Cooper's Lite

All backstage media were kicked out just as Trelise Cooper's show was due to start yesterday. So, given that our runway photo skills tend to be hit and miss, the best shots we managed to take were the first looks from Cooper's Cooper diffusion range which opened. Cute show, whose opening number - Jace Everett's True Blood theme toon 'Bad Things'- had everyone tapping their toes. The military jackets, denim blousons, nubby wool high-waisted trousers, prairie shirts embellished with smocking or bullion fringing and microshorts galore, in American flag-printed denim and crochet, seemed tailor-made for True Blood's feisty fairy Sookie Stackhouse, who is played by Canadian-born Kiwi Anna Paquin, even if the pretty, drop-waisted teadresses with fruit prints were probably a little too virginal for same. Frockwriter couldn't help including two shots from Cooper's palate cleanser in between the Cooper and Trelise Cooper shows: an army of models in black blazers and corsets/knickers. Minus the word "boardroom" printed across the models' derrières, it was a knockoff of Dolce e Gabbana's finale for the Fall/Winter 2010/2011 show in Milan in February 2010. Here is a photo gallery, best viewed on the blog. The final Style.com shot is from the original Dolce e Gabbana show.  

Her name is Lola. She was a showgirl

Kia Ora from sunny/rainy/sunny/rainy Auckland, where frockwriter is, once again, the guest of the organisers of New Zealand Fashion Week. Due to other commitments, we only touched down yesterday so missed some early shows. Beyond the event's spectacular new digs at the newly-unveiled Viaduct Events Centre, what has struck us so far is the fact that while it's not at all unusual to see Oz models on NZ runways, on this occasion, they seem a little more prominent than usual. To wit, Krystal Glynn, the face of Zambesi's Spring/Summer 2011/2012 campaign and also the covergirl of New Zealand Fashion Week's official 2011 handbook (bottom). Glynn is already en route to New York so won't be attending. Another Aussie will be opening tonight's Zambesi show - Lola Van Vorst. The name sounds familiar? A contestant on Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5, Van Vorst has barely done any modelling in the interim, moving instead behind the camera as a photographer. But she suddenly finds herself much in demand in front of the lens. 

Signed, coincidentally, to Glynn's boutique Sydney management, The Agency, Van Vorst recently underwent a little image revamp, bleaching her hair and eyebrows.  In fact the statuesque former brunette is almost unrecognisable in her new high fashion incarnation. 

Backstage at last night's Stolen Girlfriends Club show (above), Van Vorst told frockwriter that she has never previously set foot on any Australian or New Zealand Fashion Week runways.

She is, nevertheless, up for 10 shows in Auckland this week, opening two other shows yesterday. Stand by to see where her career heads next.

Speaking of the Next Top Model franchise, the live finale of the second cycle of New Zealand's Next Top Model is due to be filmed at World's show tomorrow night.  

Hailey Clauson was 14 when she posed for this shot, but apparently only some of her more recent work is "blatantly salacious"

kava gorna

Another day, another tabloid scandal involving controversial fashion images of an underage model. On Friday The New York Post broke the news that American Hailey Clauson has commenced proceedings in the New York federal court against American photographer Jason Lee Parry and three US retailers, including the US streetwear chain Urban Outfitters, over the sale of merchandise featuring sexually provocative images of Clauson that were shot by Parry when Clauson was 15. Clauson, who turned 16 in March this year - and last December, told New York magazine that she still sleeps with her baby blanket - is seeking US$28million in damages. Court papers claim that although Clauson’s representation at the time, New York’s Ford Models, obtained an assurance from Parry that the images would not be published, the shots were subsequently published in Germany’s Qvest magazine and several of the images later appeared on T-shirts and other merchandise, all without Clauson’s consent. The court papers allege that “She is posed in a blatantly salacious manner with her legs spread, without a bra, revealing portions of her breasts. The image of Teen in a spread eagle position making her crotch area the focal point of the image may portray a child in a sexually suggestive manner and may be in violation of one or more federal and/or state laws”. But are we talking about the louche image, above, of Clauson with her legs spread? No. Below is the image in question in the New York federal court case, which also references another Parry shot in which Clauson is holding a six-pack of beer.

The shot at the very top of this post was taken by a photographer by the name of Kava Gorna when Clauson was just 14.

