Open Sesame

A little link love for a cool Australian online startup, Sesame Magazine, founded by Melbourne stylist Nadia Barbaro. Frockwriter is honoured to be included in this edition's Blogs We <3 section. For a backgrounder on Nadia, here's a Q&A on The Design Files.

RAFW SS1011 - The (awkward) 15th anniversary edition

life.com

Frockwriter is not known for sitting back and waiting for the press release. For two years now, we have naughtily preempted IMG Fashion Asia Pacific's release of the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week schedule with our own running draft schedule and this year will be no exception. Herewith, the bare bones of the Spring/Summer 2010/2011 edition, which will take place from May 3-7 at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal. This information, which will be updated, comes direct from the designers and/or their reps, who have, they claim, locked in times. An early adopter in social media stakes (in 2008 RAFW welcomed Bryanboy to what was in fact his first international fashion week, before he headed to the main circuit), IMG has already confirmed that Jak + Jil's Tommy Ton and Susie Bubble's Susie Lau will be attending this year. But they are not, we hear, the only blog stars who are heading downunder. (Garance Doré and Scott Schuman are also expected). (UPDATE 23/04/10: OFFICIAL SCHEDULE NOW ONLINE - WITH FROCKWRITER'S UPDATED DRAFT BELOW).

As for venues, RAFW-goers will recall that last year, the event was downsized from its traditional three venues to two, which was understandable in light of the GFC.

In November, IMG Fashion Asia Pacific's general manager Daniel Hill told WWD:

“Early inquiries about show options also lead us to believe there is a demand for three collection showroom options. Having said that, we are crucially mindful that these are still uncertain times for many businesses, especially those exporting abroad, so we have every intention to offer a range of economical participation solutions".

The schedule is still filling up and there is some indication that the adjacent Museum of Contemporary Art will include an additional venue on top of the regular MCA Showrooms. However frockwriter understands that for the second year in a row, RAFW's former Harbour Pavilion tent, which was traditionally the event's biggest venue, will not be on offer.

There have obviously been a few other developments since November.

In December, the second edition of the company's new Swim Fashion Week showcase was axed (sources say we are similarly unlikely to see a third edition of the company's Hong Kong Luxury Week this year).

Beyond Zimmermann and Seventh Wonderland, which say they are already on schedule, a number of other swimwear brands that were due to participate in Swim Fashion Week are expected to be incorporated into this SS1011 showcase.

Then in February, came the shock announcement, from IMG, that RAFW founder Simon Lock would not be renewing his contract - five years after he sold the event to IMG. The announcement came, curiously, a full eight months ahead of the expiry of said contract.

In a statement, Lock was quoted as saying:

"I look forward to celebrating the 15th year anniversary in May with my IMG and industry colleagues".

The statement continued on to say:

"IMG Fashion’s team structure in the Asia Pacific region will remain the same. Simon Lock, Peter Levy and Martin Jolly will all attend RAFW this season".

On Saturday, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Lock may be persona non grata at the event, which is even more curious. And quite disappointing.

Any Americans unfamiliar with Lock's name just need to imagine 7th on Sixth, or as it is known today, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, without its founder Fern Mallis - who, like Lock, transferred over with the event when it was sold to IMG.

There will undoubtedly be some who will be overjoyed at the news of Lock's departure from RAFW.

From its launch in May 1996, the event was frequently mired in controversy. Lock's intensely competitive nature, moreover, found him at loggerheads with more than one party.

It should be remembered, however, that after several attempts by various parties at launching an internationally-focussed fashion trade showcase in this country, Australian Fashion Week finally put Australian fashion on the map.

It took an aggressive marketer to muster enthusiasm, dazzle sponsors and leverage media coverage.

Equally important: it took a branding professional to bypass the dull, commercial names that could easily have bankrolled the event in its early days, to focus instead on the new emerging designers who would give the event an exciting edge, some of whom were also financially assisted by Lock.

The industry owes him a huge debt of gratitude.



