfriend Mick Jagger while he was shooting Ned Kelly, allegedly caught him in the arms of another woman and overdosed on heroin. "Everyone wanted the picture - I went and got the picture" Carrette told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2005. In order to do so, he dressed in a doctor’s coat rented from the Elizabethen Theatre Trust and sneaked into the building. It might have gotten Carrette kicked out of the Australian Journalist's Association, but it's the stuff of Gonzo legend really.

Iekeliene Stange makes a Wish

sonny vandevelde

A number of major modelling names have emerged from the Netherlands. They don't get much bigger than bombshells Lara Stone and Doutzen Kroes, for instance. Few have been as edgy, however, as Iekeliene Stange. Known for her killer cheekbones and elfin chic, Stange has worked with the world's biggest fashion names, most recently appearing on Christian Dior's Fall/Winter 2010/2011 haute couture runway in Paris. Right now, she is in New York to shoot the Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign for Australian fashion label Wish with Australian photographer Sonny Vandevelde. The duo will start work early tomorrow morning in and around the quaint, cobblestone alleyways of Brooklyn's Vinegar Hill district. That's Stange, above, leaving the Tribeca Grand Hotel earlier in the day. The hotel's second exhibition of Sonny's backstage images - many featuring Stange, his muse - is still in fact hanging. Great get for Wish. Frockwriter hears the company nabbed Stange ahead of another, much bigger, Australian outfit that was also trying to book her for its Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign. 

Michelle Leslie used to be behind bars. Now she's designing them

sportsgirl melbourne launch 2008/zimbio

Frockwriter was interested to spot a recent series of Tweets from Michelle Leslie, who reports that on November 12, the doors opened to a new Sydney bar whose interiors she has designed: The Winking Lizard at 28 Chalmers Street, Surry Hills (below). With its stark refectory tables, old metal chairs and murals by Sydney artist Ben Frost, the ambiance is, according to Leslie, “industrial and distressed”. To our eye, it's a little Left Bank bohemian - not to be at all confused, of course, with Third World prison common room. Leslie has more than a passing acquaintance with the latter, having spent three months in Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison in 2005 following her arrest in the possession of two ecstasy tablets. Five years on from her annus horribilis, the former model has reinvented herself as a creative consultant. With interior design studies under her belt from the Sydney Design School - and entertainment/marketing industry work with Peer Group Media, the company founded by her fiance Adam Zammit - Leslie has launched her own interior design and styling business called Curious & The Specimen. This follows a first foray into design with the Miyow & Barkley pet clothing and accessories line, launched in 2007 with friend Traci Griffith, the first range of which reportedly sold out. 

Adelaide's emerging designers enjoy BMWs and free rent

The Adelaide Fashion Festival appears to revolve around young designers. Its timing is designed to coincide with the graduation of final year students at TAFE SA, whose fashion campus in the CBD, incidentally, recently received a $4million upgrade. The graduates get to show their work in a big runway showcase at the Festival. Frockwriter shot the 2010 TAFE show from backstage, when we attended the first few days of the event as a guest of the organisers. Then there is the festival's gala finale, the Chambord SA Emerging Designer Award. The 2010 winner was Jaimie Sortino (below), who we just happened to meet and photograph on November 9, following the Festival's opening party. Sortino was awarded the use of a BMW for one year, which is ironic given that he doesn’t have a driver’s license. Sadly, we had to get back to Sydney and missed the closing night's festivities, but head to Sonny Vandevelde’s blog for some great backstage shots of that show. Earlier in the week we did, however, meet up with two other Chambord finalists, Julie White and Alice Rawlinson, who designs under the brand name Divine Madness (above - and below, with White), at their Hindley Street studio/boutique called Workshop. Providing yet further evidence of Adelaide’s fashion incubator focus, White and Rawlinson share the space with two other young creatives... rent free.  

