Gemma Ward delivers a video address, calls in a favour from Mario Testino

mario testino for vogue paris via TFS

 
The furore of global coverage sparked by the news that Gemma Ward had broken her silence (well, kind of) on her relationship with Heath Ledger in Perth’s Sunday Times newspaper over the weekend sounds like nothing compared to the media circus the Perth Theatre Company can expect once Ward rocks up for rehearsals later this month. Ward mentioned Ledger during an interview to promote her involvement with the company’s new production of The Ugly One, which will run from March 22-April 9, with three previews starting on March 18. Last night, Ward lent yet another helping hand to the official launch of the company’s January-June season at the new WA State Theatre Studio Underground, addressing the invited guests in a prerecorded video which was reportedly filmed on her laptop from her New York bedroom. The YouTube version, needless to say, is likely to go ballistic once the company eventually puts it online. 

Ward told the guests, who included her mum Claire, sister Sophie and brothers Oscar and Henry:  

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be there tonight, I'm sure you're all having an amazing time soaking in the new State Theatre of Perth. I'm really excited to be on board as an Ambassador for the Perth Theatre Company and I'm thrilled to be in the opening play of the new Studio Underground.... I hope that you can all come and help us enjoy this play and continue to support the theatre. So, thank you and I hope I see some of you soon. Have a good night. Bye!".

Also lending a helping hand to the until now relatively low profile theatre company: legendary fashion lensman Mario Testino, who has given permission for one of his many archival photos of Ward (above) to be the official image of the program, a Perth Theatre Company rep tells frockwriter.

The photo, part of a beauty spread from the February 2005 edition of Vogue Paris – which Ward covered - depicts Ward clipping her eyelashes. Brilliant choice of image, in other words, to illustrate Marius von Mayenburg’s black satire about the contemporary pursuit of physical perfection.

Given Ward's battles with the fashion establishment - which has been accused of turning its back on the erstwhile world number one model once her previously coltish adolescent figure filled out - she has made a fascinating choice of vehicle via which to make her stage debut. 
 
 

Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2011 by Juergen Teller - the campaign

We've seen a preview of Marc by Marc Jacobs' Spring/Summer 2011 advertising imagery, lensed by Juergen Teller. But now, on his website, Jacobs has just unveiled much more of the campaign. It stars Latvian Ginta Lapina, Serbian Australian Andrej Pejic and, it now emerges, a third model: androgynous Dutchman Jaco van den Hoven, the only brunette amongst the three. Shot in Marrakech just before Christmas, the campaign illustrates Pejic's unique versatility: he's not just the dude in the dress, but can also rock the sexy surfer boy look in straight menswear.

all images: marc jacobs.com

Gemma Ward to make her stage debut in The Ugly One

zimbio

Well it's not a return to the runway, but she will be treading the boards. Perth’s Sunday Times newspaper reveals today that Gemma Ward will be making her stage debut in The Perth Theatre Company’s production of The Ugly One at the new State Theatre Complex on March 22nd, with rehearsals due to commence in Perth from February 14th. Written by German playwright Marius von Mayenburg, the black comedy revolves around the pursuit of physical perfection via cosmetic surgery. So it won't be too much of a stretch at all for Ward, who of course spent half her teenage years in the fashion business. Perth Theatre Company artistic director Melissa Cantwell met with Ward in Perth in December and offered her the role of Fanny, which is described as a complex role that will see Ward playing several characters. “I’m so excited... I’ve just been jumping out of my skin” Ward told The Sunday Times from New York. No word on how long the season runs. With Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, in which Ward plays a mermaid, due for release on May 20th, one assumes she will soon be hitting that promo trail. 

In the same story, Ward also opens up about her relationship with the late Heath Ledger, telling the paper that her three year break from the media spotlight had been spurred by Ledger’s death. 

The pair met in New York in November 2007, just two months prior to his death, while both were “struggling with things that I won’t get into and we bonded over that” said Ward. They spent Christmas 2007 together in their home town. 

She noted, “There was noone like him - and noone will ever be like him. I’m just so grateful that I got to meet him and get as close as I did with him”.

Meet the new girl, Emilia Skuza

elie saab haute couture SS11/getty via daylife

In spite of the deluge of global publicity following Jean Paul Gaultier's decision to cast Serbian Australian male model Andrej Pejic as the bride of his haute couture show in Paris on Wednesday, Pejic was of course not the only Australian on the haute couture runways. Abbey Lee Kershaw, a recent Chanel advertising face and runway regular, turned up at Chanel for yet another exclusive, no surprises there. Also scoring Chanel: Julia Nobis, who had a busy haute couture season, also walking at the Elie Saab, Georges Hobeika and Bouchra Jarrar shows. Ajak Deng walked at Alexandre Vauthier. According to Priscillas, Lauren Brown, who has appeared in several Chanel ready-to-wear shows, was in town for the haute couture castings but as far as frockwriter can tell, did not turn up on a single catwalk. One Australian who has slipped completely under the radar until now walked at Elie Saab and Bouchra Jarrar, alongside Nobis, as well as the show of new haute couture name Maxime Simoens - Emilia Skuza.

