MBFWA Spring/Summer 12/13 live blog: Australian Fashion Week UNCUT

Mercedes-Benz Australian Fashion Week is here and a quick word, as per tradition, about how to navigate Frockwriter's coverage. I am doing something a little bit different this year: a collab with another Sydney-based blogger, Emma Ashton at Reality Ravings. Emma is Australia's leading authority on the absolutely exploding genre of reality television. We have been Twitter mates for a while and recently tossed some ideas around about a joint venture for Fashion Week. The idea we eventually came up with: a tandem live blog covering all angles of the event. Why reality tv? You can't surely have failed to notice an incredible convergence between fashion and reality television of late, with a growing number of fashion-focussed reality shows, from the Next Top Model franchise to Project Runway and Fashion Star. There is a particularly big focus on realty tv at this year's Australian Fashion Week, with former winners and contestants of AusNTM modelling (you will recognise a few of them above), a Project Runway winner on the runway, alongside US reality show star Whitney Port, among many other reality tv connections. Here are the nuts and bolts of our coverage, below – and just to clarify, this post is totally ungated/unmetered, i.e. it is not part of Frockwriter's new subscription service. It is 100% free to view in other words – as is our new pop-up blog, Fashion Week UNCUT.

De-Sex: Phoenix Keating - Spring/Summer 12/13

henryk lobaczewski

With Australia's biggest frockfest - Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia - just around the corner, the off-schedule action continues apace. This morning, Carla Zampatti confirmed that one of the biggest fashion stories of recent seasons – the lace dress – is far from over with, among other looks, a sensational series of second-skin, stretch lace dresses and separates in a sugared-almond palette, popped with tangerine. Tonight, it's Phoenix Keating's turn. In the year since we first profiled Keating, the now 21 year-old Sydney designer managed to attract the attention of Lady Gaga, who wore several of his pieces during her appearances in Sydney in July last year. Unlike some other emerging Australian designers, Keating isn't just all show and no sell. He sells through four Australian stockists and has a custom 'couture' business. But Gaga might well be interested in Keating's new 'De-Sex' SS1213 collection which is all about "the de-sexualisation of fetish" and blends some mid century vintage silhouettes with sharp tailoring and a little Latex and rope binding. Here is a first look at the collection – via a series of images shot by Henryk Lobaczewski, starring Lauren Moody. 

The producers: Lara Karamian - MBFWA SS 12/13

backstage at miss couture SS1112, sydney, may 2011/lara karamian

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia starts next Monday in Sydney and today, the event began to bump in to the Overseas Passenger Terminal site. Production teams are scrambling to put the finishing touches to show concepts. Yesterday, as part of frockwriter's pre-MBFWA series, we posted a chat with producer Mark Vassallo. And now here is a Q+A with Lara Karamian, arguably the busiest producer of the week. Karamian has been with Australian Fashion Week for 12 years. After graduating from the University of Technology of Sydney in 2000 with a Bachelor of Management – and a major in event management – she worked as an event producer for Spin Communications, the sister company of Fashion Week founder Australian Fashion Innovators, eventually moving onto Fashion Week proper as an in-house producer. In 2005, Karamian founded her own independent events company called LARA INC and today counts Alex Perry, Lisa Ho, Toni Maticevski, David Jones, Marie Claire, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Australia's Next Top Model among her clients. 

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. 

The designers: Camilla - MBFWA Spring/Summer 12/13 preview

camilla franks SS1213 lookbook/justin ridler

Are Australians renowned for their love of colour? You bet. We live surrounded by surf, sun, sand, The Great Barrier Reef, Rainbow Lorikeets and the red earth of the outback and this seems to be reflected in much of the clothing we wear. Picking up where legendary Australian designers Linda Jackson and Jenny Kee left off back in the 1980s, Camilla Franks, Sydney's co-called 'kaftan queen', is responsible for some of this country's most dazzling resortwear. On Monday 30th April Franks will present the biggest show of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, when she showcases her Spring/Summer 2012/2013 'Gypset' collection on 42 models. Here is an exclusive preview of six styles from her SS1213 lookbook shot by Justin Ridler on Ollie Henderson and Kendall Walters.

The Distance Between: LIFEwithBIRD - Spring/Summer 12/13

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia is a fortnight away and the off-schedule action has begun. This morning, under the spectacular raw concrete arched ceiling of the Utzon Room inside the Sydney Opera House - directly across the harbour from MBFWA's Overseas Passenger Terminal base - Bridget McCall and Nicholas van Messner presented the Spring/Summer 2012/2013 collection of their LIFEwithBIRD label, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. 

Elyse Taylor shoots a Victoria's Secret fragrance campaign with Michael Bay

elyse taylor for victoria's secret swimwear

Another day, another Australian model scores an international fragrance campaign. Last week it was the Sunshine Coast's Codie Young - the solo face of Marc Jacobs' new Dot campaign. Now comes news that Sydney's Elyse Taylor appears in the new 'Love is Heavenly' fragrance campaign for US lingerie and swimwear giant Victoria's Secret, shot by action director Michael Bay (videos below). Taylor - a recent frontwoman of Australian swim and surf brands Tigerlily and O'Neill - is described by Victoria's Secret as a 'new face'. She co-stars in the commercial alongside two Victoria's Secret 'Angels', Erin Heatherton and Lindsay Ellingson.

The showgirls: Priscillas Model Management - MBFWA SS 12/13

amelia zadro/tommy clark via priscillas

Sadly, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia 2012 will be Nobis-less. That is, without Julia Nobis, one of the world's busiest showgirls, who is currently otherwise occupied with far more pressing matters in Europe. Regular readers will recall that Nobis broke her own show record in March, by walking in 73 shows from New York to Paris for the Fall/Winter 2012/2013 season. But the Nobis mothership - Priscillas Model Management - does have a posse of some 30 showgirls for MBFWA, including big local names such as Emma Balfour, Alice Burdeu, Ruby Jean Wilson, Lauren Brown, Bambi Northwood-Blyth and Amanda Ware; exciting new girls like Amelia Zadro (above) and some cool internationals.  

The showboys: Priscillas Model Management - MBFWA SS 12/13

jacob hankin/jordan graham via priscillas

Judging by the traffic over the past week, it's clear that some readers can't get enough of frockwriter's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia Spring/Summer 2012/2013 model showcard posts. So here are two more for you: the women' and mens' show packs from another major Australian agency, Priscillas Model Management. First up, the guys - who include a half dozen new faces who have never previously been seen at the event. Two cases in point Jacob Hankin (above) and Sylvester Terzini - the son of famed Sydney restaurateur Maurice Terzini (Icebergs, North Bondi Italian Food, Nield Avenue etc...). They join established local names such as Max Pernickety, Juan Onekawa, Mason Mulholland and Nathaniel Rooklyn and a few internationals.

The showboys: Gear Model Management - MBFWA SS 12/13

jono palmer via gear model management

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia is primarily a showcase of womenswear collections. That said, a few designers also do menswear and this year's event, which runs from April 30th - May 4th at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal, includes one group menswear show. All the agencies whose MBFWA SS1213 womens' showcard packs frockwriter has published over the past three days - from Chic to Chadwick, Viviens and The Agency Models - also of course represent men, who will be out and about at MBFWA show castings, alongside their female colleagues. This time we thought we would focus on some guys. It's a particularly strong group of new faces from another new, niche Sydney agency called Gear Model Management (which, likewise, also represents women). These new faces include striking 22 year-old Sydneysider Jono Palmer (above), who looks like the love child of Andrej Pejic and Megadeth's Dave Mustaine.