Prince Charles to meet Australian fashion royalty - and some sheep

via the clitheroe advertiser

Now that Andrej Pejic has met the Queen, it’s only fitting that some other members of the Australian fashion flock get to mingle with the Royals. If you didn’t already know by now, Their Royal Highnesses Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall are en route to Australia with a whirlwind itinerary that will take in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup – in fact the duo is due to present the trophy to the winner. Far less well-advertised on their Aussie to-do list is a Woolmark event on Friday 9th November at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The producers: Mark Vassallo - MBFWA SS 12/13

backstage at josh goot SS1112/sydney may 2011

Sydney-born, but now "globally"-based  (or so he says on his new website), Mark Vassallo has had a hand in some of Australian Fashion Week’s biggest fashion ‘moments’ of recent years. He has played the roles of independent publisher (Mark and Petit Mal), editor (Follow), fashion director (Harpers Bazaar Australia), creative director, casting director and stylist. He launched the career of Gemma Ward, among others. And he has helmed a number of memorable  runway presentations, for designers such as Josh Goot, Dion Lee and Romance Was Born. As part of frockwriter’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia SS1213 series, we thought we should give it up for - and pick the brains of - some of the hardest-working, least-visible players of the fashion week pack – the producers. First up: Vassallo. 

Once upon a time in David Jones

the great restaurant at david jones, 1938

With apologies to Miranda Kerr, the terrific cast and some great Australian designer offerings at David Jones' Autumn/Winter 2012 showcase on Wednesday, in frockwriter's opinion the real star of the evening was DJs' just-restored On Seven space. This was no mere refurb, but essentially the fruit of retail archaeology - not to mention a multimillion dollar budget that must have made the David Jones board hyperventilate when it was first proposed mid 2011, shortly after ceo Paul Zahra issued a shock profit downgrade. Originally launched in 1928 as The Great Restaurant, the space was shuttered in 1965 and eventually cut in half with a floating ceiling in 1981, to make room for an international designer brand floor. The remaining void became home to over 200 different utility cables and a lot of dust. The space has been hidden from public view for the best part of 50 years.

Josh Goot's Richter scale

It's three years since Josh Goot last showed in Sydney – and just six years since he launched his brand here, with an unforgettable collection of what he dubbed ‘tailored comfort’, realised in a space age track-and-field silhouette that included jersey trench coats and blazers. After showing for multiple seasons at New York and London Fashion Weeks, Goot has firmly established himself at the vanguard of Australia’s new designer generation. And what international polish he brought to Australian Fashion Week last night. The production, co-signed by The Artist Group and Mr and Mrs Fish, dragged arguably the week’s biggest crowd up six flights of stairs to an abandoned inner-city carpark, transformed for the evening to a futuristic sporting venue. Partially inspired by the German expressionist artist Gerhard Richter, the collection, which was delivered in modern techno silks, sporty neoprene and an eye-popping palette of fluoro pink, cobalt blue, Kelly green, black, silver and white, focussed on a voluminous silhouette. More to come. 

RAFW Spring/Summer 2011/2012 - The commuter edition

Australia's most high profile fashion event, Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, runs from May 2-6. As per tradition, frockwriter has been making a list and checking it twice, ahead of the official release by organiser IMG Fashion Asia Pacific. Two years may have passed since the abbreviated "Recessionista edition", but that does not mean that retail is still not incredibly tough. Or that sponsors are not thin on the ground. Two longstanding RAFW partners will not be showing: Nicola Finetti, who has shown at the event every year since its 1996 launch and New Zealand's Zambesi. You can catch them in their showrooms. Also AWOL this season: Friedrich Gray, with designer Ben Pollitt taking a break from not just RAFW, but in fact putting his label on ice. The good news: among the big names showing are two of Australia's best-known designers, both returning to the schedule after several years showing in New York and London - Toni Maticevski and Josh Goot. Update 21/04: Good to see that Romance Was Born finally got over the line with its show plans. Although technically not on schedule, their slot is the next best thing: an unofficial kickoff to the week on the afternoon of Sunday May 1st. 

In with the new - David Jones Autumn/Winter 2011

Tuesday's David Jones show felt the same, but different, to previous years' events. There was no Mark McInnes, Colette Garnsey, Miranda Kerr or even sass & bide. With the exception of relatively recent fashion ambassador addition Kerr, all had been front-and-centre at the show for almost a decade, laying the foundations for the "house of brands" into which the department store subsequently evolved. Taking their places and for a variety of different reasons - which ranged from scandal and resignations, pregnancy and defection, all in the space of eight months - was a new management team (albeit one promoted from within) and a swag of new labels, the absolute standout of which on the night just had to be Josh Goot and his colourblocked bodycon dresses and tulip skirts and tops with wildly expressionistic graphics. Not forgetting some highly polished Australian modelling talent, that included girls who have walked for some of the world's biggest fashion brands: Nicole Trunfio, Alexandra Agoston, Myf Shepherd, Stephanie Carta, Tiah Eckhardt and Christina Carey. And some newcomers who may soon follow them. Think Rosemary Smith (above, in Josh Goot), who is off to the European shows with at least one big name in her appointment book. Click (here) for frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of backstage shots taken before and during the show. 
 

