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. 

'The Cut', New York Magazine
Fashin
The Fashion Spot
Fashionista
Styleite
Modelinia
Vogue Australia
Harpers Bazaar Australia
The Vine
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Canberra Times
The Age
The Brisbane Times
The Daily Telegraph
News.com.au
The West Australian
Style Bistro
Pedestrian
Pages Digital

The week's other big story - on this blog at least - was our interview with ex Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements, on the eve of the publication of her autobiography, The Vogue Factor. 

This interview was the second instalment in frockwriter's new subscriber exclusives series - content which is only available to our paid subscribers. 

There was quite a big reaction to this summary post about the interview – from blog readers, existing subscribers and a flurry of new subscribers (a number of them magazine staffers, interestingly), who were keen to hear more about Clements' upcoming book release and the name of the model she was planning to put on the cover of Vogue Australia at the time of her dismissal in May last year. 

Trust us, this cover would have made global headlines. 

Welcome to all of frockwriter's new subscribers. Thank-you for your support and I look forward to providing you with more exclusive content in the weeks and months to come. As this is early days on this new series, a few questions have emerged. 

First up, access to the material. My subscriber lists are only updated once every 24 hours from New York so until I have your details, I can't release the content. For anyone keen to avoid delays, if you email me your Press+ subscription confirmation email to pattyhuntington [at] gmail, I will set you up immediately. 

Secondly, technical problems experienced while trying to sign up. Any genuine bugs notwithstanding (and these are being looked into), in some cases, it has simply been a question of needing to change browser and/or clearing the cache and trying again. Most especially if you have, ahem, taken any privacy measures in the past.