Portmans takes Abbey Lee Kershaw back to her roots, taps Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Louise Roe to boot

While frockwriter noted that Abbey Lee Kershaw had signed on as the autumn/winter 2011 face of Australian high street chain Portmans, we haven’t touched the story in the interim because well, images of the Nicole Bentley-shot campaign have pretty much been everywhere since its January 27th launch. But here’s something that caught our attention: a sneak peek at Portmans' secret second winter shoot that Kershaw has just done in New York, this time with a US team headed up by photographer Matt Jones. Same stylist, however, Harpers Bazaar Australia fashion editor Christine Centenera (which just goes to show that it’s not only in Paris where salaried magazine staff moonlight as stylists on the campaigns of advertisers). And miraculously, Kershaw is rocking her original long-haired coiffure in these images: mousey blonde, with pastel highlights and bangs. A Portmans rep assures us that this is merely a wig and that Kershaw - who, as we first reported, is ditching New York Fashion Week to appear with her boyfriend’s band Our Mountain at its three London gigs next week - still has a platinum bob. Perhaps Portmans figured Kershaw’s platinum locks would blend into all the snow in and around the Meat Packing District location? 

Frockwriter can also reveal that Kershaw will be fronting a magazine-style catalogue that Portmans is planning to release in March, around the same time that these new campaign images are due to drop in Portmans' stores.

The magazine has been edited by LA-based Brit fashion journo and tv presenter Louise Roe, a guest of the 2010 Melbourne Cup, who writes for Elle, Vogue.com, InStyle and Glamour and whose numerous tv credits include MTV reality shows The City and Plain Jane.

Included in the editorial lineup of the first Portmans magazine are an editorial shoot with ANTM Cycle 6 winner Amanda Ware, who is currently in New York hoping to score some shows. And, interestingly, a profile on Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, the French art director/model/socialite/It girl daughter of former Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld.

According to Portmans, Restoin-Roitfeld was an active participant in the profile, talking to Roe about her personal style, fave labels and shopping. 

Given her family’s longstanding connection to Ford (Carine Roitfeld was a former consultant to Ford at Gucci and YSL) and that Restoin-Roitfeld modelled in both Tom Ford’s Black Orchid fragrance campaign and Ford’s debut womenswear show in New York last September, recently interviewing Ford for V Magazine, presumably his label would be at the top of her fave label list. Just a reminder that Kershaw is currently fronting Ford’s first womenswear campaign. 

Great publicity for Ford of course. And a clever way, all round really, for a run-of-the-mill fast fashion chain to dramatically lift its image.

 

images: supplied exclusively to frockwriter by portmans

On their Marcs: Julia Nobis and Nick Hinman gear up to do battle on the high street

Are you ready for the battle of the Australian high street? The Portmans Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign starring world number 5 Abbey Lee Kershaw touches down next week. Grazia Australia apparently has first dibs on those shots. Mid market rival Marcs, meanwhile, has enlisted the less established, but equally cool Australian, Julia Nobis, for its second consecutive campaign. Shot by Swiss photographic duo Claudia Knoepfel and Stefan Indlekofer in Surry Hills and Woolloomooloo and styled by Caterina Scardino, the campaign co-stars Priscillas' stablemate Nick Hinman. And we must say, Marcs' military-nosed pea coats and trenches, roomy flannel shorts, leggings and sweet dresses never looked quite so good. Here is a selection of campaign images which are about to drop, in addition to a first look at a behind-the-scenes video taken on the shoot. 

 

all images and video: supplied to frockwriter by marcs

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.