Hailey Clauson was 14 when she posed for this shot, but apparently only some of her more recent work is "blatantly salacious"

kava gorna

Another day, another tabloid scandal involving controversial fashion images of an underage model. On Friday The New York Post broke the news that American Hailey Clauson has commenced proceedings in the New York federal court against American photographer Jason Lee Parry and three US retailers, including the US streetwear chain Urban Outfitters, over the sale of merchandise featuring sexually provocative images of Clauson that were shot by Parry when Clauson was 15. Clauson, who turned 16 in March this year - and last December, told New York magazine that she still sleeps with her baby blanket - is seeking US$28million in damages. Court papers claim that although Clauson’s representation at the time, New York’s Ford Models, obtained an assurance from Parry that the images would not be published, the shots were subsequently published in Germany’s Qvest magazine and several of the images later appeared on T-shirts and other merchandise, all without Clauson’s consent. The court papers allege that “She is posed in a blatantly salacious manner with her legs spread, without a bra, revealing portions of her breasts. The image of Teen in a spread eagle position making her crotch area the focal point of the image may portray a child in a sexually suggestive manner and may be in violation of one or more federal and/or state laws”. But are we talking about the louche image, above, of Clauson with her legs spread? No. Below is the image in question in the New York federal court case, which also references another Parry shot in which Clauson is holding a six-pack of beer.

LOVE in the time of dysmorphia

Frockwriter thought it seemed a little odd that Britain's Love magazine removed last Tuesday's shot of Australasian model Catherine McNeil from its Twitter feed. Originally published on the Condé Nast-owned magazine's TwitPic account (a photo hosting service connected to Twitter), together with the caption "Catherine McNeil is back!", the Tweet was nowhere to be found on Thursday. Coincidentally, earlier that day, we had published the original - apparently unretouched - series of digital shots of McNeil that were taken by McNeil's New York agency, Ford Models - and which had been supplied to Love earlier in the week. But while the shot slipped off Love's Twitter feed, the image had already been reposted by several web forums and blogs, including frockwriter and remains cached on Google images. Oh, and Love also neglected to remove it from the magazine's separate TwitPic feed. What's problematic about this shot? Could it have anything to do with the fact that a quick comparison of the two images suggests some Photoshop magic has been worked on McNeil's left arm? The version published by Love is on the left, above, with the original on the right. 

"Catherine McNeil is iconic for her generation" - Doll Wright

ford models

Well at least one mystery has been solved regarding Catherine McNeil - one of Australia's best-known modelling exports who has been on a bit of a self-imposed career hiatus for much of the past year and who, as it now emerges, also boasts New Zealand citizenship and travels on a Kiwi passport. The photo of McNeil that was Tweeted two days ago by Britain's Love magazine, together with the caption "Catherine McNeil is back!", was not part of any upcoming photoshoot for the magazine, but one of a handful of new digital shots of McNeil that have just been taken by McNeil's new New York management, Ford Models (curiously, the shot appears to have now been removed by Love). Here are the rest, supplied by Ford, which contacted us overnight for a little damage control, presumably not terribly happy with Timo Weiland's unfortunate Twitter shot of McNeil that we published yesterday. But while Love has yet to book her, newly-minted Ford Models agent Doll Wright tells frockwriter that McNeil has just shot 25 pages with a major photographer for a major international fashion title. 

Catherine McNeil is a Kiwi

timo weiland's twitter

Catherine McNeil is one of Australia's best-known modelling exports. The winner of the 2003 Girlfriend Model Search, at age 14, McNeil debuted on models.com's prestigious Top 50 Women list at number 26 in early 2007, the year her international career was springboarded via covers of both Vogue Paris and the American V Magazine. But who knew McNeil also had New Zealand citizenship? Apparently not even some in her Australian mother agency, Chic Management, until frockwriter's phone call this afternoon enquiring about an image of McNeil that was just taken by New York-based designer Timo Weiland and published on Twitter. In the rather unflattering shot, a cigarette dangling from her lips, McNeil is holding what looks to be a bottle of Corona beer in one hand and a New Zealand passport in the other. The Brisbane suburb of Coopers Plains is clearly stated as her place of birth, which would give McNeil automatic Australian citizenship by birthright - although that said, due to changes to Australia's citizenship legislation in 1986, only if one parent was an Australian citizen or had permanent residency. According to Chic Management, McNeil's maternal grandmother is a Kiwi and McNeil's mother spent many years living in New Zealand. We await further information.  

