Because the night - LMFF 2011

Alex Perry's Spring/Summer 2011/2012 presentation was not the only glamour event at last week's L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Although unlike Perry's show, it provided no reveal of any brand new season's offerings, the L'Oréal Paris Runway 5 show on Friday night, presented by Harpers Bazaar Australia, was nevertheless a wonderful showcase of highend PM-wear from some of Australia's most acclaimed designers: Collette Dinnigan, Toni Maticevski, Aurelio Costarella, Jayson Brunsdon, Dion Lee, Scanlan & Theodore and Willow. Here are a few shots below. Click (here) to see frockwriter's backstage portfolio shot during the show.

Florence and the Willow publicity machine

She's no Lady Gaga, but upwardly mobile 23 year-old Brit Florence Welch is definitely becoming a style stakes contender after the roaring success of Florence and The Machine's Lungs, one of the best-selling albums of 2009 - and to date, 2010. Handy then for Australia's Kit Willow that Welch has apparently become such a fan of the brand. For Welch's just-wrapped Australian tour, she chose five dresses from the new Eclipse collection from Willow's showroom, wearing two on her two appearances on Seven's Sunrise breakfast show and this 'Art of Shadow' laser-cut Lycra dress, above, at Sydney's Enmore Theatre on Saturday night. Obviously the garments were gifted - which would be music to the ears of her record company which, the singer reports, recently had to put the brakes on her spending.

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.

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.

Aurelio Costarella and Willow ditch NYFW for RAFW

aurelio costarella SS09/daylife

In yet more developments to the rapidly-unfolding RAFW schedule, frockwriter can reveal that Perth's Aurelio Costarella will be doing a presentation on Wednesday 29th April at 11.00am in the Cargo Theatre. A more intimate showcase than a runway show, the presentation of Costarella's heavily-embellished SS0910 collection will nevertheless involve 12 models. This will be Costarella's first AFW show in three years. In the interim, of course, he has become a regular at New York Fashion Week, where he last showed in September for SS09 - skipping the most recent FW0910 shows there, undoubtedly due to the very flat US retail market. In other news, IMG confirmed via Twitter that Kit Willow Podgornik will also be joining the RAFW schedule. Like Costarella, Podgornik has also become a NYFW regular, but skipped the most recent season. Apart from a static lingerie presentation in 2007, Willow has not shown a fashion collection in Sydney since 2005, choosing to focus her attention on the once promising US retail market. Although the scale of both presentations remains to be seen, fact is both fashion expats have chosen to spend some of their marketing dollars back downunder. New York's loss is very much Sydney's gain.

Will the real Abbey Lee please stand up?

a model - but is it kershaw? - in willow SS09/wwd

For a static presentation, the Willow show sure had a lot of twists and turns to it.

First Catherine McNeil is touted to be 'flying the flag' for Willow - but doesn't show.

Now it emerges that although Abbey Lee Kershaw fronted up for Willow yesterday, she had an ahem, standin, for at least part of the presentation:



The shot at the top of this post shows a model wearing the zebra print maxidress which I mentioned in an earlier post. It's really a very striking dress. It was taken by WWD at some stage during the presentation.

Below is a shot of Kershaw in the same dress, together with Stephanie Carta and Alice Burdeu. The shot was supplied by Willow:



Yes there is a resemblance between the two models, however it really doesn't look like the same girl.

That's because it's not.

According to Willow's spokeswoman, Kershaw was involved in the first part of the presentation, however had to leave halfway through - and a replacement slotted in.

But Cat does show for Tommy

catherine mcneil at tommy hilfiger/wwd

Catherine McNeil cancelled all her shows in New York yesterday? Well that was the excuse offered for her noshow at Willow's presentation. Interesting then to see this image of McNeil in Tommy Hilfiger's show which, like Willow, also took place on 11th September.

No idea at this stage what, if any, other shows McNeil might also have done yesterday.

According to the Fashion Calendar, Willow's presentation went until 3pm. Tommy Hilfiger showed at the New York State Theatre in the Lincoln Centre at 6pm.

But McNeil is a busy girl these days. Modelling is a business. And Tommy Hilfiger, an American sportswear superbrand, has a lot of dough.

Yeterday, Willow's press release, which mentioned McNeil's name alongside those of Abbey Lee Kershaw, Alice Burdeu and Stephanie Carta, advertised that:

"Australia's international models will be flying the flag for fellow Australian designer Kit Willow"

However the only 'Australian international models' prepared to fly it for Willow, as frockwriter reported earlier today, appear to have been Kershaw, Carta, Burdeu and Skye Stracke.

Cat a noshow at Willow - while six Australians left standing around town on 9/11

So Catherine McNeil didn’t front up to Willow’s presentation overnight after all. This blog did suggest that it was a little ambitious of the designer to send out a press release saying that the world number 9 model was locked in – even if one local paper happily printed it verbatim.

