Time out London

abbey lee kershaw backstage at burberry SS12/burberry's twitpic

The Spring/Summer 2012 shows rolled on at London Fashion Week, traditionally a bit of a breather between the far bigger and busier New York and Milan schedules. The latter put further than usual strain on the London event this season, with Marc Jacobs pushing his show back by three days, prompting many models to miss LFW's first day. Further demands were made by Gucci - whose show is today - dragging many girls to Milan at the end of the week. Nevertheless, 14 Australian models did the London shows, with Abbey Lee Kershaw, Catherine McNeil and Bambi Northwood-Blyth touching down in the SS12 season for the first time. Contrary to reports that McNeil had not done a runway show for two and a half years, in fact September 2010 was the last time we saw her on the circuit. Expect to see more antipodians in Milan and Paris, where many are already positioned attending castings and fittings.

Will newbie Krystal Glynn get a second shot at Prada? Frockwriter revealed that Glynn recently turned down two gigs with a major brand. She is now on the record that Prada was the brand in question [we understand the bookings were for the Resort 2012 campaign and lookbook]. Time will tell. In any event, we hear other luxury brands are interested.

Below are the updated show lists - with London shows highlighted in blue - in addition to an animated London Fashion Week photo galley. UPDATED: WITH MILAN FASHION WEEK SHOWS.

Just a reminder that although these showlists are ranked by the number of shows per model, contrary to sentiments expressed in comments on Friday's New York showlists post, it is not necessarily always only about quantity. Some shows are more prestigious than others and some models are far better-established. Abbey Lee Kershaw, for example, has already made her name. For whatever reason, she skipped the New York leg of the season. In London she opened the ultra-exclusive Tom Ford show, the only Australian cast. Andrej Pejic may have only done a handful of shows so far, but there was significant publicity surrounding those shows. 

,

JULIA NOBIS
Richard Chai

Tadashi Shoji

Peter Som (opened)

Rebecca Taylor (opened)

Rag & Bone

Lacoste

Alexander Wang

Jill Stuart

Derek Lam

Diane von Furstenberg

Son Jung Wan (opened and closed)

Edun

Tommy Hilfiger

Preen

Marc by Marc Jacobs

Tory Burch

Vera Wang

Narciso Rodriguez

Theyskens' Theory

3.1 Phillip Lim

Michael Kors

Proenza Schouler (closed)

Reed Krakoff

Calvin Klein

Marc Jacobs
Ports 1961

Jaeger London

Jonathan Saunders

Topshop Unique

Richard Nicoll

Acne

Christopher Kane

Antonio Berardi

Giles Deacon

Burberry

= 35

MELISSA 'MJ' JOHANNSEN
Steven Alan
Rachel Comey
Nicholas K
The Row
Band of Outsiders
Academy of Art University
Tracy Reese
Creatures of the Wind
Rodarte
Pink Tartan (opened)
Fotini
Elle Tahari
Jeremy Scott
Patrick Ervell

Ashish

Zoe Jordan

Mulberry

Peter Jensen

Thomas Tait

Peter Pilotto

Mark Fast

= 21

CODIE YOUNG
Richard Chai
Rebecca Taylor
United Bamboo
Suno
Jill Stuart (closed)
Graeme Armour
Thakoon
Tory Burch
Rodarte
Tibi
Hexa by Cuho
Milly by Michelle Smith
Wayne
Marc Jacobs

Julien Macdonald

House of Holland

Paul Smith

Mulberry

Erdem

Peter Pilotto

= 20

ROSE SMITH
Richard Chai
Doo.Ri
The Row
Edun
Jill Stuart
Adam
Band of Outsiders (opened)
Y-3
Zero Maria Cornejo (opened)
Tory Burch
Marchesa
Tibi
3.1 Phillip Lim
Ports 1961
Daks

Jaeger London

Mulberry

Erdem
Antonio Berardi

= 19

RUBY-JEAN WILSON
United Bamboo
Peter Som
Yigal Azrouel (opened)
Graeme Armour (closed)
Y-3
Jil Sander Navy
Reem Acra
Marchesa
Sophie Theallet
Jeremy Scott
Marc Jacobs
Patrick Ervell