Gail Elliott rocks it out for Little Joe's Sydney debut

Great runway debut earlier today from British model-turned-designer Gail Elliott. For anyone who is wondering why Elliott chose Sydney for the runway launch of her Little Joe line (which is not new - it's just the first time Elliott has shown it at RAFW), she is married to an Australian, her business partner Joe Coffey, her business is headquartered here and the couple spend much of the year in Sydney. Elliott launched her label with lingerie, moving into ready-to-wear after a couple of seasons. At first, I found myself making a mental note that Elliott could perhaps have left a few pieces in the showroom. Editing for the runway is often an acquired skill: every runway piece needs to sing and buyers can see the more commercial pieces upon appointment. But as the collection moved forward, set to a high energy 70s rock soundtrack, the looks got stronger. The cuffed khaki silk combats and harem pants and soft military jackets over maxi skirts lent a utility feel. But the pretty slip dresses and a knockout series of tiered maxi dresses had boho de luxe written all over the them ("sex on the beach in Ibiza" is the first thing that sprang to mind on Twitter). Click here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of the show. And here are two videos - the final walkthrough and a quick backstage chat with Elliott afterwards. To keep track of my Twitter coverage on the spot, here is my Twitter feed. And here is my Facebook page, where everything is aggregated.

Stolen generation

A really quick post to clock the awesomeness that was tonight's 'Welcome to Nowhere' show from Stolen Girlfriends Club. The last show that I saw from this Auckland hipster collective was last year. And while it was well-styled, with a massive turnout, the distressed jeans, cutoff shorts and graphic T-shirts just, well, didn't really seem to have that much of a point of difference to every other jeans-and-t-shirts outfit on the market. Not so this new collection, which seemed to be three parts Little House on the Prairie, one part The Clan of the Cave Bear, with nary a pair of jeans in sight. In their place, some extremely cute, chunky cable knitwear, charming Liberty print western shirts - some with gold pyramid studding - a suite of sweet dresses, including sexy knit singlets and some faux fur chubbies, such as the mulberry version sported by NZ It girl Zippora Seven.

The cast also included rising NZ male modelling star Levi Clarke, who was still 16 in May last year when he starred alongside Seven - also 16 at the time - in a controversial RUSSH magazine editorial. The magazine's depiction of underage models, alcohol and implied sexual activity prompted an investigation by the Australian Classification Board. The matter was eventually dropped.

As frockwriter walked through to backstage, to spot alcohol laid on pre-show, we wondered just how many under-18s might have been on deck. One male model boasted that he had consumed four Steinlagers.

Apologies for the lack of posts from Auckland. I am doing some coverage via Twitter, but sadly that is restricted to the wifi-enabled on-site shows (I was not sufficiently well-organised to sort out a suitable, and cost-effective, off-site alternative).

I am also doing a photo diary for one publication and a city guide for another and find myself extremely short of time. Will post more in the days to come.

Jessica Gomes turns up the Swim Fashion Week heat

sports illustrated

They might be freezing in New York as the Fall/Winter 0910 season gets underway, but coming up very quickly in this neck of the fashion woods is the first edition of Australia’s first highend, swimwear-dedicated showcase, Swim Fashion Week. The event will run from February 25-28 at luxury Gold Coast resort Sanctuary Cove and sure to change its buzz quotient is the news that organiser IMG is bringing one of its hottest swimwear models down to the Swim Fashion Week runways: Perth native Jessica Gomes. Making the annual Sports Illustrated swimwear issue for the second time this week in the US, and the co-star of Sean Combs’ controversial tvc for the 2007 fragrance Unforgivable – which was censored in the US, but later screened in the UK, after 9.00pm - Gomes has been relatively low profile in her home market. But Gomes is not the only Australian IMG girl who’ll be doing the show. Joining her on next week's runways will be 17 year-old Kendal Schuler from Cairns.


img

Repped by Chadwicks in Sydney since August 2008, Schuler (pictured above) has been modelling for several years with the Brisbane-based agency Tamblyn.

Schuler took out the 'International Model of the Year' award at Tamblyn's Young Model Discovery Quest in Brisbane in 2007. Scouted by IMG, the world's biggest model agency, she joined the company's New York Development board late last year.

In other SFW news, high profile Australian swimwear label Jets, in addition to Hong Kong swimwear label Amandarling, have now joined the schedule - which frockwriter blogged a fortnight ago.

Here is Gomes in the Sean Combs Unforgivable video FYI:

Unforgivable

River Phoenix lookalike model dies. Eight weeks later, now we know why

models.com

A sad – and some might say inevitable – conclusion to the story of 20 year-old American fashion model Randy Johnston, a former Dior Homme advertising star, who died in mysterious circumstances on October 11. Beyond web gossip - which included numerous anonymous comments left on this blog, which I was unable to put up at the time - no official cause of death has hitherto been provided. And there was good reason for that: the Medical Examiner in Hartford, Connecticut, which was Johnston’s home state and the location of his death, took some time to release its findings. Eight weeks later, frockwriter can reveal the Hartford Medical Examiner’s verdict: accidental heroin toxicity. Yes, aspiring musician Randy Johnston died from a heroin OD, just like his hero Sid Vicious - the person he told models.com he would most like to meet. Contrary to the rife net speculation that Johnston overdosed at a “Ford party” however – which, needless to say, would have been extremely awkward for Ford Models, the agency which repped Johnston at the time of his death – according to the New London Police Department, Johnston was found at “a friend’s house” at Bank Street, New London. Although the case is now officially closed, it does beg a few questions.

According to Captain William Dittman, the head of investigations at the New London Police Department, Johnston died at 5.47pm on Saturday 11 October.