Four Australians to show in New York

anthony adamson

New York Fashion Week runs from September 9-17 and after several quiet seasons on the Oz front – with Toni Maticevski making the pilgrimage alone last season - things look to be picking up. Which is interesting, given the ongoing problems of the US retail sector. WWD reports that 4,600 retail outlets are tipped to close this year, on top of 6,913 closures last year, in what the paper has dubbed “the Great Retail Rationalization of the Great Recession”. Nevertheless, as frockwriter can reveal, four Australians will be showing in New York next month. Joining Kit Willow Podgornik, Toni Maticevski and New York-based Michael Angel is Sydney’s Anaessia, designed by Lisa Vanikiotis (pictured above) – first spotted at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May. Maticevski, Podgornik and Vanikiotis are in fact showing on the same day: Tuesday 15th September.

Anaessia’s romantic cocktail dresses and embellished skull print sheath – which we dared sheath otaku Michelle Obama to wear – were in fact this journalist’s pick of brands in RAFW’s group shows.



Sold in Australia exclusively through its own boutique at the Sofitel Wentworth hotel and, from October, a second boutique in The Strand, the five year-old highend label, whose Australian retail prices range from A$800-3500, has been wholesaling for just over a year.

Anaessia has 10 international stockists so far, from the US to Jakarta to Kuwait.

The brand’s first US client, interestingly, was the head of wardrobe for ABC TV, who has purchased outfits from three collections for All My Children’s Susan Lucci – and according to Vanikiotis, to wear on the show.

Anaessia will show in New York as part of an umbrella event called Nolcha Fashion Week.

London Fashion Week, which runs September 18-22, also looks to be shaping up as a major Australian fashion showcase.

Josh Goot will show at LFW for the third consecutive season, on September 21st at 3.30pm, venue TBC.

It also seems likely that sass & bide will return to the event after numerous seasons showing in New York

At the David Jones show on Tuesday morning, Sarah-Jane Clarke told frockwriter that she was awaiting confirmation on a time slot from LFW organisers, who have a bumper season on their hands due to the event’s 25th anniversary. Burberry and Clements Ribeiro, among others, are returning to the London runways to help celebrate the milestone.

A second show venue has just been announced for the event, 180 The Strand - which is located adjacent to LFW's brand new main venue this season, Somerset House.

The second venue will house, among other initiatives, On|Off, LFW's regular off-schedule showcase.

According to a series of reports about the new venue, Ksubi is planning to show at 180 The Strand.

At the same venue, the Robinson Pfeffer Showroom is also due to showcase a number of Australian brands, including Tina Kalivas, Alpha 60 and Arnsdorf.



For your reference, here are the Australasian shows at New York Fashion Week:

September 10 at 09.00 – Michael Angel, The Salon, Bryant Park
September 12 at 16.00 – Karen Walker, the Altman Building
September 15 at 12.00 – Toni Maticevski, the Altman Building
September 15 at 18.00 – Willow, The Salon, Bryant Park
September 15 at 19.30 – Anaessia, Bohemian National Hall

Also, a first draft of New York's Fashion Calendar:


fashion calendar via COACD

Here is the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week schedule (to be opened for the second time by Angel).

And here, the London Fashion Week provisional schedule.

Josh Goot's space cadets

josh goot FW0910/wwd.com

If Josh Goot seemed to be moving away from his trademark bodycon look over the past few seasons, evidently he’s had a change of heart. In one of his strongest presentations to date, and in his second consecutive London Fashion Week show, overnight Goot sent out a tightly-edited collection of 31 knit-heavy looks - all but four of them cut close to the body. Recalling the retro futurism of the 1960s, the collection was part Mod, via its two-tone, black-on-cream colourblocking - and part sci-fi warrior uniform, courtesy of an intergalactic space print (the inspiration for which, as it turns out, was in fact rocks) and an intriguing series of sculpted garments boasting intricate, wave-like contoured seamwork. Goot cut loose with some oversized, colourblocked boyfriend jackets, the smartest in grey marle and cream. By all Twitter accounts, the show looks to have played to a packed house, with a last minute venue change prompting a chaotic scramble for the front row seats.




josh goot FW0910/wwd.com

Click here to see the complete collection on wwd.com.

Josh Goot on-schedule again at LFW - with Sienna Miller

twenty8twelve


Oh my, the countdown to the Fall/Winter 09/10 season has already begun. Just how many designers will be swapping regular runway shows for more cost-effective, scaled-down "presentations", remains to be seen. In a demonstration, however, that not everyone in the fashion business is in dire financial straits at the moment - or that there's still a surprising volume of sponsor cash still floating around - London Fashion Week released its provisional schedule a few hours ago. And it's one of the busiest London schedules that frockwriter can in fact recall. Australia's Josh Goot is back again on-schedule for the second consecutive season at 12.15pm on Tuesday 24th February. One of the more interesting additions to join Goot and London's regular ready-to-wear retinue will be the international runway debut of Twenty8Twelve: the hybrid label from style-savvy British actor Sienna Miller and her fashion designer sister Savannah.

