Every move she makes: Cassi van den Dungen stalked by client paparazzi

stylestalker's Facebook via TFS

You don’t need to wait to see Myer’s spring catalogue starring Cassi van den Dungen and Bambi Northwood-Blythe. Today’s shoot was Tweeted throughout by at least two parties Melbourne blogger Kat George, guest blogging for Myer on the company’s Twitter feed and her personal Twitter feed. Van den Dungen seemed to be a particular focus, with seemingly every nanosecond of her time on set accounted for in a Tweet. From “Cassi in braids” to “Cassi and the amazing legs that go on until forever…” to “Cassi does a balancing act backstage as she has a Cinderella moment with the stylist slipping shoes on her feet!” Beyond actually photographing the catalogue - the principle purpose of the job - Myer’s social media approach to the session apparently was, to use the parlance of Australian television industry, to “shoot the s**t out of it”. Terrific publicity for Myer of course. It’s just a shame they didn’t think to run this by van den Dungen’s agent beforehand - whose express wish, we understand, was for a closed set. Van den Dungen's Melbourne agent, Camerons, which negotiated the deal, claims that it was fully apprised of the social media aspect of the shoot. This information appears not to have been clarified with van den Dungen's mother agent in Sydney. See updated post.



myer shoot 09/06/10 via @mythreads

It was the second fashion shoot in a week in which clients have milked the social media life out of van den Dungen – who of course is no stranger to the medium, having borne the brunt of Facebook indiscretions on several occasions since being crowned runnerup of Australia’s Next Top Model last year.



stylestalker's Facebook via TFS

Last week, while van den Dungen was shooting a lookbook for Sydney label Stylestalker, no less than three parties took photos and posted them on their own sites. Some of the shots have since been removed, but not before winding up further circulated on other sites such as the hugely popular web forum, The Fashion Spot.

Stylestalker posted images on its Facebook page.

Tangent Magazine – whose studios were being used for the shoot – posted shots to Twitter, including one shot in which van den Dungen's nipples were clearly visible through a sweater, as she changed into an outfit.

Even an intern at Stylestalker, stylist Annabel Wendt, wallpapered her Love More blog with photos from the shoot, complaining to her readers that her wings had been clipped and she couldn't post more:

“I took a lot more shots and even a few videos to share but sadly
I am not aloud to use shots with the model...so this is all I can share!
(I snuck in a couple...eek..)”

love more blog


Backstage at fashion shows is one matter.

Unless you are talking about some kind of media exclusive, then everyone understands that backstage is more or less public domain. Fashion shows are media events. They are crawling with camera crews and photographers. To be sure, they are located on private property and you need the appropriate access to be there. But once there, everyone is "fair game" (with the exception of models changing in and out of clothes - there is an unwritten code of conduct that stipulates photographers must respect their dignity and not attempt to take nude or semi-nude shots).

But what of private fashion shoots for specific commercial jobs? Does everybody who is privy to the event axiomatically have permission to “shoot the s***” out of it and play paparazzi?

What about the models, their negotiated work rates and the definition of “usage” of an advertising client’s imagery? Is it good PR for the models - or are clients getting a whole lot more bang for their buck than was originally negotiated?

And should agents start to give serious thought to what, if any, limits exist in this social media wilderness, moving forward - and clarify the terms upfront so that everybody is on the same page?