Johnston was found on a couch. It is possible, said Dittman, that Johnston and friends were at another location beforehand.

However Dittman’s department believes that Johnston is most likely to have overdosed at the Bank Street house, then fell asleep and simply never woke up.

The New London Police Department has ruled that there are no suspicious circumstances.

Two other parties were present and a small amount of heroin was found on the premises. Neither Johnston nor the other parties, were known to the New London Police.

According to postings by web forum users claiming to be Johnston’s friends, the 20 year-old had been struggling with a heroin problem for some time.

At the time of Johnston's death, a LiveJournal poster who goes by the handle “amandar057” noted:

“he had stopped modeling spring 2007 and came home, did not work, and just spent all of his money on heroin”.

According to “Chump”, who claims to have been one of Johnston’s best friends while growing up:

“Randy was a great person...that succumbed to drugs, to those who want to know. It isn't slander, he really had a problem that everyone that knew him tried to help him with....

“PS: Fuck the modeling industry for introducing him to the nice little coke parties held up in modeling houses. You fucking assholes need to keep in check what your EMPLOYEES are doing to keep themselves looking that slender”.

Drug-related deaths are of course not uncommon – and occur in all walks of life.

What seems odd in this case, is that Johnston appeared to be continuing to enjoy a high profile modelling career at the time of his death, with a fresh editorial in Britain’s i-D magazine, starring opposite top Dutch model Lara Stone, along with other work.

If Johnston had a heroin problem, it seems strange that one of the world’s biggest model agencies continued to trot him out for work.

Did the agency know?

Did it not know?

Did it care?

Frockwriter has sought comment from Ford Models on several occasions, to no avail.

However earlier this morning, we did finally manage to get through to a spokesperson by the name of Lauren Harris, who noted:

“Ford is not commenting on anything”.

It's little wonder that Ford won't be drawn on the subject. A heroin overdose is not great for business - particularly anyone involved in the image-conscious fashion business.

But that’s a business, curiously, which glamourises drug use.

From junkie Amy Winehouse, a recent muse of Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel and Guess? Jeans, to junkie Pete Doherty, the erstwhile inspirational muse of former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane - who revolutionised the menswear market with his über skinny silhouette, which many have dubbed “heroin chic”.

And not forgetting Kate Moss, whose earnings doubled after the so-called Cocaine Kate scandal, in which Moss was photographed snorting cocaine with her then boyfriend Doherty.

Yes, drugs are fashionable.

Tell that to Randy Johnston’s parents.

Randy Johnston: Life imitates art

screen grab from 'the septemberists'/anthony goicolea

Another twenty-four hours has passed since the news broke of last Saturday's death of 20 year-old American model Randy Johnston and still no official word on the exact circumstances. Frockwriter has contacted Ford Models, with as yet no reply. As Johnston's family gathers in his home town to pay their last respects, here is an excerpt from the short film that I mentioned yesterday, in which Johnston plays a morbid cameo role. In a coffin. Shot two years ago by Brooklyn-based artist Anthony Goicolea and presented in its original 30-minute version at Thom Browne's Spring/Summer 2007 presentation, the film has suddenly reemerged on high rotation as a disquieting eulogy to the tragic young fashion star.

UPDATE 10/12/08: RIVER PHOENIX LOOKALIKE MODEL DIES. EIGHT WEEKS LATER, NOW WE KNOW WHY.

Called The Septemberists, according to Goicolea's website, the film:

"chronicles the preparations and processes associated with traditional religious ceremonies. A group of boys harvests materials in a dream-like landscape in order to construct the clothing and elements necessary to enact a series of semi-sacrificial rites of passage. Taking inspiration from Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," the musical score becomes a substitute for dialogue.... In the final scenes, a first communion, wedding and funeral blend together and culminate as a make shift wooden coffin is rowed down stream and crosses paths with a baptismal ceremony."

Johnston was cast in the starring role of the funeral scene.

Here's the video.

Vicious circle

randy johnston via ontd

Yes well if it wasn’t patently obvious that there was more to the story of the sudden, tragic death of 20 year-old model Randy Johnston than was reported by Ford Models on Tuesday New York time, it has not taken long for the chatter to surface.

UPDATE 10/12/08: RIVER PHOENIX LOOKALIKE MODEL DIES. EIGHT WEEKS LATER, NOW WE KNOW WHY.


According to several posters in one web forum who claim to be Johnston’s friends, Johnston died at a party on Saturday night.

Died from what exactly?

In the absence of any kind of official statement or comment from Johnston's agency Ford Models or from his parents, who will now have to contend with not only burying their son but press scrutiny, frockwriter is not going to repeat the claims.

We have sought comment from Ford and will keep you posted.

What we will say however is that although Johnstons’ poor grieving parents are not public figures, the very nature of the career which Johnston pursued in life dictates that even in death, he is.

And while model agencies crank up their models’ profiles in order to get buzz going - ultimately for commercial gain - it’s a little hard to just switch that interest off when it doesn’t suit them and the news is bad.