Here's the draft schedule:

Friday 20th February
10.00 Paul Costelloe BFC Tent
11.30 Caroline Charles BFC Tent
13.30 Jenny Packham BFC Tent
15.00 Eun Jeong * BFC Tent
17.00 Ashish TBC
19.30 Central Saint Martins BFC Tent

Saturday 21st February
9.00 Kinder Aggugini W1
10.00 Graeme Black W1
11.15 Margaret Howell W1
12.15 John Rocha BFC Tent
13.30 Charles Anastase WC1
14.30 Unique TS/NW1
15.45 PPQ BFC Tent
16.45 Nathan Jenden TBC
18.00 Armand Basi One SW3
19.15 Peter Jensen TS/NW1
19.15 Ann Sofie-Back TS/NW1
20.30 Vivienne Westwood Red Label TBC

Sunday 22nd February
9.15 Betty Jackson TBC
10.15 Todd Lynn TS/NW1
11.15 Nicole Farhi WC2
12.30 Sinha Stanic TBC
13.30 Christopher Kane*** TS/NW1
14.45 Aquascutum SW3
15.45 Eley Kishimoto BFC Tent
16.45 Richard Nicoll TS/NW1
17.45 Danielle Scutt** TS/NW1
19.00 Jaeger LondonBFC Tent
21.00 Twenty8Twelve TBC
Presentations
TBC Amanda Wakeley TBC
TBC Modernist TBC

Monday 23rd February
9.00 Ossie Clark BFC Tent
10.00 Luella W1 TBC
11.00 Erdem*** TBC
12.15 Julien Macdonald W1
13.15 Marios Schwab*** TS/NW1
14.30 Jasper Conran SW7
15.30 Roksanda Ilincic TBC
16.45 Louise Goldin** TS/NW1
17.45 Giles WC1
19.00 Paul Smith W1
20.00 Issa BFC Tent
Presentations
11-17.00 Mulberry W1

Tuesday 24th February
9.00 Mark Fast** BFC Tent
9.00 Mary Katrantzou** BFC Tent
10.00 Duro Olowu SW7
11.15 Fashion East BFC Tent
12.15 Josh Goot TBC
13.30 Peter Pilotto** BFC Tent
14.30 Meadham Kirchhoff** BFC Tent
15.45 Osman Yousefzada TBC
16.45 Nasir Mazhar** BFC Tent
18.00 Bora Aksu SW7
19.00 House of Holland** TBC
20.00 Kisa London BFC Tent

Wednesday 25th February
11.00 MAN TBC

Show date & timing TBC:
Basso & Brooke

Presentation date & timing TBC:
Aminaka Wilmont
Antoni & Alison

KEY
*** BFC Fashion Forward supported by LDA
** BFC New Gen sponsored by TOPSHOP
* Fashion Fringe at Covent Garden winner 2008

SOURCE: londonfashionweek.co.uk/schedule

Akira, Zimmermann and Josh Goot @ FGI

john galliano SS09/sonny vandevelde


Did someone say FGI roadshow? Lordy, the spring/summer 2009 collections seem light years away now. Even though they only finished up in Paris six weeks ago. For anyone interested in a quick refresher course – not to mention the opportunity to hear the insights of some of Australia’s best-known fashion names – the Sydney chapter of Fashion Group International is staging its next Fashion Flash trends forecasting breakfast on Wednesday 26th November at 7.15am in the Grand Ballroom of Sydney’s Sofitel Wentworth Hotel. Right after FGI’s four-cities SS09 trends wrap video, I will be moderating the panel discussion once again – with, I have great pleasure in announcing, an extra stellar lineup of panellists.

On deck to offer their thoughts on the season, the buzz, the biz, the retail climate and the challenges inherent in showcasing a collection offshore, will be FGI panel newcomers Nicky Zimmermann, Akira Isogawa and Josh Goot, along with vet Arthur Galan.

At 5.45pm on Thursday 27th November, a smaller presentation will be staged at Melbourne’s RMIT Brunswick campus. Joining me on that panel once again will be Arthur Galan and Vicious Threads’ Ivan Gomez, along with Madonna Melrose from M Studio.

In between the two, on the evening of Wednesday 26th, I have been asked to MC the Ragtrader Fashion Retailer of the Year Awards at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

It’s going to be a busy week...

RELATED:
FGI ROADSHOW PART I
FGI ROADSHOW PART II
FGI ROADSHOW PART III

Josh Goot and Jaeha up for the world's biggest fashion design prize

josh goot SS09/style.com

Big news for Josh Goot and Alex Kim (who designs the NZ label Jaeha). They have just been announced as two of the 10 finalists in the 2008 el Botón-MANGO Fashion Awards, with a prize purse of, wait for it, 300,000 euros (A$586,000).

Announced yesterday, the other finalists are:

Silvia Garcia Presas
Jean Pierre Braganza
Peter Pilotto & Christian de Vos
Lee Jin Youn
Christian Wijnants
Miriam Lehle
Jakub Polanka
Aleksandar Stanic & Fiona Sinha

Sponsored by Spanish fast fashion juggernaut MANGO, the awards are conducted in association with five leading international fashion colleges:

• Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design (London)
• Escola Superior de Disseny, ESDi (Barcelona)
• Institut Français de la Mode (Paris)
• Istituto Marangoni (Milan-Paris-London)
• Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Antwerpen (The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp).

The schools shortlisted the 10 finalists out of 50 candidates that were previously selected by the MANGO Committee.

The finals will be staged in Barcelona in April 2009 – and to assist getting their collections there, at least according to Alex Kim, each finalist receives 15,000euros (A$29,000).

A new award that is in its second year – with the inaugural prize last year going to Belgian designer Sandrina Fazoli - the el Botón-MANGO Fashion Awards boasts three times the prize purse of the Swiss Textiles Federation’s Swiss Textiles Award.

The Swiss Textiles Award touts itself as the more prestigious competition by virtue of its past prizewinners who include Raf Simons, Haider Ackermann, Christian Wijnants, Bruno Pieters and Marios Schwab.

The 2008 Swiss Textiles Award will be handed out in Zurich on November 13th in front of an international jury.

