In Vogue: Emilia Skuza and Melissa Johannsen

nicole bentley for vogue australia via viviens' facebook

Two under-the-radar models, both repped by the same Adelaide mother agent (Finesse Models), but two separate Sydney agencies (Viviens and Chadwick), wind up shooting a 16-page editorial together in Vogue Australia. What are the odds? Voilà a taste of the “Twin Peaks” story from Vogue’s July edition, out tomorrow. Shot by Nicole Bentley in New Zealand, it stars Emilia Skuza (left, above) and Melissa “MJ” Johannsen, who appear to be channelling not so much David Lynch as Alfred Hitchcock, with cateye makeup and windswept '60s flips. Neither model had previously been featured anywhere in the magazine and although Johannsen was one of the stars of the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week runways earlier this month in Sydney, Skuza has never worked at the event – and was in fact booked sight unseen by Vogue according to Chadwick. But regular readers of this blog may recall both names. We first encountered MJ in November at the Adelaide Fashion Festival when the Alice Springs resident had been modelling for a matter of weeks. And Adelaide-bred Skuza popped up on our radar in January, after emerging at the Paris haute couture shows. Both girls went on to walk in a number of top Fall/Winter 2011/2012 shows in New York, London and Paris in February and March. 

Finesse Models’ Brigette Mitchell is, naturally, one very proud mother agent.  

She told frockwriter, “I’m thinking per capita re models, not bad that Adelaide and Finesse in particular should get two girls in the same issue, in the same story. I just think it’s hilarious. It shows that good girls are coming from Adelaide”.

all images: nicole bentley for vogue australia, via viviens management facebook

Myf Shepherd goes back to work

The February 2011 edition of Vogue Australia doesn’t just offer up Catherine McNeil’s fifth cover of the magazine. It also represents the return of Myf Shepherd to modelling after a year hiatus to study set design in Sydney. McNeil’s Chic Management stablemate rocketed to international modelling stardom after her debut at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May 2008, walking the runways of some of the world's biggest fashion names and booking campaigns including Gucci and Miu Miu, only to put her burgeoning career on ice this time last year. Chic Management reports that the Vogue shoot was Shepherd’s first job back at work. She appears in six images in the massive 30-page New Season Hit List story that was shot by Nicole Bentley and also stars Codie Young, Alice Burdeu, Samantha Harris, Ruby Jean Wilson and Annaleise Smith. Chic reports that Shepherd has also shot a campaign for Myer [possibly the autumn/winter 2011 campaign] in addition to two other local campaigns. “Myf’s back modelling” Chic Management director Kathy Ward told frockwriter. “She’s continuing on with her studies but she’s very excited to be based in Sydney now and modelling for top end magazines and securing some major Australian campaigns as well. She may go back for the [Haute Couture SS11 or FW1112] shows, although there are no plans at this stage. But things happen very quickly, there’s a slight chance she may”.

all images: nicole bentley for vogue australia february 2011 via TFS

Rosemary Smith pieces together Jigsaw for Autumn/Winter 2011

Rosemary Smith has had a big year. After a slow burn in 2009, during which she shot for Harpers Bazaar Australia and Marie Claire Australia - and made it onto models.com's emerging models/creatives site, The Ones 2 Watch - this year she nabbed a Vogue Australia exclusive, which saw her featured in the August, October, November and December editions, swapped agencies (from Viviens to Chic Management) and will soon be featured in a new faces spread in V Magazine in the US. The latter was shot last month, while she attended castings for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Smith wasn't cast in the latter, however she has just bagged another local ad campaign. Adding to her recent Ksubi Eyewear and Ojay campaigns, here is a first look at Smith in the Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign for another Australian high street fashion chain, Jigsaw. It sees the Daria Werbowy lookalike reunited with photographer Nicole Bentley, who shot two of the Vogue editorials. The campaign was styled by Claudia Navone and photographed in a private mansion in Bellevue Hill. After her recent turn on the David Jones runway, where Smith caught the eye of Sydney expat casting director Kannon Rajah (who just added Versace to his client list, which already includes Fendi and the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show), let's hope we see her on the international runways in 2011. 

all images: nicole bentley for jigsaw. supplied exclusively to frockwriter by jigsaw

Portmans signs Abbey Lee Kershaw

david jones SS1011 backstage/frockwriter

How nervous are Australian retailers about the imminent arrival of Zara early next year? Wetting their pants, some might surmise, given the news that Australian mid market fashion chain Portmans has just signed homegrown modelling superstar Abbey Lee Kershaw as its autumn/winter 2011 campaign face. As revealed by frockwriter yesterday, Kershaw was recently involved in a cycling accident, injuries from which may have precluded her involvement with Chanel's big Pre Fall 2011 runway presentation in Paris on Tuesday. Kershaw is, after all, one of Chanel's advertising faces this season. Nevertheless, she has just arrived downunder and according to our sources, will shoot the Portmans campaign in Sydney next week with Nicole Bentley. The campaign is due to roll out from January 31st through until May and we hear Kershaw will bank at least six figures for the job, minimum A$120,000. This is a large sum for a single season Australian campaign. 

Although perhaps also indicative of the recent recovery in the Australian advertising industry – with expenditure up 11percent, against the wider backdrop of a global ad industry recovery – the timing of this particular campaign does seem more than coincidental. 

In April or May 2011, a whopping three level, 1800 sqm Zara emporium is due to open within the new Westfield Sydney development, fronting onto Australia's highest traffic retail strip, the Pitt Street Mall. A Melbourne store may open earlier still.   

Now the world's largest clothing retailer, Zara revolutionised the fashion business with its speed-to-market innovations which put trends in the hands of consumers in record time. Anecdotally at least, this journalist has heard more than one designer and retailer express concern about its potential impact on their local businesses.  

Founded by the Bloom family in 1946 and acquired by Just Jeans Holdings in 2002, Portmans today has over 190 stores around Australia. 
  
The company's previous campaign faces and ambassadors have included Elyse Taylor, Miranda Kerr and Jessica Hart. But none were in Kershaw's league at the time of their contracts. Kerr's contract, for instance, expired in 2007.

Currently ranked as the world’s number five overall model by industry authority models.com, Kershaw's big bucks luxury brand campaigns include Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Fendi, Ralph Lauren and Gucci (x 5). However her portfolio also embraces numerous sportswear, diffusion and even high street brand campaigns, from D&G to See by Chloé, CK Jeans, CK Calvin Klein, H&M, Gap and South Korean chain Lewitt. 

In July, Kershaw helped fill in for newlywed Kerr on the runway at David Jones Spring/Summer 2010/2011 season launch. 

But clearly, she won't be available to lend a hand for DJs' Autumn/Winter 2011 launch in February. First up, she's likely to be on high rotation on the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 runways at that time. And now of course, she is going to be the face of a rival Australian retailer for winter.