In any office other than Terry Richardson's, this might be considered sexual harassment

detail/diesel mexico's twitter

Just another day at the office for Terry Richardson, photographed here during what appears to be a Diesel photoshoot. Below is the original photo as it appeared on Diesel Mexico’s Twitter feed several hours ago (NSFW). The male models are all wearing Diesel underwear, while the controversial American photographer has dropped both his trousers and boxer shorts. Although his hand is covering his privates, Richardson's pubic hair is clearly visible. It’s not entirely clear what the shoot is for or how old the photo is, but Richardson and Diesel have a longstanding commercial relationship, which embraces several Diesel advertising campaigns (including at least one Diesel Intimate campaign), the publication of a book of Richardson’s photographs of Hong Kong and even a clothing collaboration. 

Paul de Gelder: Navy diver, shark attack survivor, smoking hot swimwear model

silke stuckenbrock/the navy diver

 

Aimee Mullins meet Paul de Gelder. Much has been written – and broadcast - about de Gelder’s near brush with death on February 11, 2009, when the then 31 year-old Royal Australian Navy clearance diver and former paratrooper and East Timor peacekeeper came face-to-face with a three metre bull shark, which savaged his right hand and leg. A double amputation, extensive rehabilitation and two years later, de Gelder is back at work as a Royal Australian Navy diver trainer, with several brand new spinoff careers, including motivational speaker and conservationist, who has called on the United Nations to protect sharks from over fishing. Earlier this year he also became a published author, with the release of No time for fear: How a shark attack survivor beat the odds. But de Gelder has another new career that’s a little less well-documented: fashion model. To be precise, underwear and swimwear model for new Sydney-based brand The Navy Diver. 

Lanvin's Lucas Ossendrijver covers the launch issue of Manuscript

Sydney-based freelance fashion journo Mitchell Oakley-Smith isn’t one for resting on his laurels. Already the author of one coffee table book through Thames & Hudson Australia – Fashion: Australian and New Zealand designers – T&H Australia has just released a second collection of his designer vignettes, Interiors: Australian and New Zealand designers. And he’s just signed a third contract, this time with the Thames & Hudson mothership in London for another, slightly more complex tome that is due for release in late 2013 and is to be co-authored with Australian art curator and writer Alison Kubler. All under the age of 25. But that’s not all. Behold a preview of the first cover of a new menswear magazine called Manuscript, Oakley-Smith’s first effort as a publisher, which is out on Friday. Lensed by London-based Australian Paul Scala at the Lanvin headquarters in Paris, it stars Lanvin’s menswear director Lucas Ossendrijver, an extensive profile of whom features inside the issue. 

Kim Kardashian wants you to buy her handbags but she'd rather carry Balenciaga

splash via the daily mail

Sydney-based entrepreneur Bruno Schiavi managed to convince Kim Kardashian to sign a global fashion and accessories deal, so you'd figure he would have taken care of a little detail like what brand handbag she was carrying when she arrived at Sydney Airport yesterday, wouldn't you? But apparently not. Kardashian and sister Khloe are in town specifically to spruik their Kardashian Kollection handbags, an exclusive capsule collection of which has just gone on sale in Australia. In the reality television star's first public appearance since her announcement on Monday that she would be filing for divorce from her husband of 72 days, NBA player Kris Humphries, she waltzed into the waiting media scrum carrying not a Kardashian Kollection, but a black Balenciaga City bag (aka Motorcycle bag). The distressed leather and hand-stitched handle are unmistakable. The bag is one of many Balenciagas from Kardashian's personal collection. 

Transsex and the city

screen cap 'transsex & the city'

Chloe Sevigny channels Terry Richardson on the cover of the third edition of Candy, Luis Venegas’s irreverent “transversal style magazine”. And inside the edition, following last issue’s hilarious tranny take on American Vogue’s Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington, Venegas also takes on Sex And The City’s Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte. Highres images from the just-landed mag are yet to surface, but in the interim here are some screen caps frockwriter took from a behind-the-scenes video that Venegas has posted of the Ellen von Unwerth shoot. Entitled ‘Transsex and the city’, the story stars Ladyfag, Darian Darling, Mona Marlowe and Zeb Ringle and Brian Shimansky. 