Braganza is a finalist there as well, alongside Rodarte, Louise Goldin, Toga, Cathy Pill and yet another Australian, Richard Nicoll.

Goot to go: Goot on schedule at LFW

josh goot

Josh Goot still won’t return frockwriter’s calls. But no matter. Two days after London Fashion Week organisers told this blog that Goot would be showing in London next month, comes the release of LFW’s provisional SS09 schedule and there is Goot’s name: pencilled in for 9.30am on LFW's closing day, Friday 19th September.

Goot is a three-season veteran of New York Fashion Week, where his small off-schedule shows were at times lost in that city’s gargantuan event - which embraces up to 300 shows a season, two-thirds of them off-schedule.

The designer is about to join a far more compact, manageable, schedule which boasts some of Britain’s most prestigious fashion names.

Yes London Fashion Week is a fraction of the size of the New York, Milan and Paris events. Many buyers and media representatives simply give London a miss and use the week as a breather in between New York and the Milan/Paris juggernaut.

On the plus side, London is regarded as a creative hotbed and there is considerably less competition for media coverage.

Representing a mixture of British fashion establishment and the avant-garde, the other names on LFW's SS09 schedule so far include:

• Marios Schwab
• Christopher Kane
• Richard Nicoll
• Giles Deacon
• Roksanda Illincic
• Luella Bartley
• Eley Kishimoto
• Julien Macdonald
• Issa
• Aquascutum
• Paul Costelloe
• Temperley London
• Paul Smith
• Jasper Conran
• Jaeger London
• Nicole Farhi
• Adidas by Stella McCartney
• Vivienne Westwood Red Label

The only show venue clue listed with Goot's name is "W1" - aka London's West End, which includes Piccadilly Circus, Mayfair, Park Lane, Leicester Square as well as Bond, Oxford, and Baker Streets.

Given Goot's track record, the venue is most likely to be spartan and edgy, as in a small art gallery or a refurbed industrial space. And definitely nowhere near Julien Macdonald's preferred W1 venue: the glitzy ballrooom of the Park Lane Hotel.

Although it will be Goot’s first time at London Fashion Week, he won’t be the only Aussie on the schedule.

Goot will join London-based, Oz-raised Richard Nicoll and also hot newcomer Louise Markey.

As yet unknown in Australia, Markey moved to London in 2003 after completing a Bachelor of Fashion from the University of Technology.

Markey worked for Burberry designing womens' shirts, before undertaking her Masters at London’s Central Central Saint Martins fashion college.

Markey made her LFW debut in February with her LF Markey label, as part of the Central Saint Martins graduation show.

On Thursday 18th September she will be one of four finalists in LFW’s big buzz Fashion Fringe competition.

Josh Goot to show at London Fashion Week - according to organisers

Goot and Tallulah Morton, after his Sep 06 NY Fashion Week debut/sonny vandevelde via smh

For the past week I have been trying to get an answer out of the Josh Goot camp on Goot’s recently stated intentions to jump international Fashion Week ship from New York to London. But while Goot and his local PR team have been mum on the subject, word overnight from London Fashion Week PR head Anna Orsini is that “Yes, he is showing in London”.

With the Spring/Summer 2009 event running from September 14-19, LFW organisers must have a pretty good idea what’s shaping up for their schedule. That said, Orsini did not clarify if Goot is showing on- or off-shedule. One assumes she’s talking about her own schedule.

Plans can also change at the last minute – not to mention the vital ingredient of sponsorship, which is what usually swings an emerging designer’s decision to show at any Fashion Week.

In February, the London-born and now –based designer, Richard Nicoll, who grew up in Australia, announced that he would be showing at Australian Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 0809 showcase.

Nicoll made the announcement in an interview on the LFW website in fact (which has since moved on the LFW site). At the time Nicoll was also in negotiations with local representatives, and, according to AFW organiser IMG, IMG itself.

Just as I went to press with the story however, Nicoll’s Westfield sponsorship fell through and the Sydney show was placed on the backburner.

London will be a good fit for Goot, who debuted his signature line at Australian Fashion Week in May 2005 – after staging a big buzz off-schedule show the previous year with his now defunct streetwear label Platform.

Goot made his international runway debut off-schedule at New York Fashion Week in September 2006 and he showed off-schedule in New York for the next two consecutive seasons.

Although as this bog revealed last week, Alice McCall is doing the reverse by heading from an off-schedule LFW show to off-schedule in New York, where she recently picked up a dozen new stockists, at least two other Australian brands have described the current US retail climate as “a disaster”.

In London, Goot is sold at a number of influential boutiques, including Browns and the high profile boutique Start, which is operated by Brix Smith-Start, a former guitarist with 80s post-punk outfit The Fall and her husband, Philip Start, the founder of the Woodhouse menswear chain. Goot is also now repped by London's Rainbow Wave agency.

On April 27th The Independent newspaper dedicated a standalone story to Goot, headlined, “Wizard of Oz” - comparing him to minimalist masters Calvin Klein, Helmut Lang and Raf Simons in the opening paragraph.

Then on Sunday, The Times singled Goot out as the key Australian fashion “name to know” – in its story headlined “Australian fashion gets hip”.

Goot did manage to garner quite a lot of press buzz in New York. With nearly 300 shows on in years past however, New York Fashion Week is a monster event.

In May, Goot told he that he felt a little lost in NYC.

“I felt like we were getting lost in the crowd or that people weren’t connecting with what we were doing properly” said Goot, who has since also returned to live in Sydney after an 18-month NY stint.

