Kim Kardashian wants you to buy her handbags but she'd rather carry Balenciaga

splash via the daily mail

Sydney-based entrepreneur Bruno Schiavi managed to convince Kim Kardashian to sign a global fashion and accessories deal, so you'd figure he would have taken care of a little detail like what brand handbag she was carrying when she arrived at Sydney Airport yesterday, wouldn't you? But apparently not. Kardashian and sister Khloe are in town specifically to spruik their Kardashian Kollection handbags, an exclusive capsule collection of which has just gone on sale in Australia. In the reality television star's first public appearance since her announcement on Monday that she would be filing for divorce from her husband of 72 days, NBA player Kris Humphries, she waltzed into the waiting media scrum carrying not a Kardashian Kollection, but a black Balenciaga City bag (aka Motorcycle bag). The distressed leather and hand-stitched handle are unmistakable. The bag is one of many Balenciagas from Kardashian's personal collection. 

Given Kardashian's predilection towards the French luxury brand, so thoughtful of her then to inject what looks to be a little Balenciaga love into the Kardashian Kollection line for her more budget-conscious fans. 

Here is the new Kardashian Kollection Zip Feature Bag in black, which retails for AUD 59.95:

bagsac.com.au

It bears more than a passing resemblance to Balenciaga's Giant Gold Part Time bag, which sells for USD 1,945:

balenciaga.com

UPDATE 4/11: The Kardashian Kollection Zip Feature Bag, although still visible from the bagsac.com.au link, above, appears to have been pulled from the main Kardashian Kollection lineup on bagsac.com.au. A company spokesperson has so far been unable to provide any clarification. 

It wouldn't be the first time that the Kardashians have been accused of borrowing ideas.

In August, New York-based handbag designer Monica Botkier issued a cease-and-desist letter to the US Sears department store, over a Kardashian Kollection for Sears pre-collection bag which Botkier claimed was a copy of her Trigger Clyde style - prompting Sears to remove the handbag from its website. 

Botkier claims that the buck stops with licensee Schiavi. She told Brand Channel in August:

"Most likely the Kardashians have no idea but should definitely pay closer attention to the products they put their name on. The licensee probably does know and the design department within. Shame on them, it's a small industry. That's why the CFDA [Council of Fashion Designers of America], which I am a member of, is fighting so hard to protect original design and fight piracy. Brands and companies are built on that, piracy is extremely devastating."  

However the Kardashians have been telling the Australian media that they are very "hands-on" in the design process of their products, which are being manufactured by Schiavi's Jupi Corp.

In this interview on the Seven Network's Sunrise breakfast show this morning (UPDATE: which may have so pissed off the Kardashians, they decided to up stumps and leave Australia ahead of schedule), Khloe tells hosts David Koch and Melissa Doyle (6.38):

"We’re not people who just lend our name to someone and say 'Oh do what you want. We just want handbags, use our name'. These are our designs. We design everything from the shapes to the fabrics to the zipper pulls to how the label stitching is on the inside. We’re very controlling. But that’s the blessing of working with each other".

With Kim adding (7.38):

"We're extremely involved in every last process" 

Frockwriter has sought comment from Schiavi and the Kardashians, with so far no response.

The issue of copying appears to be front-of-mind for Kim Kardashian who, one month prior to the Botkier brouhaha, ironically, commenced legal proceedings in the Los Angeles Superior Court against Gap Inc, alleging damages as the result of ads for Gap's Old Navy brand starring Kardashian lookalike Melissa Molinaro. 