OFF SCHEDULE

THURSDAY 15TH APRIL
12.30 Leona Edmiston, Quay, Overseas Passenger Terminal

WEDNESDAY 28TH APRIL
11.00 Carla Zampatti, by invitation
12.30 Marnie Skillings, Royal Botanic Gardens

THURSDAY 29TH APRIL
TBC The Birthday Suit

THURSDAY 6TH MAY
21.00 Antipodium (cocktail party), venue TBC


RAFW


bold = name not originally on draft schedule (last updated 18/04)
strike = designer cancellation or changed slot

MONDAY 3RD MAY
09.00 Lisa Ho, off-site
10.00 Ginger & Smart, the OPT
11.00 Seventh Wonderland, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Camilla, the OPT
13.00 Lucette, Cargo Theatre
14.00 RTW #1 group show (Carly Hunter, Guanabana, Story by Tang, Uscari)
15.00 Zambesi, Cargo Theatre
16.00 Rachel Gilbert, the OPT
16.45-17.15 The MCA Group Collection and Art Installation Show (Francis Leon, IRO, Kylie Hawkes, Twenty8Twelve by S. Miller)
17.30 Bassike, Cargo Theatre
18.30 Aurelio Costarella, on-site
19.30 Bec + Bridge, Cargo Theatre
20.30 Christopher Esber, the OPT
21.30 Stolen Girlfriends Club, off-site

TUESDAY 4TH MAY
09.00 camilla + marc, off-site
10.00 Zimmermann, the OPT
11.00 Valerie Tolosa Sara Phillips, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Little Joe, the OPT
13.00 Sabatini White, Cargo Theatre
14.00 Sara Phillips, the OPT
15.00 Magdalena Velevska, Cargo Theatre
16.00 RTW #2 group show (Breathless, Gary Yang, Leigh Schubert, Sally Koeswanto)
16.45-17.15 The MCA Group Collection and Art Installation Show (Elissa Coleman, Kirstie Morris, O’Hara Designs, Thulie)
17.30 Flannel, Cargo Theatre
18.30 Nicola Finetti, the OPT
19.30 Friedrich Gray, Cargo Theatre
20.30 Alex Perry, sound stage 7, Fox Studios
21.30 Ellery, off-site

WEDNESDAY 5TH MAY
09.00 Therese Rawsthorne, off-site
10.00 Kate Sylvester, the OPT
11.00 Alice McCall, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Manning Cartell, the OPT
13.00 Bianca Spender, Cargo Theatre
14.00 RTW #3 group show (Mawlai, Anthony Capon, Nana Judy, Premonition, {Un} Naked, A.Concept, Humility Couture)
15.00 Phos Phoro, Cargo Theatre
16.00 Nookie, the OPT
16.45-17.15 The MCA Group Collection and Art Installation Show (Beau Coops, Del Playa Drive, Song for the Mute, TOS)
17.30 Jayson Brundson, Cargo Theatre
18.30 Anna & Boy, the OPT
19.30 Karla Spetic, Cargo Theatre
20.30 Konstantina Mittas, the OPT
21.30 Romance Was Born, off-site

THURSDAY 6TH MAY
09.00 Dion Lee, off-site
10.00 Kirrily Johnston, the OPT
11.00 Gary Bigeni Ae'lkemi, Cargo Theatre
12.00 The Innovators/TAFE NSW (Elliot Ward-Fear, George El-Sissa, Caroline Fuss, Christopher Dobosz, Nicholas Christensen)
13.00 Gary Bigeni, Cargo Theatre
14.00 Lui Hon, the OPT
15.00 Dhini, the OPT
16.00 Swimwear group show #1 Kooey Australia
16.45-17.15 The MCA Group Collection and Art Installation Show (Cilla & Pepe, Efigy49, Kushushu, Penniem)
17.30 Saint Augustine Academy, Cargo Theatre
18.30 Michael Lo Sordo, the OPT
19.30 Fernando Frisoni, Cargo Theatre
20.30 Ruby Smallbone, the OPT
21.30 Gail Sorronda, Cargo Theatre

FRIDAY 7TH MAY
09.00 Arnsdorf, off-site
10.00 Ms Couture, the OPT
11.00 Miss Unkon, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Swim Fashion Week @ RAFW (Agua Bendita, Blackbox Apparel, Karen Neilson Collection, Lisa Blue, Lisa Maree, Rebecca Manning Swim, Roopa Pemmaraju)
13.00 White Sands, Cargo Theatre
14.00 New Generation group show (Louisa Fredrica, Nathan Paul Swimwear, Plasidapparel, By Johnny, Emma Veall, Flowers for a Vagabond, Garth Cook, Ivana-Marija Stipicic, Krysalis, Sim.me.ri.an)
15.00 Annah Stretton, Cargo Theatre
16.00 Swimwear group show #2 Hussy, the OPT
20.00 Ksubi, Royal Hall of Industries, Fox Studios

