Betty Blue

They don’t call them blue jeans for nothing it seems. Here is a first look at Bettina Liano’s brand new Autumn/Winter 2009 denim campaign video. Shot by David Gubert in Long Reef, it stars upwardly-mobile Oz mod Jess Hart in Liano’s hot new jean, a distressed version of her year-old O Leg, the O Leg Shredded – a distressed, semi-highwaisted skinny leg jean in a new wash called Nil Blue Shred. The jean drops in Liano's 10 Australian boutiques and Myer next week and at A$380.00, it’s of course a hell of a lot cheaper than Balmain’s shredded denims. Hart finds herself in very good model company here, following in the footsteps of Liano’s other campaign stars Alyssa Sutherland (2001), Gemma Ward (2003) and Nicole Trunfrio (2004). Although no doubt due to be played at full blast in Liano’s boutiques, somehow frockwriter can’t see it being screened anywhere near Myer with the sound up – the soundtrack being “Fuck your soul” by Melbourne chanteuse Paris Wells.

Is Micky the new Kylie?

ford models europe

Blink and there's a new Paris-based popette yapping at the veterans' Louboutins. This one's a model. Oh - and she's Australian.

Taking a moment's respite from our models-who-blog series, comes models-who-sing. And yes I know Irina Lazareanu is collaborating with Sean Lennon, Patti Smith and Pete Doherty on a folk album called Some Place Along The Way that is due out in September, but I want to talk about Micky Green.

Micky who?



I did a similar double take when I spotted her name, nationality and photo a few weeks ago in dispatches from the front row of Chanel's haute couture FW0809 show in Paris.

As it emerges, the 23 year-old artiste formerly known as Michaela Gehrmann was born and raised in Sydney but took off for Paris at the age of 18. At which point she began to model.



Repped at some stage by Viviens in Australia, Gehrmann is still listed on the Ford Models Europe website, with what looks like a recent portfolio of tear sheets and magazine covers (above and below) - most of them in French.





Having reportedly played the drums in a band in highschool, Gehrmann has been writing songs since she was a teenager and recorded her first demos on her computer.

After hooking up with French producer Renaud Letang (Feist, Peaches, Manu Chao, Jamie Lidell), she released her first album 'White T-Shirt' in August last year through Polydor/Universal Music France.

French newspaper Libération called it "la surprise de la rentrée".



Judging by the score of Micky Green YouTube and other videos that have been taken from various French tv shows and music festivals, the catchy singles 'Oh' and 'Shoulda' (which you can listen to on her MySpace page) seem to have become minor cult hits in France.



White T-Shirt will be released in Germany on August 1st, with the single 'Oh' due to bow in that market on Friday.

Stand by to see if Micky Green now takes flight around the rest of Europe - as did Kylie Minogue.

A sophomore album is in the pipeline.