Where's Abbey Lee? Full frontal (again) and channeling Barbarella for Bailey

david bailey for i-D via sinthi/TFS

What do you have when you’re not having angel wings attached for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show? A futuristic editorial shot by iconic British photographer David Bailey. Many fashionwatchers were stunned to find Abbey Lee Kershaw nowhere to be seen in the 2010 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. But that’s not to say she is underexposed this month. In the just-launched Winter 2010 edition of i-D magazine, Kershaw poses full frontal - in an editorial that is, in frockwriter's opinion, more tasteful than the Terry Richardson-lensed story in Purple magazine last year, in which Kershaw also appeared full frontal. The i-D editorial is still provocative. In one shot Kershaw holds up a giant, intentionally phallic, chess pawn to her mouth. And some might argue that the bodypaint shot is as cheesy as anything on the Victoria's Secret runway (given the double wink, we're guessing this may have been a cover test, that was deemed too risqué). The story sees Kershaw reunited in fact with Victoria's Secret stylist Charlotte Stockdale, who kits Kershaw out in some very Barbarella-worthy over-the-knee boots, fetish underwear and orthopaedic accoutrements. In one shot, she is also accompanied by Susie Bick, wife of Australian rocker Nick Cave. One of the shots from this story was used for one of i-D's multiple covers this month (below). Warning: NSFW.

Elliot Ward-Fear's bottom line

Elliot Ward-Fear’s profile is completely disproportionate to the size of his business. In fact the 22 year-old Sydneysider has yet to snag a single stockist. Given that he only graduated from TAFE NSW last year, that’s not so hard to grasp. But that hasn’t stopped pieces from his spectacular 'Beauty In Exile' debut collection, which was unveiled at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May, finding their way into two episodes of Australia’s Next Top Model, this month's ARIA awards and even an audience with Miuccia Prada. When your stocks-in-trade are 18cm microsuede booties and gargantuan, stalactite-like Lucite jewellery, people tend to notice you. Having a publicist doesn’t hurt of course - and he's had one of those since June. Next week Ward-Fear is going to be flat chat. First up, he will unveil his Autumn/Winter 2011 ‘Spirit of Clothing’ collection at press showings in Sydney. Here is an exclusive preview of that collection, which includes some quite beautiful dresses, such as this pretty, deconstructed tennis dress in fondant pink and white and the intricately-seamed caramel wool bodycon dress, above and below, which boasts a curious cutaway panel at the derrière. The latter is designed to be worn, we are told, with a full, flesh-coloured brief - as white hot new Australian model Codie Young will discover later next week when the Vogue Australia September covergirl shoots Ward-Fear's first lookbook in Brisbane with Thom Kerr. 

Stella McCartney for Target redux - two weeks in, already marked down

As reported by frockwriter on October 1st, the second Stella McCartney for Target Australia collection was due to launch in 102 stores on October 29th. Last Thursday, Target told Ragtrader that 20percent of the stock had sold out on its first day and that the company was “extremely pleased” with the reaction. Five stores were singled out for special mention, where the 42-unit range had reportedly performed the best. Adelaide's Target Rundle Street, slap bang in that city's busiest shopping precinct, clearly was not one of them however. Because when frockwriter was in town last week for the Adelaide Fashion Festival and checked the store on November 9th, it looked to have almost the entire collection still hanging - and noone looking at it. Five days later, at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney – one of the stores flagged by Target as having experienced the highest demand – we couldn’t help but notice this 20percent off banner, top, in the middle of McCartney’s section. And this is what the Stella McCartney section looks like today in Target Rundle Street (below) - after the entire McCartney promotion was moved away from the front of the store to join the rest of the womenswear offer, reports our SA fashionista-on-the-ground, Selena Battersby.

Boutiques.com: Downunder's biggest fashion blogger buddies up with Google

gala darling

The countdown is on to tonight’s unveiling of Google’s new Boutiques.com fashion portal. After revealing the name and details of the site’s looks-matching technology, frockwriter thought we would hone in on one last, local, element: New York-based Kiwi Gala Darling. Frequently cited as one of the world’s most influential fashion/personal style bloggers - who calls her blog "The playgirl's guide to radical self love” and claims it boasts close to a million individual page views per month - Darling is one of a dozen fashion bloggers invited by Google to curate their own virtual fashion boutiques. Update 18/11: Now launched. Click (here) to check out her boutique and see who else is involved. Not bad for a magenta haired, tutu-rocking, tatt-emblazoned self-help dilettante, who launched into the blogosphere in December 2006 with a post entitled “Fashion help for recovering Goths”. Those in her native Wellington might know her better as Amy Paape. Reportedly a graduate of that city’s Chilton St James and Samuel Marsden Collegiate Schools, she moved to Melbourne in 2006, legally changed her name that year, then decamped to New York in 2008. Retail, as it happens, runs in the Paape family. Darling’s mother, Janet Paape, operates a Lower Hutt fashion boutique called She Designer Excitement, while her Porsche-racing uncle, Digby Paape, sells highend audio equipment at Bose Wellington. 