And the Walkley for new media douchebaggery apparently goes to... me

sassybella twitter

I was interested to spot this post from Clare Fletcher. Entitled, "Anti social media" it was about how much Fletcher had enjoyed last week's Portable/Refinery 29 presentation in Sydney - save for my extreme rudeness in Tweeting during the Q&A with the New York fashion site's co-founder Philippe von Borries and creative director Piera Gelardi. The Q&A that I myself was conducting. Now it's true, I do like a chat. I was constantly busted at school for talking, passing notes and being generally disruptive. I so abused the message system of John Fairfax's antediluvian computer network back in the 1980s that the message function was removed from my profile. Not once, but twice - after I discovered a way to send messages without it the first time. I've had a Mac and a fax machine for 21 years. A BlackBerry for five. A blog for four. And I have been on Twitter for three. During RAFW last year some took issue with my real-time Twitter coverage of the event, indignant that they were robbed of longform, more considered - and of course, 100% gratis - analysis. And yes I did Tweet during last week's Refinery 29 presentation. A fact that was apparently not lost on Fletcher, who writes:

"...it's a little off topic but the thing I was most struck by at the Refinery29 talk was the behaviour of the MC..... while she was interviewing Philip and Piera from Refinery29, she was tweeting.

I'm talking about breaking eye contact during an interview to tap away on a Blackberry. Now, I understand that her social media coverage would have given the event more attention that it might have recieved otherwise. I realise that her Twitter followers would have wanted to know her thoughts on the event as it unfolded. She was doing her job. But it just seemed quite rude. What is the etiquette here? Am I being old fashioned?"

I would just like to clarify a few points here.

The only Tweets dispatched during the presentation by yours truly covered a few key points made by von Borries and Gelardi during their addresses, which took approximately 50 minutes. While I was seated in the audience. As did other attendees.

I did not, however, Tweet during the Q&A itself. I was referring to a list of prepared questions on my BlackBerry.

At the very end, as we were wrapping up, I checked to see if there had been any responses to the earlier Tweets. I thought von Borries and Gelardi might find this feedback interesting. And retweeted several times was the following point made by von Borries:

"You can't do things the old way anymore".

Indeed.

Some people use a notebook on the public speaking podium. Others, cue cards. It's not considered rude if they break eye contact to refer to their notes and questions, so what's the big deal with a handheld?

Fletcher, FYI, is the assistant editor of The Walkley Magazine, which is published by the Walkley Foundation, a non profit dedicated to the promotion of excellence in Australian journalism and which administers the industry's leading annual awards, the Walkleys.

Gail Elliott's Little Joe to make its runway debut at RAFW - possibly christened by Cindy Crawford and Yasmin Le Bon

>
vogue.co.uk

We have just seen Elle Macpherson, Kristen McMenamy, Stella Tennant and Kristy Hume return to the runway. Could their '80s/'90s catwalk colleagues Gail Elliott, Cindy Crawford and Yasmin Le Bon be about to follow suit at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week? There's definitely a chance. Frockwriter can reveal that Sydney-based Elliott is planning to show her Little Joe label at the upcoming Sydney event, which will run from May 3-7 at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. At Tuesday's Calvin Klein dinner in Sydney, Elliott's husband and business partner, Joe Coffey, told frockwriter that they have locked in a show for 12.00pm on Tuesday May 4th in the largest venue. When asked if Crawford and Le Bon might fly down to support their mate on the runway, he replied that discussions are underway. Elliott would most likely only appear in the show if Crawford and Le Bon turn up, said Coffey. The show will mark not only the eight year-old label's runway debut, but its return to wholesaling after a hiatus, during which the duo concentrated on strengthening their Australian store network, which now stands at six.

The supermod trio modelled together and have remained close friends.

Christensen and Le Bon were both bridesmaids at Elliott's 1997 wedding to Coffey in New York and appear on the Little Joe website with Elliott, wearing Little Joe.