Julien Macdonald

Jonathan Saunders

Paul Smith

Topshop Unique

John Rocha

Giles Deacon

Burberry

= 19

DEMPSEY STEWART
Richard Chai
Rebecca Taylor (closed)
Suno (closed)
Graeme Armour
Honor
Thakoon
3.1 Phillip Lim
Jill Stuart
Marc Jacobs

Julien Macdonald

House of Holland

Topshop Unique

Richard Nicoll

Emilio de la Morena

Pringle of Scotland

Erdem

Giles Deacon

Peter Pilotto

= 18

AMANDA WARE
BCBG by Max Azria
Ruffian
Monique Lhuillier
Carlos Miele
Hervé Léger
L'Wren Scott

Clements Ribeiro

Marios Schwab

Nicole Farhi

Antonio Berardi

Pringle of Scotland

= 11

KRYSTAL GLYNN
Richard Chai
Peter Som
Rebecca Taylor
Suno
Helmut Lang
Band of Outsiders
Honor
Tory Burch
Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti
Theyskens' Theory
Marc Jacobs

= 11

CHRYSTAL COPLAND
Costello Tagliapietra (closed)

Libertine
Pink Tartan
Emerson
Hexa by Cuho
Jeremy Scott

Norman Ambrose

Arise African Fashion Collective

Jonathan Saunders (closed)

Topshop Unique

Giles Deacon

= 11

NICOLE POLLARD
Nicholas K
Ruffian
Band of Outsiders
Sally La Pointe (closed)
Graeme Armour
Rachel Roy
Theyskens Theory
Hexa by Cuho (closed)
Norman Ambrose
Supima

= 10

AJAK DENG
Richard Chai
Jason Wu
Edun
Ohne Titel
Wayne

Matthew Williamson

Erdem
Todd Lynn 
Mary Katrantzou (opened)

= 9

CAITLIN LOMAX
Yigal Azrouel

3.1 Phillip Lim

Jonathan Saunders

Topshop Unique

Richard Nicoll

Christopher Kane

Giles Deacon
Aquascutum

= 8

JESS GOLD

Rebecca Taylor
Helmut Lang
Jen Kao
Faster by Mark Fast
Rachel Zoe
Francesc by Frank Tell

Ashish

Thomas Tait

= 8

SARAH LORIMER
Steven Alan

Wes Gordon
Christian Siriano
Libertine
A Detacher
Wayne
Karen Walker
Park Choon Moo

= 8

PHILIPPA GLEESON
Jenny Packham
Rachel Roy
Billy Reid
L.A.M.B.
Karen Walker
Nanette Lepore (opened)
Chado Ralph Rucci
Naeem Khan

= 8 

CLAIRE COLLINS
Faster by Mark Fast
Cut25 by Yigal Azrouel
Rebecca Minkoff
Rachel Zoe
Suno
Wes Gordon
Sally LaPointe

= 7 

JADE JACKSON
Yigal Azrouel
Carlos Miele
Sophie Theallet
Rad by Rad Hourani
Milly by Michelle Smith
Ohne Titel

= 6

LAUREN MOODY
Imitation of Christ
Sally LaPointe
Juan Carlos Obando
Argentine Designers
Nomia
Arise African Fashion Collective


= 6

LAUREN BROWN
Kimberley Ovitz

Son Jung Wan

Reed Krakoff

Chado Ralph Rucci
Arise African Fashion Collective

= 5

CARIS TIIVEL

Christian SirianoBibi
Project Runway
Bibhu Mohapatra
Josie Natori

= 5

ABBEY LEE KERSHAW

Tom Ford (opened)

Pringle of Scotland (opened)

John Rocha (opened, closed)

Burberry

Matthew Williamson

= 5

ELIZA HUMBLE
Erin by Erin Fetherston
Chris Benz
Gen Art
Douglas Hannant

= 4

SIMONE KERR
Christian Siriano
Pink Tartan
Betsey Johnson
The Blonds

= 4

TOM BULL

Imitation of Christ

Perry Ellis (opened and closed)

Marithé et François Girbaud

Sergio Davila

= 4

JAKE GORDON
Billy Reid
Dominic Lewis
Aston Mozie
Nexus Showroom


= 4

ANDREJ PEJIC
Custo Barcelona (opened)