More Boutiques.com: You can also shop their looks for less

 
Yesterday frockwriter revealed the name of Google’s new fashion e-tail venture Boutiques.com, which is launching tomorrow in New York. It was in fact a world scoop........by about 40 minutes (WWD had a page one story in yesterday’s edition). Today we can add some more info. The site, we understand, is moving very rapidly towards the unveil and its offer now embraces boutiques curated either by - or around - 76 celebrities, 27 retailers, 55 designers and 12 bloggers. But the list of designers simply reflects those names who have thus far, apparently, agreed to participate in the venture. A designer directory lists over 200 designer names (including Australians Bassike, Willow, Thurley, sass & bide, Lover and Ksubi). But even that doesn’t embrace the full scope of the Boutiques.com offer, because products from a raft other brands and outlets that are not, it seems, officially involved, are also featured. They include US-based fast fashion chain Forever 21, the bête noir of the US fashion industry, which has been the target of numerous trademark/copyright infringement lawsuits initiated by US designers - including participating Boutiques.com designers Diane von Furstenberg and Anna Sui. 

James Varley shoots Trimapee

trimapee AW11 lookbook shoot/jamie wdziekonski 

Frockwriter predicted it wouldn’t be long until new Chadwick glamour boy James Varley added to his newbie model portfolio. How does a full page feature in Melbourne’s Age newspaper sound? That’s what Varley scored on Friday, in Jan Breen Burn’s great piece entitled Beautiful Boys. Most of the story was about Australia’s latest supermodel-on-the-cusp – androgynous Melburnite Andrej Pejic – but Varley was quoted in the story and prominently featured photographically, epitomising what Chadwick Melbourne director Matthew Anderson coined as the new “femiman” look. Well Varley is about to further add to his book. This morning, in Melbourne, he is shooting the Autumn/Winter 2011 lookbook for Trimapee, the four year-old label from Mario-Luca Carlucci and Peter Strateas. Lensed by Christian Blanchard, the lookbook also features new girl Kate Clements from Giant. Here is a sneak peek at the preps – and some of Trimapee’s new season leather. Follow Trimapee’s new marketing dude, blogger Jamie Wdziekonski, on Twitter for real-time updates throughout the shoot.

Boutiques.com: Now you can shop their look............. on Google

On Friday, an anonymous New York fashion PR who calls him/herself No bullshit (actual Twitter handle @NoBtotheS) Tweeted “Breaking news: google is launching an ecommerce site with shop in shops by major designers #google #theyrgonnabepissed #geturshopon”. The Tweet prompted a flurry of coverage, with the penny apparently then dropping on all those who had received invites to Google’s “High Tech Fuses with High Fashion” party this coming Wednesday in SoHo, that the launch revolved around fashion e-tail. In fact, it had already been reported that Google planned to upgrade its shopping services to better compete in the US$140billion e-commerce market by deploying the image-recognition technology of recent acquisition Like.com to enable consumers to do comparison shopping. “We are hosting an exclusive fashion party to celebrate our partners” is all Google would tell WWD on Friday re the launch (see invitation below). Well frockwriter can fill in a few blanks. Our sources say that the new Google fashion initiative is called Boutiques.com and boasts not only online boutiques selling merchandise offered by various designers and retailers, but a large number of curated "boutiques" selling the looks worn by celebrities and other influencers.

