Abbey Lee Kershaw falls off her bike

via babes on bikes

Abbey Lee Kershaw is recovering from a "cycling accident" her New York agency has confirmed. “She is fine now” is all Next director Stephen Lee would tell frockwriter when we contacted him this morning, following days of rumours on online model fan sites. Lee provided no other details and nor could Kershaw's Sydney mother agency Chic Management, for whom the accident appeared to be news when we called. Good to hear that she is OK. Bike accidents can be nasty - especially if you are not wearing a helmet (no idea whether this applies here). But it does most likely explain why Kershaw, one of Chanel's current season advertising faces, was a no-show at the brand's Pre-Fall presentation in Paris on Tuesday. Australia was repped at the show instead by Priscillas' upwardly mobile Bambi Northwood-Blyth and Lauren Brown, the second Chanel show in three months for both models, following the Spring/Summer 2011 season in Paris. The accident does not, however, explain why Kershaw missed out on walking last month's Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, after two consecutive years in the show. She attended castings but was just not cast in the final lineup, say our sources. Kershaw has had more than her fair share of injuries. In October 2008, she fell on Rodarte’s runway in New York in a pair of very high Nicholas Kirkwood shoes. Three weeks later in Paris, she fainted on Alexander McQueen’s runway in a tight corset. 

A knee problem – that apparently predated, but presumably was not helped by, the Rodarte fall – prompted her to pull out of the following season altogether. 

At the time Chic Management told frockwriter that Kershaw had a longstanding problem with her knee ligaments and she made the decision to skip the Fall Winter 2009/2010 season after an arthroscopic investigation revealed bone fragments.

Kershaw is not Chic Management's only accident-prone modelling superstar.

In January 2009, Catherine McNeil was photographed on crutches in Sydney. According to Chic Management, she injured the ligaments in one knee after a "trekking" holiday with her family in Queensland. 

Then in December 2009, Chic Management told Australian media outlets that McNeil had incurred a skateboard injury, after she appeared at a Sydney event with fresh cuts on her arms.  

McNeil's mother subsequently told local media that she believed her daughter had not fallen off a skateboard, but rather, had fallen down some stairs.