Alison Veness-McGourty's 10 network

jordan graham/10 magazine australia

Kirstie Clements isn’t the only editor-in-chief to have toppled from the totem pole of Australian fashion magazines over the past two years. In December 2010, 17 months before Clements’ 13-year tenure at Vogue Australia was abruptly terminated, Alison Veness-McGourty upped stumps from Australia’s biggest magazine publisher, ACP Magazines [since acquired by the Bauer Media Group], after 11 years with the company, initially as deputy editor, then editor and editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar and launch editor of Grazia Australia. Following a short stint as a freelance brand consultant, in August last year the Bristol-born fashion veteran announced a joint venture with UK-based Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou to publish Australian editions of Neophitou-Apostolou’s 11 year-old indie style bible 10 and its menswear offshoot 10 Men. After bubbling along on 10magazine.com.au’s digital platform since September, the Australian print editions finally see the light of day on February 1st. What will 10 and 10 Men Australia offer fashion consumers in an already-saturated magazine market and what are Veness-McGourty’s thoughts on the fashion and publishing industries, almost three decades after she launched her career on a London tabloid chasing Linda Evangelista and the Princess of Wales? Frockwriter asks her more than 10 questions.

Reuben Ramacher rocks Saint Laurent Paris

saint laurent paris FW1314 via style.com

As it emerges, Julia Nobis wasn't the only Australian in Hedi Slimane's must-anticipated menswear show in Paris overnight. Joining her and a cast of real world rockers: brand new face Reuben Ramacher. Who apparently has even bigger things ahead of him. 

Hedi Slimane unplugged

saint laurent paris FW1314 via style.com

Julia Nobis just cemented her position as fashion's coolest girl by closing Hedi Slimane's much-anticipated menswear runway debut for Saint Laurent Paris. She wasn't the only woman on this season's menswear runways – nor the only woman in the Saint Laurent show – but the brand's new creative director Hedi Slimane obviously has a soft spot for the Australian tomboy, casting her in his womenswear and menswear show debuts for the storied Paris maison, as well as the Spring/Summer 2013 womenswear campaign. And the feeling is, evidently, mutual. "Awesome" is the word Nobis used to describe working with Slimane when we caught up with her at last month's Australian Fashion Foundation party in Sydney. 

Science major

louis vuitton FW1314 via style.com

Another day, another new Australian male modelling face pops up at the Fall/Winter 2013/2014 menswear shows - and like so many others, this one also has university affiliations. Overnight in Paris Priscillas' James Gatenby made his international runway debut opening the Louis Vuitton show.

Dogs must be carried - unless you work at Tatler

via jennifer george's twitter

There's been a death in the fashion family and no it's not another model or designer suicide. News of the grisly fate of Alan TBH Plumptre (above), the beloved Twitter hero mascot of Brit silvertail bible Tatler, who died yesterday after getting trapped in the revolving glass door of London's Vogue House, has made global headlines. While the sad story has brought out the black comic in some - "Straight outta Zoolander" Tweeted Ian Prior, sports editor of The Guardian - it prompted a backlash on Twitter (and the #condenasty hashtag) and begs the question: why did anyone think it was a great idea to be walking a small animal through the automatic doors of a busy office building in the first place? Fortunately some in the public eye set a far better example. 

Six degrees

The Fall/Winter 2013/2014 menswear season is in full swing in Europe and our new face from Friday Nathaniel Visser did indeed, as predicted, make his international runway debut at Sunday's Calvin Klein Collection show - joined by Brisbane native Joel Meacock. So far we have counted twelve Australians on the menswear runways in London, Florence, Milan and Paris. Joining Visser as a new face of the season is Elijah Tyedmers - an 18 year-old Sydney University medical student who was scouted last year by Sydney's eMg Models in line buying popcorn at a Hoyts cinema. Canadian-born, but an Australian citizen (his father is Australian), Tyedmers is not spending his summer holidays lazing on a beach in Oz or Vanuatu for that matter, where his parents are based - but rather, rugged up in furs and flannels walking for the likes of Fendi, Salvatore Ferragamo, Z Zegna and Joseph Abboud. 

