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.

Zimmermann in Miami

getty

Here is a preview of Zimmermann’s Cruise 2009 collection show staged a couple of hours ago at Miami's Raleigh Hotel as part of the Miami Swim event.

The swimwear includes bodycon balconets and underwired construction in 50s-look bikini tops and cutout maillots, as well as soft triangle and string bikinis in geometric prints and western chambray.

The Zimmermann brand is known for its original prints and this collection features seven designs – including the Russian folkloric-look ‘Babushka’ design pictured below.


getty

The show was styled by Sydney-based Tamila Purvis. It’s Zimmermann’s second consecutive Miami Swim show.

Click here to see IMG's video of the show.







all six images above: getty via mercedes benz fashion week miami

Speaking of NZ models....meet supernova Olivia O'Driscoll

img

O'Driscoll is 17, already repped by IMG and, according to her Auckland mother agency, has hit the ground running.

Nova Models reports that O'Driscoll is/has:

• Shooting French Elle
• Shooting for Italian Amica (for the second time)
• Walked in four FW0809 Haute Couture shows in Paris (Nova mentions Alexis Mabille, Georges Hobeika and Dany Atrache)
• Shot a portrait to feature in US Teen Vogue for the launch of Jean Paul Gaultier’s new fragrance – "a portrait with Mr Gaultier himself shot by Benjamin Huseby"
• Either already shot for/is booked to be shot for, Another Magazine, RUSSH Tokyo, Pin Up magazine, Wallpaper and German Vogue

She sounds like a very busy girl.

Beyond vogue.com.au/TFS chatter, the only media outlet/blog to pick the story up as far as I can see so far is Kiwi blog, The Girl With The Kaleidoscope Eyes.

O'Driscoll will apparently be back in Auckland from 31st July - 20th August, with "limited availablity".

Shame she won't be there for NZFW.


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The Tatiana mystery: Is Kiwi Jenna Sauers Jezebel's model mole?

Jenna Sauers/elite milano

This is waaay more fun that trying to work out who is/was behind 4inchnails (as one wag dubbed it). Following on from the Model blogs post, comes word (many tks Timo) of another model blog penned by Summer Rayne Oakes. Then there is the ongoing mystery hovering over the real identity of the author of the hugely-entertaining – and well-written - Modelslips column that is currently running on high profile New York-based women's blog Jezebel, as penned by the anonymous “Tatiana Anymodel”. After a few clues were dropped by Fashinfags and TFS, I did a little sleuthing.

The only ID info provided by Tatiana is that English is her first language and that she has “attended” college.

Three names have been tossed in the air as potential candidates.

>
Emina Cunmulaj in Stella McCartney R09/style.com

The first is 23 year-old Albanian American Emina Cunmulaj. Born, and now based, in the US, Cunmulaj lived from the ages of 4-17 in Yugoslavia.

Perhaps I’m not looking in the right places (and thanks to anyone who can point me in the right direction) but I can find no reference to any tertiary education – or indeed writing experience, blogging or otherwise. I have overheard Cunmulaj chatting backstage at shows and from memory, she sounds pretty fluent in English – with an American accent. She also sounds quite bolshie.

Cunmulaj is, however, pretty high profile and enjoys a lot of prestige work. Tatiana, I suspect, may be much more under the radar.


Shea Prueger/IMG

The second name is 21 year-old Shea Prueger: a Peggy Moffitt/Charlotte Gainsbourg hybrid who, according to model maestro Joseph Tenni, is an Iowa-born Leo.

Leos tend to love attention.

According to what looks to be her Friendster profile, Prueger is currently attending Iowa State University, studying Fine Arts and philosophy.

And....she blogs!

Two blogs pop up under Prueger's name: Blushed Out, which does not look to have been updated since January 2005.

Far more interesting is the current (RED) CHARDONNAY, which is subtitled:

“just some things that happen to me or whatever”

The writing style is nowhere near as fluid as Tatiana’s. But my God, this blog is funny.

Prueger's social commentary is acerbic. Given the age of this blog (three years), it deserves more visibility.

Here’s a New York Fashion Week entry from February 11th, in which she talks about a casting session:

“The Calvin Klein wait was over two hours. After an hour and a half of sitting in a narrow hallway on a dirty, cold, tiled floor a chair opened up. I found myself sitting across from an extremely beautiful Russian with long red hair. She introduced herself immediately to me and then said, do you have any drugs?. After laughing and telling her "no", her phone rang. It was her agent who told her that after the Calvin Klein casting she needed to go to the Bronx for a job. She hung up the phone exasperated. Is it true that if I go the Bronx I will get KILLED the second I come up from underground? She asks me this while wildly making quick stabbing motions with her hand above her head. I choked back laughter and a series of sarcastic comments. And then after a second thought, replied, maybe not the second you reach sunlight, but yeah it happens. You should be really careful. Wide-eyed, she stared at me for a second and said, this is no good".

