The show goes on for David Jones... without sass & bide

 

As per David Jones' famous advertising slogan, there used to be no other department store in Australia for sass & bide. But after days of rumours, it is now confirmed that David Jones' arch rival Myer will become the brand's exclusive Australian department store partner moving forward, having just acquired a 65percent stake for A$42.25million plus a performance bonus based on fiscal 2011 sales results. David Jones, which has winter 2011 sass & bide stock on its hands and features the brand in its winter 2011 "brand book" catalogue (above), has responded with its own Australian Stock Exchange announcement this morning that it is ending its 10 year association with sass & bide following David Jones' decision not to acquire a stake. Oh and it wasn't doing very well anyway, added DJs (at least at DJs - Myer reports that sass & bide overall delivered 50percent year on year sales growth for the past two years). Noted ceo Paul Zahra, “We did the calculations and could not justify the price paid for the business, particularly given the lack of growth in our sass & bide business with sales and gross profit in FY10 at approximately FY05 levels". This is fascinating, given that David Jones gave sass & bide its prestigious finale spot in the Autumn/Winter 2010 show one year ago. What the Myer decision ultimately means for the sass & bide brand remains to be seen. Not surprisingly perhaps, the brand has been yanked altogether from tomorrow's lineup, David Jones has confirmed to frockwriter.

But that's not to say that there won't be some familiar faces on the runway. 

It might not be quite the same as having Miranda Kerr, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Catherine McNeil in the show, as occurred in the last two seasons, but David Jones nevertheless has a pretty impressive cast list for tomorrow’s Autumn/Winter 2011 showcase, which kicks off at 6.30pm at the Elizabeth Street, Sydney, flagship. 

Led by Nicole Trunfio, the cast includes several Australians with international runway experience, notably Alexandra Agoston, Myf Shepherd, Christina Carey, Tiah Eckhardt, Stephanie Carta and thirtysomething Queenslander Heath Townsend, a former face of Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Ralph Lauren. 

Others of note include Samantha Harris, Pania Rose and Chic newcomer Rosemary Smith, who will be heading to the Milan and Paris legs of the northern Fall/Winter 2011/2012 show season in a fortnight. 

Here is the complete cast list:

CHIC MANAGEMENT
Nicole Trunfio
Alexandra Agoston
Myf Shepherd
Christina Carey
Samantha Harris
Pania Rose
Charlotte Lohmann
Anna Sjoberg
Vanessa Breuer
Emma Taylor
Emma Power
Louise van der Vorst
Rosemary Smith
Sarah Stephens
Cisco Tschurtschenthaler de Helmhein
Jasmine Yarbrough
Annika Kaban
Brigitte Malcolm
Valerija Erokhina
Amy Finlayson
Lina Mihailova
Clare Venema
Heath Townsend

PRISCILLA'S
Eliza Humble
Greta Chesterman
Simone Kerr
Stephanie Carta
Rachel Grasso
Laura Gorun
Bella Barber
Cat Edwards
Kerry Doyle
Bruce Raubenheimer
Blair Norfolk
Lewis Grant

VIVIENS
Avril Alexander
Tiah Eckhardt
Nicole Sherriss
Karima Alexander
Ruby Brown
Nick Ingall
BJ Jarrett
Philippa

CHADWICK
Claire Quirk
Lorene Renard

EMG
Adhiel Tulba
Chris Knee

FRM MANAGEMENT
Nikki Thot

MENS DIVISION
Nicolas Curnow