As reported by frockwriter earlier today, Johnston's obituary details in one local newspaper did seem ambiguous.

The obit reported that, following school, Johnston had “pursued a path unfamiliar to many he knew” and that he had worked hard “in a high pressure industry”.

Also as reported by frockwriter, Johnston admired Sid Vicious - telling models.com that the late Sex Pistols bass player was the person he would most like to meet.

Sid Vicious died from a heroin overdose in 1979 at the age of 21.

What a role model.

River Phoenix lookalike model dies. Four days later still no explanation

randy johnston/nicola formichetti

Sad to hear the news about the passing of 20 year-old American model Randy Johnston who, it emerges, died on October 11. Four days later, the circumstances of his death have yet to be clarified.
UPDATE 10/12/08: RIVER PHOENIX LOOKALIKE MODEL DIES. EIGHT WEEKS LATER, NOW WE KNOW WHY.

The news appears to have been broken by Johnston’s agency, Ford Models, which has a tribute on its website. And has since trickled through on the web via various forums, including Fashionologie, ONTD, COACD, The Fashion Spot and New York mag's The Cut blog.

The only hard details to surface so far are apparently the only ones that really count to the fashion industry: Johnston once worked for Dior Homme and is in the current edition of i-D magazine, with his hands down the knickers of Lara Stone. And that he once appeared in a video for the Thom Browne menswear label, lying in a coffin.

Given tomorrow’s viewing at the Lester Gee Funeral Home in New London, unfortunately the latter looks to have been a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[UPDATE 3.07PM Equally morbid (as Isaac Hindin Miller has just pointed out to me) is the fact that Johnston, who played in several bands, once told models.com that the person he would most like to meet is Sid Vicious - the Sex Pistols bass player who died of a heroin overdose in 1979].

An obituary in The Norwich Bulletin provides ambiguous details:

“After high school, Randy pursued a path unfamiliar to many he knew. He sought after, and achieved, success as a high fashion model with Ford Models Europe and New York City. Although his time was brief, he worked hard to promote his personal success in a high pressure industry”.

Although it goes without saying that 20 year-olds just don’t drop dead for no good reason - this has in fact gone without saying.

Leading frockwriter to speculate that the circumstances of Johnston’s death may have been neither tragically accidental – nor due to some hitherto undetected medical condition.

It's a sad story, whatever the circumstances.

And it's at least the third sad story this year involving a successful young entertainment/modelling industry figure.

RIP

Miranda de Saint-Exupéry?

backstage @ victoria's secret 2007/cbs


We know that God works in mysterious ways. And apparently some of them are courtesy Victoria’s Secret. Yep, as we gear up for the world’s biggest brassiere-fest on November 15, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show - and as one of its stars, homegrown Miranda Kerr, wings her way to Oz to put in a David Jones marquee appearance at Saturday’s Caulfield Cup - the Victoria’s Secret Angel has been hard at work administering some inspirational quotations to her flock of fans. Nice to see that Kerr takes an equal opportunity approach to quotation – even if she occasionally neglects citation.

On the Miranda Kerr section of the Fashion Model Talk web forum (via TFS), appears a discussion thread dedicated to Kerr’s postings.

One assumes these are genuine Kerr postings because the thread also happens to be linked to what looks to be the official Miranda Kerr website.

Kerr has been providing fans with a few headsups about her various activities – and likes to close each post with what she describes as some of her favourite quotes.

These include, on June 11, Rudyard Kipling’s:

"People say we are all seeking the meaning of life.... I think what we are really seeking is the experience of really being alive".

And on July 7, from peace activist Marianne Williamson:

"Our fear is not that we are inadequate, our fear is that we are more powerful than beyond belief, it is our light not our darkness that frightens us”.

The origins of some of Kerr’s other signoff quotes are however not quite so clear cut.

On May 8, Kerr left her readers with the unattributed gem:

"It is nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice".

Upon some digging, frockwriter estimates the quote is the work of the late investment analyst and philanthropist John Templeton.

Also unattributed is this quote from October 8:

"It is only with our hearts and souls not our eyes that we can see our way clearly".

Frockwriter would put money on this being a Kerr-ific interpretation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s famous line from Le Petit Prince:

“It is only with the heart that one may see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye”.

And not forgetting, on May 14, the lovely, but sadly similarly unattributed:

"In order to see a rainbow, at first a little rain must fall".

Frockwriter looked high and low for the origins of the latter gem – assuming for a nanosecond that it may in fact have been a genuine Kerr-ism.

Upon further investigation however, we do believe it may be a version of the following widely-circulated quote:

“If you want the rainbow sometimes you gotta put up with the rain”

Which is believed to hail from the erudite teachings of Dolly Parton.

Where's Abbey Lee? Apparently in the need of a little TLC!

abbey lee kershaw, alexander mcqueen SS09/getty


Well if the heels don't get you - the corsets will. According to an eyewitness report, three weeks after Abbey lee Kershaw came a cropper at Rodarte due to the show's Nicholas Kirkwood shoes, Kershaw finished off Friday night's Alexander McQueen show in Paris not falling, but in fact fainting on the runway - a combination, in their opinion, of the tight corset and perilously high heels she was wearing.