Jeremy Scott

Mala Breton (opened)

= 3

BAMBI NORTHWOOD-BLYTH

Jonathan Saunders

Topshop Unique

Giles Deacon

= 3

ELYSE TAYLOR
Nicole Miller

VPL

DKNY

= 3

JACK VANDERHART
DKNY Men

Argentine Designers

= 2 

CATHERINE MCNEIL

Matthew Williamson

Pringle of Scotland

= 2

VICTORIA LEE

DKNY

Libertine

= 2

VANESSA MILDE

Imitation of Christ

Eva Minge

= 2

MALLORY JANSEN
WISB (Way It Should Be)
Tribune Standard


= 2

photo gallery:

1/ abbey lee kershaw, burberry/burberry twitpic
2/ catherine mcneil, matthew wiliamson/getty
3/ julia nobis, christopher kane, vogue.it via TFS
4/ rose smith, antonio berardi/getty
5/ melissa johannsen, mulberry/getty
6/ codie young, erdem/getty
7/ amanda ware, antonio berardi/getty
8/ ajak deng, erdem/getty
9/ dempsey stewart, house of holland/getty
10/ ruby jean wilson, julien macdonald/getty
11/ chrystal copland, jonathan saunders/getty
12/ bambi northwood-blyth, giles/vogue.it via TFS
13/ jess gold, ashish/getty
14/ caitlin lomax, christopher kane/vogue.it via TFS

Rosemary Smith and Emilia Skuza hop on fashion's trans Tasman locomotive

  

She was optioned for another big show, but Rosemary Smith pulled off the next best thing in Milan overnight: Fendi, alongside some of the biggest runway names in the business. Not bad for a first international show season, but Smith has got a long way to catch up with some other downunder newcomers, like Dempsey Stewart, whose already stellar first show season now also includes the blue chip Prada and Burberry shows. New arrivals to this already blistering antipodian show season are runway veterans Abbey Lee Kershaw, who has, not unexpectedly, been cleaning up with big name shows such as as Gucci, Fendi and Burberry; Myf Shepherd, after a year’s hiatus, walking so far for just Angelo Marani; Jessica Hart, who appeared at Matthew Williamson in London; and brand new Adelaide face Emilia Skuza. First emerging on the Paris haute couture runways last month, Skuza turned up at Aquascutum, Antonio Berardi, Mary Karantzou, Amanda Wakeley and Emelia Wickstead in London. The rise and rise of “trans Tasman models” has captured the attention of not only the blogosphere, but also the mainstream media. Today, The Australian ran a story about Bambi Northwood-Blyth and The Sydney Morning Herald covered the plethora of Australian models currently working the show circuit. 

all images: style.com/style.it


1/ rosemary smith at fendi
2/ emilia skuza at mary karantzou
3/ abbey lee kershaw at gucci
4/ myf shepherd at angelo marani
5/ dempsey stewart at prada

The Kob crosses the Pond - Charles Anastase Spring/Summer 2011

charles anastase SS11/style.com

No sign yet of Australian supermodel Abbey Lee Kershaw at London Fashion Week. But frockwriter did do a double take while watching this video, below, of yesterday’s Charles Anastase show. Not only were the models showcasing the collection's fluid chemises, floral teadresses and silver foil clamdiggers and shifts, every last one was sporting what looks very much like Kershaw’s new haircut (which has now of course been dyed peroxide blonde). Described by various Australian beauty aficionados as a long choppy bob, aka "the Kob" or "Chanel Bob", as we previously reported, it’s caused a bit of a run on local salons from consumers wanting Kershaw’s look. Supposedly inspired by 60s/70s icons Jane Birkin, Francoise Hardy and Jane Fonda, Anastase’s hair stylist Lyndell describes the look as being “like virgin hair...a backlash against try-hard, dip-dye, pastel and over bleached hair, this girl is cool without trying”. To achieve it, the wigs were dyed four times and then razor cut. Frockwriter suspects that we might not see Kershaw in London until Tuesday morning at 9.00am. That’s the show time of iconic British brand Jaeger London and Kershaw is of course its Fall 2010 face. In the meantime, a new video of the Jaeger campaign has surfaced starring Kershaw and male model Ollie Edwards, below. And for those who can’t get enough ALK, here’s another new video - taken backstage taken at last week’s Anna Sui show in New York, which shows Kershaw, together with model mates Freja Beha Erichsen and Behati Prinsloo.