Of London, he noted: “I think also we’re still a young label and we are still finding out feet and figuring it all out. And I think London is a better incubator for that really than New York is. But you know, we’re not from England, in the same way that we weren’t from America”.

The Goot, the crap and the ugly: Fashion Week's polemics hit home

Sitting waiting for the Josh Goot show to start in the Redfern Carriageworks, a cavernous, industrial space on the fringe of the CBD that was once home to Sydney's locomotive workshops.

It has a very similar vibe to The Tunnel, the abandoned railway station down on New York's 11th Avenue where Goot staged his February show. It's a big space with two rows of seating arranged around three walls and at least 100 people are standing at the back of the seats. Dita Von Teese is here, ditto Jennifer Hawkins and on the other side of the room, my great friends from Ksubi, George Gorrow and Dan Single, with their US model mate Erin Wasson.

We could be anywhere in the world but in fact we are here in Sydney to see Goot's fourth runway presentation in twelve months. I know Goot is completely buggered - he sounded like it when I spoke to him last week about the Target project and this fatigue is reflected in every interview he's done in the leadup. There is considerable risk of course that that fatigue could translate into the clothes on offer today.

As the first outfit comes out - a white draped viscose skirt and top - I breathe in sharply in and think, 'Oops'. It's not a strong opening statement. But then the second emerges, a pair of fluid track pants and singlet in a superfine grey marle and then comes a flash of acid yellow in a microdress with batwing sleeves and the show is off and rocking.

Inspired by 'future Roman sport' the collection features a series of fine, chainmail-look polyamide/acrylic leggings and singlets, in both silver and gold, the singlets boasting Goot's signature racerbacks. There are also some very chic, minimalist cocktail dresses in sleek, fluid stretch acrylics, one in bright fuschia, another in vibrant ultraviolet, both with matching capes - picking up from Goot's Gotham girl look just shown for the northern winter.

The colour-blocked, psychedelic leggings with in-built 'swirl' seamwork - for both men and women - were sensational, even if the articulated pattern looked alarmingly, for a fleeting moment, like the Target logo (it wasn't). Some of the body-hugging dresses with clever, intricate, contoured seamwork - an extension of an idea that Goot showed in New York in September - looked awkward to my eye. And when Goot is no longer suffering from sleep deprivation, I'm sure he'll look at those old lady shirts towards the end of the show - and kick himself for not yanking them. But the American retailers that I spoke to loved everything. Henri Bendel will order yet more Goot and, having kept an eye on Josh Goot for two years to see how it developed, American Rag said they hoped to now pick the brand up.

Goot knows only too well that you can't spread yourself too thin - or risk losing focus.

"I don't want to have to do four collections a year, I want to do two a year and show two a year" said Goot afterwards. "I got home on the 15th of March, what is it now, six weeks? That's craziness, to put it together in six weeks".

Yet more future sport at Alice McCall, another Australian who is currently showing on the international runways (three consecutive seasons in London). Some fresh florals aside, there were less of McCall's signature prints in this collection, a move away from her hippie signature vibe and towards fashion's current urban sport moment, a trajectory that was perhaps not always entirely successful.

McCall has a knack for picking a hot accessory however I'm not convinced that her hologram corset belt will be one of them. Sporty grey marle appeared in babydoll and shift dresses, with flashes of this week's ultra popular acid lime green. There were plenty of McCall's popular - in fact, cult-ish - dresses to keep her customers happy, some of the prettiest in pinstriped cotton with acid lime inset crochet panels. The stripe story was cute - longline tops, cardigans and one intriguing hooded singlet dress with cutout panels - as were the denim overalls.

It's a good feeling to front up to two consecutive standout AFW shows from local brands that got their starts in Sydney just three years ago but which are now both becoming international runway regulars. Fashion Week's focus has changed since it first launched in May 1996 and there are plenty of designers who showed then who have zero chance of cracking the OS market.

And look, while I thoroughly appreciate the need to have a series of entry-level AFW parades, for new designers to enter at a low cost and then, or so the idea goes, rise up through the parade ranks towards solo status, perhaps it is now time for a rethink about what these group shows offer AFW. Akira Isogawa and more recently Gail Sorronda are both Ready-to-Wear refugees - but both Goot and McCall catapulted straight onto AFW's solo runways at the get go.

While it's possible to unearth talent in group shows, they nevertheless continue to be Fashion Week's energy vampires - sucking the buzz out of the schedule with their all-too-frequent blandness and 'equal opportunity' ambiance. There is nothing 'equal' about the fashion business - if you don't have a point of difference, or a strategy, you're out of business. The poor brands - and there are a lot of them - unfortunately drag down the stronger ones. I gather this may be one of the reasons why there were so many solo shows from newcomers this year. Gail Sorronda could not have afforded to risk her image by taking part in another RTW show - and she shone last night on her own. Ditto Arabella Ramsay, with a pert, pretty collection of cool girl chic that proved one of my personal highlights of the week. Jessie Hill's was another extremely confident solo debut this season.

The 'blah' factor of the RTW shows is one reason why organisers have so much trouble getting high profile delegates to attend them - which must prove embarrassing, when RTW show participants pay to be part of the schedule and expect some kind of turnup. Apparently New Zealand's Annah Stretton was mortified that AFW organisers refused to accord her a solo show today. But having witnessed Stretton's (very) shabby chic efforts in machine-washable, distressed tulle first-hand at New Zealand Fashion Week, not to mention her styling prowess that has embraced such accessories as a wild boar's head and dead parrots, that can presumably only be a good thing.