Prueger is currently based in Taipei. This entry dated May 28th describes a nightclub scene:

“Upon arriving to my table filled with tall, thin girls in short dresses and heels - most of them younger than both of my sisters (probably), I was already cringing. When a Guns and Roses song came on the speakers and my roommate looked at me and said, see this isn't so bad, they even play rock like you like, I really didn't know if I was going to last ten minutes. And then immediately some guy walks up to me, some guy that all of the models seem to know, and offers me a line of blow. I declined nicely, no thanks. And he persisted:

I heard you are from NY. Everyone in NY does blow. Come on.

No, really. I don't touch that shit. Thanks anyway.

All right. So what about some K?

Are you kidding me? K is the LAST thing I want right now. I'm fine.

Champagne?

No. I'm fine.

What can I get you then? One line won't hurt you, I promise.

“I mean this dialogue was absolutely ridiculous. This is what you hear on TV talk shows when those tragic cases of supermodels turned drug addicts with eating disorders finally come forward to "tell their story." It's something I've never experienced in the industry. And now I know why. I don't hang out at clubs with weird, old, strange men.

“Here is the thing I have learned from my few years of working in a bar. People who always "have" drugs, are always "on" drugs, are not the biggest drug addicts on the planet. When you are doing something wrong, you don't tell anyone about it - definitely not offering it to friends and people you don't know. In the bar world, we call these guys, 'fashion druggies'".

Jenna Sauers/Cynthia & Philippe Barigan

Prueger’s name was dropped by another model called Jenna Sauers in this TFS thread – and possibly as a red herring, after one poster suggested that Sauers in fact might be the author of Modelslips.

Sauers flatly denied that she is Tatiana.

As it happens however, she also has her own blog.

In her bio entry, Sauers mentions that she is also a university graduate – coincidentally, of the University of Iowa - with English (creative writing) and French (literature and culture) majors. She mentions that she has also been published in The Daily Iowan newspaper - and freelanced.

Not mentioned in Sauers’ provided bio, but easily spotted online, are a couple of other achievements: she won a Presidential Scholarship to Iowa U – and the university's Scott Anderson prize. A 2007 Iowa U press release announcing the latter mentions that, upon graduation, Sauers,

“plans to pursue jobs in journalism”.

Of particular interest to the New Zealand media will be the fact that Sauers is originally from Christchurch and a 2003 graduate of Rangi Ruru Girls' School.

Sauers discloses to TFS that she has joint US/NZ citizenship and modelled in NZ as a child and part-time during high school.


Jenna Sauers/Cynthia & Philippe Barigan

In her blog, she notes:

“Rather than enter the writing world the traditional way — by getting the kind of assistant-assistant-assistant job that is Sisyphean in its reading but permits you to write only post-its on other people’s manuscripts — I moved to San Francisco, got a wicked day job with the kind folks at Freight Baggage, sewing messenger bags and listening to NPR and John Cale all day, and started freelancing

“Seven weeks and a few lucky connections later, I was in Paris working as a model — a job I suppose I technically started back when my eight-year-old shit-eating grin first graced department store and mail-order catalogues in my home country, New Zealand. University in the Midwest was my attempt to connect with the culture of my American parents, and to short-circuit the question of whether I would one day model full time, but the biz just keeps bringing me back.

“Modeling is very uneven: within the same working day, I might be exhausted, elated, crushed, told I’m fat, or given a job that starts now, get on the Métro, run, don’t walk! In my experience, every good model (even the most vapid) has a special preserve of consistency and solidity in her regular, non-working life: the place from which you draw the equanimity and presence of mind to deal with the turbulent surface. One of mine is writing”.

RELATED:
IS JEZEBEL'S MODEL MOLE LOOKING AT A BOOK DEAL?
ON THE RECORD: JENNA SAUERS
MOE BETTER CLUES?

Vale Mark Keighery

vogue.com.au


I was saddened to learn of the death of MARCS founder Mark Keighery, who passed away last night at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at age 53, following an almost decade-long battle with cancer.

I didn’t know Keighery well, but I had certainly interviewed him on more than one occasion over the years. He seemed like a really nice guy. He was, without doubt, one of the pioneers of the modern Australian sportswear industry.

