Abbey Lee Kershaw - shoe drama queen

lanvin SS11 via style.com

Budding actor and soon-to-be-co-star of Mad Max: Fury Road Abbey Lee Kershaw has been taking a year-long sabbatical from the modelling world, but is about to re-emerge on the fashion stage according to her finance broker father Kim Kershaw - who is now, amusingly, also acting as her 'mother' agent in Australia. Earlier this year, Abbey Lee ditched Chic Management due to what we have on good authority was a dispute over Chic's 'mother agency' fee. That's the fee (generally 10-15percent) that a model's home market agent pockets on all future earnings in all markets, on top of booking agents fees. But Abbey Lee has not been far from the thoughts of her fans. Case in point, some behind-the-scenes footage that has just surfaced from the Lanvin Spring/Summer 2011 runway show in Paris, shot all the way back in October 2010. Kershaw's fans over at The Fashion Spot have reportedly been agog over one scene showing Kershaw in tears following a dressing down by Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz, after he observed what he describes as her "almost drunk" walk during a show rehearsal, wearing a perilous pair of Lanvin stilettos. The footage is from the Spring/Summer 2011 edition of the bi-annual French Habillé (e) s Pour documentary series by Loïc Prigent and Agnès Boulard. Originally broadcast in France in November 2010, it seems the episode recently screened on the Cinémoi North American cable channel, with the Lanvin excerpt subsequently uploaded to Vimeo by a fan. 

Here are the shoes by the way: 

lanvin SS11 via style.com

And here is the footage: 

 


At the 5:30 mark, Elbaz accuses Kershaw of looking inebriated and at 7:20 threatens to cancel her from the show "in two minutes" if she can't pick up her game. A number of other models in the same show, it should be noted, also appear to experience problems with the stilettos, which are subsequently replaced with flats. 

Kershaw did make one appearance in Lanvin's Spring/Summer 2011 show - in flats.

However, we have it on equally good authority that had Elbaz in fact cancelled Kershaw from his show at the last minute,  she would have received, at the very least, a cancellation fee. A big name model such as Kershaw would, we understand, earn 10-15,000 euros (A$12,662-18,994) for a top ticket show such as Lanvin. 

In the footage, Kershaw can be heard telling Elbaz that she has a problem with her ankles - specifically that she has broken both of them. 

Of course, it was not the first time that Kershaw had had an issue with the shoes in a major fashion show. 

Back in September 2008, she fell on Rodarte's runway in a pair of skyscraper Nicholas Kirkwood stilettos during New York Fashion Week - three weeks before she fainted at the Alexander McQueen show in Paris, although apparently not because of McQueen's shoes in the latter case, but, rather, his tight leather corset. And indeed as it emerges, at the time of the Rodarte spill - when Kershaw was still on the rise and not terribly well-known - Derek Blasberg also reported on Style.com that she had previously broken both ankles.

Exactly one year later, however, as revealed by Kershaw in an interview with frockwriter, she did have major concerns over McQueen's shoes - specifically, the monstrous 'Armadillo' booties of his Spring/Summer 2010 show. Kershaw point blank refused to walk in the show, citing OH&S issues regarding the shoes and was in fact joined in the impromptu show boycott by two other top models, Sasha Pivovarova and Natasha Poly. The story travelled far and wide.

Kershaw has also had an ongoing knee problem. 

She skipped the Fall/Winter 2009/2010 show season in February-March 2009 altogether after an arthroscopy revealed bone fragments in one knee.

In March last year, shortly before commencing filming on Mad Max: Fury Road, she finally had knee surgery. 

What is the story with her ankles?

According to Kim Kershaw - a retired footballer, who blames himself for "cursing" two of his children with dicky knees - Abbey Lee has only broken one ankle, her left. She incurred the injury whilst playing basketball at the age of 14. 

Why would she claim to have broken both? Dramatic effect, her father suggests. 

"Probably to express the point a bit" said Kershaw senior, who revealed that his daughter recently shot some "big brand" international fashion work, details of which he said he was unable to divulge due to confidentiality obligations.  

Beyond the ankle and knee injuries - and quite possibly a contributing factor to both - there is another excellent reason why Kershaw may have experienced more problems than most other models whilst trying to fit into shoes for runway shows. 

As we revealed earlier this year, according to rock solid agency sources close to Kershaw, she takes an Australian size 13 shoe (US 14.5), which potentially means she has one of the biggest shoe sizes in the modelling business - if not the biggest.