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.

The eyes have it: Ksubi's 2011 eyewear campaign

Given that Ksubi resurrected itself from the ashes of liquidation earlier this year, bought by a consortium for $5million after collapsing under a $9million debt burden, you have to wonder if the metal eagle on the ‘elnath’ aviators in the brand’s new 'eye eye' eyewear range is a wink from co-founders Dan Single and George Gorrow. Either way, good to see Ksubi moving forward. The campaign was shot by Kane Skennar and stars Heidi Harrington, Rosemary Smith, Dion Antony, Jann Cruraszkiewicz and model-of-the-moment (and Single squeeze) Bambi Northwood-Blyth. See below for the entire campaign. And frockwriter’s Posterous for some behind-the-scenes shots. At A$289-329 a pop, they sure beat premium jeans. Available next month at David Jones, General Pants and Ksubi’s stores – including the relocated Paddington boutique at 140 Oxford Street (formerly Kit Cosmetics) and from mid October, Ksubi's new store in the new Westfield Sydney. 

all images: supplied exclusively to frockwriter by ksubi

Casting clout: Kannon Rajah carves up the show circuit, from Karl to Ksubi

Frockwriter has mentioned Sydney expat Kannon Rajah on several previous occasions. During 2008’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show – on which he has worked in casting and show production since 2006 – and last year’s VS show, which we profiled in a tv story on Today Tonight. We caught up with the casting dynamo yesterday down in Bondi. Rajah, who now lives in New York with his Australian wife and son, returned to work on Ksubi’s show which closed RAFW. It was a bit of a homecoming for Rajah who started his career working for the then Mercedes Australian Fashion Week from 2001-2005, initially as a runner and eventually designer relations director and show producer. Victoria’s Secret isn’t Rajah’s only coup – in February he became the casting director for Italian luxurygoods maker Fendi, the latest in an expanding roster of personal clients, which also includes Gareth Pugh, Pedro Lourenco and Willow.


Yes that’s right, Rajah is now Karl Lagerfeld’s right-hand man – at least when it comes to the casting of the Fendi show, on which Lagerfeld works as creative director (here's Rajah, above, in an in-house video). Rajah would no doubt love to get his hands on Lagerfeld's other shows: Karl Lagerfeld and the luxury motherlode, Chanel.

That’s after five years working for some of the fashion world’s biggest show production companies. Here is a list of the companies and shows with which Rajah has worked since leaving Sydney:

With KCD:
Marc Jacobs, Chloe, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton

With Bureau Betak:
Christian Dior, Victoria's Secret

With Villa Eugenie:
Lanvin, Chanel, Miu Miu, Yves Saint Laurent, Sonia Rykiel, Hermès, Hugo Boss

With OBO:
Victoria's Secret, Fashion Rocks

With Without:
Burberry, Gucci, Prada

With John Pfeiffer:
Victoria's Secret, Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Oscar de la Renta, Diane von Furstenberg, Lacoste, Halston, Akris, Hussein Chalayan

Of course had things worked out differently, Rajah might have been working these days with elite athletes.

Instead, he dropped out of physiotherapy and Sports Science studies at Sydney University to join Australian Fashion Week - and now finds himself working with elite performers of a different kind.

Of all the models of RAFW, Rajah says he has his eye on seven new names: Chic Management’s Juliana Forge, Viviens’ Eliza Humble and Dempsey Stewart, Work Agency's Jessica McColl, Chadwicks' Victoria Lee and Priscillas’ Bambi Northwood-Blyth and Zippora Seven.

The latter two models are both petite compared with the regular runway amazons. But then, Kate Moss was 170cm and that didn’t stop her.

“Even though they [Northwood-Blyth and Seven] might not have the typical height of a runway model, they more than compensate for it with their stunning features and body proportions” Rajah told frockwriter. “Also, they are great characters with great personalities”.






(top to bottom: eliza humble/RTW 1 SS1011; bambi northwood blyth/michael lo sordo SS1011; juliana forge/dion lee SS1011; zippora seven/stolen girlfriends club AW10 and dempsey stewart/manning cartell SS1011 via isaaclikes)

Here is a feature that US modelling authority models.com ran on Rajah in February, featuring 82 of his own Polaroids of his top model picks for the FW1011 season (including Australians Catherine McNeil, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Myf Shepherd - which is curious, given that Shepherd took the season off).

Here are a couple of frockwriter’s Posterous shots from backstage at Ksubi which went up on Twitter in real-time (each of which has been viewed over 1000 times).





Here is frockwriter's Posterous photo gallery of Ksubi backstage and the show.

And here is a mini wrap of the event that I wrote for News Ltd’s The Punch opinion site, which includes the Ksubi show.