Keighery launched his company in 1979 at the age of 24, importing international fashion labels.

The stable would eventually embrace blue chip brands such as Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, John Smedley, John Richmond, Dries Van Noten and of course Diesel, which Keighery helped build into a streetwear powerhouse in this market.

But it was Keighery's own label which made the biggest mark on Australian fashion.

It was launched with the simple idea of man’s shirt made from non-traditional men’s shirt materials: women’s dress fabrics. And the idea provided the foundation for a mens and womens sportswear retail business with estimated sales of A$45-57million in 2002, at the time he sold the MARCS component for a reported A$22million in order to concentrate on his health.

The MARCS shingle hangs today over 38 Australian boutiques, a combination of standalones and stores-within-stores within both David Jones and Myer.

He is survived by his wife Lisa and sons Jack and Harry.

Brunsdon on Project Runway, the Brana factor - and schedule stress

Tonight, as I type, Jayson Brunsdon and business partner Aaron Elias are in Singapore toasting the launch of their first international boutique - which is located on the city's famous Orchard Road. I mention in today's story in WWD that the boutique is in fact sandwiched in between Lanvin and BCBG Max Azria. Not bad company.

I chatted with Brunsdon before he flew out about the Asian move, his recent cancer diagnosis and the Australian series of Project Runway in which he plays a judge (1st episode screen grab above). Here are a few extra bits and pieces which did not make it into the story.

The PR contestant who calls herself "the frocker", some may be interested (or irritated) to know, "keeps going" according to Brunsdon. The cast, including nine eliminated contestants and the three finalists, will reassemble in August for the finale.

Brunsdon on the contestants:

"It’s a lot of fun. There’s some really good talent. There’s some great talent. There’s some bad talent. But I think that’s what makes it entertaining. You’ve got a bit of both going on. The thing I love about it is that it’s not a show about shoving a few people who are really about nothing into a house. It’s about craft and it’s about, you know, their talent really. It’s about them pulling it all together. There’s no way I could do what they do".

On who in fact clinched his decision to do the series after he was first approached:

"I was a bit reticent at first. I was sort of thinking, ‘Oh I don’t know if I want to do reality television’. But I love the American one. I thought it was really fantastic. And I spoke to [well-connected New York-based Australian stylist] Brana Wolf. She said, ‘Just do it’. Because she’s best friends with Michael Kors - and she said, ‘You know, it’s been great for Michael, he loved doing it and he’s really enjoyed it and it’s been very good for him’. So I said, ‘OK’".

On the fact that he is the second high profile Australian designer to have been diagnosed with cancer within a year (after sass & bide's Heidi Middleton):

"The last month has been very restful, all I’ve done is lie on my back. I kind of needed that. I needed a good rest. This fashion schedule is just too intense for human beings. And I think the only people that can really adhere to it are the ones who are comforted by enormous backing from luxury groups. I think it’s very hard for independent, smaller designers to really try and keep up with this schedule. I think it’s way too demanding".

Kurban country - the neighbours blab

Sutton Forest Hotel managers Michael and Kirsty Nielsen - with their Bunya Hill view/The Southern Highlands News

Well I didn't want to be the one to blab the exact address of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s new Sutton Forest property.

After the SMH broke the story on Saturday, I did mention the location of what is almost literally their “corner store” - a shop called A Little Piece of Scotland. Then on Tuesday, I added that I had no doubt paparazzi would have already clocked the address and long-range lens possibilities. What I did not say at the time was that these lens possibilities would be afforded by the property's awkward proximity to the Sutton Forest Hotel. But I see from the front page story of Wednesday’s edition of local rag The Southern Highlands News that the Hotel’s managers haven't been able to stop talking about it.

“Nic’s new neighbours” screams the page one headline across a story by Robyn Murray, together with a shot of the Sutton Forest Hotel "managers" Michael and Kirsty Nielsen and the rooftop of the Bunya Hill main residence, just visible in the distance.


My shot from the Sutton Forest Hotel carpark

The story takes up the entire front page and continues on page four. A portion is available online.

Here is some new intel about the purchase not covered in the online version:

• The previous owners of Bunya Hill used to drive their car to the bottom of the hill and walk to the pub.

• The property used to be called Valdemar.

• The house has five bedroom suites with dressing rooms and bathrooms, “wine-tasting rooms” and cellar, a conservatory, billiards room and a den. In addition to a separate (one assumes manager’s) cottage, four garages and machinery sheds.