Chloe Sevigny covers Candy as Terry Richardson

screen cap/luis venegas's vimeo

Candy, the world’s “first transversal style magazine”, frocked up model Luke Worrall and actor James Franco as women for the covers of its first and second issues. For its just-launched third issue, Candy has transformed actor Chloe Sevigny into a drag king – and in fact, in character as photographer Terry Richardson, with his trademark flannel shirt, glasses, sideburns and thumbs up. Having shot both the Worrall and Franco covers, presumably Richardson shot this one as well. Sevigny has more than a passing interest in the subject of transsexuality. She earned an Academy Award nomination as Lana Tisdel, the girlfriend of murdered transgender man Brandon Teena, in Kimberley Pierce’s 1999 film Boy’s Don’t Cry. She voiced the role of Andy Warhol’s male-to-female superstar Candy Darling in James Rasin’s 2010 documentary Beautiful Darling. And she recently shot a British television series called Hit & Miss, in which she plays a transgender Irish assassin. She also has some commonality with the controversial Richardson. Sevigny is in a minority of mainstream actors to have engaged in an unsimulated sex act in a film – Vincent Gallo’s 2003 Brown Bunny, in which she performed fellatio on co-star Gallo. Richardson has pushed the boundaries of pornography like no other in fashion - coming under fire for the alleged exploitation and degradation of some of his models in the process - and his personal work features a high volume of imagery of himself engaging in unsimulated sexual acts. Sevigny copped a lot of flak herself over Brown Bunny. So, lots to chat about during the cover shoot.

Colourblocking with the stars: Melbourne Cup 2011

getty via daylife

And they're off. The 2011 Melbourne Cup race day is underway at Flemington Raceourse and the fashion competition is heating up. A few shots to dribble in indicate that colour is an early trend. Hardly surprising of course, given that intense colour is a major trend of Australia's Spring/Summer 2011/2012 season, following the cues of the northern hemisphere's SS11. Big local names to catch the photographers' attention thus far include Dancing with the stars contestant and serial red carpet offender Brynne Edelsten - whose style one wag dubbed "Dis-Vegas", a hybrid of Disneyland and Las Vegas - together with colour-coordinated husband Dr Geoffrey Edelsten (above); Rebecca Judd (below, with her sister Kate Twigley); DWTS co-host Sonia Kruger and Jennifer Hawkins, the face of Australian department store chain Myer. The fashion editors are keeping it a little more muted. Here are some shots from the Twitter accounts of Kate Waterhouse, fashion editor of The Sun Herald and Alyx Gorman from The Vine - the latter channelling a 1920s flapper in Romance Was Born. Entourage's Adrian Grenier teamed his black suit with Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Hi Tops. While former Triple M radio star Mieke Buchan breached the Victoria Racing Club's dress code by rocking up in shorts. At least they weren't denim cutoffs. 

The fashion commute

steven meisel via vogue.it

In one of those amusing art-imitates-life scenarios, the ever-creative Vogue Italia released a preview of its November cover story overnight. A 26-page fashion editorial lensed, of course, by Steven Meisel, 'The A train' depicts supermodel Raquel Zimmermann commuting on the New York subway, whilst kitted out in various luxury brand finery and flanked by a cast of black-suited salarymen. Anyone familiar with Australia's annual Melbourne Cup Carnival will be reminded of very similar scenes on Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse Line at this time of year. At time of writing, the latter is in the process of delivering a hefty percentage of the 100,000 that are expected to attend today's Melbourne Cup - just with a much higher volume of women in hats. Whilst the traditional dress code for Derby Day is black and white (ignored on Saturday by, among others, Dita Von Teese), for the Melbourne Cup, the so-called 'race which stops a nation', it's more of a no-holds-barred fashion approach.