Robyn Lawley strikes again - in Vogue Australia's first ever plus size fashion shoot

max doyle for vogue australia september 2011

On the occasion of her groundbreaking recent cover of Vogue Italia, alongside two other plus-sized models, we mentioned that Australia’s Robyn Lawley had another high fashion coup up her sleeve, just shot in Australia with Max Doyle. Frockwriter can reveal that that shoot is in fact a 10-page designer fashion editorial called 'Belle Curve' in the September edition of Vogue Australia, which is out on August 3rd. Subscriber copies landed today (thanks to our tipster who emailed the shots in). The editorial is accompanied by a double-page interview with Lawley. According to Kirstie Clements' editor's letter, this is the first time in Vogue Australia's 52-year history that the magazine has shot a plus-sized model for a fashion editorial. Hot on the heels of Lawley’s Vogue Italia cover and her Elle France cover in April, 2011 is turning out to be a banner year for Lawley, Bonner and the plus size-specialist modelling industry. 

First look: Jacquetta Wheeler for Jigsaw Australia Spring 2011

Anthony Cuthbertson is a busy guy. Not only is the Brit import the new creative director of Australian sportswear brand David Lawrence, as it emerges he is also the creative director of Jigsaw Australia (which, like David Lawrence, is owned by the Sydney-based M Webster Holdings). The British high street brand celebrates its 20th anniversary downunder with the upcoming ‘Cool Britannia’-inspired Spring/Summer 2011/2012 collection of smart coats and sweet dresses, which launches in store at the end of this month and includes a capsule collection of swimwear, dresses, tops and skirts in Liberty of London’s iconic micro florals. To mark the occasion, Cuthbertson cast English rose Jacquetta Wheeler as the face of Jigsaw’s Max Doyle-lensed Spring 2011 campaign. Spotted by Mario Testino at age 16 in 1998 and named “model of the millennium” by The Face magazine in 1999, Wheeler's 13-year career has embraced advertising campaigns for the biggest names in the fashion business, including Gucci, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, Prada, Valentino, Ralph Lauren and Roberto Cavalli. 

Sasha Knezevic popped the question to Anja Rubik after a vampire musical

the rocks, december 31st 2010/stephen lee

Anja Rubik and fiancé Sasha Knezevic were among out-of-towners who rang in 2011 in Sydney. Confirming an earlier report by frockwriter that the world number 3 ranked model was en route downunder to shoot for Vogue Australia, the duo arrived on the morning of the 31st and spent the day sightseeing with Stephen Lee, who heads up Rubik’s New York agency Next Model Management, including lunch at iconic Watson’s Bay seafood restaurant Doyles. And at midnight? Joining an estimated 1.5million who assembled to watch the city’s NYE fireworks from the harbour foreshore, Polish native Rubik and Serbian Knezevic, a former pro basketballer-turned-model (who also jointly edits Viennese fashion magazine 25 with Rubik), braved the hustle and bustle of The Rocks (where the above shot was taken). But as Rubik explains in this interview I recorded on New Year’s Day, the model duo loved it. Rubik, whose career highlights include multiple campaigns for Fendi and Chloé and 10 Vogue covers, dishes on her engagement deets, the Vogue Australia shoot and Karl Lagerfeld’s 2011 Pirelli calendar, with one fascinating revelation. She turned down the opportunity to shoot the world’s best-known calendar in 2009 for one reason - because Terry Richardson was shooting it.

Catherine McNeil scores her fifth Vogue Australia cover

vogue australia via TFS

It seems Vogue Australia just can't get enough of Catherine McNeil. Just five months after her last Vogue Australia cover, an edition which also included multiple McNeil editorials, here she is on the cover of the magazine's February 2011 issue. According to McNeil's mother agency Chic Management, the cover was shot by Max Doyle in Sydney "several months ago" - before McNeil cut her hair into a short bob and died it black (and was quite possibly shot in August, when she was in town for the David Jones Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway show). This is McNeil's fifth Vogue Australia cover. Currently at home enjoying the Christmas-New Year break with her family and friends, McNeil is soon due to return to the work in the northern hemisphere.  

Vogue shoots live at Chanel

What a blast Australia's first Fashion's Night Out was on Thursday night. Everywhere you looked there were people - many of them apparently also shopping (Ashley Hanson from Uscari in the Mid City Centre told frockwriter her sales were up 200percent). Tried to take in as much as possible, but it wasn't easy with so much packed into such a narrow window and over 450 retailers involved. Particularly enjoyed the Chanel photoshoot in the basement of the brand's Sydney flagship on Castlereagh Street, during which Vogue's fave snapper Max Doyle shot Chic Management's Sarah Stephens and Annika Kaban (above) in the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 collection. According to Chanel Australia's general manager fashion Ian Clark, Chanel did the same last year in London for the first Fashion's Night Out in that city and it had exclusive dibs on the live fashion shoot concept for the Sydney event. People loved it, crowding around to watch Doyle and his team working. Covered a little of it in real time on Posterous but here are some other shots. Have yet to experience a Fashion's Night Out in its native New York, but you can only imagine the vibe and energy. If only retail could always be like this...

Emma Balfour shoots Willow... and Céline?

Here is a sneak peek at Australian modelling veteran Emma Balfour in Willow’s Resort 2010/2011 collection. The lookbook was shot yesterday by Max Doyle at designer Kit Willow’s Sydney headquarters and it was styled by Melanie Huynh. A stylist at Paris Vogue for five years and a former assistant to editor Carine Roitfeld, the now freelance Huynh flew out from her Paris base on Friday specifically for this job. It’s not the first time that Kit Willow and Huynh have worked together. Huynh styled Willow's 'Eclipse' Fall/Winter 2010/2011 show in New York in February (she also styled Joseph Altuzarra’s FW1011 show). Willow's Resort collection, entitled 'Bachelor Girl', will begin dropping into stores here in September and overseas, from October. Balfour was once a very big modelling name, who emerged in London in the early 1990s as part of the so-called “waif” brigade, that was spearheaded by Kate Moss. Balfour only recently returned to the business and frockwriter hears that she could be in for a major career boost - courtesy one very high profile French luxury brand.