According to photographer Sonny Vandevelde, who was photographing the show from the auditorium and not backstage, as usual, Kershaw fell just as she was about to exit McQueen's 'runway' space - the bare concrete floor of a venue in the 19th arrondissement.


kershaw just prior to falling/sonny vandevelde

To add to the absurdity of the moment, McQueen had decorated the runway backdrop with a number of plush toy animals [correction, stuffed animals] - and made his bow at the end of the show in a giant rabbit suit.


kershaw's mqueen corset from behind/getty

"She fainted - out cold" said Vandevelde.

"When she was coming to the end [of the runway], back near the [entrance] ramp, I could tell she was having difficulties, because her steps were getting shorter and shorter, they were more like baby steps. I was reading her face and I could see 'struggle' all over it and I was thinking, 'She's not going to make it'. But then she made it to the top of the animals and I thought she was OK, that's why I turned my back on her to to go back to the main room.

"As soon as the show finished, [model] Ali Stephens came running out to her mother to say, 'OMG, did you see that?' - she said Abbey had fainted. I asked if Abbey was OK, Ali said 'Yes, she's fine - the corset was too tight. But she's OK now'"

According to Vandevelde Kershaw was helped backstage by two members of McQueen's production crew and did not walk in the finale.

Stephanie Carta: Even Raf Simons thinks camilla & marc are cool

balenciaga SS09/catwalking via tfs


After a brief industry hiatus, Stephanie Carta popped up on the international modelling radar earlier this year as no less than the only Australian in Balenciaga’s FW0809 show. Following SS09 shows in New York, London and Milan, Carta continues her ascent in Paris bagging, among other names this week, Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten and Givenchy. In this video interview just shot by Fashionlab, Carta talks about April's skinny model furore at Australian Fashion Week, her Australian designer mates and her slow-but-steady career strategy.

Fashionlab shot that amusing Sonny Vandevelde video that I posted on Saturday (and thanks Sunster for the headsup on Carta). It’s a project of the Nokia Trends Lab and the quality of the video is quite remarkable – for what one assumes is a mobile phone.

Just to clarify I have no commercial connections whatsoever to Nokia.

Can anyone ID the Australian interviewer?

In the iv Carta talks about the controversy in which she found herself embroiled in Sydney in April – when her agency, then Chic Management, famously pulled her off Michelle Jank’s runway because she was considered too skinny, only to reinstate her the following morning for camilla & marc.

Carta tells Fashionlab:

“I don’t know why they targeted me. Maybe because I’m a local model. So many models were brought into Australia that were skinnier than me....everybody in Australia is looking at me now, but when you come here and look at everybody...”

A few other bits and pieces mentioned by Carta in the iv include:

1. Dan Single scoring some "guest hosting UK tv gig" (beyond vogue.co.uk?).
2. A designer friend Nathan (we assume Smith) is planning to move to Paris.
3. “Collette Dinnigan doesn’t interest me”
4. Carta wore a pair of camilla & marc “tights” to castings (possibly the two-tone Jacoba Pant) and reports she was stopped not only by models, but even Jil Sander designer Raf Simons, asking who made them. She says she was also snapped in them by The New York Times.

Of the new model influx this season, notes Carta:

"The girls are coming around so fast now it seems. Everybody’s new. It’s everybody’s first season it seems. Everyone’s doing 20 million shows at once. And they’ll probably be like, nobody, tomorrow. I'm in it for the long run”.

Here's the vid:


fashionlab

Balenciaga bullet Myf Shepherd and her runway "zen"

myf shepherd, balenciaga SS09/style.it

Yes, she bagged Balenciaga as well. Is there anything that Australia's latest modelling sensation, 17 year-old BrisVegan Myf Shepherd, can't do? Modelling since February, famously snubbed by Australia's Next Top Model, Shepherd hit the ground running at Australian Fashion Week in April and basically has not stopped. Venturing into uncharted Australian modelling territory in her first international runway season, she has notched up a raft of blue chip brand name shows, from Marc Jacobs to Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Christian Dior and Balenciaga. I managed to grab a quick chat with Shepherd 20 minutes ago as she tore out of Balenciaga en route to a fitting for..........Chanel.





balenciaga SS09/style.it

Click here to see the complete Balenciaga collection on style.it.

What an amazing ride these past few weeks must have been. How the hell are you?
Myf Shepherd: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha [keeps laughing]. Ridiculous!

Ridiculous?
I don't know, it's just so crazy. And I feel like I'm out of my body at the moment.

Has there been a particular highlight so far, or has it all been a blur?
Well I just did Balenciaga, that was pretty amazing.

How was Balenciaga?
It was so cool. The clothes were really incredible. And we get trade for it. So I'm going to try and get some now.

What was the collection like?
It reminded me of Power Rangers in the 90s. It was really futuristic and very structured. Everything seems to be structured.