Miranda Kerr's mother once tried to sabotage her modelling career, her grandmother was initally "shocked" by her body of work

screen cap 60 minutes

The Australian edition of 60 Minutes ran a profile of Miranda Kerr on tonight's show. No Orlando Bloom, but Kerr's mother Therese, paternal grandmother Ann Kerr and Miranda's teacup Yorkshire terrier Frankie all made cameos - the latter cradled in her arms as she strolled along an LA beach esplanade with reporter Charles Woolley, who at one point copped a feel of unborn baby Bloom. Woolley broke bread with the Kerrs over lunch and in another scene, was guided by Miranda through a local health food shop. No mention of her more controversial recent fashion work, which includes considerable nudity and in one shoot for French magazine Numéro, dressing up in a Latex nun's outfit. But Woolley did ask Miranda at one point how she feels about earning more money than a cancer researcher, to which she responded, "It baffles me, what can I say?" - before adding that "modelling has given me a face", to which she hopes to add a voice and, words to the effect, use the power of her celebrity for good.

Miranda Kerr, publicity machine

You’ve got to hand it to Miranda Kerr. When most pregnant models would be expecting to spend a fair amount of time out of the spotlight as they await their bundle of joy, Kerr has arguably spent more time in the spotlight than ever before over the past four months. Ever since the news first whipped around the world in July that she was skipping the Spring/Summer 2010/2011 launch of Australian department store David Jones because of her sudden wedding to Orlando Bloom. Then she announced she was four months pregnant - to Spanish Vogue. Then in October, when she was five months along, she walked on Balenciaga's runway in Paris - later that month, popping up nude, obviously shot pre-pregnancy, in Russell James' new V2 book. Last week, when she would normally have been basking in the - shared - spotlight of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Kerr managed to gazump even that media bonanza with news of a nude Patrick Demarchelier photoshoot for W magazine. Kerr’s latest headlines: a profile on Australia’s 60 Minutes this evening and, confirming a rumour first floated by New York Magazine’s The Cut blog last month, she will appear on the January cover of Vogue Australia. Update 15/11: And here is a highres image, above.

Australians in New York Fashion Foundation, the sophomore edition

ainyff

Congrats to Sydney designer Dion Lee who won the fashion category of the 2010 Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards last night in Sydney. And congrats are also due to 10 other Australians who frockwriter can reveal are the 2010 Australians in New York Fashion Foundation finalists: Mitchell Oakley Smith, Laura Wade, Bronwyn O’Brien, Katherine Watson, Jacqueline Tyrrell, Natalia Catherine Muller, Ned Rogers, Darren McDonald, Saskia Wilson and Alice McConnell. The winner, to be announced at a function in Sydney on December 20th, will receive financial support to live in New York for one year, in addition to introductions to the cream of the New York fashion business from the AINYFF founders, Australians who have worked their way to the top there (without work experience or mentorship programs, it’s worth noting). UPDATE 21/12/10: Congratulations are due to Laura Wade, who has been awarded the AINYFF's 2011 grant, with Mitchell Oakley-Smith named runnerup.

Victoria's Secret gives Australian models the cold shoulder

manik mercian for victoria's secret/getty via daylife

Since Miranda Kerr first touched down in the multimillion dollar extravaganza that is the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2006, there has been a steady trickle of Australian faces onto its runway. In 2008, Kerr was joined by Abbey Lee Kershaw and Sarah Stephens. Last year, the Aussie VS triumvirate was comprised of Kerr, Kershaw and Elyse Taylor. No surprise that at seven months pregnant, Kerr is out of action at this year’s event. But what is perhaps surprising is that there are no other Australian models in this year’s show – the first taping of which has just occurred in New York, with another show imminent. Not even Kershaw, who is ranked by models.com as the world number five and who some believed was locked in. Frockwriter can confirm that Kershaw did not do the show. Her Sydney and New York agencies have been unusually quiet on matters VS in the leadup to this year's event - and given that all the Australians in the show to date have been from their stable, that's understandable. All Chic Management would say this morning was that Kershaw was "very busy" with other matters.

Dolce & Gabbana's Spiga2 in the Qantas Travel Insider

 

I have just started writing for Qantas Travel Insider, the cool little travel advice blog operated by the Australian airline, by way of ACP Magazines (and at 300-350,000 page impressions/month, it's not so little). I’m going to be specialising in fashion retail, so I guess that kind of makes me the Travel Insider's fashion insider. First up, a new startup in a city whose cobblestone-paved streets are well-trodden by fashionistas – and this fashionista in particular, while covering the biannual ready-to-wear show season. Yes, Milano. Click (here) to read my QTI review of Dolce & Gabbana’s new fashion incubator project Spiga2 which showcases the work of over 20 designers, including Australians Gail Reid and Martin Grant. 

