Showcards: Priscilla's Model Management (women) - MBFWA SS 13/14

Could Victoria’s Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio really be a serious contender for the runways of next month’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia? Frockwriter was somewhat taken aback to spot the Brazilian bombshell at the head of the Priscilla's Model Management women’s show pack for the event. As we mentioned yesterday, the Oz modelling game has shifted into a new gear courtesy of last year’s arrival of IMG Models - which included some of its own big names, ie Gemma Ward and Miranda Kerr, in its show pack.

Showcards: eMg Models (men) - MBFWA SS 13/14

mackenzie baker via emg models

There is really only a handful of shows that will either star or feature menswear at next month’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia (including Emma Mulholland, Vanishing Elephant, Zambesi, Han and Romance Was Born). But that hasn’t stopped Australian model agencies from putting a swag of their best new male recruits forward for castings over the next fortnight. Of note, eMg Models and its mens show pack, which includes some intriguing new faces.

Showcards: IMG Models Australia - MBFWA SS 13/14

And now to the MBFWA Spring/Summer 2013 show pack from IMG Models Australia. A collaboration between the agency, Sydney-based collage artist and model (repped by IMG Models Australia) Mason Mulholland and graphic designer/photographer Mitchell McLennan, the pack of 57 cards comes in a smart, white laser-cut perspex box. Thirty seven of the names are definitely in town for MBFWA, with the others (including Gemma Ward and Miranda Kerr) just there for promotional purposes, but theoretically available for the event by special request.

Showcards: Work Agency - MBFWA SS 13/14

kellie williams via work agency

And now to part VIII of frockwriter’s MBFWA Spring/Summer 2013/2014 model showcards series – Work Agency. Although this show pack is so far the most compact of the season, we have to say it gets top marks for presentation. Internationally, model agencies go to some effort to make their show packs stand out, tapping art directors to create innovative concepts. Not so much down under. As competition increases in this market, branding is going to be increasingly important. Heading up Work Agency's MBFWA pack is the agency's star Cassi van den Dungen, who has just returned from making her international runway debut, walking for, among others, Miu Miu.

Showcards: Viviens Model Management (men) - MBFWA SS 13/14

gene aliluev via viviens model management

Part VII in frockwriter’s MBFWA Spring/Summer 2013/2014 showcards series – the men of Viviens Model Management. Including... the world’s first model barrister?

Showcards: Viviens Model Management (women) - MBFWA SS 13/14

courtney eaton via viviens model management

Abbey Lee Kershaw has been MIA on the runways since taking some time off after shooting George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road in Namibia last year. But one of her Mad Max co-stars will be at MBFWA next month: Courtney Eaton, who heads up the womens’ show pack from Sydney agency Viviens Model Management.

Showcards: Chadwick Models (men) - MBFWA SS 13/14

nicklas kingo by brice hardelin via morphoman

Part V of frockwriter's MBFWA Spring/Summer 2013/2014 model showcards series is the men of Chadwick Models. Not only will three of this country’s top international male runway stars be in town for the event – Angus Low, Joel Meacock and Kye D’Arcy (via Chic Management) – they will be joined by another top new name in male modelling, Nicklas Kingo, who just happens to be half Australian.

Showcards: Chadwick Models (women) - MBFWA SS 13/14

nicola walsh via chadwick models

Part IV of frockwriter's MBFWA Spring/Summer 2013/2014 model showcards series: the women of Chadwick Models in Sydney. The agency's show pack includes a dozen internationals who are flying in from the US, Canada, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Malaysia; a few local faves such as Katerina Chang, Sarah Lorimer and New Zealand's Samantha Shorter; and a hell of a lot of new Australian faces, who are brand new to the event this year, some of whom we have recently covered in our New Faces series and elsewhere.

Showcards: Chic Management (men) - MBFWA SS 13/14

sam armstrong via chic management

Next up in frockwriter's MBFWA Spring/Summer 2013/2014 model showcards series: the men of Chic Management. Yesterday we brought you the Sydney agency's women's show pack, which includes some of the most successful Australian women on the international show circuit at present. The men's show pack is headed up by three of Australia's most successful male models. 