Caribbean queens: sass & bide Spring/Summer 2011

Sass & bide’s roots lie in London’s Portobello Road, the world’s largest antiques market, where designers Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke sold their edgy customised jeans to the city’s early fashion adopters back in 1999. Yesterday, for their third season back at London Fashion Week after a few years in the sportswear-nosed wilderness of New York Fashion Week, they returned to slightly more auspicious digs: the Royal Opera House. Entitled Papa Sucre  - French for 'sugar daddy' and possibly named after the 1995 instrumental track by Brit alt rock outfit Supergrass (but with a definite Creole undercurrent) - the collection saw a slight detour from the brand’s trademark heavy embellishment to explore the moment’s digital print trend in a monochrome palette of black, sepia and white, popped with watermelon and a hint of utilitarian khaki. 

Opened by rising star Julia Nobis, joined by two other Australians, Lauren Brown and Jessica Hart and hot American newcomer Kirby Kenny, the show featured sweet silk jumpsuits; fluid harem pants and city shorts; stripey knit sweaters and sexy bodycon microdresses, either sleeveless with embellished shoulders and cutout bustier details or else full-sleeved – the latter a kind of modern variation of the DVF wrap dress. The draped copper silk trousers could have been Balenciaga's take on the duo's best-selling Black Rats. 

The embellishment largely came in the form of addon killer accessories that were based on the central raffia motif (which even wound up on the show invitation). 

From glam rock raffia chubbies to Elizabethan raffia ruffs and even one entire raffia froufrou skirt, they also included slouchy pirate boots, loopy harness belts, silver breastplates and one spectacular copper choker whose behemoth raffia fringe looked like it had been dip-dyed in blood. It's unlikely that Middleton and Clarke will need to be working any voodoo here to charm die-hard sass & bide girls.

 

 all images: supplied by sass & bide

London Fashion Week, New Zealand Fashion Week - and a sneak peek at World Autumn/Winter 2011

 

Another day, another Fashion Week. Yes, New York Fashion Week wraps today, giving the most gung-ho fashionistas/os the chance to hop the red eye to London for tomorrow’s kickoff of London Fashion Week, which runs September 17-22. Here is the British Fashion Council schedule, with some collections at Somerset House and others off-site. Here is the digital schedule of shows to be live streamed. And here is the On/Off schedule (an off-schedule event staged in Bloomsbury). Vis-à-vis Australians, jewellery designer Jordan Askill will present a film on Friday 17th at 15.00, with sass & bide showing at 17.45 that day and UK-based Richard Nicoll and Antipodium showing on Sunday 19th at 19.30 and Tuesday 21st at 09.30 respectively. While LFW is in full swing, New Zealand Fashion Week will kick off in Auckland (September 21-25). Frockwriter will be attending for the second time as the guest of the organisers. Click here for the NZFW schedule, which includes Zambesi, Nom*D, Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper and World, with New York’s Nicole Miller this year’s international ringin. What’s Miller doing downunder?

Showing 30 looks including, she promises, some new styles, as part of an Asia Pacific business reccie. Miller is apparently a mate of New York designer Richie Rich who, she says, gave rave reviews of his time in Auckland last year with Pamela Anderson. The Anderson hilarity will be a tough act to match, but we’ll keep you posted.

The event is going big on bloggers.

San Diego-based Rumi Neely will be there for the second year in a row, joined this year by London-based Spaniard Gala Gonzales and Toronto-based Kiwi expat Casie Stewart.

Bloggers are of course now very visible at international fashion shows – except for perhaps this week’s Marc Jacobs show, which sat teen blogging sensation Tavi Gevinson in the third row (with some other female bloggers, we hear, so peed off with their less-than-frow placements at other shows, they were planning to skip them).

But it’s worth remembering that New Zealand Fashion Week welcomed A Shaded View on Fashion’s Diane Pernet as early as 2005.