The 'blah' factor was also very much in evidence at the One Fell Swoop show today. One Fell Swoop may well have won the Perth chapter of one of the recent Mercedes Startup competition, but all it could come up with for its big runway photo op today was a series of badly-made, black georgette dresses with taffeta cummerbunds. That's not fashion - it's market stall merchandise.


Original post and comments.

Get it while it's Goot: Target stitches up another designer dynamo

We've seen McCartney-mania. Is it time for a Josh juggernaut?

Two months after Target shelves around the country were stripped bare within minutes of the arrival of a Stella McCartney collaboration collection, Target Australia plans to unveil a top secret project with one of Australia's brightest fashion lights, Josh Goot.

UPDATE: 16/05/07

Well don't say we didn't warn you................ Finally today, the worst kept secret in the Australian fashion industry - thanks to this blog's big mouth - was laid out in the open for all to see.

Yes indeedy, Target Australia has stitched up Josh Goot for a special limited-edition collaboration range. It's a lot smaller than the range Stella McCartney did for Target earlier this year - 12 pieces, as opposed to 42 - and it remains to be seen of course whether the Josh Goot name will resonate as well as McCartney's with Australian consumers, and if the latter will scratch each others' eyes out to get a piece of it in "selected" stores when it launches on June 19. As happened in a number of (the 100 designated) Target stores, with the McCartney mania of March 12th.

But with a veeeeeeery similar looking Josh Goot silver trench coat selling at Browns Focus in London right now for GBP290 (A$692), A$129.99 for the Target version looks to be one hell of a saving. The trench is the exxiest item in Goot's Target range, with prices starting at $59.99.

With racerback tanks, leggings, pencil skirts, cardigans, blazers and yes the infamous jersey trench coat in a colour palette of grey marle, silver, navy, black as well as Kelly green and a cobalt blue - all in a Tencel/wool blend, and in sizes from XS-L - Goot is pushing the signature 'tailored comfort' look of his first range shown in Sydney in May 2005.

As evidenced by the new collections shown in New York in February and Sydney a fortnight ago, he's moving on from that ever-so-slightly. That said, the theme of the latest collection was "future Roman sport". Let the Tarjay games begin.

ORIGINAL BLOG: 26/04/07

Target is the principle sponsor of Goot's Fashion Week show on Thursday May 3 at 9.00am - and its logo appears on the invitation. But although neither the Target or Goot camps were spilling any other beans this afternoon, Fashion Season has learned that a Josh Goot/Target collaboration is due be either announced or else unveiled at Target in mid May.

It won't be without precedent of course in this market. Last year Target unveiled several styles from three other Australian labels, Alice McCall, Tina Kalivas and TL Wood, under the Designers For Target umbrella. A Target spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny whether Goot was the only Australian fashion brand involved with this latest Designers For Target project.

"I can't tell you anything other than Target are supporting me on this show" Goot told Fashion Season. "It's great to have their support - I think they've shown a commitment to young Australian designers over the past year".

The Stella McCartney range was sold in 100 Target stores around Australia. The 42-piece collection ranged in price from $29.99 for a scarf to $199.99 for a trenchcoat. Selling out in some stores within minutes, according to a Target source it was the retailer's most successful sales day ever in this market.

So just what might Josh Goot For Target look like? Dripping, most likely, in the designer's signature urban sport aesthetic.

Goot, now 27, made his runway debut at Fashion Week in May 2004 with a print-heavy streetwear brand called Platform. Launched a few months later his eponymous collection boasted a leitmotiv of "tailored comfort", with a simple concept: constructed wardrobe classics of the type normally made from woven fabrics, the trenchcoat, the blazer and trousers etc..., but fashioned instead from cotton jersey T-shirting. The entire, machine-washable collection came in grey marle, charcoal marle and silver. It earned Goot the 2005 Tiffany & Co Young Designer of The Year Award.

Goot's May 2005 Fashion Week show made an impact here and several months later, the front cover of high-profile US industry newspaper WWD. The brand was immediately picked up by prestigious London retailer Browns Focus and then swiftly by other key international retailers, notably the Colette emporium in Paris and Henri Bendel in New York.

In September last year Goot debuted at New York fashion week - with US Vogue later heralding him as the designer who kicked off the SS07 season's urban sport mood.

Goot showed for the second consecutive season in New York in February. He is committed to showing back in New York in September.

"This is the fourth show we've done in a year which is insane and it won't happen again" said Goot of next week's show, his southern hemisphere SS0708/international resort collection. "I felt that I hadn't finished the job here in this market. As far as positioning the brand and expressing the brand philosophy and mapping out our distribution, all these types of things, I think we have a little way to go, and hopefully the show will be another piece in the puzzle".

Apart from whatever promotion Target may be planning for the Goot project in mid May, could next week be the last Josh Goot show downunder?

"I wouldn't want to say that because that's got a lot of finality to it" said Goot. "I really enjoy showing here. It's in a sense much easeir than showing overseas. It's your own backyard. And I know how much of a role the Australian industry played in helping us build this brand. We've enjoyed a lot of support and in a sense I feel like showing once a year [here] is the least we can do to I suppose keep everyone's interest and kind of say thank-you".


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Welcome to New York. Thank-you for not smoking

I've seen real cold...and it wears a balaclava.


And so New York Fashion Week cranked into gear. But it didn't start quite the way I had anticipated.

First up, may I just say, it's flippin' FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZING in New York.