Showcards: Chic Management (women) - MBFWA SS13/14

grace simmons via chic management

And now to the second instalment of frockwriter's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia Spring/Summer 2013/2014 model showcards series - a preview of the models who will be doing casting rounds in Sydney over the coming weeks, in the lead up to Australia's biggest fashion runway showcase. Chic Management usually heads into the event with a major show pack and this year is no exception. 

Reuben Ramacher covers i-D

via i-D's facebook

Frockwriter mentioned in January that new Australian face Reuben Ramacher may have even bigger things ahead of him than that month's Saint Laurent show during the Paris menswear collections. And voilà, here he is on the cover of British style bible i-D magazine, shot by Saint Laurent creative director Hedi Slimane. 

Corey Micari swaps the AFL for IMG

Nice to see one Schoolies story with a happy ending. Meet Corey Micari. The 17 year-old from Dandenong, Victoria is the 2012 winner of the MMS ['Mr and Miss Schoolies'] Model Search. Although he has no modelling experience beyond the competition and is as yet unsigned by an Australian agency, Micari has just been signed to IMG Models New York. But modelling isn't the only arena in which he has been a competitor. 

Cameron Silver: Duke of Melrose

photo: supplied by foxtel

I first met Cameron Silver at the Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2004 when he was guest speaker at the event. A cabaret singer-turned-vintage retailer, Silver operated a by that stage seven year-old boutique called Decades on LA’s Melrose Avenue and he had established himself as a go-to guru for high-end, pre-loved couture gowns from upwards of the 1920s; seducing a swag of Hollywood power stylists and their A-list clients such as Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow. Silver’s comrade-in-couture is Christos Garkinos, a former marketing manager for Disney and Virgin Megastores, who joined the business in 1999, launching what was up until 2011 an adjacent contemporary designer resale boutique called DecadesTwo, which sources pre-loved designer fare from a global network of over 3000 consignors – including many celebrities. The businesses have since merged. The duo – who have arguably peeked inside more private wardrobes than anyone on the planet - are the stars of Bravo’s brand new reality show Dukes of Melrose which debuted on Foxtel’s Arena channel in Australia last night at 10.00pm. Part of Arena’s new triple fashion reality show bill for Thursday nights, the show follows straight after The Rachel Zoe Project (Season V) and It’s a Brad, Brad World (Season II). I have also watched a further three episodes and it’s as funny as hell. I caught up with Silver earlier this week to yack about the show, vintage, “insane” and “unscrupulous” red carpet politics - and what kind of milk Catherine Deneuve takes in her coffee.

In Vogue: Cassi van den Dungen

Frockwriter recently revealed that Cassi van den Dungen had her first editorial coming up in Vogue Australia – 16 pages no less. Hot on the heels of her international runway debut for Giles Deacon and Miu Miu, here is a sneak peek of the issue, which is due out on Monday. Expensive? At $19,000 for this Chanel dress, van den Dungen should do her former Australia's Next Top Model colleague Alex Perry proud. 

Showcards: The Agency Models - MBFWA SS13/14

maddison watling by romain duquesne

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia is less than a month away and the preliminary schedule has just gone up (click here to download). Who will rock its runways? Herewith the first instalment in frockwriter's MBFWA showcards series from Australia’s leading model agencies. First up, Sydney's The Agency Models.

Abbey Lee Kershaw and Our Mountain get censored by YouTube and Facebook

screen cap from 'iv horses' via dancing daughters records' vimeo

Abbey Lee Kershaw has been MIA on the world’s fashion runways for two seasons, having recently gone on modelling hiatus to shoot her first feature, Mad Max: Fury Road. And now it seems she can't even get a break on Facebook and YouTube, with some recent artistic efforts by Kershaw and her band apparently banned by the social media giants. 