According to the court documents, Kardashian has:

"invested substantial time, energy, finances and entrepreneurial effort in developing her considerable professional and commercial achievements and success, as well as in developing her popularity, fame, and prominence in the public eye”

 

Chloe Sevigny covers Candy as Terry Richardson

screen cap/luis venegas's vimeo

Candy, the world’s “first transversal style magazine”, frocked up model Luke Worrall and actor James Franco as women for the covers of its first and second issues. For its just-launched third issue, Candy has transformed actor Chloe Sevigny into a drag king – and in fact, in character as photographer Terry Richardson, with his trademark flannel shirt, glasses, sideburns and thumbs up. Having shot both the Worrall and Franco covers, presumably Richardson shot this one as well. Sevigny has more than a passing interest in the subject of transsexuality. She earned an Academy Award nomination as Lana Tisdel, the girlfriend of murdered transgender man Brandon Teena, in Kimberley Pierce’s 1999 film Boy’s Don’t Cry. She voiced the role of Andy Warhol’s male-to-female superstar Candy Darling in James Rasin’s 2010 documentary Beautiful Darling. And she recently shot a British television series called Hit & Miss, in which she plays a transgender Irish assassin. She also has some commonality with the controversial Richardson. Sevigny is in a minority of mainstream actors to have engaged in an unsimulated sex act in a film – Vincent Gallo’s 2003 Brown Bunny, in which she performed fellatio on co-star Gallo. Richardson has pushed the boundaries of pornography like no other in fashion - coming under fire for the alleged exploitation and degradation of some of his models in the process - and his personal work features a high volume of imagery of himself engaging in unsimulated sexual acts. Sevigny copped a lot of flak herself over Brown Bunny. So, lots to chat about during the cover shoot.

Colourblocking with the stars: Melbourne Cup 2011

getty via daylife

And they're off. The 2011 Melbourne Cup race day is underway at Flemington Raceourse and the fashion competition is heating up. A few shots to dribble in indicate that colour is an early trend. Hardly surprising of course, given that intense colour is a major trend of Australia's Spring/Summer 2011/2012 season, following the cues of the northern hemisphere's SS11. Big local names to catch the photographers' attention thus far include Dancing with the stars contestant and serial red carpet offender Brynne Edelsten - whose style one wag dubbed "Dis-Vegas", a hybrid of Disneyland and Las Vegas - together with colour-coordinated husband Dr Geoffrey Edelsten (above); Rebecca Judd (below, with her sister Kate Twigley); DWTS co-host Sonia Kruger and Jennifer Hawkins, the face of Australian department store chain Myer. The fashion editors are keeping it a little more muted. Here are some shots from the Twitter accounts of Kate Waterhouse, fashion editor of The Sun Herald and Alyx Gorman from The Vine - the latter channelling a 1920s flapper in Romance Was Born. Entourage's Adrian Grenier teamed his black suit with Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Hi Tops. While former Triple M radio star Mieke Buchan breached the Victoria Racing Club's dress code by rocking up in shorts. At least they weren't denim cutoffs. 

photos:


1/ geoffrey and brynne edelsten/getty
2/ mieke buchan/getty
3/ rebecca judd (R) and sister kate twigley/getty
4/ jennifer hawkins/getty
5/ sonia kruger/getty
6/ kate waterhouse (second from R)/twitter5/ kate waterhouse/twitter
7/ alyx gorman/twitter
8/ sophie van den akker/getty
9/ laura dundovic/getty
10/ adrian grenier/getty
11/ chantelle delaney/getty

Miss J is the belle of the Derby

getty via daylife

Derby Day is in full swing but at time of posting, not a whole heap of fashion coverage was forthcoming either from the mainstream media or the real-time crew. In the interim, here are a few shots from Getty. Most adhered to the traditional black and white dress code of the first day of the week-long Melbourne Cup Carnival, the highlight of which is of course Tuesday's Melbourne Cup. Great effort by America's Next Top Model model mentor J Alexander - aka "Miss J" - who topped his smart black suit with a fabulous black-and-white, Cecil Beaton-inspired headpiece that looked like it was straight off the Royal Ascot set from My Fair Lady. Alexander is part of a posse of international celebs who will descend on Flemington Racecourse over the next week. Others expected include Sarah Jessica Parker, Joan Collins and Kim Kardashian. Dita von Teese, who is in town to spruik her new Muse dress collection at David Jones, bucked Derby Day's dress code with a scarlet red ensemble from her own collection:

lauren brain's twitter

(top to bottom) rachael finch, esther anderson, jennifer hawkins and rebecca judd, alexandra richards, rachael taylor, lindy klim, ashley hart, ruby rose: getty via daylife

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”.