What kind of styling?
The hair was just a plain ponytail. They bleached our eyebrows. Natural makeup. It was very 'alien'.

Were you the only Australian girl?
No Stephie Carta was in it too.

How about Nick Cave's son Jethro? Reportedly he auditioned.
Jethro - yes I talked to him. He was cool.

There was a huge amount of hype about you in New York going into the season. Sometimes that can backfire. Did you feel there was a lot of pressure on you beforehand?
Well I didn't even realise. Then my booker said one day, 'Hey there are these websites which wrote articles about you'. And it was kind of weird. I feel like it was a different person, not me.

When did you suddenly twig - 'Oh, hang on, it's actually happening'?
I don't think it's really hit yet. Probably once I get home and go back to my normal life, and do my exams. I'll be like, 'Oh wow, I was just in fashion week'.


shepherd backstage @ fendi SS09/style.it

Fashion month you mean! But there are always a lot of shows every season. You have not only done a lot of shows, but a lot of very big names.
After the Marc Jacobs show I said to my mum, 'I don't care if I never walk another show again. I walked Marc Jacobs'.

Did you receive any advice from other models going in such as Catherine McNeil or Abbey Lee Kershaw?
No, not really. It's just kind of been thrown in there. I've got someone coming around with me who's been amazing, a big help.

So how does the reality of the international modelling scene compare to how you imagined it? What surprised you the most?
That everyone is actually quite nice most of the time.

You didn't expect that?
I just know about the fashion industry from the movies and stuff, where everyone is just a bitch.

And you haven't encountered any of that?
No, not at all. Certainly not the girls. The girls are so nice.

Were you disappointed at the time by the ANTM thing?
By the time I found out it was about a month after the auditions so I had kind of forgotten about it.

When did you audition?
I think it was in November last year.


shepherd backstage @ nina ricci SS09/style.it

I mean it's really kind of ludicrous to think that a/you were overlooked in the first place. And b/that had you not been overlooked, you might have been distracted by all that and missed out on this.
Yeah I know. I think it's funny that Alice, who won last season, was in the Marc Jacobs show with me.

How about the fatigue? Many people think modelling is an easy, glamorous job which just entails walking up and down a runway. They don't realise you guys are there until often the early hours doing castings and fittings, only to have to get up at 6am for hair & makeup calls.
I was at Balenciaga until 1am this morning and then had to be back there at 5am.

So how much sleep are you getting?
When I can, I get like 10 hours, but that's not very often.

How has your family reacted?
They're looking on the internet. They find out stuff before I do sometimes. They're like 'Oh did you know that you're doing Ferré?' And I'm like, 'Oh, OK - cool!' I talk to my parents every single day for like an hour.

Any funny anecdotes - particularly surreal scenes?
This was the second time today that I'd had my eyebrows bleached. They bleached them at Marc Jacobs, for an hour and they were still orange, so they had to cover them up with makeup. And then I was wearing a hat and sunglasses [on the runway]. And then one time on the street in New York, I was at some Pride Week festival. I was standing there and this guy comes over to me and says, 'Oh my gosh, Myf!'. And I was like, 'Hi!'. And he goes, 'I'm a really big fan!'. And this was at the stage when I'd really done nothing and I was like, 'Wow - what of? My two test shoots? Thank you!'.

Tell me about the shoes. They have emerged as quite a big story this season. Karlie Kloss was quoted somewhere saying she said a little prayer before Prada.
Well I think the Prada shoes were the worst. I think there were like four stacks in that show.

How scary are they to actually walk in?
They are... I don't know. My mind kind of goes very blank and zen when I'm on the runway. I don't even really think about them. I think if you do think about them then it starts to show on your face and you start pulling some weird ones.

What is the biggest thing that you have learned over the past month?
That everyone wants something different. So, just trying to fit into what they want as much as you can.

What did Balenciaga want?
They wanted very 'androgynous'.

How do you act androgynous?
Don't be too sexy.

You're coming back to Australia to finish your HSC aren't you? You're probably going to wake up one morning and think, 'Was that all just some mad dream?'
Yeah I think that's probably what's going to happen. But when I get back I've only got about three more weeks of school and it's just all exams, exams, exams. And I've been studying while I've been over here and have done some assignments. I'm still getting good marks.

Which other shows will you be doing this week beyond Chanel?
I don't find out until the second I get to the hair and makeup chair.

What's next? Presumably you'll be leaving Australia.
Once I finish my exams, I think so. But that's another thing. You can't really plan more than two weeks in advance. Or more than two hours in advance sometimes.

What's the first thing that you're going to do once the shows are over and you are back in Australia?
See my best friend. I'm going to go and have dinner with my booker and everything. But when I get back to Brisbane I'm going to go and see my friends, because I haven't seen them in way too long.

And how long will it be before you put on another pair of stilettos do you think?
Oh at least a month.

Isn't Miuccia Prada supposed to be a feminist?