And Crawford has lent her star power to promote Elliott's label on at least one other occasion:

Calvin Klein's ice breaker

Just got back from a second Calvin Klein dinner in almost as many days. Downunder to talk at the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival's Business Seminar on Friday, Calvin Klein Collection women's creative director Francisco Costa (above) and the company's executive vice president global communications, Sydney-bred Malcolm Carfrae, have been busy entertaining. First there was Sunday night's dinner down in Melbourne (here is WWD's report - FYI it was Marie Claire Australia editor Jackie Frank leading the "skull!" chorus). Then last night's dinner at Sydney's Coco Republic to launch Calvin Klein Home furniture, with Calvin Klein Home creative director Amy Mellen. Earlier in the day, the trio chilled out at Bondi, lunching at the iconic Icebergs restaurant, before taking a dip in the ocean, during which they were joined by a pod of dolphins. Costa reports he wore boardshorts - and not the budgie smugglers that he purchased on the weekend at the Middle Brighton Baths just outside Melbourne. Costa chose a pair with the word "ICEBERGERS" emblazoned across the derrière, named after the sea baths' year-round "Icebergers" swimming club. Not to be confused with Bondi's near century-old Icebergs swimming club over which the Icebergs restaurant was built.

Gail Reid bound for Roberto Cavalli?

Well so Reid told me last night at the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival opening ceremony, that was staged inside the Victorian Italianate splendour of the state ballroom of Melbourne's Government House - a whisper of which is visible in the background of this shot. No, there are apparently no plans to discontinue Reid's Gail Sorronda label. Reid reports she is planning to commute between her Paris base and Cavalli's Florence headquarters as a contracted freelance consultant. A gig that would no doubt do wonders for her cashflow, not to mention provide an invaluable insight into the machinations of a major European fashion house.

A chat with Michael Angel

This blog has talked about New York-based Australian designer Michael Angel on several occasions. First, when his collection popped up in US Vogue, before there was a peep out of its Australian counterpart (which has yet to cover his work, reports Angel). Then we interviewed him via phone backstage, moments before he opened New York Fashion Week. Frockwriter just returned from a Calvin Klein dinner at Cutler & Co in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, where we finally got to meet Angel in person. Calvin Klein Collection designer Francisco Costa and the company's head of communications, Malcolm Carfrae, will both talk at the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival's Business Seminar on Friday. Later today, Angel will take part in something called the Designer Forum. Here's a preview of a few points he will be discussing. The only quiet place we could find was the loo - hence the dim lighting - so we locked ourselves in one cubicle and filmed away.

LMFF, Refinery 29 downunder and Sonny Vandevelde comes of Age

It's a busy week next week. On Sunday frockwriter will be down in Melbourne for the opening of the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. On Wednesday 17th, we will have the honour of moderating the Sydney presentation by Refinery 29 co-founders, the New York-based Philippe Von Borries and Piera Gelardi. Staged at the Museum of Sydney and organised by Melbourne digital outfit Portable, it’s one of three Australian talks the duo will deliver over the next seven days, providing an insight into what went into building one of the web’s hottest indie fashion sites. Tonight they will be in Brisbane and on the 18th, Melbourne. Then on Friday 19th frockwriter will be back down in Melbourne, where we will also have the honour of opening the first Australian exhibition of our buddy, Belgralian backstage snapper Sonny Vandevelde at Mars Gallery.

The exhibition's soft opening is this Saturday and it runs until March 28th, so check it out if you are in town.

Now a regular contributor to the online entity of The New York Times' fashion magazine T (among many other publications), just last week Sonny was thrilled to find several of his shots being used on the site's homepage to flag its Fall/Winter 2010/2011 coverage.

Sonny already knows he is the focus of an upcoming feature in the Melbourne broadsheet The Age, penned by fashion editor Jan Breen Burns - which will in fact be the first mainstream Australian media profile of his work.

What he doesn’t yet know is that he is in fact tomorrw's cover story of the paper's A2 arts supplement. Above is a sneak peek at the A2 cover which features one of his shots. Buy the paper to read how this Sydney surfie became one of the best backstage photographers in the world. We'll update with a link once the story goes online (and voilà).

Elle Macpherson closes Louis Vuitton

louis vuitton FW1011/getty via daylife


Well we can add Elle Macpherson to the list of Australian models walking in Fall/Winter 2010/2011. Returning to the runway after what frockwriter estimates could be a 20 year hiatus (the last time we recall seeing Macpherson on a catwalk was the Bicentennial Wool Collection in Sydney in 1988), she closed Louis Vuitton's 1950s-nosed collection yesterday in Paris. Although not technically the last show of the season - that was Miu Miu last night - it was a fascinating climax to a season marked by its interesting show casting. Much has been made of the "curvier" models on show alongside the stock standard teenage skeletors, even though the Victoria's Secret Angels who appeared at Prada and Balenciaga are still whippet thin. But the choice of 46 year-old Macpherson, after Calvin Klein cast fortysomethings Kristen McMenamy and Stella Tennant, alongside 33 year-old Kirsty Hume in New York, with McMenamy also showing up at Viktor & Rolf last weekend, seems more a victory for the older woman, than her curvier cousin.