RAFW Spring/Summer 2011/2012 live blog - Day One

Hello and welcome to frockwriter’s coverage of the Spring/Summer 2011/2012 Australian collections at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal. Just a quick headsup about how things are going to work this week... if all goes to plan. Coverage of fashion weeks is always fraught with frustrations, tech hassles and, more often than not, far more material than you wind up with time to produce. Notably when you are a one man/woman band, as is the case with most bloggers – and you don’t have the luxury of a multimedia backup team at head office, as do mainstream journalists. To try and keep things ticking over throughout the day and create a central repository of all my real-time coverage – which I thoroughly appreciate tends to be missed by those who still don’t use Twitter or Facebook - this year I am approaching things a little differently. In addition to photo galleries and selective reviews, I am going to attempt a daily live blog. Please see below for today’s widget. I am hoping it’s easy to follow, pending whether you are viewing on a computer or cellphone (I have tested it on a couple of brands, it looks better on some than others). You can comment via the blog’s regular comments section, below. 

For those who follow me on Twitter/Facebook, no changes there. But please bear in mind that the live blog will likely have additional material that won’t be on Twitter, which of course only ever allows for 140 characters. 
 
So here we go. Romance Was Born's off-schedule show last night was a high energy start to the week. Fantastic location, terrific production and collection (here is our photo gallery and review). Cate Blanchett front row added some international polish. I had a quick chat with Blanchett afterwards. Here’s what she had to say. 

Romance Was Born this way

Romance Was Born unofficially kicked off Australian Fashion Week yesterday with yet another trademark theatrical extravaganza. This time around though, duo Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales skipped the costly staging – in fact, they almost did not show at all this season - and used the magnificent three storey, glass-domed reading room of Sydney’s Mitchell Library as a backdrop, leaving the fabulous styling and clothes of their Spring/Summer 2011/2012 collection, entitled The Oracle, to do all the talking. Styling was courtesy Mark Vassallo, with MAC and GHD doing a superb job interpreting the duo’s theme - Wolfgang Petersen’s 1984 fantasy film, The NeverEnding Story and its much-loved characters and creatures who inhabit the land of Fantasia, fighting The Nothing – in elaborate hair and makeup. Rachel Rutt channelled the Childlike Empress in a sumptuous, tiered shaggy coat that was a little reminiscent of a Maori Korowai feather cloak, while another model sported a massive Rock Biter breastplate (see photo gallery, below). Scattered in amongst the Swarovski crystal- and pearl-encrusted unitards, feathered ballgowns and gargantuan puffa jackets, there were plenty of more commercial pieces: dazzling printed Lycra leggings and unitards; graceful, ankle-grazing georgette skirts and blouses in scarf-like digital prints; embellished jeans and some very pretty evening dresses with ribbon skirts. 

But it’s the over-the-top showpieces which make the brand’s presentations so memorable – and have attracted the interest of clients such as Cate Blanchett, who provided The Sydney Theatre Company as a venue for RWB’s 2009 RAFW show, has commissioned costumes for the upcoming STC production of Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness – and who sat front row last night. 

Plunkett and Sales have carved a career fighting The Nothing of fashion blandness. Long may they do what they dream.  

Death of a Hollywood icon

richard avedon

RIP Elizabeth Taylor.

"I'm obsessed with models" - Melissa George

Since departing these shores in the mid 1990s, following a three year stint playing Angel Brooks on Australian soap Home & Away, Melissa George has established herself as a queen of the US small screen. Notwithstanding a few features, notably Dark City, Mulholland Drive, The Amityville Horror and 30 Days of Night, George’s CV is replete with a score of American tv movies and series, including Roar, Murder Call, LA Confidential, Friends, Charmed, Alias, In Treatment and Grey’s Anatomy. Her latest small screen effort: Australian production The Slap, whose current filming schedule downunder facilitated her participation in last week’s L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival as the event’s official ambassador. Frockwriter caught up with George on Friday night – four years after we chatted to her backstage at New York Fashion Week. This time, she demonstrated that she is as much of an ambassador for the Argentinian fashion industry, as she is for its Australian equivalent, and offered a fascinating theory to explain the sudden proliferation of top Australian models - or at least those hailing from her native Perth. 