Have a look at the poor model in this video. Yes it’s from Prada, prompting one fashionwatcher (tks Bianca) to suggest, “This is worse than Yulia’s”. This refers of course to the spectacular Prada runway stack, on Tuesday, of up-and-coming Russian model, Yulia Kharlapanova - who has emerged from her sophomore runway season an inadvertent poster victim of fashion misogyny.

Kharlapanova was one of several girls who fell during Prada.

Unlike the others however - and indeed, Abbey Lee Kershaw at New York’s Rodarte show earlier in the month - Kharlapanova conveniently fell in full view of the photographers’ pit and the images went all around the world:


sky

Rodarte and Prada are just two of many runway shows in which models have either stumbled, or fallen, this season.

Yesterday veteran Angela Lindvall, who has been modelling for 12 years, fell twice in the space of five minutes at Pucci.

Lindvall told The UK Telegraph:

"I feel so embarrassed. I've never fallen before and now I go and do it twice in the same show. I don't think the platform soles were balanced properly."

But while many continue to claim that a cabal of gay men rule the fashion world, both the Prada and Rodarte brands, curiously, are designed by women.

One of them – Miuccia Prada – is a political science graduate, a former member of Italy’s Communist Party and a self-avowed feminist, who told The Independent in 2004:

"You know, I had to have a lot of courage to do fashion, because in theory it was the least feminist work possible - and at that time, in the late Seventies, that was very complicated for me. Of course, I liked it a lot but I also wanted to do something more useful."

Like designing crippling shoes for women in which they risk breaking not only their ankles, but their necks?

If Prada’s femdar appears to be in need of a little calibration these days – then let’s hope that at least her public liability policy is up to date.

Prada's new supernova?

img

For anyone wondering why Olivia O’Driscoll did not turn up in New York this week, there’s a good explanation. The 17 year-old Kiwi who frockwriter profiled in July, could be about to do a Gemma Ward and walk for Prada and Miu Miu.

According to The Dominion Post, O’Driscoll flies to Paris today and “could” be booked for a Prada/Miu Miu exclusive – which means she’ll miss next week’s New Zealand Fashion Week, which kicks off on Tuesday.

However as O'Driscoll's agent, Caroline Barron of Auckland’s Nova Models, told the paper:

“Financially, it was a no-brainer. It is really frustrating because everyone here wants to use her and I feel really embarrassed as NZ Fashion Week is really important to us, but it is important that Olivia is in Paris.”

Prada is headquartered in Milan and the company’s casting director Russell Marsh is reportedly London-based.

Dubbed ‘the model maker’, Marsh is credited with launching the careers of, among others, erstwhile world number one ranked models Gemma Ward and Daria Werbowy and the current world number two, Sasha Pivovarova.

Ward’s international career was launched in September 2003, when she flew to Milan for a Prada and Miu Miu exclusive for the SS04 season.

Earlier this year Marsh was embroiled in a bribery brouhaha, when he was accused of accepting sweeteners from the IMG and Women agencies to place those agencies’ models in Prada’s shows – prompting a rebuttal from IMG.

O’Driscoll is represented internationally by IMG.

But there are of course no guarantees. According to the well-placed modelling sources at The Fashion Spot web forum, O’Driscoll is merely “on hold” for Prada.

Rumours that Australia’s Myf Shepherd is also a Prada possibility might have been quelled by Shepherd’s omnipresence at New York Fashion Week. According to Shepherd’s Australian agent Kathy Ward, Shepherd walked in at least 12 New York shows. Prada tends to like to unearth new talent.

But Shepherd is tipped to do very well in Europe notwithstanding.

Black eyes, busted ribs and cockroaches: Alice Burdeu blogs it like it is from the frontline

burdeu at marc jacobs, sep 8/style.com

You thought Abbey Lee Kershaw’s stiletto stack was tough chic? Well just listen to Alice Burdeu, who is enjoying a guest stint this week blogging for the website of US Paper Magazine. And she’s telling it like it is – which is unlikely to impress the powers-that-be at her agency Elite, who probably thought the stint would be one great big fabulous plug. The Australia’s Next Top Model model house sounds like Trump Tower compared to Burdeu’s New York Fashion Week digs.

In Burdeu’s first post, dated September 9, she shares her personal theory about Fashion Week:

“It’s similar to one I’ve heard from many women about child birth. That if you truly remembered the pain and agony of labor you’d never do it again".

In the same post she mentions a recent run-in with a messenger bike at a casting, out of which Burdeu has apparently gained a lot of mileage:

“I entertain many, as I re-tell and describe my disgusting, bloody swollen eye, possible unsuspected broken/damaged rib over and over again during the long wait at a certain cattle call casting...”

In her latest post from yesterday, Burdeu calls male models “ego-driven bastards”, reports that she has lost one toenail due to the high heels and describes the less-than-plush conditions in which she is living.

“I’m in luck -- I have my bed to myself!” notes Burdeu, who goes on to report:

“By the time I get home I am exhausted as are the 11 other girls I’m currently living with. Cockroaches are the number one topic of conversation. A couple of girls are actually clinically phobic over them but to be honest, I couldn’t care less! As long as they don’t sleep in my bed. I’m Australian and there are far worse creatures you could be living with… just go camping in my home country!!”

