Deep in Vogue - LMFF 2011

Second up on the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival's main runway schedule was the Vogue Australia showcase, featuring the finalists of LMFF's 2011 Designer Award: Melvin Tanaya's and Lyna Ty's three seasons old menswear brand Song for the Mute, which won the award, plus Arnsdorf, Bassike, Dress Up, Ellery, From Britten, Laurence Pasquier and Lui Hon. Styled by Vogue's Trevor Stones, it was an edgy showcase of exciting, emerging Australian design talent. And it wasn't only the new brands that attracted frockwriter's attention. Rachel Grasso (above) was also a standout. Modelling for four years and repped in Sydney by Priscilla's, the 20 year-old Perth native of Irish/Italian ancestry must have walked in front of our camera on more than one previous occasion. For some reason, we really noticed her this week.

Was Marion Hume fired from Vogue Australia for putting a black woman on the cover?

Naomi Campbell is never far from the headlines. On Sunday she managed to inadvertently embroil an Australian publisher in one. In a story headlined 'Editor sacked in racism row', Campbell told the UK Telegraph, "One time, I went to Australia. The editor-in-chief of a magazine there told me that she got fired for putting me on the cover. I do remember going there and saying, 'Where's the Aboriginal model? There should be one. They're beautiful women.'" No names are mentioned. But coincidentally, another Brit by the name of Marion Hume edited Vogue Australia for 18 months in the late 1990s, during which time she commissioned Peter Lindbergh to shoot Campbell for the June 1997 cover, above. In 1998 Hume was fired, following a controversial tenure, during which, it should be noted, she did not manage to stem the erosion of circulation and advertising that had begun prior to her appointment with the arrival of marie claire in 1995 and continued with the 1998 rebirth of Harpers Bazaar Australia. From 1995-1999 Vogue lost almost a quarter of its readers and two-thirds of its ad share. In 2002, Conde Nast withdrew from Australian publishing, selling the Vogue license to FPC Magazines, which in turn was acquired by News Limited in November 2006. 

Another British native, Juliet Ashworth, briefly succeeded Hume at the helm of Vogue Australia. She lasted a year.

Industry insiders claim that Hume was responsible for budget blowouts that took current editor Kirstie Clements, who arrived in 1999, years to pay off. One could speculate that had Hume managed to turn the circulation around, Condé Nast might have turned a blind eye to the costs.  

Hume was also criticised for taking the magazine "downmarket". A newspaper-trained journalist and former fashion reporter for The Financial Times, Hume's critical reviews of the thin-skinned designers on show at the newly-minted Mercedes Australian Fashion Week caused a minor uproar in Australia at the time.

But could the Campbell cover really have factored into Hume losing her job?

Frockwriter contacted Hume, Clements and News Magazines earlier today and we are waiting to hear back. Not that News Magazines was involved at the time of course. 

The whereabouts of Peter Gaunt, the former Condé Nast Australia managing director who fired Hume, are unknown. But we are also waiting to hear back from Didier Guerin, the former Condé Nast Asia Pacific president who hired Hume and who is now the president and ceo of the Sydney-based company Media Convergence Asia Pacific.

A former Vogue staffer who worked with Hume said they had never previously heard the racism theory floated with regard to her termination. They did, however, concede that the Campbell cover, which was apparently Hume's first complete issue, did raise eyebrows in the industry at the time.

"I remember it being 'shocking'" they noted. "I do recall people talking about it being controversial, but in a brave kind of way in the fashion industry. I don't remember anyone being aghast".

Being Hume's first complete issue, this also meant that she survived in the job well over a year after the issue was published. 

As part of her settlement with Condé Nast, we understand Hume signed a confidentiality agreement. 

vogue US, september 1989 via we shall overcome in couture

Why would anyone be shocked about a black woman being on the cover of Vogue Australia? 

Because there have been so few black women on the cover of Vogue Australia.

And indeed even on the cover of the American edition. Some may recall that when flicking through old issues of US Vogue in The September Issue documentary, editor Anna Wintour paused at her September 1989 edition, that was covered by Campbell (above), and made a point of noting "that was a very controversial issue".

It is unclear just how many times women of colour have graced the covers of Vogue Australia since the publication's 1959 launch.

In terms of indigenous Australians, there have only been two in 51 years: Elaine George in September 1993 and Samantha Harris in June this year:

vogue australia june 2010 via TFS

It was tricky tracking down a complete Vogue Australia cover archive, but certainly on the seven year cover archive on vogue.com.au's website, Harris appears to be the first non-Caucasion to have made page one since 2003.

Diversity of all kinds is currently a hot button issue in the fashion business at the moment. 

In terms of ethnic diversity in the modelling business, longtime black inclusion activist Bethann Hardison told The New York Times in 2007 that “It’s the worst it’s ever been”.