After what by all accounts has been a mild winter, Jack Frost has suddenly shifted his glacial gaze to the Big Apple just in time for the shows. And the fall/winter season, which kicked off Friday, is not the glamour event that September was. The minus seven - and apparently dropping - wind chill factor has seen to that.

Big hats, big coats and double layers of gloves are de rigueur for a kind of Nanook of The North look. Rugging up and also avoiding walking long distances, are key to survival. As I learned yesterday after walking from my hotel to some godforsaken abandoned railway station down on Eleventh Avenue that Josh Goot selected for its edgy "atmos" for his second Big Apple effort. The icy wind cut into my face like razor blades.

Last night I was horrified to get back to my hotel and discover frostbitten fingers (in spite of gloves) and my face covered in large red blotches. I've lived in Amsterdam and Paris. I've been skiing. I just don't ever recall being in temperatures so cold that you have to don a bloody balaclava in order to avoid looking like you've succumbed to some sort of cosmeceutical catastrophe.

"Those Aussies", I could hear the hotel maintenance guy think to himself as he helped this frozen fashionista crank up her room heating; "so hopelessly inequipped for the northern hemisphere".

But hello, I hear you ask, New York Fashion Week? Wasn't that the very event out of which I was "smoked" last season?

Those who followed the last Fashion Season blog may recall the incident involving New York publicist Kelly Cutrone.

Unimpressed by reading some of her own comments repeated in The Sydney Morning Herald, Cutrone banned me from all of her clients shows - worldwide - then threatened to sue and "smoke" me out of NYC. She also used a photograph to create a poster, pasting copies around one venue, complete with words, "Patty Huntington, Sydney Morning Herald - No admittance. Do not let into shows".

I have had more than one request for a poster-emblazoned T-shirt commemorating the incident.

So here I am poking my nose back into New York. And I can report that the extent of Cutrone's "smoke out" is not as yet abundantly clear.

Quite apart from being ushered through US customs at LAX with no incident, my accreditation was whisked through by the organisers at record speed.

Before even registering, I also received several "save the date" email alerts from fashion companies. Due to the last-minute nature of this trip, I have not had a chance to properly chase tickets but so far so good.

I'm not holding my breath of course, however at the end of the day, surely no reasonable PR turns away a ticketless but nevertheless bona fide representative of a wide-reach media outlet from the front door of their show? PRs are in the publicity business. To hijack a quote from The Insider - which is not inappropriate, given the smoking references here - fashion journalists are in the "publicity delivery business". Those who are doing their job deliver both good and bad news.

I was not the only fashion scribe banned last season. The New York Times' fashion critic Cathy Horyn, along with style.com, was banned by Dolce e Gabbana after a negative review.

So much for politics, what of the clothes? Given the lemming-like exodus of Australians to NY runways I'll start there. Three of the five showing this season showed on Saturday, with Goot's 10.00am-er proving the very first show of the season for me (I arrived one day late).

Seated next to (Australian Fashion Week MD) Simon Lock, with Oz models Tiah Eckhardt and Alexandra Agoston O'Connor on the runway and Oz- born, London-based (Browns) buyer Yasmin Sewell nearby, it felt like being back in Sydney. Also there: Goot's talented cousin, designer Micaela Ezra, who recently started working for New York designer Cynthia Steffe.

In a slick, all-black and gunmetal grey collection, Goot showed he is no one-trick pony.

Beyond the batwing sleeves of his Gothic goddess gowns and capelets, gone was the tracksuit slouch chic of his early collections. In its place a different type of utilitywear in Goot's signature "urban sport" vein (which new trend US Vogue recently proclaimed he kickstarted last season) in the form of wetsuit-look tailleurs with industrial zippers, Wet Look raincoats and capelets (achieved via gloss-laminated merino wool) and sharp, mesh and metal-look leggings.

It was dark, it was risky - and so much of a departure for Goot that even Sewell admitted later she was worried.

"But it worked," said Sewell, the first international retailer to pick Goot up after his Australian Fashion Week debut in May 2005.

"He's got a real cult following now," she added, revealing that 10 per cent of Browns' Goot business is in fact coming from men. Not Goot's menswear, which Browns does not (yet) buy. But Goot's womens' jackets and slim-fit pants.

Backstage I asked Goot whether his all-black show was a reaction to the Style.com bagging last season over his (they hinted, typically garish Australian) use of colour. He denied it - adding that he had always wanted to do an all-black range.

Goot may be disappointed to find he didn't rate a Style.com review this time. On the other hand he got a pretty powerful back-pat from WWD.

Toni Maticevski has big potential - and it seems, mushrooming brand awareness in the US market. Last season he barely managed to fill one row of the tiny UPS Hub venue. The same space this season was packed. No mean feat considering that high profile Kiwi Karen Walker showed directly up against him off-schedule.

When Maticevski is good, he is very, very good. His breakthrough show in Sydney in May 2004 demonstrated his dual talents for razor-sharp day tailoring and achingly beautiful eveningwear.

However his collections have a tendency to look half-baked, no doubt exacerbated by the fact that he is a one-man show, making all his samples by hand.

In this 'Magic and Madness' collection, the sharply-contoured, anthracite grey tailleur and dove grey, leg-o-mutton silk mousseline smock top and dresses worked. Some of the other pieces looked ugly - worse, dull.

Maticevski says he's now committed to showing in NY. He needs to analyse his brand DNA, refine his story - and come up with more sensational tailoring and breathtaking ballgowns. The show's "wow" element, the voluminous, acid yellow and pink, foam-lined silk "doona" dresses - although slammed by style.com - will no doubt be snapped up for editorial spreads. Whether he sells any is irrelevant. To use his own words, Maticevski needs to adopt more of this F factor.