And three haute couture shows were not the sum total of Skuza’s catwalk appearances in Paris over the past fortnight. 

On Thursday 20th January, the 18 year-old, Adelaide-based Polish Australian was one of several women cast for Smalto’s menswear show (see below) on day one of the Paris Fall/Winter 2011/2012 menswear season and she also appeared in the Etam parade at the Grand Palais on Monday 24th. 
 
Etam is a French mass market lingerie and swimwear retailer. The company’s big bucks, Victoria’s Secret-style extravaganza featured performances from entertainers such as Beth Ditto, The Kills and Boy George and high profile modelling names such as Karolina Kurkova and Australia’s Nicole Trunfio. Although it’s a little difficult to tell from the video, below, that looks like Skuza at 9.58. Trunfio appears at 6.24 and 13.21.  

Skuza, who has just scored a TER of 99.7 in her HSC, is repped by Finesse Models in her home state, Chadwick in Sydney and IMG's Development division in New York and Paris.

Her experience in Australia consists of a few local parades, including shows at the Adelaide and Sydney Fashion Festivals and some low-profile beauty and fashion shoots.  

A dead ringer for a young Gisele Bündchen, Skuza is one of several new Australian models who are poised to make their marks on the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 womens runways, which kick off in New York on February 10.

smalto fw1112/enmodefashion

 

Andrej Pejic celebrated Australia Day on a Paris haute couture runway in a wedding dress

now fashion

While many Australians were celebrating our national day with a bbq, minutes ago Andrej Pejic just did something a little different: he walked in Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring/Summer 2011 haute couture show in Paris. Closed it in fact, as the traditional bride. Yes, a day after the designer finally unveiled his much-anticipated Spring/Summer 2011 ready-to-wear advertising campaign starring Pejic and Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova and almost a week after Pejic closed Gaultier's mens Fall/Winter 2011/2012 show dressed as a woman, Gaultier and Pejic just made a little more gender-bending music together. And they may have just made fashion history together to boot. Givenchy deployed its muse and advertising face Lea T, a transsexual (and technically a pre-op transsexual) in the brand's most recent haute couture presentation. That was, however, a static display only, not a show. Frockwriter is not sure that any couturier/couturière has ever previously sent a man down his/her runway in womens' clothing. And certainly never in a wedding dress. The collection was inspired by British punks and French showgirls, with the models sporting mohawks and Pejic trailed by a highkicking cancan girl. There was no soundtrack, just the soft drawl of no less than French screen legend Catherine Deneuve reading out the names of the garments, one by one, with the models each carrying a corresponding number - the way they used to do it half a century ago, in the golden days of the couture. Below are what appear to be three recent backstage shots of Pejic taken by a French photographer - and possibly before this show. They were posted at the same time he was in hair and makeup. Vive la Liberté.  

all three images: mathieu berthemy

Trench coat glamour mafia: Andrej Pejic and Karolina Kurkova for Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2011

A matter of days after Andrej Pejic strutted Jean Paul Gaultier's Autumn/Winter 2011/20112 menswear runway in Paris as both a man - and a woman - and twenty-four hours before the designer's feverishly-anticipated haute couture womenswear show, Gaultier's Spring/Summer 2011 campaign images starring Pejic and Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova have finally landed. With the designer himself joining Twitter to excitedly unveil them. Shot by high profile photographic duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the campaign consists of two black and white images of Pejic and Kurkova, both in fishnet stockings and wearing matching trench coats from the Spring/Summer 2011 womens collection (as first revealed by Kurkova just before Christmas in a Tweet from the set). In one shot, they are kissing. Who's the prettier of the two though?

images: via TFS

Wake in fright: Samantha Harris toughens up for Karen magazine

 
We won't be seeing any of this at the David Jones Autumn/Winter 2011 runway showcase on February 8 presumably. But here is current season David Jones face and former youth ambassador for the upmarket Australian department store chain, like you have never seen her before. Recalling the modern horror cinematic genre - and perhaps some of the horrors experienced by her ancestors at the hands of European settlers - in the Bound More Than a Madman Is story from the upcoming edition of Karen magazine, the indigenous Australian model is blindfolded and bound to various pieces of furniture. These include a coffee table and an antique wood-and-wicker chair that looks like a sinister film prop from a Victorian lunatic asylum. Shot by Cara Stricker and styled by Bex Sheers, the story is accompanied by a short film (below). Here are a couple of images. Head to Pedestrian to see the remainder. Given that Harris returned from London Fashion Week earlier than expected last year because, according to industry buzz, she was a little intimidated by the big, bad world of international fashion, looks like she's over her shyness. A Terry Richardson shoot surely can't be too far away.