From Churchill to Cassi-Gate, insulting the French is "nothing new" - The Times of London

After last week's post about Cassi van den Dungen's ill-fated Paris Fashion Week trip, where hasn't the story appeared? First The Sunday Telegraph, then The Melbourne Herald Sun, The Brisbane Courier Mail and Ninemsn.com.au. Yesterday, Seven Network's Morning Show devoted an entire panel discussion to the subject, with The Herald Sun's Luke Dennehy - who apparently "broke the story" - crossing live from Melbourne to anchors Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur and fashion commentator Melissa Hoyer, to discuss van den Dungen's Facebook rant against "frog eaters" and "snail slurpers" - as if it was an international incident (see below). Even the UK Telegraph picked it up.

Noone mentioned that van den Dungen herself was insulted on Facebook last year by Australia's Next Top Model co-hosts Alex Perry and Charlotte Dawson, both of whom are, unlike van den Dungen, old enough to know better. With Dawson charmingly telling this blog that "We don't give a shit" about the fallout.

Also overlooked, the facts that: the Facebook rant came at the beginning of the trip, not the end; that van den Dungen travelled to Paris under option (ie reserved) for one exclusive appearance; that the option had already been facilitated by her Sydney agency and that all IMG had to do was get her to the castings/meetings (which by all accounts it did not do very well); and that many, many models are optioned for show exclusives, with no guarantee of success.

In spite of all the tut-tutting from commentators, you have to wonder whether the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity rings true here. The incident has only served to further raise van den Dungen's profile. According to Hoyer, most people in the fashion business probably wouldn't care, "because she really is the perfect look for a successful model".

Now today comes word from the distinguished Times of London newspaper.

It uses the van den Dungen anecdote as a springboard into a laundry list of historic insults and snubs served to the French by the English - and vice versa - as documented in Stephen Clarke’s new book, 1,000 Years of Annoying the French, which is to be published by Bantam Press on March 18th.

The Times story begins:

"The insults aimed at 'frog-eaters and snail-slurpers' last week were nothing new. What the model Cassi van den Dungen typed on to her Facebook page last week — after the frustrated runner-up in Australia’s Next Top Model failed to find employment on the catwalks of Paris — is just the latest faux pas in a long history of diplomatic gaffes. Relations between the French and anyone impudent enough to speak English have always been enlivened by wars and name-calling. That we’re supposedly friends these days seems to have only exacerbated the problem.


Just in case you naively imagined that the entente might be getting more cordiale, here are the Top 20 foot-in-mouth moments . . ."

Some of frockwriter's faves include:

"- In 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni declined a planned second night’s stay at Windsor and returned to Paris a day early. What rudeness!

- Édith Cresson, the French Prime Ministere, declares in 1991 that “one in four Englishmen is gay”.

- In 1990, The Sun, in full anti-EU rage, tells all “frog-haters” to face France and “tell the feelthy French to frog off”.

- Le Monde published a 48-page supplement about the Liberation of France in 2004. The first mention of non-French troops appears on page 18.

- Churchill on de Gaulle: 'He is like a female llama surprised in his bath.'"

Alexander McQueen's final collection saluted in camera by "all who loved him"

WWD twitter


Frockwriter predicted that an Alexander McQueen show would go on in Paris on March 9th. It concluded several hours ago. Perhaps not on the original scale planned by McQueen prior to his death on February 11th, but in its place, a sobre, dignified presentation of just 15 showpieces in a gilded salon, according to WWD, which uploaded one shot to Twitter. At time of writing it had been viewed over 3,000 times. Although you can see photographers in the background, it is unclear if they were working for the house. Reportedly, the latter is due to supply press images, with all other photographers banned. Update: Here are 11 of the (in fact)16 looks. Which is not dissimilar to the way the Paris fashion show system used to work way back in the mid 20th century. A second presentation will, by all accounts, take place tomorrow, the final day of the FW1011 season, which commenced with the terrible news of McQueen's suicide. In closing, frockwriter would just like to share the following comment which was left on our original post yesterday. It’s anonymous, so obviously we have no idea about the identity of its author. But we would like to believe that it was genuinely one of McQueen's colleagues:

“I have worked with Alexander McQueen for 10 years. Out of respect for the man, the person, and all of those who are still trying to come to terms with Lee's untimely demise, the brand will not be putting on a blow out catwalk show, but will indeed present the collection (which was indeed already cut and finished) in a very intimate setting as it is sure to be emotional for all who loved him. The brand will go on, not in Gucci's bid to cash in, but as all of us who had the joy and pleasure of working with Lee remain committed to building our brand, and carrying on his legacy.”