How are you enjoying the fashion festival?
I’m loving it. I was very moved by Maticevski [L'Oréal Paris Runway 5 show]. The music and the workmanship... I was almost on a film set.

Did you like the pavlova dress at the end?
You know why I loved it? Because every designer has their showstopping piece. It’s not about what you’re going to wear on the weekend. It’s about what item of clothing best represents my vision. And that’s it. The layering and....of course I wanted to wear it on a film set, running through the Scottish Highlands like after a lover. I was on a movie set, completely. I got quite emotional, quite choked up actually.

Are you doing a remake of Highlander?
No, nothing like that. I just think it was so romantic.

So, your impressions of the festival?
It’s been extraordinary. I mean, I think we all have to agree that it’s just been so well put together. The quality of the fashion, the fact that L’oréal has just put on this massive amount of publicity for the week. I mean it’s almost uncanny. I got off the plane from Buenos Aires and I arrived here and I’m like ....

Everywhere.
Like... hang on a second this is not normal. This is absolutely not normal and... It’s an honour.

Had you ever been to this festival before?
No. Never.

What are you working on at the moment?
Right now, I'm shooting The Slap. I’ve been shooting since January and then I went away for a month and now I’m back and I continue shooting on Monday. In between fashion shows I’ve been rehearsing with the director. Rob Connolly is doing the next two. We’ve had an array of directors – Tony Ayres, Jessica Hobbs, Matthew Saville. Amazing writers and directors. I love the balance - fashion and acting.

How would you describe your relationship with fashion?
It’s an emotional relationship I find. It’s not about putting on clothes for me. It has to evoke an emotion for me and I have to feel something. I’ve got these gorgeous, thigh-high flat boots... it’s not an Australian brand, it’s an American brand. [Joseph] Altuzarra for Sergio Rossi. And they’re thigh-high and they have croc tips on the toes and when I get up in the morning in New York and it’s cold and I put them on with leggings and a big Céline sweater and I get my New York Post and my coffee... it’s a simple boot but evokes such an emotion in me. And I think fashion creates confidence. It really does. Let’s face it, you can’t walk around naked, right?

Well some people like to.
Some people would like to... in the privacy of your own home.

No I mean the naturists – like you see in Europe. They have entire resorts.
Oh I know.

You see them playing tennis in the nude.
Oh well that’s fine. I mean that I agree with [laughs].

So what else is on the drawing board?
I’ve got a Mandy Moore movie coming up with Martin Freeman, who is shooting The Hobbit right now. And he and I and Mandy shot this fantastic romantic comedy in London [Swinging with the Finkels]. I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. They thought I was drunk the whole time because I was laughing that much. It comes out in June. And then my movie in Scotland, called A Lonely place to Die. I don’t know if it’s going to be called that.

Oh so you did in fact recently shoot in the Highlands? Pity you didn’t have Maticevski on wardrobe.
I just shot a movie for four months in the Highlands. Nothing to do with the gowns at all but it was just an action film. Then that and The Slap, I’m really proud of that. It’s the first time I’ve come home since shooting Triangle. That was an American production. This is an Australian production. It’s the first Australian job I’ve done since Dark City with Jennifer Connolly.

Any other fashion or luxury brand projects in the pipeline?
There’s a couple.... But I think after this, I’m going to take a little bit of a break. Let’s not do more of this for a minute. You can’t get more beautiful than what Daniela Frederici shot [for the LMFF program], the campaign was gorgeous. Nothing really. I’m just busy in Buenos Aires really.

So yes, you live part of the year in Buenos Aires?
In Buenos Aires and New York.

Your husband is Chilean?
He’s Chilean but you know, we just fly over the Andes...

Do you speak Spanish?
I do speak Spanish.