Kate Sylvester is not showing this year, which is a shame. But great to see World back on schedule after a year hiatus. 

World’s OTT shows are always a highlight of the event. This one is called Wasted Days, Wasted Nights and will take place at 16.30 on Wednesday 22nd September in the opulent Great Room of the Langham Hotel.

World gave frockwriter a sneak peek, below: a black and white leopard print jacket with voluminous fringing on the cuffs.

Two other hints: '70s glamour queens Bianca Jagger and Marie Helvin.

all photos: supplied exclusively to frockwriter by world

The Burberry revolution: streaming live, in 3D AND via the blogosphere's long tail

Well unless you’ve been living under a rock in a galaxy far from Planet Fashion – perhaps Pandora – then you might not be aware that iconic British luxury label Burberry is about to make fashion history in just over six hours' time. In a season in which seemingly very second runway show has been live streamed to the net, Burberry is taking this new fashion concept one step further by not only streaming live for the third consecutive season, but additionally, broadcasting in 3D. Teaming up with SKY Television, Burberry will broadcast a 3D version of the show to guests in five global locations: Skylight Studios in New York, the Beaux-Arts in Paris, The Address in Dubai, La Fabrique in Tokyo and Milk Studios in Los Angeles. In another first, Burberry has moved beyond its own website and provided various websites and blogs with its embeddable video player. So, beyond Burberry's own site, there will be a plethora of net destinations via which you will be able to watch the show live at 16.00pm GMT (3.00am AEST) - with, by all accounts, 15 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage prior to that. These sites include frockwriter. Many thanks to Burberry for including us.



But frockwriter does have to chuckle at the naiveté of some of the other Burberry code recipients.



Underneath its player, Grazia Australia for example has advised readers they can check out “exclusive interviews and red-carpet coverage via Grazia.com.au”.



Click on the email icon to the side of the player and anyone can copy and paste the embed code onto their own blog - a function that has been disabled on the player on Burberry's own site.



According to Burberry, to add to the festivities, the Twitterific ELLE US creative director Joe Zee, along with our buddy Bryanboy, will be “taking over” Burberry’s Twitter feed for the show duration.



Meanwhile, Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey has been busy recording these video meet-and-greets on YouTube and The Daily Beast (which is affiliated with the New York live stream).









Things are moving so quickly in Fashion 2.0, you have to wonder what the Spring/Summer 2011 season holds in store.



Eighteen of the coats and 33 of the bags are available for pre order from Burberry's website for three days following the show.



Burberry was not the only brand to offer its collection to consumers straight off the runway this season, nor was it the first to do so.



In September, Burberry sold two trench coats from its Spring/Summer 2010 show straight from the live stream and website, with consumers receiving their orders in three to four weeks, approximately three months ahead of their arrival in store.



Needless to say, the retail revolution has only just begun

sass & bide's cutting edge chic

"A visual collision of nature and industry; an all-consuming collective celebrating the drama of contrast and contradiction" is how sass & bide describes its Fall/Winter 2010/2011 'Tomorrow the Great' collection that was shown at London Fashion Week on Friday night. But it seems there was a little too much drama for some, with the glass shard-like invitation, above (which appeared to be echoed in some intriguing saber tooth-shaped metal clutches), reportedly drawing blood from more than one attendee. Let's hope they didn't get any on the collection, which heavily featured white and ecru.

There was lots of embellishment, as we have of course come to expect from boho de luxe queens Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke. On this occasion, they added shell and bone to their already well-rehearsed repertoire of metallic sequins and braids, creating a Pasikifa pastiche of ornamental cummerbunds, capelets and breastplates.

Tarty bodycon microdresses - which would be right at home in the fictitious Russian strip club which apparently inspired the accompanying silver vinylite platform shoes - were counterpointed against demure blouses with Victorian necklines, fluid, full-legged trousers and one stellar ivory sheath with a seed-encrusted yoke.

This is sass & bide's second season back in London after a hiatus of several years showing in New York and the city's rich creative/craft heritage, not to mention its far more personalised show schedule, are a much better fit for the label's quirky cool girl vibe.


























collection photos: sass & bide
invitation photo: fashionista