images: cara stricker forkaren magazine via pedestrian

The big league: H&M launches a plus size collection for Spring

Karl Lagerfeld severed ties with H&M in part because the company wanted to produce his collection in large sizes, while he was reportedly only interested in designing “fashion for slender and slim people”. But it seems the Swedish fast fashion behemoth hasn’t let this rain on its plus size parade. From early March, H&M will offer a 20-unit capsule collection called, simply, Inclusive, which will be available in sizes 32-54 and sold exclusively online (these would appear to be Swedish sizes, which equate to an Australian 6-28). Many thanks to Runway Revolution for the headsup. Why online only? In 2008, when Australian designer Leona Edmiston decided to double her size range to a 24, coincidentally she also only offered the larger sizes online, after her research indicated that many larger women felt uncomfortable in boutiques. 

After frockwriter (in her previous incarnation as Fully Chic) opened up what would become a rather heated discussion on the subject, others added in that many larger women in fact feel unwelcome in mainstream fashion boutiques. 

Considering that so many fashion boutiques appear not to have much stock over a size 10, is that so very surprising? 

So far H&M appears only to be shipping to Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Swedish Finland and the UK, but we have a hunch they may be about to be inundated with global enquiries. 

The accompanying campaign features plus size Australian model Robyn Lawley (second from the top).  

Great initiative. Adorable dresses. Not before time.

all images: H&M

On their Marcs: Julia Nobis and Nick Hinman gear up to do battle on the high street

Are you ready for the battle of the Australian high street? The Portmans Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign starring world number 5 Abbey Lee Kershaw touches down next week. Grazia Australia apparently has first dibs on those shots. Mid market rival Marcs, meanwhile, has enlisted the less established, but equally cool Australian, Julia Nobis, for its second consecutive campaign. Shot by Swiss photographic duo Claudia Knoepfel and Stefan Indlekofer in Surry Hills and Woolloomooloo and styled by Caterina Scardino, the campaign co-stars Priscillas' stablemate Nick Hinman. And we must say, Marcs' military-nosed pea coats and trenches, roomy flannel shorts, leggings and sweet dresses never looked quite so good. Here is a selection of campaign images which are about to drop, in addition to a first look at a behind-the-scenes video taken on the shoot. 

 

all images and video: supplied to frockwriter by marcs

Andrej Pejic is James Blond

sonny vandevelde

After a big London booking delayed his arrival in Milan earlier this week and only ultimately walking in one show there - Neil Barrett - Andrej Pejic finally made a spectacular entree to the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 Paris mens show season overnight at Jean Paul Gaultier's show. As both a man - and, surprise, surprise, also as a woman. Inspired by legendary British spook James Bond, the collection was opened by a pistol-packing macho model in a tuxedo. Pejic was second out, also in a tuxedo, but with the shirt louchely loosened to bare his chest and his signature platinum blond locks parted to the side, softly curled and tumbling down over one shoulder à la Veronica Lake. Thence followed a suite of other tuxedo-inspired looks, including some deconstructed tuxes, obviously a Gaultier trademark and yet more examples of the controversial "shuit", or men's shorts suit, which has been gaining popularity on the mens runways for the past few seasons. Presumably more in keeping with Bond's action sequences, a number of sportier ensembles also hit the runway, featuring sprayed-on motocross leggings teamed with glam, gilt bomber jackets and jean jackets festooned with metallic sequins. 

After a second exit in an all black trench coat, cigarette pants and shirt ensemble, teamed with sunglasses, Pejic closed the show in high heels and a fur gilet - fur a confirmed trend this mens' season - carrying a golden gun. He was greeted with a big kiss from Gaultier when the designer took his bow. Frockwriter's backstage sources report that Gaultier referred to Pejic as his "James Blond". 

Androgyny might be a big buzzword in fashion right now, but it's worth remembering that Gaultier has been flirting with the concept for the past 30 years. 

He first promoted the idea of men in skirts in 1985, later putting them in corsets and tutus and blended genders in numerous advertising campaigns. He even launched a unisex collection back in 1994. 

No surprise, then, that Gaultier was the first international designer to cast Pejic in a runway show - at the last Paris mens shows in June 2010. And then cast him alongside lookalike Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova for his Spring/Summer 2011 advertising campaign, dressing them in one shot in identical trench coats from the womens' collection.

You could say the supremely androgynous Serbian Australian is Gaultier's dream model.  Stand by to see just where this collaboration might be heading next.

Meanwhile, Pejic's other confirmed bookings this week include today's Comme des Garçons show and Sunday's Paul Smith show.  

all three photos above: sonny vandevelde

 

remaining shots: getty via daylife