Just after midnight Sydney time – approximately three hours before Willow’s models had even changed into the clothes – The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Willow:

“also chose some home-grown flesh to showcase her designs, with the Australian models Alice Burdeu, Catherine McNeil, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Stephanie Carter draping themselves across a white pyramid”.

And yes, this blog did get to all three items in that fashion story before the SMH.

According to Willow, McNeil cancelled all her shows yesterday. McNeil’s Sydney agency, Chic Management, is looking into it.

But while big bucks McNeil ultimately proved elusive, Willow nevertheless managed to secure not three, but four, big buzz Australian models for the installation. In addition to Kershaw, Stephanie Carta and Alice Burdeu also turned up, with Skye Stracke a surprise late-starter.

That's (L to R) Kershaw, designer Kit Willow Podgornik, Stephanie Carta and Alice Burdeu, pictured above.

WWD has 15 of the looks up in a slideshow (see below - frockwriter hopes to bring you more soon).

It's a great little collection which includes a striking, super-wide zebra print used in both a draped jumpsuit - and a knockout maxidress with a softly-knotted halterneck, that is bound to be grabbed by many fashion editors and stylists.

There are also several draped, harem-style pants – another big SS09 trend seen in many collections. One pair, in black, is teamed with an embellished black blazer boasting shoulder pads, to create a very glamorous, loose, luxe tuxedo look.

Equally of note: the pretty sheer, draped, nude cocktail dress with balloon sleeves and pussybow neckline.

Also opting for a lowkey presentation on September 11 was the celeb fave J Mendel brand.

Usually showing at Bryant Park, J Mendel instead used a static installation to showcase its collection of draped, Grecian-style gowns and cocktail dresses in pretty nude tones, shot with bursts of tangerine and sapphire blue.

And standing around modelling J Mendel's wares were another two Aussies: Sarah Stephens and Myf Shepherd.

Surely Abbey Lee wouldn't be the only one grateful for a moment’s respite from trudging up and down runways in those killer heels.

Click here to see 15 looks from Willow on wwd.com.
Click here to see the J Mendel presentation on wwd.com.

Willow's pyramid scheme

willow resort 0809

Kit Willow Michelmore might be ditching New York’s official schedule this season, not to mention a traditional runway show, but according to a press release sent out this morning, she has managed to secure an Oz mod lineup to rival even Marc Jacobs for her static presentation which is due to take place at 3.30am Friday AEST: Catherine McNeil, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Alice Burdeu and Stephanie Carta.

McNeil and co are due to provide the very glamorous live component of Willow’s installation inside Chelsea's Altman Building.

According to the Willow HQ the high profile Australians, along with 16 other models, will show 25 looks as they are “swathed over a 4 metre high pyramid”.

It does sound very intriguing - especially given the fact that Chic Management's New York affiliate agency Next, which reps McNeil and Kershaw, told frockwriter that "nothing is confirmed until the day".

Inspired by the Ballets Russes, the collection is called 'Sacred Trace'.

Sydney expat Kannon Rajah is the casting director/producer and GHD's Sophie Roberts will weave antique gold bead 'extensions' into the models' hair (MAC's Gordon Espinet is doing the makeup).

The static presentation show option is not as Claytons as it sounds.

Yes of course it’s less expensive than doing a full-scale runway show. However not only does it provide the opportunity for an audience to see garments at close range, in a frantic, overloaded event like New York Fashion Week, it can also provide a refreshing point of difference.

Donna Karan has used it for her DKNY diffusion label and last week I posted some shots from an installation that was done this time last year at the Chelsea Art Museum by US eveningwear brand Marchesa in lieu of a traditional SS08 runway show.

Marchesa is a Hollywood red carpet fave and the quirky walk-through presentation managed to pull in Naomi Watts (who I iv'd quickly).

Marchesa also used top girls - and draped them around plinths scattered throughout the space. They included Siri Tollerod, Olga Sherer, Amanda Laine and Masha Tyelna.

Willow does not, of course, have Marchesa’s budget and the calibre of model that she says she has confirmed is interesting. In the case of McNeil and Kershaw, both of whom are earning big runway money these days, they may be missing other lucrative work by availing themselves for Willow.

All would undoubtedly be doing this as a favour to Willow - not to mention of course Rajah, who would hold quite some casting clout. Rajah has worked on some of the world's biggest fashion shows in the past couple of years, from Christian Dior to Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Viktor & Rolf and Victoria's Secret.

As I mentioned last week, Willow will be competing with up to seven other fashion shows in her time slot. Including one of the week’s biggest buzz new names: Julian Louie, the protégé of Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa.

So, will Willow do it?

Meanwhile, here are some shots from the designer’s new Resort 0809 collection.

I recall seeing another Oz supe, Miranda Kerr, recently walk the runway in the embellished saffron maxidress pictured above. But then David Jones picked up the tab for that one...


willow resort 0809