Hollywood's risk takers

reuters via daylife



Just a couple of personal favourites from last night's Oscars. Most of which, frockwriter notes, are already turning up on worst-dressed lists. In a sea of safe, so-so goddess gowns and meringues, however, we applaud their bravura: Charlize Theron, Zoe Saldana and Sarah Jessica Parker in haute couture, respectively Christian Dior, Givenchy and Chanel. Then there was Nicole Richie's quicksilver boho de luxe gown by Lebanese American designer Reem Acra. And the statuesque Kathryn Bigelow, who looked striking in her gunmetal Yves Saint Laurent sheath. Although the latter design was far more conservative than that of Theron and co, when you are the first woman in 82 years to be awarded a Best Director Oscar, who needs haute couture?















all images: daylife



sarah jessica parker/getty

nicole richie/getty

zoe saldana/AP

charlize theron/reuters

Viktor & Rolf's Freaky Saturday

Alexander McQueen might be gone, but we still have a a couple of showmen/women left, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren at the top of the list. The Dutch duo is renowned for the theatricality of its shows (which frequently upstage the actual collections). Some experiments have gone wrong – a case in point the Fall Winter 2007/2008 show from three years ago, in which models were forced to walk the runway in bizarre metal light rig harnesses. Noone ate the catwalk and just as well, as they could have seriously injured themselves. The duo was subsequently widely accused of misogyny (a common criticism of McQueen). Here is the post I did from that show from Paris for smh.com.au. No such criticism of Saturday’s show, which is being billed as one of the best of the season, if not the best.

The collection, called ‘Glamour Factory’, was set against a monchromatic backdrop painted with graphics of industrial cogs.

The predominantly black and grey collection would most likely have passed largely unnoticed had it not been for the clever staging, which starred 43 year-old American model Kristen McMenamy in her second runway outing this season, after Calvin Klein's show in New York three weeks ago.

McMenamy wore 23 looks. All at once.

Piled, Russian doll-like, under layers of coats and dresses, she walked to a rotating disc in the middle of the runway and stood there like a store mannequin, while the designers peeled off the layers right down to a nude-coloured corset.

As the duo undressed McMenamy, they dressed each of the remainder of the model cast – every last one of them, as per usual, young enough to be McMenamy's daughter - in her discarded clothes. Think Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in Freaky Friday, just swapping sporty fur-lined anoraks, tweed boyfriend jackets and bodysuits, satin smoking jackets and LBDs, instead of minds.

By all accounts, McMenamy was re-dressed in the garments as the models returned from their turns on the runway.

The climax was delivered by way of a giant panniered skirt which was inverted and transformed on McMenamy via a drawstring, to a cape with a behemoth Elizabethan collar.

You had to be there obviously. But for everyone who wasn’t, the above video gives a taste. Here is the entire collection in photos.

Needless to say, no backstage dressers were required.

Lauren Brown bags Balenciaga

nowfashion.com

Well Priscillas is having a great season. Frockwriter mentioned that the Sydney agency had three hot newcomers heading to the FW1011 show season. In addition to Christina Carey - who walked in the Marc Jacobs show in New York. And now, after Julia Nobis landed a Calvin Klein exclusive in New York, comes word (confirmed by Priscillas) that Lauren Brown has just walked in another equally prestigious show: Balenciaga. Fantastic get for Brown and Priscillas, which is presumably having a terrific day, following the news that a model Priscillas and its New York affiliate Elite unsuccessfully attempted to sign after Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Cassi van den Dungen - has just flown back to Oz after missing out on one of Paris Fashion Week's most high profile shows. With Brown apparently having already appeared at last week's Emporio Armani show in Milan, it does not appear to have been a season exclusive. Priscillas reports that Brown has been confirmed for only one other Paris show, as the arrangement with that show and Balenciaga was "semi exclusive" (ie in Paris). It's not the first time a Priscillas model has walked Balenciaga. Stephanie Carta made several appearances. But it's interesting that the agency didn't tip any media outlets in this leadup - as it did with Nobis in Milan, at least according to Pedestrian.tv, which ran a story about Nobis' future coup. Fortunately for Nobis, it didn't kill the option.