Where's Abbey Lee? Good question

backstage david jones SS1011, sydney, august 2010

It's been a week since frockwriter reported that Australian supermodel Abbey Lee Kershaw looked to have severed ties with Chic Management, the Australian agency that launched her career. Although we have still yet to hear from the agency in any official capacity, it's pretty clear by now that it's splitsville between Kershaw and Chic. So where has she gone? Frockwriter caught up with her father and financial mentor, Kim Kershaw. 

Gemma love

vogue italia via models.com

It's been a big week in the Australian modelling business. As revealed by frockwriter, Gemma Ward signed with IMG Models Australia and plans to come out of retirement. Abbey Lee Kershaw parted ways with Chic Management, the Australian 'mother' agency that launched her career and remains off the agency grid down under (but still, nevertheless, appears on the Next Models boards in New York, Milan and London, contrary to speculation). And bookending a week that's been very much dominated by IMG Models news, it emerged yesterday that the world's biggest model agency has stitched up a deal with Australia's Next Top Model to become the official model agency affiliate for the popular Foxtel show – giving incumbent Chic Management the flick. Needless to say it's not been the best of weeks for Chic. However it's been a great week for Gemma Ward, who should be thrilled with the reaction to the news of her comeback. Here's a sample of the coverage. Many thanks to each for the links. 

New faces: Nathaniel Visser

via eMg models

Long time, no noobs. So herewith the first in frockwriter's new modelling faces series for 2013: Nathaniel Visser. 

Gemma Ward signs with IMG Models Australia, plots comeback; ALK is off the grid

New year, new model movements. First up: a couple of major names are currently AWOL from the websites of two of Australia’s biggest model agencies, Viviens Model Management and Chic Management. The big question - just where are Gemma Ward and Abbey Lee Kershaw headed?

Kirstie Clements' Vogue Factor

vogue australia september 2011 - via fashionmodeldirectory.com

Judging by the response to Frockwriter’s Salute to Kirstie Clements tribute last May – one of our top 10 posts of 2012 – there is a huge amount of interest in, and goodwill towards, the former Vogue Australia editor. Her shock axing last year, followed by the dismantling of pretty much the entire Vogue Australia team she worked with, had the Australian fashion industry abuzz. But Clements fell on her feet quickly, snapped up by Melbourne University Press to pen an autobiography about her 25 year career – nearly all of it spent at Vogue, starting as a receptionist in the 1980s. The book, called The Vogue Factor, is due out February 28th (you can pre-order it here). We caught up with Clements to learn a little more about her fashion “tell-all” and what she’s up to. Incidentally, you’ll never guess who she was about to put on the cover at the time of her departure.

Australian models on the S/S 2013 campaign trail

Their numbers on the Spring/Summer 2013 runways might have dropped by half from the previous summer season, but 19 Australian models still managed to cut a swathe through the New York, London, Milan and Paris shows in September and October last year. Some among them, such as Ruby Jean Wilson and Julia Nobis, scored high profile opening and closing roles. Judging by the SS13 advertising campaigns that are now beginning to roll out, the antipodians made quite an impression. To date, no less than seven Australian models have popped up in ten major international campaigns. Who are they?

Five minutes with Ruby Jean Wilson

Born in Scotland and raised in the UK, Ruby Jean Wilson emigrated to Australia with her family at age 13 and started modelling three years later. In a very short space of time she has certainly made her mark. One of Australia's most high profile catwalkers on the international show circuit over the past couple of seasons, at the Spring/Summer 2013 shows in September and October she opened and closed Marc Jacobs and then opened Louis Vuitton, subsequently scoring ad campaigns for both brands. The campaigns were lensed by Juergen Teller and Steven Meisel, respectively, and she is the sole star of the Marc Jacobs campaign. Back home briefly from her new, New York base for a summer holiday, frockwriter caught up Wilson just before Christmas at the Australian Fashion Foundation party to announce the winners of the foundation's 2013 burrs. Among the topics canvassed with RJW: which other family members might follow in her fashionable footsteps? And whose name does she have tattooed on her left wrist?