• A property further down on Golden Vale Road, on which Bunya Hill is located, has long been mooted as a potential airport.

But at least the locals have a sense of humour.

The reporter suggests that A Little Piece of Scotland should change its name to A Little Piece of Hollywood.

And Greg Barnsley, the owner of the nearby Everything Store, jokes that Urban should change his name to Keith Rural.

Of Kidman, Barnsley notes:

“She’s a good sort. I’ll say that much. She’s about as big as you can get. When I see her I’ll say. ‘You were great in BMX Bandits’”.

Kirrily and Moët jump the pond to Auckland

New Zealand Fashion Week announced its lineup about an hour ago in Auckland and, thanks to Kiwi operative Paul Blomfield, frockwriter can reveal the biggest news: Kirrily Johnston is the first Australian designer to join the event. Not only that, Moët et Chandon has jumped on board as champagne sponsor.

Now heading into its eighth year, this is the first year that New Zealand Fashion Week has opened its doors to Australians. In May, NZFW creative director Myken Stewart told me that should enough Australians in fact be interested in showing, then they might consider adding another day to the schedule.


Both images: Kirrily Johnston AW08 collection/kirrilyjohnston.com

So far Johnston is the only Australian to head to Auckland and the schedule remains a 4-day only affair, which runs from 16th-19th September down on Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour. To be followed by the Fashion Weekend event – a public showcase of collections highlights and season previews.

The news is interesting in light of the demise of the Transseasonal – nee autumn/winter – showcase of Australian Fashion Week. This year IMG finally canned the struggling event, in order to focus on its consumer-nosed Sydney Fashion Festival. Interesting, because if designers aren't willing to cough up funds to show their winter collections on schedule in Sydney, it is presumably going to be a lot more expensive to schlep a show over to NZ.

"It’s worked out honestly to be less expensive for us than shooting a campaign, which is what we would normally do for winter" Johnston told me on Friday afternoon, adding that "there's not a lot of difference" in the show comparison shots, beyond the fact that she needs to fly a team over. She hopes most costs will be covered by sponsorship.

Johnston said she had in fact been planning a trip to NZ at the exact moment NZFW approached her to do a show. Like other Australians, Johnston recently decided to devote more attention to the Asian market.

A Hong Kong trip earlier this year proved to very successful in terms of media coverage, she said.

Noted Johnston, "For me its about New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan [at the moment]. You're there in one day, you don't suffer the hideous jet lag. This is where we getting our strength from at the moment".

So far only names of the key participating brands, and not the official schedule, have been released. They include:

• Kirrily Johnston
• Trelise Cooper
• World (great to see these guys back after four years)
• Hailwood
• Stolen Girlfriends Club
• Lonely Hearts
• Zambesi
• Nom*D
• Cybele
• Huffer
• Stitch Ministry
• Yvonne Bennetti
• Paula Ryan
• Juliet Hogan
• Deadly Ponies
• Annah Stretton
• Michael Pattison

No Kate Sylvester this year. Karen Walker will stage some kind of presentation/party.

In the current economic climate, in which everyone seems to be trimming the PR fat, the Moët et Chandon move is also interesting.

Especially in light of the news that in Australia at least, Moët is dropping its long-standing Melbourne Cup Carnival Birdcage marquee this year - in favour of an exclusive, inner-city, club-type venue. The latter is bound to cost less than the 500K Moët reportedly ponies up for its Birdcage spot.

Several years ago Moët also pulled the plug on its sponsorship of Australian Fashion Week.

“AFW went from Moët to Rosemount – New Zealand Fashion Week has gone from Deutz to Moët” noted one wag of the Kiwi bubbles upgrade.

Polly Borland @ Murray White

What do Bill Henson's teenage models do when they grow up? Some open their own art galleries showcasing exhibitions of images of breasts and va-jay-jays. A case in point, Murray White, the Melbourne hipster - and Christopher Walken-lookalike - behind the glamorous contemporary art gallery, Murray White Room.

White's latest show Polly Borland - Bunny opens tomorrow.

It's a new exhibition of images by the Melbourne-born, London-based photographer Polly Borland - and which runs concurrently to an exhibition on now at London's Michael Hoppen Contemporary gallery.

On Saturday Borland was the cover story of The Independent's weekend magazine:



Her work hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London and has featured in publications ranging from The Independent to The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Face, Dazed and Confused and British Vogue. Borland has also shot album covers for Nick Cave and Goldfrapp.