Balenciaga packs it in for Fall

nowfashion.com

Reportedly inspired by packing materials and the work of American photographer Irving Penn and French video artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, here are the first shots of Balenciaga’s Fall Winter 2010/2011 collection which just walked the runway in Paris. Both wildly colourful and intellectual - with Australia’s Miranda Kerr walking for the second consecutive season, as tipped by frockwriter, alongside Australian newcomer Lauren Brown - the collection was a futuristic mélange of embellished knit tunic dresses; graphic, colourblocked sweaters over lace-look bellbottom clamdiggers with turnups; sculpted charcoal suiting with origami panelling; and an intriguing series of what appeared to be skinny-legged, ski bib n'brace-look overalls in black and gunmetal grey. The zippered bodices of the latter peeled down to create trapeze-shaped, trompe l'oeil 'tops' out of the lining, which was emblazoned with newspaper graphics. The late, great Alexander McQueen once said he dressed women in "armour". Nicolas Ghesquière just bubble-wrapped them.













nowfashion.com

Cassi van den Dungen takes one step back from her model dream

IMG

Are you ready for the next installment of the Cassi van den Dungen rollercoaster? Sadly this one ends with her 33,000 feet somewhere above Central Asia on a plane en route to Australia. Yes as frockwriter types, van den Dungen is winging her way back downunder, having failed to book a single show at Paris Fashion Week. No interest? Nothing could be further from the truth. Frockwriter can reveal that she was heading to Paris Fashion Week on option for an exclusive. Indeed a tremendously prestigious Paris Fashion Week exclusive which, if secured, would have undoubtedly launched her international career. She didn't get it. Even after three meetings with the design house and casting director. Now anyone who knows anything about the modelling business knows that this could have happened to any girl. There is however a little more to this back story, so buckle up.


Last month frockwriter reported that van den Dungen was heading to Paris Fashion Week for the shows, having been signed to what’s called the Paris “Development” board of the world’s biggest modelling agency, IMG.

IMG did not, however, broker the option.

That was already organised. All IMG had to do was manage van den Dungen once she landed in Paris – taking, of course, their percentage.

Work Agency made the decision to send van den Dungen for the entire week of shows after word of the exclusive started leaking back in Sydney – much to the surprise of the agency. It’s unclear who talked but frockwriter has her suspicions. The idea of sending van den Dungen for the week, one assumes, was that if she didn't get the exclusive, she might still get the opportunity to do other shows.

That was the theory anyhow. Things didn’t quite go to plan.

What happened after van den Dungen arrived in Paris is really between her and her agents. And it would have stayed that way had it not been for the extremely unfortunate fact that whatever did go down, she talked about it on Facebook.

It’s unclear when the following comments were made, but they were both posted on the RTV Games reality tv web forum on the 23rd February.

The anonymous poster – who some have suggested may be a former ANTM competitor of van den Dungen’s – could barely contain their excitement vis-a-vis the Facebook discovery.

They noted:

“annnndddd CASSI DOES IT AGAIN!!
shes chucked a tantrum and is coming home from Paris.. her and her boyfriend have made posts saying how much they hated paris and they are coming home and couldnt stand the people and how IMG just isnt before.
so once again another wasted opportunity!

did anyone else guess this would happen?
so much for being mature and ready!!!!”

Before cutting and pasting the following comments, apparently directly from van den Dungen’s and Brad Saul’s Facebook accounts:

“Cassi Van Den Dungen: coming home tommorow all these people are ****ed in the head the agency is trying to run me not the other way round i should be the boss ahh well IMG isn't the agency for me yay i miss my dog10 hours ago · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3)
Cassi van den Dungen i'm not upset infact im quite happy i dont like these frog eaters and snail slurpes anyway
9 hours agoCassi van den Dungen ohhhh and the frasians (french asians) are idiots
9 hours agoBrad Saul and they cant drive this one frasian couldnt get out of a parking space and kept reversing in to the cars infront and behind him funny ****

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brad Saul is coming home tomorrow fukn french people are ****ed up and arrogant10 hours ago · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (1)Hide Feedback (1)
Brad Saul and rude and perverts and they just stare at ya i swear to god im am going to lose it with one of them soooooon lol”

With extraordinary efficiency, the Facebook comments were then circulated to at least another three web forums, including high profile fashion forum The Fashion Spot.