Snow blind - Australians on the Fall/Winter 2013/2014 runways

Another show season bites the dust. As per usual, frockwriter has been following the Australian model story as the season rolled from New York to London to Milan to Paris (and interesting to see the mainstream Australian media also keeping close tabs on model movements). So far we have counted 31 Australian faces, which is not far off the all-time record of 38. And a dramatic increase on the 19 from the last season in September/October. Not bad, considering the freezing northern winter and notably, New York’s Snow Storm Nemo – which Julia Nobis described to us during New York Fashion Week as like “Flying snow resembling a washing machine on spin cycle. Needless to say, I now have the flu! Thanks Nemo, Jolly good times”.

Australia's next top Miu Miu

miu miu FW1314 via wwd.com

Cassi van den Dungen missed out on winning Australia’s Next Top Model in 2009. But she has just achieved something that has so far proven beyond the grasp of any actual winners of the high rating Australian reality show: she just walked the Miu Miu show in Paris.

Valentina Sykes touches down in Paris - but not at Balenciaga

valentina sykes (R) backstage at john galliano FW1314 via fashionising

When we spotted this recent Sun Herald story about 17 year-old Sydney model Valentina Sykes being "optioned" as they say in the model biz as a potential "exclusive" for last week's Balenciaga show at Paris Fashion Week, we felt the need to Tweet: "one way of reducing your chances of getting a balenciaga exclusive - talking about it beforehand". Sykes did wind up making her international runway debut in Paris, although not for the super prestige Balenciaga show, rather, John Galliano - the namesake line of Christian Dior's disgraced creative director, which is owned by Dior parent LVMH and continues on without him under the direction of Bill Gaytten. Of course any major Paris show is a great get. But the moral to this story is: never count your fashion chickens before they're hatched.  

New faces: Jazmine Hikaka

thom kerr

Gemma Ward was first spotted sitting on the floor of a television studio in Perth in October 2002, on hand to support some mates who were trying out for Search For A Supermodel. Sixteen year old Gold Coaster Jazmine Hikaka has a strikingly similar reality show connection. 

Zimmermann swaps MBFWA for New York Fashion Week

krystal glynn backstage at zimmermann SS1213

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia is counting down to the Spring/Summer 2013/2014 showcase from April 8 -12 at its brand new venue, Carriageworks. That’s nearly a month ahead of the event’s traditional time slot of late April/early May, a change that was made last year after concerns were raised by many in the industry that the timing was too late for contemporary buying cycles. But it seems you can’t keep everyone happy.

April Tiplady covers L'Officiel Singapore

She just walked her first runway - closing the Paris Fashion Week show of edgy Japanese designer Junya Watanabe on Saturday. Now April Tiplady has scored her first cover.

Paris is burning - Fall/Winter 2013/2014

april tiplady closes junya watanabe FW1314 via wwd.com

Frockwriter was out at dinner last night when we received a call from Brigette Mitchell, director of Adelaide's Finesse Models, direct from a "freezing" Paris. "April just did her very first fashion show" said Mitchell proudly. "She hasn't even walked in a fashion show in Adelaide, but she just closed Junya Watanabe". April Tiplady - that's the 16 year old whose grandmother paid for a grooming course at the same agency two years earlier in the hope of boosting the confidence of her gangly grand-daughter. Last November, literally just signed to Finesse and with no modelling experience, Tiplady was signed by IMG Models worldwide (i.e. all its international agencies). Now she is a card-carrying member of the Australian model delegation at the Fall/Winter 2013/2014 show season. 

Factory girl

cameron hammond

Maddison Watling currently loads clothes onto trucks at a western suburbs factory for a living. Another brand new face from Sydney agency The Agency Models, we have a hunch she might be considering different type of fashion gig in future.

New faces: Sinead Ann

thom kerr

The Fall/Winter 2013/2014 shows rolled on to Paris this week and Australia's modelling delegation continues its assault on the season. Brisbane's Nicole Pollard nabbed the biggest show of the week - Balenciaga - while comeback queen Catherine McNeil added Dries van Noten, Balmain, Lanvin, Nina Ricci and Barbara Bui to her show list - opening and closing the latter two. Australians remain very much on the radar of international casting directors and it seems that everybody wants to know who the new girls are. The Agency Models in Sydney has a new name to throw into the ring in a couple of seasons' time: Sinead Ann.