Gee whiz, it sounds like Elite really looks after its girls.

An Oz model trifecta at Marc Jacobs - and one of them is pushing 40

storm models

It’s mind-boggling trying to keep up with the Australian models in New York. Just when you think you have a handle on who is breaking into the international scene, comes news of a totally unsung new heroine – or indeed a veteran who, having long since hung up her stilettos, has just decided to return to the main game in her mid-late 30s. Arguably the biggest Australian modelling story to date of New York Fashion Week is that the Marc Jacobs show, which wrapped a short time ago, featured not one but three Australian models: Myf Shepherd, Alice Burdeu and 90s superwaif Emma Balfour.



balfour at marc jacobs, sep 8/style.com

The mother of two has just decided to resume modelling. According to her Australian agent Priscilla Leighton-Clarke, who spoke to Balfour backstage at Jacobs, she is attempting to reboot her career this week with the Jacobs and Alexander Wang shows.


balfour at alexander wang, sep 6/style.com

Stand by to see whether any other iconic 90s models also pop up in Jacobs’ show - which started at 9.15pm, according to our backstage sources, just 15 minutes after the scheduled start time.

As set by Jacobs at the Louis Vuitton SS08 show in Paris last October, the return to older, iconic models is certainly a fashion trend with legs, with several big name 80s/90s models such as Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington enjoying a raft of recent high profile advertising campaigns, including YSL and Prada.

And not before time many would argue - even the agents themselves.

“Modelling does really need to go across the ages a bit” Leighton-Clarke told me. “It’s all very well having these young girls, that’s great, that’s where new models starts. But I think with the likes of Emma Balfour, Kate Moss, Linda Evangelista, Naomi... It’s absolutely terrific that these girls are still working because women can relate to them".

She added, "We had such an incredible reaction from Elite in New York [when they mentioned Balfour wanted to work again]. We encouraged her, it wasn’t something that was foremost on her mind. But she’s delighted that she has landed in New York a week ago and all this is happening for her now”.

More model blogger reports: Marc Jacobs pays in "trade", Undercover is "racist"

daul kim at alexander mcqueen, paris october 07


Eight hours to go before the Big One (Marc Jacobs) and still Canadian model Simona McIntyre hasn’t spilled any beans about the collection, in spite of having been back to the studio for fittings. Yesterday she did however provide some shots of “The Closet” - a vast repository of samples past from which, according to McIntyre, Jacobs pays models via what is known in the biz as “trade”. Many designers do this. It’s just a damned shame of course that more landlords don’t accept cone heels as rent. Meanwhile news emerges of yet another model blogger: Korean supe Daul Kim.

Kim has been blogging since April 2007 via the hilariously-titled I Like To Fork Myself.

Kim signs herself “Daulmonster” and her signature post signon is “Say hi to....”

She sounds pretty cool and unpretentious and is interested in the horror film genre (an interest I share), paints and writes poetry.

Kim often talks about being homesick and some of the writing is in fact quite dark. So dark, that Kim felt the need to defend herself at one point, denying that she’s either depressed or suicidal.

This appears to have been in response to some kind of reaction to her writings/comments back home in Korea.

The social commentary is quite biting at times and in one case she doesn't pull any punches in naming a fashion brand with which she has issues.

Kim claims she was turned away from a SS08 casting by the Undercover brand last year.

And look, while I'm sure Undercover would vehemently deny that there is any issue at all here, if you check the style.com shots of the show in question, there does not in fact appear to be one single Asian or black face on its SS08 runway.

This is interesting vis-a-vis the current lack-of-runway-diversity debate for two reasons.

Firstly, Undercover’s all-white runway is in fact whiter than many of the other shows which have come under scrutiny recently over their negligible Asian or black casting.

Secondly, Undercover might show in Paris however it’s not a western brand. It's Japanese.

In this post from 25th October last year titled “Say hi to racist person at Undercover”, Kim wrote:

“sometimes ASIAN people are more racist to
OTHER ASIANS

like...

THIS JAPANESE BRAND called UNDERCOVER

i was a big fan of jun [Takahashi – the designer] really, i love when he did the issue for A magazine
its my fav A magazine and it was awesome

but i never knew they were SO RACIST
well i hope that not everyones like that at undercover.

i go to the casting because they REQUSTED me and then i go and
a japanese girl who works there sees me and says WORD TO WORD

‘SORRY WE ARE ONLY CASTING WHITE GIRLS’

and waved her hand on her face

I AM SHOCKED.

REALLY, does it sell better if u use no asians/blacks on the runway?

are you guys saying that being white is cooler and more "fashion"

than being asian or black?

so ridiculous...”

I remember Daul Kim well because when I was backstage after the Alexander McQueen SS08 show in Paris last October, camera in hand, she was one of many models still back there for up to a hour afterwards, attempting to extricate hair extensions.

Looking up at me as I walked past, through still wildly-teased hair that partially obscured her face, she gave me her best Ringu impersonation:



Kim some time later, ready to go home: