Meet the new boy, Jack Vanderhart

models.com

On Friday, frockwriter posted about the potentially bumper season of Australian models on New York Fashion Week's runways for the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 season, which commences on Thursday. Three days later, there's already an update. Meet Cronulla's Jack Vanderhart. Modelling for just a few months, the 17 year-old's portfolio includes one editorial in Vogue Australia, two Australian GQ editorials and a campaign for pyjama tycoon Peter Alexander. According to his mother agency EMG Models, Vanderhart is about to add something with a little more international resonance to that list: Calvin Klein exclusive. EMG reports that Vanderhart has just been confirmed for Calvin Klein's menswear show in New York at 2pm on Sunday 13th February. A Calvin Klein exclusive is considered a highly prestigious get for any new model and has the potential to launch their career. Sydney's Julia Nobis scored an exclusive with the womens' show last year.

Calvin Klein gets back into the movie business ahead of the Golden Globes

Tom Ford isn’t the only American luxury brand going gung ho in the leadup to this Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony in Los Angeles. Following the unveiling of a supersite billboard of Ford together with Australian model Abbey Lee Kershaw on Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, comes a 20 second television commercial produced by Calvin Klein to run during the Globes broadcast on NBC. No this is not Calvin Klein's first tvc. Founder Calvin Klein made an impact with a series of highly provocative television spots in the 1980s and 1990s starring, among others, Brooke Shields and Kate Moss in the company's jeans, underwear and fragrances (here is a backgrounder). But this tvc, the company claims, represents the first time it has ever produced a branded tv campaign advertising Calvin Klein's designer collections (with accessories and homewares also getting a lookin). Starring world number 1 Lara Stone and Tyson Ballou, the commercial was shot on location in La Jolla, California and directed by Fabien Baron. Here is a first look.

video: supplied to frockwriter by calvin klein

Jessica Clarke, Calvin Klein's new exclusive - Spring/Summer 2011

calvin klein SS11 backstage/sonny vandevelde

In December 2008, after modelling for just one month, New Zealand schoolgirl Jessica Clarke so charmed New York-based ck Calvin Klein creative director Kevin Carrigan in a home movie shot by her mother agency, that he flew her to Sydney and cast her in the brand’s big bucks party on Cockatoo Island that month. Minutes ago, in what is very big news for New Zealand, the 17 year-old scored an enormous coup: a New York Fashion Week exclusive with the same company’s marquee womenswear brand, Calvin Klein Collection. Heading into the season, Clarke was tipped by top US casting director Ashley Brokaw as a face to watch. But Calvin Klein is one of the most prestigious shows on the circuit and Clarke's coup will undoubtedly provide a brilliant springboard for her international career, just as it did for Sydney’s Julia Nobis last season. 

calvin klein

Clarke was one of six new girls who scored New York Fashion Week exclusives with Calvin Klein this season, alongside Daphne Groeneveld  (who opened), Chavelli Inghels, Hanna Samokhina, Iris Egbers and Theres Alexandersson.

No Australians, not even Abbey Lee Kershaw, who is in the Fall ck Calvin Klein campaign.

And no sign of any mature age models either, with current Calvin Klein advertising face, 26 year-old Lara Stone, apparently the oldest model in the show.

This is a far cry from the brand’s Fall/Winter 2010/2011 show in February, which included several 30+ and 40+ models, including grey-haired Kristen McMenamy.

At the time, Calvin Klein Collection womenswear creative director Francisco Costa (below, flanked by his Spring 2011 models) was widely quoted talking up the need for a greater age diversity in runway casting. In March, Costa told Australian tv current affairs show Today Tonight that while 16 year-olds are "new and fresh", older women “represent some kind of truth”.

Just not this season apparently. 

calvin klein's facebook

all backstage shots: supplied exclusively to frockwriter by sonny vandevelde
all runway images: supplied to frockwriter by calvin klein

World number #1 Lara Stone lands triple Calvin Klein exclusive (just don't call her fat)

wwd

Well Lara Stone is certainly having a moment. Womens Wear Daily reports today that Stone has booked a triple exclusive with Calvin Klein, as the advertising and runway face of Calvin Klein Collection, ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans for the upcoming Fall 2010/2011 season. The Dutch native isn’t the only model in the campaigns (Australia’s Abbey Lee Kershaw is one of several others who feature, in Kershaw’s case, in cK Calvin Klein). But according to WWD it’s the first time “in years” that the company has used one model across three brands – and the newspaper suggests this could propel Stone’s career “into the stratosphere”, given that Calvin Klein contracts were pivotal in launching the careers of several other models, including Christy Turlington and Kate Moss. But Stone is already the world number 1 on models.com, having just dethroned Brazil’s Raquel Zimmermann from the top spot. Her success and in particular, the Calvin Klein coup, are interesting for several reasons.