Forum users apparently couldn’t get enough of the drama, with pages of new posts generated.

Some expressed their incredulity and disappointment at the news, from van den Dungen’s own beestung lips, that she was upping stumps and heading home a week before the Paris shows had even begun.

Many, however, slammed van den Dungen for making what they deemed to be highly offensive and “racist” comments and for screwing up, they claimed, yet another opportunity.

Some have also expressed their surprise that van den Dungen was accompanied on the trip by her boyfriend, as distinct from the Work Agency booker who was originally supposed to chaperone her.

Sydney's Work Agency has worked with van den Dungen for the past eight months with, it seems, not a single step out of place. In hindsight, it seems unfortunate that she wasn’t also accompanied to Paris by a chaperone from the agency with whom she had at least some semblance of a working relationship.

Frockwriter got wind of the drama on Thursday evening, but it wasn’t until Saturday that we managed to reach van den Dungen’s agent to confirm the story.

Anyone who checked the original Paris post would have seen several new comments about the Facebook incident and an update from me, confirming that she had not left Paris but was still attending appointments. Whatever drama had transpired earlier in the week appeared to have blown over. Not so the online commentary however. Sources indicate that IMG was pretty pissed off about it. Even so, van den Dungen subsequently popped up also on IMG's New York Development board - only to be removed several days later (she remains on the Paris board).

It’s this blog’s understanding that van den Dungen did not have her final meeting with the fashion house in question until Saturday or Sunday (ie February 27/28). After not getting the exclusive, IMG made the decision to send her back to Australia. We understand van den Dungen was “devastated”. She boarded a plane on Tuesday.

Couple of points here.

There are no doubt plenty of people who are thrilled with the news that van den Dungen failed to launch this week in Paris.

Indeed, many have expressed their hatred for her on the abovementioned forums. It’s been a fascinating read actually. Beyond cutting-and-pasting her private Facebook comments into other forums, moreover, some of those parties have also been busy little beavers trying to make sure the story gets wider play by emailing at least one newspaper reporter.

Frockwriter was planning to do an update once we definitively knew that van den Dungen was on the plane.

The irony of this latest Facebook drama won’t be lost on ANTM co-hosts Charlotte Dawson and Alex Perry, who of course slagged van den Dungen off on their own Facebook accounts late last year, only to find those comments similarly spread across the internet at breakneck speed.

Just on the “racism” aspect – on which van den Dungen already stands condemned - let’s put that up for discussion here.

Frockwriter was unfamiliar with the term “frasian” and when we did a quick net check, all we could find were references on the Urban Dictionary suggesting an equivalent to Eurasian or one newspaper story, referring to French/Asian fusion cuisine. If it's a racial slur, we're not familiar with it. Similarly, van den Dungen's enemies appear to be insinuating that by “snail slurpes” she may have meant snail “slopes”. These parties are not, presumably, the slightest bit interested in entertaining the possibility that it could have been an innocent misspelling of “slurpers”. Childish, yes. Racist? Not so sure about that.

As for van den Dungen airing her agency business with her Facebook mates, there is no question: massive mistake.

Why didn’t the agency make her available for other shows once the exclusive fell through? Good question. She was, after all, in Paris and there is some suggestion that other parties were interested in her, but she was listed as “unavailable”. Which of course she was up until last weekend.

Probably not the wisest political move to complain about the French in the same breath as you critique your Paris agency.

Suffice it to say however that frockwriter has not met many people who returned from spending time in France without complaining about French arrogance (including this writer, who lived in Paris for three years).

Indeed, books have been written about French arrogance. The French government commissioned a report into its own reputation for arrogance. And the French have been called much worse things than frog eaters and snail slurpers. Try "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" – a phrase originally coined by The Simpsons and which found its way to, among other places, page one of The New York Post.

As noted, lots of girls have been optioned for exclusives and failed to secure them. Not necessarily because they are the embodiment of the anti-christ.

Sometimes there’s just a better girl. This seems particularly true when agents blab to mainstream media outlets before shows. It happened to both New Zealand’s Olivia O’Driscoll and Australia’s Georgie Wass with the Prada show. Clients and casting agents appreciate discretion - not a media circus.