Based in the UK since 1989, Borland's portraits have included Sir Kingsley Amis, Cate Blanchett and the Queen. But she is better-known for some of her more controversial work, which includes studies of the Russian sex industry after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Californian Cryonicists and the 'Baby' series - which looks at fetishists who like to dress up as babies.

'Bunny' is a series of images of 6'3" tall British actress Gwendoline Christie.

All up there are 52 images in the project - Hoppen is showing 30 in London and White, 26 - with six prints available globally of each.

The entire collection of images is showcased in an accompanying book published by Damien Hirst's imprint, Other Criteria, with words from British writer Will Self and Nick Cave. According to this blog, Hirst has purchased a print of every image in the exhibition.

Given his delicate sensibilities over the Henson affair however, I'm not sure that Kevin Rudd will be rushing out to buy many of the images.

Nor indeed is Rudd likely to be purchasing a copy of the companion book - in which this poem penned by Cave appears opposite an image (below) of, not to put too fine a point on it, a twat:

“The honeyed Bunny with pudding warm
Full of fingers up to her arm
And streaming in her darling pants a gout of goo
Went at it the way I imagine most girls do
As they picture big-balled fuck-poles
Hammering their holes
And...um....
They come”.

White opened his gallery two years ago. Previously he was assistant curator and registrar of collections at Melbourne's Heide Museum of Modern Art and manager at Melbourne's Australian Galleries.

Shows to date have featured local and international names such as Sangeeta Sandraseger, Alex Pittendrigh, Tony Clark, Judith Van Heeren, Eliza Hutchison, Sally Ross and Anne-Marie May.



According to White however, his shows have yet to generate a single critical review in the Australian daily arts media - who "only ever seem interested in talking about Sidney Nolan".

"They [the mainstream press] have dropped the ball on contemporary art" White told me today. "The publications have also dropped the ball on the visual arts. They’ve almost eliminated visual arts space – it's just so limited considering what [coverage] literature and the performing arts receive, they have pages and pages. The visual arts is absolutely marginalised at the moment, contemporary or otherwise".

Given Borland's pulling power - and the fact that The Sydney Morning Herald has now picked up not two, but three, stories initially done by this blog - perhaps White's luck is about to change.


Polly Borland - Bunny
18th July - 23rd August
Murray White Room
Sargood Lane (off Exhibition Street)
Melbourne
Images:
1/Untitled III 2004-05 Fujicolour crystal archive print © Polly Borland
2/Untitled XI 2004-05 Fujicolour crystal archive print © Polly Borland
3/Untitled V 2004-05 Fujicolour crystal archive print © Polly Borland
Courtesy the artist and Murray White Room

Urban Outfitters marks down Lagerfeld - turns him into Powerpuff Girl?

There's been a bit of net buzz overnight concerning a Karl Lagerfeld dedication T done by US streetwear chain Urban Outfitters. First revealed by Nylon magazine, I have since spotted the story on several blogs. The shirt is pretty cute. I'd be curious to know however if Lagerfeld gets the joke.

Although according to Nylon the T-shirt was selling for US$19.99, Catwalk Queen spotted it on the Urban Outfitter's UK website and reports it was marked down:

"from £28 to £14.99. Bargain!"

Catwalk Queen illustrates its item with a shot from Urban Outfitters' UK website:



According to Urban Outfitters' UK website however a few moments ago (the site was inaccessible this morning for some reason), the "Truly Madly Deeply Karl Roll Cuff Tee" has in fact been marked down further still: from £28.00 to £9.99.

Beyond Urban Outfitters' advertised upcoming collab with Luella Bartley, it's not 100percent clear if the Lagerfeld T-shirt is an official collaboration with Lagerfeld.

In spite of the fact that Urban Outfitters apparently couldn’t give the Ts away before, is its Karl Lagerfeld T now destined to become a collector’s item on eBay? Just like the H&M Karl Lagerfeld T done at the time of Lagerfeld's collaboration collection for the fast fashion giant - a T-shirt which bore a signed self-portrait sketch of the Chanel creative director.

All these T-shirt dedications raise a few other questions.

Could Lagerfeld possibly be turning into the new Che Guevara?

Or is he just the latest addition to Cartoon Network's Powerpuff Girls lineup?

Urban Outfitters' toon take on Lagerfeld bears an uncanny resemblance to the US cartoon characters Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup - "Three little girls in kindergarten who have superhero powers".

I couldn’t resist the temptation for a little digital mischief.

So without further adieu - and with Buttercup taking a cure somewhere in eastern Europe to make room for Kaiser Karl - I give you the new, luxe version of The Powerpuff Girls.

Blossom, Bubbles and Mittens: