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.

Once were couturiers - Australian fashion icons reband to launch LMFF 2011

So there I was, navigating the fluorescent yellow bowels of the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, when I bumped into an Australian fashion icon waving a steam wand. Jenny Kee, co-founder of the 1970s label and boutique Flamingo Park, was trying to get the creases out of a multicoloured scarf headdress that was due to be showcased in Fashion Full Stop, last night's opening show of the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (which frockwriter is attending as a guest of the organisers and Tourism Victoria). Kee was resplendent in three examples of her own handiwork: a 1983 suit from Karl Lagerfeld's debut collection for Chanel, which incorporated Kee's black opal print, some vintage Flamingo Park and one of the scarves from her brand new online boutique. "It's all about online now" noted Kee, when I asked why she and former sidekick Linda Jackson don't relaunch Flamingo Park. "You need lots of money" explained Jackson backstage a few minutes later - reiterating sentiments she expressed at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week back in 2008, after Therese Rawsthorne showed a collection using Jackson's waratah print. They might not (yet) have put the band back together, but fantastic to see Kee and Jackson together again making fashion magic last night, with more than a little help from the new generation of Australian fashion talents, in one rollercoaster retrospective that spanned fifty years.

Michelle Jank did a tremendous job styling the show, together with Kelvin Harries. Other brands included Norma Tullo, Prue Acton, Kate Durham and Morrissey Edmiston. Models included Rachel Rutt, Tiah Eckhardt, Christina Carey, Simone Kerr, Samantha Harris, Vanessa Milde, Emily Cattermole and Greta Chesterman (who could in fact, it now occurs to me, pass for Anja Rubik's little sister).

I shot the whole show from backstage, which was manic, as the very large production included dancers, entertainers and various Melbourne celebrities. 

One memorable moment came at the very end of the show, as Jank and team frantically attempted to secure a massive tulle headpiece to Rutt's head at the climax of the bridal finale. 

An elaborate contraption that included several illuminated paper lanterns, it proved too difficult to secure in time, with Rutt's exit apparently synchronised to a fireworks sequence that was already queued. As they finally gave up and pushed her out onto the runway sans veil, at least a dozen people who had been watching uttered a collective sigh, which seemed so loud it may well have been heard from the audience. 

Rutt subsequently returned backstage, the headpiece was finally secured and she did a victory lap in the full ensemble. This may explain any continuity issues with photos. 

Great kickoff to the week. 

Click (here) to see frockwriter's Posterous backstage pic gallery of 72 images. 

In with the new - David Jones Autumn/Winter 2011

Tuesday's David Jones show felt the same, but different, to previous years' events. There was no Mark McInnes, Colette Garnsey, Miranda Kerr or even sass & bide. With the exception of relatively recent fashion ambassador addition Kerr, all had been front-and-centre at the show for almost a decade, laying the foundations for the "house of brands" into which the department store subsequently evolved. Taking their places and for a variety of different reasons - which ranged from scandal and resignations, pregnancy and defection, all in the space of eight months - was a new management team (albeit one promoted from within) and a swag of new labels, the absolute standout of which on the night just had to be Josh Goot and his colourblocked bodycon dresses and tulip skirts and tops with wildly expressionistic graphics. Not forgetting some highly polished Australian modelling talent, that included girls who have walked for some of the world's biggest fashion brands: Nicole Trunfio, Alexandra Agoston, Myf Shepherd, Stephanie Carta, Tiah Eckhardt and Christina Carey. And some newcomers who may soon follow them. Think Rosemary Smith (above, in Josh Goot), who is off to the European shows with at least one big name in her appointment book. Click (here) for frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of backstage shots taken before and during the show. 
 

The show goes on for David Jones... without sass & bide

 

As per David Jones' famous advertising slogan, there used to be no other department store in Australia for sass & bide. But after days of rumours, it is now confirmed that David Jones' arch rival Myer will become the brand's exclusive Australian department store partner moving forward, having just acquired a 65percent stake for A$42.25million plus a performance bonus based on fiscal 2011 sales results. David Jones, which has winter 2011 sass & bide stock on its hands and features the brand in its winter 2011 "brand book" catalogue (above), has responded with its own Australian Stock Exchange announcement this morning that it is ending its 10 year association with sass & bide following David Jones' decision not to acquire a stake. Oh and it wasn't doing very well anyway, added DJs (at least at DJs - Myer reports that sass & bide overall delivered 50percent year on year sales growth for the past two years). Noted ceo Paul Zahra, “We did the calculations and could not justify the price paid for the business, particularly given the lack of growth in our sass & bide business with sales and gross profit in FY10 at approximately FY05 levels". This is fascinating, given that David Jones gave sass & bide its prestigious finale spot in the Autumn/Winter 2010 show one year ago. What the Myer decision ultimately means for the sass & bide brand remains to be seen. Not surprisingly perhaps, the brand has been yanked altogether from tomorrow's lineup, David Jones has confirmed to frockwriter.

But that's not to say that there won't be some familiar faces on the runway. 

It might not be quite the same as having Miranda Kerr, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Catherine McNeil in the show, as occurred in the last two seasons, but David Jones nevertheless has a pretty impressive cast list for tomorrow’s Autumn/Winter 2011 showcase, which kicks off at 6.30pm at the Elizabeth Street, Sydney, flagship. 

Led by Nicole Trunfio, the cast includes several Australians with international runway experience, notably Alexandra Agoston, Myf Shepherd, Christina Carey, Tiah Eckhardt, Stephanie Carta and thirtysomething Queenslander Heath Townsend, a former face of Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Ralph Lauren. 

Others of note include Samantha Harris, Pania Rose and Chic newcomer Rosemary Smith, who will be heading to the Milan and Paris legs of the northern Fall/Winter 2011/2012 show season in a fortnight. 

Here is the complete cast list:

CHIC MANAGEMENT
Nicole Trunfio
Alexandra Agoston
Myf Shepherd
Christina Carey
Samantha Harris
Pania Rose
Charlotte Lohmann
Anna Sjoberg
Vanessa Breuer
Emma Taylor
Emma Power
Louise van der Vorst
Rosemary Smith
Sarah Stephens
Cisco Tschurtschenthaler de Helmhein
Jasmine Yarbrough
Annika Kaban
Brigitte Malcolm
Valerija Erokhina
Amy Finlayson
Lina Mihailova
Clare Venema
Heath Townsend

PRISCILLA'S
Eliza Humble
Greta Chesterman
Simone Kerr
Stephanie Carta
Rachel Grasso
Laura Gorun
Bella Barber
Cat Edwards
Kerry Doyle
Bruce Raubenheimer
Blair Norfolk
Lewis Grant

VIVIENS
Avril Alexander
Tiah Eckhardt
Nicole Sherriss
Karima Alexander
Ruby Brown
Nick Ingall
BJ Jarrett
Philippa

CHADWICK
Claire Quirk
Lorene Renard

EMG
Adhiel Tulba
Chris Knee

FRM MANAGEMENT
Nikki Thot

MENS DIVISION
Nicolas Curnow
 

Tiah Eckhardt, the new face of Eres lingerie

Back in January, frockwriter first mentioned that our well-placed sources had Australian model Tiah Eckhardt replacing Lara Stone as the new face of French luxury lingerie brand Eres. Last week we confirmed it. It's big news for Eckhardt because Eres is a high profile brand and, well, the incumbent is currently ranked the world number one on models.com. Below is the complete Fall/Winter 2010 2011 Eres lingerie campaign, shot by David Bellemere, which has just gone up on the Eres website (hat tip to Isaac for the headsup). Eckhardt shot the campaign in January, three months after giving birth to Finley Victoria, her daughter with model Patrick Delaney. Just three weeks after giving birth, she shot this Alex Goddard music clip.

Post baby body or not, the Eres campaign is a personal triumph - pardon the pun - for Eckhardt, who reports in a story written for Oyster magazine that when she first entered the modelling business, she was told her curves were not welcome.

Eckhardt recently republished the story on her blog, The Light of God and Girls:

"2010 made Australian Fashion Week the sixth I’ve participated in since my first in 2004. I’m not counting my unofficial first- 2002- where mid-high school year I ventured out of the comfort of my parents’ Perth home and across our great land just to be told I was too fat and, confusingly, too plain and too weird.


Thanks for the self-esteem boost guys, I also nearly failed school that year. My heart goes out to the little dolls I’ve seen at show castings ever since. The blisters from your baby-hooker shoes will heal but the ego-wounds won’t. I’ll give you the name of my therapist, say Tiah sent you. Oh… and I mean foot therapist, she does a great pedi. Don’t even bother with the other kind.


Just like that social-climbing bitch at school – yeah, you know the one: insecure and nerdy but desperate to hang out with ‘the cool kids’ – Australia’s fashion industry equivalents aren’t above cutting to the bone with the cheapest possible blow in order to assert themselves. As what one would wonder? A part of the international scene? Good luck. Just because you can bitch out on a chick for having tits and an arse as good as Karl Lagerfeld can doesn’t mean you can make clothes like him. And even it would seem The Kaiser’s coming around to a bit of woman’s-woman nowadays, booking the likes of Lara Stone and Claudia Schiffer for Chanel. Miuccia too, sending out Victoria’s Secret models for Prada and Marc Jacobs pulling a similar act with Elle MacPherson at Louis Vuitton.


Surprise! And not just at the international collections’ casting choices, but at the fact our country is still maintaining its tradition of not ‘getting it’ until two seasons too late. You’d think in 15 years we would’ve caught up. Or at least rebelled and begun a rebel faction in the cafeteria. But no no, as a collective we’re still chasing along after the popular kids, repeating what they do and what they say (but with delay) in a desperate bid to fit in most of the time. I look forward to 2012 when this year finally sets in and we see at least a C-cup on the runway, or anyone over 21".

Eres is Eckhardt's second inernational lingerie campaign, after Agent Provocateur in 2007. Her other international work includes campaigns for Iceberg, John Richmond, Westfield London and a profile in the December 2008 edition of French Playboy.

all images: patrick bellemere via eres

Tiah Eckhardt ties the knot, confirms Eres, auditions for X Men

tim bret-day for agent provocateur

Frockwriter must admit that we did a double take when we saw the shots rolling in of last night's Christian Dior Fall/Winter 2009/2010 haute couture show in Paris, which was staged in the grounds of the Rodin Museum. One model appeared to be a dead ringer for Australia's Tiah Eckhardt. The model in question was, in fact, Sweden's Frida Gustavsson (number 24 in this Style.com pic gallery of the show). As it turns out, Eckhardt was otherwise occupied yesterday, and coincidentally in her own garden of earthly delights: marrying her babydaddy Patrick Delaney in front of a small group of friends in the Rose Garden at Centennial Park. The bride wore? Not Dior haute couture, but a vintage strapless white leather minidress. The happy couple may soon be about to celebrate some other very exciting news. No, not another baby - Eckhardt revealed to frockwriter that she has just auditioned for one of (numerous) upcoming instalments of the X Men film franchise.

These include X Men: First Class, in which James McEvoy and Michael Fassbender have already been cast, with Twentieth Century Fox reportedly also interested in Twilight star Taylor Lautner.

This could be a very interesting career move for redhead bombshell who already has quite the cult following, following her appearances in French Playboy and a raft of other art titles, in addition to an advertising campaign for high profile British lingerie brand Agent Provocateur.

Eckhardt also confirmed that she did indeed shoot a campaign for iconic French lingerie and swimwear brand Eres earlier this year in Paris - as first reported by frockwriter. The shoot was with David Bellemere, with whom Eckhardt had previously worked for French Marie Claire. Currently fronted by Lara Stone, Eckhardt's campaign was shot a year in advance she reports.

Eckhardt was unable to provide any other details regarding X Men, beyond the fact that she auditioned in Sydney for the Christine King casting agency, which contacted her through her mother agency, Viviens (two other Viviens models also did the X Men audition). Coincidentally, Viviens also represents Gemma Ward.

With Ward already cast in Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and recently auditioning for Mad Max 4, might we soon be witnessing the summer of the Australian model-turned-action heroine?

Tiah Eckhardt to replace Lara Stone for Eres?

warwick saint/S magazine via TFS

As in Eres, the high profile French luxury lingerie brand. Well these are the whispers coming out of Paris where, as already mentioned by Eckhardt on her blog, she is currently on assignment for five days - having left three month old daughter Finley Victoria in the care of her mother back home. It’s not so inconceivable – and not just because Eckhardt's rates would be lower than those now commanded by Stone, who has emerged as one of the world's most in demand models over the past twelve months (and is presumably now a little too expensive for some). A fashion model who, her friends say, once dabbled in burlesque in Sydney, Eckhardt has clocked up quite a body, pardon the pun, of nude work since leaving Australia. The publications include no less than French Playboy. And Eckhardt's best-known ad campaign to date just happens to have been for cult British lingerie brand Agent Provocateur. You may recall her role as a French maid in this video for Agent Provocateur's Fall/Winter 07/08 'Lady of The Manor' campaign shot by David Bailey, co-starring Catherine Bailey and Daisy Lowe.

Tiah Eckhardt counts her lovers

Frockwriter mentioned that Tiah Eckhardt was awaiting the birth of a baby with partner Patrick Delaney. Well Oz director Alex Goddard just flicked us over this little video he shot for CLUBFEET’s new 'Count Your Lovers' single starring Eckhardt - and apparently just three weeks after the birth of her adorable baby girl Finley Victoria, who arrived in October. Sources say Eckhardt is also to be a face of Berlei, so it looks as if she’s not giving up on modelling at all.