In March (although not screened until early April), in talking about his decision to cast several 30 and 40 plus models in his Fall/Winter 2010/2011 show, Calvin Klein Collection creative director Francisco Costa told Australian current affairs television program Today Tonight that “the 16 year olds are fantastic, they’re fresh...” but that older women “represent some kind of truth”.

Later that month, a New York modelling agent hinted that “Calvin Klein has discontinued their use of the Size 0-2 Models and trade them in for a 2-4 … a sign of the times indeed”.

This must presumably have been around the same time that busty, size 4 Stone was being earmarked for the campaigns.

Where does that leave 16 year old Monika Jagaciak, who had previously booked two back-to-back Calvin Klein campaigns? Without a Calvin Klein campaign this season, that's where. Although Jagaciak did in fact open the FW1011 Calvin Klein womens runway show, which featured plenty of other teenagers, notably Australia’s Julia Nobis, who was booked as a runway exclusive.

So is it a victory for the "older, curvier" woman?

Forty year-old Emma Balfour, who recently returned to modelling after a long break, is tipped as a new face of Céline.

Stone is still just 27. But she has hit the top of her game after being in the business for at least 12 years - perhaps longer. Stone was reportedly scouted at the age of 12.

And her curves do look to have proven problematic in the past.

In the January edition of US Vogue, she spoke of her battles with her weight, which saw her resort at one point to popping pills, which made her "heart race". Stone also talked about a 2009 stint in rehab for alcoholism, but apparently places no blame on the fashion industry.

Stone told the magazine:

“What they say is ‘curvy,’ but you know they mean fat...It’s depressing when the clothes don’t fit and you are always the odd one out....I was on a shoot just last week and the stylist took out this tight corset dress and said, ‘Here, put it on,’ and I was like, ‘Who are you kidding?’ There was no way, so that was very rude of her. It’s like, come on, she’s a woman; whether you’re buying jeans at the mall or wearing couture, you know what it’s like for clothes not to fit. It’s not an easy kind of rejection, because it’s very personal. It’s you, your body. You take it to heart.”

With lucrative advertising contracts piling up and recently wed to Little Britain star David Walliams, who’s having the last laugh now?

Louise van de Vorst has stalkers

Or so she told frockwriter at Fitzroy, Melbourne resto Cutler & Co on March 14th, on the occasion of the Calvin Klein Collection dinner, immediately following the launch of the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Our tablemate for the duration, van de Vorst mentioned the challenges inherent in living with one of Australia's best-known musos (Silverchair's Daniel Johns). We won't go into the details, but suffice it to say, Johns has a lot of ardent fans. Although dressed for the evening in Calvin Klein Collection, the Chic Management model, fluent Dutch speaker, Gemma Ward doppelgänger and aspiring fashion designer is apparently more at home in her own label, which is due to be unveiled in one Sydney boutique in the next couple of months. Why hasn't she tried to infiltrate the OS runway season? No particular reason, she explained, before adding that she might have a crack next season. We have a hunch she would be a hit.

Julia Nobis has big feet

Yes we know she has a huge future ahead of her. A Calvin Klein exclusive at New York Fashion Week will do that for you. But apparently Australia's hottest new modelling face, Julia Nobis, also has rather large feet - US size 11 according to her Sydney mother agency Priscillas (or a US size 12 according to other sources, with some suggestion her shoe size might have precluded her being cast in some FW1011 shows). So big, that Calvin Klein was obliged to make up some custom fit shoes for her to wear for its February 18th show, according to Calvin Klein. Above is a shot of Nobis' dress rack, from backstage footage filmed by Today Tonight, showing her two changes of footwear for the show.

Today Tonight goes backstage at Calvin Klein

This story went to air on tonight's show. With Calvin Klein Collection womenswear director Francisco Costa and executive vice president global communications Malcolm Carfrae both due to speak at last month's L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to show both in context in New York. After quite some negotiation, a freelance New York crew was booked and they shot at the February 18th shows (Calvin Klein has two, back-to-back - one for press, the other buyers). New York Fashion Week regulars would be aware that although the backstage areas at many shows are often crawling with camera crews, a couple of shows tend to be like Fort Knox. Calvin Klein arguably at the top of that list. I did the master interviews in Melbourne, just prior to the LMFF launch. Sadly the story did not get to run in the LMFF leadup.