Thugs & Roses: TAFE SA's gangstarr graduates

 
Saturday night’s TAFE SA graduate show was a class act. It was staged in a brand new auditorium at Prince Alfred College and all the models were from Finesse Models, which we mentioned on Friday in our post about brand new Adelaide face Melissa Johannsen. But before Johannsen even has her portfolio together, Ashleigh Pietersma (below, in the black ballgown) is likely to be the next Finesse star. Seventeen years old and just about to finish Year 12, the Dutch native, who has been in Australia for three years, has been signed to IMG's Paris Development board and heads to Paris in January, just in time for the haute couture. We joked backstage that the mad scramble of dressers that it took to get her into her finale ballgown was good prep for the latter shows. Also in the lineup: Jane Williamson, who made six weeks of Australia’s Next Top Model Cycle 3. This was a well-produced, high energy show and there were some extremely cute collections. As with any student parade you are going to get some play-it-safe eveningwear (headsup: guys this is your chance to show how creative you can be, make the most of it). But there were a couple of standouts. 

Adelaide's top fashion banana talks shop at Unley

Frockwriter is here in Adelaide as the guest of the city’s Fashion Festival. It runs over nine days but sadly we can’t be here for the duration. We are, however, tag-teaming with our buddy, photographer Sonny Vandevelde, who will be here for the last few days. So check Sonny's blog later in the week for his expert backstage take on the last few shows, including the closing night's Chambord  Designer Fashion Showcase. In the meantime, frockwriter has been busy at the first shows. First up, Friday night’s Fashion on Unley event at Unley Town Hall with VIP guest Josh Flinn. Before he was the model mentor for Australia’s Next Top Model Cycle 6 Flinn was, among other things fashion-related, a Banana in Pyjamas (still is in fact) and before that, an Adelaide fashion hopeful. Good to see home town heroes coming back to support their cities' fashion events. After a short Q&A with Flinn on stage, the host then threw to the parade: a showcase of the various designer labels sold at boutiques in Unley, including George Gross, Harry Who, Alexis George and Carla Zampatti. All the models were from local agency Pride. Here are a few shots. But head to frockwriter’s Posterous (here) for a complete backstage gallery. And either my Twitter or frockwriter’s Facebook page for coverage of the event in real-time. 

A new MJ is born

finesse

Just touched down in Adelaide, where frockwriter is the guest of the South Australian Tourism Commission and the City of Norwood, Payneham & St Peters. We were invited to cover the third incarnation of the Adelaide Fashion Festival, which runs from today until Saturday 13th November. Having never been to Adelaide, it seemed like a great opportunity to check out the local talent. We knew it wouldn't be too long before some emerged. Meet Melissa Johannsen aka "MJ" - who looks like the love child of Uma Thurman and Elvis Presley. She’s 15, lives in Alice Springs and up until last month, had never previously set foot inside a model agency. In Adelaide with her mother in early October doing a spot of shopping, the 5’11" schoolgirl was encouraged by one sales assistant to contact local agency Finesse Models. Within two days, she had won the Finesse Colonnades International Model Search competition. And since Monday last week, she has travelled to and from Sydney, been signed by Viviens Sydney and Wilhelmina Models in New York, walked in a Starlight Foundation runway show, shot a campaign for the Colonnades shopping centre, a lookbook for local label Finders Keepers and an editorial story and cover for this weekend's Sunday Mail magazine. “She’s the hot new face coming out of Adelaide.........via Alice Springs” said Finesse director Brigette Mitchell, who has previously launched Vanessa Milde, Kirsty MacPhail, Lucy Bayet and Emile Wake. The big question.... can she moonwalk?
  

Men in furs II

arena homme +/morphoman via TFS

Another day, another Andrej Pejic editorial. This time it’s not Vogue but well, Arena Homme + does call itself “the bible of contemporary mens culture….so many men turn to it as an essential read, as well as a reliable seasonal source of wardrobe advice”. The Winter 2010/Spring 2011 edition has just launched and according to this editorial lensed by Willy Vanderperre, men will be rocking Gucci fur coats and lippie during the northern winter (head to Morphoman to see the complete set of images). After Vogue Italia’s louche new 'Venus in Furs' editorial, which also co-stars Pejic, could the animal rights lobby be losing its grip on the anti-fur PR front?