"I thought f**k it, I'm just going to show weird shit" Maticevski said backstage, where yet more Australians circled, including Jayson Brunsdon (who shows on Thursday) and Lock's former 2IC Jarrad Clark, currently on holidays from PBL. Clark trailed Lock throughout Bryant Park for the day and some might surmise he is itching to jump ship back into Lock's fold.

After helping Lock build Australian Fashion Week in May 2006, Clark departed for PBL in early 2005, at a time when the company was struggling to pay its bills. With IMG's October 2005 acquisition of the event - and Lock, as the new managing director IMG FASHION Asia Pacific - should Clark ever be tempted back, Lock's financials are of course a different story now.

And so to the seventh NY show of sass & bide. The biggest day one surprise, at least for me. Not in terms of the clothes, which were typical sass & bide trash glam - beyond the requisite skinny pants, some pretty waisted sundresses and also waistless velvet shift dresses, mostly hoiked to the coit - but the front-of-house entertainment.

I should note that of all five Australians showing in NY this season, sass & bide's was the only show for which I did not have an invite, in spite of having a formal accreditation and having touched base with sass & bide's Sydney office shortly before departure.

On the same plane over was one of sass & bide's publicity team, Emma Archbold, who dropped a bombshell.

Sass & bide had just changed New York publicists - to People's Revolution. Yep, Kelly Cutrone's agency.

Archbold said she hoped that the change would not be an issue for me. To which I noted that, given the extent of Cutrone's ban, surely it might well be.

For starters, it might explain why I was suddenly "declined" for that show for the first time in seven years. Archbold said she had no idea but promised to look into it. She seemed concerned the incident might end up on the blog.

After a few emails back and forth - and rather looking forward to being able to slug the first AW0708 blog entry, "Smoked out by sass & bide" - I received word that (one half of sass&bide) Sarah-Jane Clarke personally wanted to invite me and would ensure I had a seat.

Not keen to be on the receiving end of any more of Cutrone's unique brand of PR, I asked Archbold if she could kindly collect my ticket for me.

Surprisingly, a seat had been allocated: "H-13." Archbold ushered me into the venue. And to an empty seat in the front row. Not just the front row, but the pointy end of the front row. One of the best seats in the house.

"There must be some mistake," I said. "It says row H."

On closer inspection, all the seats in this spot were marked H. With no names allocated, this appeared to be some kind of emergency front row. H perhaps for all those highprofilers who just won't commit to attend (although Rose Byrne and a few others did).

Although she circled nearby on several occasions, there was zero contact with Cutrone.

Of course I'll never know what went on behind closed doors. Whether my invitation noshow was simply an oversight - which of course is possible.

Or whether perhaps it was not: but that with Cutrone's and my first confrontation coming in the form of the first show of her brand new Australian client that she didn't want to upset, she had no choice.

Perhaps they all wanted to avoid being blogged. Perhaps Cutrone will blog it herself - having just been given her very own blog, by no less than the IMG-owned Fashion Week Daily.

When the show started, I couldn't help note the irony inherent in the title of the first frock: a black micro singlet dress with gold and silver coin-spot embellishment. The name of the dress was, as per the show notes, "Commercial Union". Followed by, I kid you not, the "Take Me Back" harem pants, "A Love to Outspoken" cropped jacket, "Trapped by Fate" bowed gown and "Faustian Glee" bowed dress.

When the lights came up, I scratched my head and wondered if perhaps it had all been some kind of strange demi-couture dream - me a hapless Alice in the New York fashion Wonderland, to Cutrone's Queen of Hearts.

But I had a sudden reality check after bumping into an expat Sydney fashion journo who has been in NY for a few years. Upon spotting me, his immediate reaction was one of surprise.

He asked just how I had managed to sort out my differences with the organisers. He used the term "round table discussion", asking if perhaps I had had one?

"Oh - so did you read that blog post then?" I asked, genuinely surprised he had even seen it.

"Who didn't?" he replied.

On with the show.

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Josh Goot, Lover and male genitalia

Just seen Josh Goot at the old Qantas building at Chifley Square. They used the front foyer area which is apparently being converted into a bank but which for the moment is just an empty shell, with a bare concrete floor. Brilliant backdrop to Goot's space age tracky couture.

With the Lover show in the last spot last night, overnight internationals have been treated to two of Australia's best new designer names.

Given the floor-to-ceiling glass window at the Chifley Square venue, passersby also had a peep at Goot's collection. Quite a crowd gathered. Not sure just what many punters would make of his silver tracksuit pants and trench coats but they're flying off the shelves where he's stocked in Australia - and more and more stores overseas.

Lover meanwhile was shown in a tiny grungy warehouse space in Surry Hills. It had an edgy vibe, also a great canvas on which to paint the Lover show.

Designed by Susien Chong and Nic Briand, this label is going off overseas. Their sweet, Victorian-look smock dresses and highwaisted chambray and khaki microshorts are sure to prove yet more hits.

Bumped into Tsubi's Dan Single again outside that show. Twice in the one day - but no evils this time.

Tsubi were supposed to be doing a photo exhibition tonight but have apparently canned it. The wide-sweeping buzz had it that they photographed their new sunglasses range on male genitalia.

Makes a change from those pictures of bare-bottomed women in ungainly poses draped over motorbikes and cars.


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