In a since deleted post on her own blog from January last year – which is still nevertheless cached on Google – Clauson herself published a selection of images from the same Gorna portfolio, stating that they were taken during the summer of 2009 for Blast magazine. It’s not clear whether this specific shot was also published in Blast, but it does appear on Gorna's website.

Also deleted from Clauson’s blog: some behind-the-scenes images of the Parry shoot.

Although Parry told The New York Post the images "got stole from me", the Styleite blog has since reported that Mitra Khayyam, the owner of the company which made the T-shirt, Blood Is the New Black, has denied this, alleging that the images had been “delivered to us … with the sole purpose of producing tee shirts and marketing them to our network of stores worldwide.” Khayyam also claims that neither she, nor Urban Outfitters, had been aware at the time that Parry did not have a release for the images or that Clauson was underage. 

Earlier today a statement signed "Team Parry" was released to a number of blogs, including frockwriter, from a production company called Shape of Content - a collaborator of Parry's, which bills itself as a "compositor" on a video of the Parry/Clauson photoshoot. [UPDATE Monday 5.36pm: The latter video has since been pulled from Vimeo. But here it is on YouTube]. 


According to the statement:

" - The model’s father was present for a majority of the shoot. He was shown photos while on set and sanctioned them long before they were published.

- Ford modeling agency assigned the model for Jason Lee Parry’s shoot. Ford approved the fashion story featured in Qvest magazine to be published. The photo in question was featured in the model’s portfolio on Ford’s site. All correspondence is documented in emails approving the shoot.

- A total of seven people were on set during the entire duration of the shoot, including three female stylists, and a female videographer. The upmost care was given to ensure the model was provided privacy while changing wardrobes and that absolutely no nudity of any kind was visible.

-There was absolutely no breasts or genitalia visible in the image in question. There is less skin observable in the image than could be seen in any contemporary bathing suit photo.

- Unbeknownst to Jason Lee Parry the image in question was selected by the t-shirt brand. He was also unaware of retail distribution of the t-shirt".

-After the photos were released the model proudly posted the images in question to her personal site.

Jason Lee Parry’s creative vision for the fashion photos in question is about a rebellious teenage girl hanging out at her father's motorcycle shop. The story captures the American working class, motorcycle culture, and highlights the designer clothing featured on the model. The model is perched on the back of a vintage motorcycle. She is sitting in a position she determined would be comfortable and relevant to the photo. She is seated in relaxed casual manner, a tough motorcycle mechanic’s daughter. It is not to be perceived in any way as overtly sexual.

Jason Lee Parry is professional photographer in every aspect of his work. His edgy contemporary photography captivates the culture he photographs and defines his generation. His photography has been featured in countless international publications and online sources. Fans, friends, and family of Jason Lee Parry’s high fashion photography eagerly await closure of these defaming allegations and lawsuit". 

Evidently there are a number of facts in dispute in this case. 

But some evidence seems incontrovertible: that at 15, Clauson posed in a sexually suggestive manner for Parry. Just as at 14, she posed in an equally sexually suggestive manner for Gorna.

In fact it is not at all difficult to find a number of other examples of underage Clausen photographed in sexually provocative poses: for the Wildfox Couture campaign, for various editorials and also what appear to be test shots taken when she was 14, as published on The Fashion Spot website in early 2009. 

Here is a selection (photo gallery best viewed on the blog):

Just a reminder that Clauson is no consenting adult. She is a minor.

If underage models continue to appear in these kinds of photoshoots , it is solely because adults have enabled them. The buck stops with them. Not just photographers, stylists and editors but model agents and yes, parents. Any model under the age of 16 is supposed to be chaperoned on work assignments. 

If Clauson’s parents don’t like their daughter posing in “sexually suggestive” positions, then why have they allowed her to do so, over and over again, for two years? 

Scouted during an open casting call in LA in 2008, Clauson’s rise has been meteoric, in spite of her age. More than one model under the age of 16 has found herself unable to work during the Paris show season, for example, due to stricter regulations in France.

At 15, Clauson nevertheless walked in 14 shows in her first international show season, Spring/Summer 2011, in September/October 2010. These included blue chip names such as Calvin Klein, Gucci, Versace and in Paris, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Christian Dior, Miu Miu and Lanvin. She then added the Gucci and DSquared2 SS11 advertising campaigns to her CV, propelling her virtually overnight into the models.com Top 50 Women rankings (at #45). She has also been photographed for W, Elle, Numéro and the Chinese, Russian, French and Italian editions of Vogue.