Where do you spend the most time?
I don’t know really, it changes every year. Right now I came from Buenos Aires and I’m going to go back there. And New York’s my heart.

Are there some good designers in Argentina?
Yeah – [Pablo] Ramirez,  Liliana Castellanos. Look at this [reaches for a fringed, black alpaca shawl, below, that an associate is carrying for her].

Not to mention the whole Eva Peron legacy.
I live in her neighbourhood, where she grew up and she was buried right near where I live. This is Liliana Castellanos, which is alpaca and then they have the people in the country weave a border.

Is there an Argentinian Fashion Week?
There’s a Sao Paolo one.

You’ll be the face of Buenos Aires Fashion Week next.
Oh I don’t know about that. I don’t look very Argentinian. They always think I’m foreign. What other designers do I love? I love Tramando – look at their website. They’re right in my home. And [Jessica] Trosman is another good one. They’re really cool designers. They’re honestly the future. Everything is made out of Latex and layers.

There would be a very strong leather and leather craftsmanship tradition there.
Oh yeah and the crocodile and the skins and all that, which is not very appreciated in the rest of the world, but it’s Argentina. It’s a big meat-eating culture and everything.... the décor in our place is all animal or cowhide and stuff like that and there’s a French feel, there are a lot of French antiques there. But mixtures, like the Argentinians.

I asked you a couple of years ago about the success of all the Australians in Hollywood. Have you been following the more recent influx of Australian models overseas? They’re everywhere at the moment.
Oh look, they’re the most gorgeous....

Do you know any of the Australian models?
I’m obsessed with models. In fact I can spot them a mile away. I read Italian Vogue, French Vogue, Australian Vogue, I know all their names.

[Joking] Hey you probably comment on my blog. It attracts model obsessives.
I know who you are [yeah right]. They’re divine. They’re all from Perth.

Well that’s right, there have been quite a few from Perth, starting with Gemma Ward. So what’s in the water in Perth?
I think we’re just so far away. There are lots of billionaires... there’s a theory that all the rich miners married supermodels back in the ‘80s and so they all got themselves a hot wife and created beautiful children.

How does Rose Porteous [widow of mining magnate Lang Hancock] fit into that?
Oh yeah, you know, she’s the top of the ladder.
 

Boy's own - LMFF 2011

A very high percentage of the fashion on last week's runways at the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival was womenswear. But there was one menswear-dedicated show: Thursday night's Menswear Runway that was presented in tandem with GQ Australia. Oh and a local optical retailer whose name escapes us. Much to the frustration of backstage media - and, we understand, some of the organisers - nearly all photographers were kicked out at the last minute, in preparation for the arrival of VIP showpony, Helena Christensen. Celebrities often have demanding backstage riders, Christensen's apparently included no photographers and, beyond one or two interviews, no other press exposure. We understand the extent of the coverage outside of Melbourne reflected these restrictions. Click (here) to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of the show.     

Bulgari's lion queen

How does Italian jeweller Bulgari top campaigns starring naked Julianne Moore alongside a sulphur-crested cockatoo and the next season, some adorable lion cubs? With a campaign for the company's brand new Mon Jasmin Noir fragrance starring another naked American actor, Kirsten Dunst, opposite... a full-grown lion. Behold what frockwriter understands is an exclusive preview of Bulgari's Mon Jasmin Noir campaign that is being released later today. It was shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott at Villa Balbianello in the exquisite Lake Como region just outside of Milan. Working alongside lion cubs is one thing, but even with the behind-the-scenes imagery (below), we're not convinced that Dunst happily nestled snugly against a real lion and/or that Mert + Marcus managed to get both it and Dunst to 'love the camera' at the same moment - and that's it's not a Photoshop mashup. Then again, Dunst is an old hand with big cats. Some movie sites list her as the voice of young Nala in Disney's 1994 animated feature The Lion King (IMDB has Nikete Calame voicing the role). The following year, she co-starred in Jumanji, opposite Robin Williams and some scary - albeit computer-generated - lions. 

 all images: supplied to frockwriter by bulgari