Backstage at DVF

diane von furstenberg backstage in sydney 24/10/12

So the Diane von Furstenberg show rolled into town last week. One runway show, one Business Chicks lunch and one Hayman Island penthouse launch down, where is von Furstenberg now? Cooling her heels, she told me backstage on Wednesday night, at a mate’s Kangaroo Valley farm in the NSW Southern Highlands. A pretty spot, we assured her (here’s a Highlands wrap we did a couple of years ago). “I have my book to finish you know” she noted, arousing our curiosity as to precisely how long she is planning to hang around. With Hurricane ‘Frankenstorm’ Sandy currently bearing down on the US east coast and thousands of flights cancelled, perhaps a little longer than originally planned.

New faces: Henry Payten

justin smith via the agency models

And now for the boys. Third up in frockwriter's new series about new modelling faces from down under is Henry Payten, who was recently signed to Sydney's The Agency Models. 

New faces: Talia Berman

carine thevenau via chic management

As part of a new frockwriter series on new modelling faces, meet Talia Berman. Like Molly Paisley, who we profiled yesterday, she has just been signed by Chic Management in Sydney.

New faces: Molly Paisley

carine thevenau via chic management

Horse riding competitions would appear to be fertile ground for model scouting. New Zealand’s Anmari Botha was initially spotted at a dressage competition in Auckland six years ago. And brand new Australian face Molly Paisley was scouted at a one-day event in Oakville, north west of Sydney, three months ago.

The DVF show rolls into town

diane von furstenberg takes a bow after her SS12 show in NY via zimbio.com

If you don’t already know by now, frockwriter has little doubt you soon will be aware that New York fashion doyenne Diane von Furstenberg is visiting Australia this week. First up, to present her Spring/Summer 2013 collection at Westfield Sydney on Wednesday evening, not far from her first Australian boutique, which opened in the development in late 2010. Secondly, to talk at a Business Chicks lunch on Thursday. Tickets for the latter sold out in a  week reports Business Chicks, which had to upgrade to a bigger venue at Sydney's Doltone House to accommodate 650 people. And finally, on the weekend, to unveil The DVF Suite – a penthouse at the recently refurbed Hayman Island luxury resort, which was of course flattened by Cyclones Yasi and Anthony in early 2011.

If the shoe fits

andrej pejic models chris benz SS12 via sight management studio

We all talk – a great deal – about the sizes of the bodies of fashion models. The sizes of their feet, however, rarely come up for discussion. What an interesting topic of conversation it proved to be when we puffed this week's Anmari Botha post on both frockwriter’s and my personal Facebook pages, using one of Botha’s IMG Models showcards as an illustration – and her published shoe size, "7.5", sparked a raft of comments. “How does a 5’11” woman have such small feet?!” asked Sydney-based media trainer Shauna Stafford. Another noted, “Most women that size would have size nine or ten feet”. While a former magazine maven chimed in, “Your basic nightmare. Perfect” – referring, we assume, to the dearth of “unusual” shoe sizes in the fashion cupboard of a typical magazine.

New Zealand's next top model: Anmari Botha

david oldham for wonderland via red eleven

It’s not only Australia that is proving to be a major launchpad for international modelling careers at the moment. Scouts and casting directors are also looking towards New Zealand. Frockwriter has talked about Jessica Clarke and Emily Baker, the latter emerging overnight in February 2011 to become one of the most buzzed-about new faces of the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 show season. In the leadup to last month’s New Zealand Fashion Week we wondered if perhaps Cait Kneller might be the next Kiwi star. Noone mentioned Anmari Botha.

The circuiteers - Australian models at the Spring/Summer 2013 shows

Julia Nobis is currently enjoying something that she likes to call “fat month” – the period immediately following the gruelling ready-to-wear show season, when she winds down. Show seasons are hard work for leading models such as Nobis, who was the season’s top runway face for two consecutive seasons up until the latest shows round that finished a few weeks ago in Paris, walking in more shows than any other model. This season Nobis lost that crown - she walked in 62 shows, making her Spring/Summer 2013's third busiest showgirl, in terms of show numbers, after Tilda Lindstam (69 shows) and Ava Smith, Erjona Ala and Tian Yi (64 shows each) according to the modelwatchers at The Fashion Spot (and many thanks to TFS for its painstaking show-combing). But that's still an impressive tally. How many Australians followed in her footsteps this season? Nineteen by our calculations. And if you have been tracking the progress of Australian models on the world’s runways for the past four years via frockwriter, you’d be right in thinking that that sounds like a steep dive in numbers on the previous Spring/Summer season – a 50percent drop in fact.

Andrej Pejic doesn't answer his phone for less than $10,000

nathan paul swimwear out-take via mariah jelena kordzadze's facebook

It’s been a long time since Andrej Pejic opened the Antipodium show at Australian Fashion Week. Three years to be precise. In the interim, alongside a score of headline-grabbing magazine appearances and advertising campaigns, Pejic has blazed a trail on the runways of fashion weeks in Paris, New York, London, Milan, Tokyo, Toronto, Sao Paolo, Barcelona, Berlin and Instanbul, modelling both menswear and womenswear - not to mention bridalwear. Digital Fashion Week Singapore is the latest fashion event to snap Pejic up, billing him as the "supermodel" star of its upcoming showcase, which will run from October 20-22. Apart from a couple of fleeting appearances downunder, why has he been conspicuous by his absence on Australia's runways you ask? Because we can’t afford him it seems.

Hot fuzz

céline SS2013 via style.com

During the 2012 London Olympics Nike managed to ambush adidas, the event’s official sports apparel marketing partner, with an 18-strong collection of neon yellow trainers that looked to be on every second athlete in the track and field events. With shoes classified as equipment, athletes were free to choose their brand. The Spring/Summer 2013 show season is of course a totally different animal to the Summer Olympics. And yet, based on some early reactions, it seems that another neon yellow shoe may be hijacking more than its fair share of coverage here: Céline’s mink pump.