Since the Jason Lee Parry shoot, Clauson has changed agencies twice in New York, moving from Ford to Marilyn and then earlier this year, to Next Model Management.

photo gallery:


1: kava gorna
2, 3, 4: wildfox couture campaign via leather studded kiss
5: unknown via TFS
6: unknown via TFS
7: tony duran via hailey clauson's blog
8: tony duran via hailey clauson's blog
9. greg kadel for numéro may 2011 via models.com
10: tony duran via TFS

What does Andrej Pejic have to do to make the cover of Vogue Australia?

gazelle paulo/freak chic

Andrej Pejic’s first modelling job was a cover shoot – for Oyster’s 77th edition, back in 2008, flanked by a phalanx of male and female models. And while many cover tries never make it to page one, one of Pejic’s Oyster shots did, together with two of the women. It’s fair to say, however, that very few in the Australian industry knew who he was at this time and he was by no means the sole focus of the story. Fast track to August 2011 and Pejic has appeared on no less than eight international magazine covers in the space of six months: Zeit Magazin (February), Photo (March), Dossier Journal (Spring 2011), Citizen K (Spring 2011), Carbon Copy (Spring 2011), L’Officiel Ukraine (June 2011), Follow #5 and just this week, the very high-profile New York magazine, as one of four covers of the magazine’s Fall 2011 fashion special. Here is a photo gallery of all nine covers (best viewed on the blog): 

Debuting on models.com's Top 50 Men list at #40 in December, little wonder Pejic is now ranked the world number #19. 

So why haven’t Australian magazines been clamouring to get him on a cover back home? What an amazing coup it would be for Vogue Australia, for example, to be the first mainstream womens' fashion magazine in the world to do so, if only editor Kirstie Clements had the balls. 

Given that even Miranda Kerr didn’t make it to the cover of Vogue Australia until January this year – until after she had appeared on the covers of both Spanish and Italian Vogue, had married Orlando Bloom and was pregnant – frockwriter thinks there’s little chance of that happening.

Speaking of pregnancies, one of the more amusing anecdotes recounted in the  accompanying Pejic feature in this month's New York magazine was how Pejic attempted a little supermodel satire when arriving at Sao Paulo airport in June this year, for Sao Paolo Fashion Week.

Inspired by the miraculous maternity bounce-backs of supermods such as Kerr, who somehow manage to head back to work mere weeks after giving birth, Pejic had hoped to demonstrate he could do it in a day: arriving in Sao Paulo with a styrofoam baby bump, which he planned to jettison for the following day’s runway duties.

Pejic’s plan was foiled by Brazilian customs which asked him to remove the object, assuming he might be smuggling contraband. 

Once given the all clear, Pejic was reunited with his faux baby bump – and paraded it landside in this photo and video (above/below):

Kate Moss's pint-sized photo bomber is punk royalty

US vogue tumblr

US Vogue nabbed a world exclusive in last month's nuptials of Kate Moss and The Kills guitarist Jamie Hince in the UK. This week the magazine unveiled its portfolio of wedding images shot by Mario Testino and an accompanying feature penned by Hamish Bowles, which provide further insights into the lavish £1million bash. Vogue's photo captions also reveal the identity of the wedding's breakout star: the little brunette flowergirl with the pixie haircut who was clinging to Moss in every photo taken outside the church and who indeed, even in Testino's official portrait of the bridal party (above, below), is still hanging onto Moss for dear life. According to Vogue, she is Ava Jones, no other info. But a little digging reveals that Ava and her fellow flowergirl sister Stella, are none other than the progeny of British punk legend Mick Jones, co-founder of The Clash, and producer Miranda Davis.

US vogue tumblr

Frockwriter wasn't the only one who noticed Ava - or indeed what looked to be a strained expression in some shots on the face of Moss's own daughter Lila Grace. 

The Bullseye! Nice Tumblr drew attention (below) to the antics of the mystery "pint-sized photobomber", noting "from the way she was acting, she was a long-lost (recently reunited) daughter of Kate’s who couldn’t bear to be apart from her mother for another moment".

ap via bullseye! nice via pedestrian

No idea how long Jones and Moss have known each other, but their friendship dates back to the pre-Hince era - at least to the time when Moss was dating muso Pete Doherty. 