I had no idea that Julia Nobis was even in the show until after it finished, otherwise I would have asked the crew to talk to her. And FYI "Yag-a-chiak" is the correct pronunciation of Jac's surname. I checked with Australia's Polish Chamber of Commerce.

I produced/wrote the story. Sally Obermeder reported and Damian Moncrieff edited.

Just a word on the intro and plasma screen graphics.

Producers are required to provide a sample intro for the anchor to read prior to each story, which is often tweaked further up the line.

Mine did mention all the Australian connections, ie in PR, the models and also the celebrities (Naomi Watts and Isobel Lucas were in the front row at the first show, with Melissa George turning up at the afterparty). Somehow, by the time the intro got to air, it had managed to morph into "Australian chiefs" being the "driving force" behind the company.

Unless Calvin Klein Inc president Tom Murry happens to have some antipodian ancestry, this will of course be news to Phillips Van Heusen.

But look, any more Australians on board and there could be a takeover.

Calvin Klein's ice breaker

Just got back from a second Calvin Klein dinner in almost as many days. Downunder to talk at the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival's Business Seminar on Friday, Calvin Klein Collection women's creative director Francisco Costa (above) and the company's executive vice president global communications, Sydney-bred Malcolm Carfrae, have been busy entertaining. First there was Sunday night's dinner down in Melbourne (here is WWD's report - FYI it was Marie Claire Australia editor Jackie Frank leading the "skull!" chorus). Then last night's dinner at Sydney's Coco Republic to launch Calvin Klein Home furniture, with Calvin Klein Home creative director Amy Mellen. Earlier in the day, the trio chilled out at Bondi, lunching at the iconic Icebergs restaurant, before taking a dip in the ocean, during which they were joined by a pod of dolphins. Costa reports he wore boardshorts - and not the budgie smugglers that he purchased on the weekend at the Middle Brighton Baths just outside Melbourne. Costa chose a pair with the word "ICEBERGERS" emblazoned across the derrière, named after the sea baths' year-round "Icebergers" swimming club. Not to be confused with Bondi's near century-old Icebergs swimming club over which the Icebergs restaurant was built.

A chat with Michael Angel

This blog has talked about New York-based Australian designer Michael Angel on several occasions. First, when his collection popped up in US Vogue, before there was a peep out of its Australian counterpart (which has yet to cover his work, reports Angel). Then we interviewed him via phone backstage, moments before he opened New York Fashion Week. Frockwriter just returned from a Calvin Klein dinner at Cutler & Co in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, where we finally got to meet Angel in person. Calvin Klein Collection designer Francisco Costa and the company's head of communications, Malcolm Carfrae, will both talk at the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival's Business Seminar on Friday. Later today, Angel will take part in something called the Designer Forum. Here's a preview of a few points he will be discussing. The only quiet place we could find was the loo - hence the dim lighting - so we locked ourselves in one cubicle and filmed away.

Julia Nobis lands a Calvin Klein exclusive

calvin klein fw1011/getty via daylife


If there's one thing that trumps getting a spot in the Marc Jacobs show at New York Fashion Week, then it's landing an exclusive at Calvin Klein. Frockwriter mentioned that Priscilla's newbie Julia Nobis was a definite one to watch at New York Fashion Week, having been tipped by influential New York casting director Michelle Lee. Less than an hour ago in New York Nobis walked the second of two Calvin Klein shows - as no less than an exclusive (as confirmed by CK's Malcolm Carfrae). In modelspeak, Calvin Klein Collection is a queenmaker and if frockwriter is not mistaken, in terms of Australians, only Gemma Ward and Abbey Lee Kershaw have walked its runways before. Neither as an exclusive.

Women are from Venus, Sonny Vandevelde to show at Mars

There are lots of reasons to check out the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, which runs from March 14-21 at venues around Melbourne. Listening to Calvin Klein creative director Francisco Costa and Calvin Klein Inc's Executive Vice President of Global Communications (and Sydney expat) Malcolm Carfrae wax lyrical on helming a fashion superbrand at the Business Seminar on March 19 is one of them. As is checking in to see the sophomore exhibition of Belgralian backstage ace Sonny Vandevelde at Mars Gallery from March 13-28. Currently snapping the New York shows, the Sunster will just manage to make the opening after the FW1011 season wraps in Paris on March 10. Above is the flyer.