In Vogue (and not much else): Andrej Pejic

vogue italia/z fashion blog via TFS

After his Vogue Paris debut in August, frockwriter hinted that upwardly mobile Australian model Andrej Pejic was due to appear in an equally prestigious international title. Well that title is Vogue Italia, for which Pejic (right, above) was shot by legendary lensman Steven Meisel alongside a stellar female cast - Freja Beha Erichsen, Iselin Steiro, Iris Strubegger and Alla Kostromichova - in addition to two other male models with long hair and feminine features, Michael Tintiuc and Tomek Szczukiecki. Called Venus in Furs, the provocative editorial, which was styled by Karl Templer, depicts 19 year-old Pejic and co rolling around on a bed in a kind of androgynous Bacchanalian orgy wearing fur, leather boots and gauntlets - and not much else. A shot of Erichsen and Steiro made the cover (below). Go to the Z Fashion Blog to see the complete set. Tomorrow's launch of November Vogue Italia comes three days after the arrival of the December issue of Vogue Turkey, which also features a Pejic editorial. For the latter, Pejic was shot by Matthew Brookes alongside lookalike Czech model Jana Knauerová, who is styled as a boyish girl to Pejic’s girlish boy, in a story called, you guessed it, Androjen. 

Gemma Ward turns 23, gets cast as a princess in Jack the Giant Killer?

paolo roversi/vogue italia via virtue or vanity

Gemma Ward turns 23 today. As a birthday present, could she have been cast in yet another US blockbuster? Ward recently shot scenes for Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides, in which she plays a mermaid. Now her IMDB [Internet Movie Database] listing is listing her as a potential cast member of New Line's Jack the Giant Killer, which is to be directed by Bryan Singer and is scheduled to start shooting in the northern spring. A remake of the 1962 film of the same name, Jack the Giant Killer recounts the story of a boy who rescues a princess from evil sorcerers. Ward would of course make a fabulous fairytale princess. But given that at least three names are still being mooted for the lead male role - Alex Pettyfer, Aaron Johnson and Max Irons - it sounds like not a great deal is nailed down. Ward also recently auditioned for Max Mad 4: Fury Road, however so far not much appears to have come from that. Frockwriter has attempted to reach Ward’s LA management, with as yet no luck. In the meantime, many happy returns.

Tiah Eckhardt covers Superfoto One

Print is dead? Sydney-based photographer Peter Bainbridge apparently didn't get the memo. On November 8th, he's launching a new quarterly magazine called Superfoto. And this is no ordinary magazine. In the tradition of the sadly long since defunct 1980s art mag The Manipulator, Superfoto is being published in the broadsheet format. Australian Tiah Eckhardt stars on the cover of the 52-page launch issue, taken from an accompanying editorial called Valley of the Dolls that was shot by Bainbridge, who is also creative director. Art direction is courtesy Sydney graphic design outfit One8One7. Also featured: a menswear editorial shot by David Slijper (an image from which features on the back cover, below), art from Tokyo's Aya Kato, Brazil's Cristiano Siqueira aka CrisVector and British super-realist Paul Roberts and features on New Guinea, boutique Australian champagne growers and.... Israeli spy rings - the latter penned by multitasker Bainbridge (that's him at the printers, below). Check the Superfoto website for the fairly exhaustive list of stockists. “If the webheads don’t want to buy print then there’s a reason for that - the old system has been going for so long" Bainbridge tells frockwriter. "A broadsheet is an experience". An expensive experience, we'll add to that. Props to MAC, which is apparently the sole advertiser of issue #1, for supporting independent publishing.

Clipped: Lanvin for H&M

Excited by Stella McCartney for Target Australia mark II? Try Lanvin for H&M. Here's the capsule collection video starring Hannelore Knuts, Jane Schmitt, Tati Cotliar and Natasha Poly, just launched online. The collection, which consists of 30 pieces and 15 accessories for women and 25 pieces and 10 accessories for men, will launch in 200 countries later this month: reportedly November 20th in Canada, for some reason and then November 23rd in the rest of the world.