In September 2005 in Jones's West London studio, while he was producing the debut album of Doherty's new band, Babyshambles, Jones became embroiled in the notorious "Cocaine Kate" scandal. In what some sources have claimed was a £100,000 sting bankrolled by The Mirror newspaper, which ran a grainy video freeze frame on page one, Jones and other parties present were covertly filmed allegedly snorting cocaine with Moss. Jones was interviewed by the Metropolitan Police, but not arrested.  

Flynn Bloom likes the limelight, Miranda Kerr thinks her drug-free labour was "a bit crazy"

celebkids.whyfame.com

Miranda Kerr is in town, as you know, spruiking David Jones. Below is a quick video chat backstage after last Wednesday’s runway show starring Kerr, in which she concedes that she found the prospect of doing the DJs' show in a swimsuit just seven months after giving birth “a little nerve-wracking” and confirms that she will be back on Victoria’s Secret runway later in the year. When asked what is the best thing about motherhood, Kerr notes “Everything, I just love it. There’s no word that could describe the joy and loveliness that it is to be a mother”. Undergoing a 27 hour labour without drugs may have given the supermod pause for some reflection however. She told frockwriter, “I was kind of a bit crazy not to but you know, I’d made my mind up and I’ll probably just see how I go next time”. As for Flynn, arguably the most overexposed baby on the planet right now, Kerr reveals that it’s a tough job trying not to give paps their money shots whenever she’s been out and about with Flynn in recent months. “You try your best to avoid it but it’s inevitable. And he was really into it. I tried to like, protect him but he comes around [flicks her head around, mimicking Flynn] because he likes the light”.

Rock on - David Jones Spring/Summer 2011/2012

Miranda Kerr has done rather a lot since she headed offshore to try her luck on the international fashion stage in 2005, like so many other eager Aussie hopefuls before her. The following year, after scoring a Maybelline contract, she landed what would evolve into a highly lucrative deal with US intimate apparel giant Victoria’s Secret. Kerr returned to the Australian market in 2008 in a big way as the new face of Australian department store David Jones, an astute marketing investment that is presumably costing DJs much less today than it is currently worth in media coverage. In the eighteen months since Kerr last walked DJs' biannual runway showcase, she has emerged as a truly global star – not just one of the world’s highest-paid models, but a household name whose every move is charted by the paps. Sure, the marriage to Hollywood heartthrob Orlando Bloom hasn’t hurt her profile, ditto the birth of their beautiful baby boy Flynn in January. So refreshing, then, to see Kerr backstage at DJ’s Spring/Summer 2011/2012 showcase on Wednesday night, hamming it up as just another one of the girls. 

Frockwriter was backstage for the show’s duration and watched Kerr's antics with her old runway mates like Tiah Eckhardt, Stephanie Carta and Annika Kaban, as well as the crop of new girls who are rapidly rising up in Kerr and co's wakes (backstage portfolio of 73 shots, below - best viewed on the blog). Names such as Samantha Harris, Amanda Ware, Emily Wake – whose identical, non-model twin sister Elyse was standing backstage throughout the show, prompting more than one double take – and of course Rose Smith. 

At last season’s DJs show in February, Smith had yet to work internationally. In the interim, she has been cast in no less than three Chanel shows (ready-to-wear, cruise and haute couture). 

Another rising star on DJs runway: Claire Collins, whose modelling experience prior to July’s haute couture shows in Paris was one Australian fashion show. Collins was one of four Australian models booked by Chanel for its Fall/Winter 2011/2012 haute couture show, alongside Smith, Julia Nobis and another newcomer, Caitlin Lomax. 

It might be the toughest Australian retail climate in half a century – with David Jones itself issuing a shock profit downgrade last month – but the runway and backstage vibe was upbeat. Setting the mood: some psychedelic, boho de luxe offerings from Sydney-based caftan queen Camilla Franks and Jets' sensational, colour-blocked swimwear. Shots of a pneumatic Kerr in Jets’ foxy collared maillot with plunging neckline were beamed across the world.

Also in the lineup: a few of DJs’ 60 fresh brand additions, including Lover, Carl Kapp and Ksubi’s new Kustom range of customised luxury denim pieces that are festooned with studs and graffiti - arguably the smartest business decision that the bad boys of Australian jeanswear have made in quite some time. The world’s economies are going to hell in a handbasket, but with luxury sales booming – and über efficient fast fashion powerhouses such as Zara giving consumers runway trends at killer prices - cash-cautious consumers, it seems, are more than happy to open their wallets for merchandise that they consider special.