Campbell has also been extremely vocal on this issue, claiming in 2007 that she had never once appeared on the cover of her home town edition of Vogue, ie Vogue UK.

It subsequently emerged that Campbell had in fact been on the cover of Vogue UK eight times in 20 years. So really, how credible is her testimony?

Two Australians on schedule at New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011

julie tran

Who knew an Australian was at the helm of iconic New York fashion label Bill Blass? Not frockwriter, that’s for sure, until we read today's Herald Sun story. Perhaps Melbourne fashion scribes are more familiar with Jeffrey Monteiro's (above) name, given that he apparently launched his eponymous collection there in 1996. Another reason for Monteiro’s lack of a profile downunder could be that he doesn’t appear to have spent that much time here. Monteiro was born in Qatar in the Middle East, raised in Australia and schooled in India, with tertiary fashion studies done in Melbourne, where he worked as a design assistant at the Ellin Ambe label before launching his own line. He moved to New York in 2000, designing for the Mayle label and from 2005, for Derek Lam, where he was design director (also working for Tod's). Monteiro relaunched his signature collection in New York for Fall 2008 and in November last year was appointed design director of Bill Blass – which had closed in 2008, following several attempts at resuscitation. Blass died of throat cancer in 2002, after selling the label several years beforehand. Monteiro is one of just two Australians showing in New York this season, alongside another Melbourne expat, Michael Angel. Angel will show on Friday 10th with the Bill Blass show taking place on Wednesday 15th September - and Kiwi Karen Walker showing on Tuesday 14th.


The season kicked off overnight with 1500 attending the Fashion’s Night Out runway show organised by Vogue, ahead of the September 10 Fashion’s Night Out events all over NYC. Sydney’s version of FNO is happening tomorrow night, check Vogue Australia's website for more details. 

Catherine McNeil, Julia Nobis and Ajak Deng were among the 150 models who walked in the FNO show, which has been billed as the biggest fashion show in New York’s history. Here is a repeat of the live webcast:

McNeil and co are among a contingent of Australian models in New York for the shows, which commence tomorrow at New York Fashion Week’s new home The Lincoln Center, in addition to numerous other venues around town.
 
Here is IMG’s official schedule of the core Mercedes Benz Fashion Week event at The Lincoln Centre. 

And here is the complete schedule, as compiled by New York Magazine. As per usual, New York Fashion Week embraces several hundred shows, most of which are not on IMG's schedule. 
 
Fourteen designers on IMG’s schedule are streaming their shows live. Check the digital schedule on the above link for that information. There may well be others streaming live as well, but given that there is no one central New York Fashion Week organising body, there is no central log of details (update 10/09: but New York Mag has has a good crack at one here). Check the individual designers' websites and Twitter/Facebook pages for more details.

Carmen Marc Valvo will broadcast his show live in Times Square at 5pm on Sunday 12th - simultaneously live to the net via his website. Marc Jacobs will stream his main line show and the Marc by Marc Jacobs show on Monday 13th at 8pm and Tuesday 14th at 4pm respectively from his website.

For anyone wanting more background information about the leviathan event that is New York Fashion Week, head to frockwriter’s NYFW primers Parts I, II and III.
 

Young blood

Last week frockwriter mentioned new Sunshine Coast face Codie Young. Modelling for a few months, flown to Rosemount Australian Fashion Week for the Ellery show, signed to DNA in New York and booked for three Vogue Australia editorials – with VA editor Kirstie Clements reportedly “obsessed” with her - things are moving pretty quickly for the 17 year-old. We are not likely to see further images of Young in any magazines other than Vogue Australia for the immediate short term because, frockwriter understands, the latter has her locked down on an exclusive. But we can reveal this unpublished test, shot with Australian photographer Thom Kerr in Brisbane on Monday.  

all images: supplied to frockwriter by thom kerr

Forever Young

 nicole bentley for vogue australia/viviens

Queensland continues to springboard stellar modelling talent. After Catherine McNeil, Alyssa Sutherland, Samantha Harris and Jordan Coulter, comes 17 year-old Sunshine Coast schoolgirl Codie Young. Modelling for just a few months and flown in as an exclusive for the Ellery show at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May, on Wednesday the first of three Vogue Australia editorials reportedly due to feature Young will be published. She appears in an only-girl story shot by Nicole Bentley in the August edition - part of a larger, 36-page fashion spread in the issue starring six Australian models, each with their own five-page section (Nicole Trunfio, Lauren Brown, Julia Nobis, Rosemary Smith and Samantha Harris). Young's Gold Coast mother agency, Busy Models, reports she has been signed to DNA in New York, Viva in Paris and London and will finish her HSC before embarking on her first international show season in February.  
Vogue ed Kirstie Clements is said to be “obsessed” with Young. Frockwriter will take a punt that casting director Russell Marsh and at least one of his high profile clients, Prada, may well be too.

Obviously it’s incredibly early days for Young but nevertheless, you have to ask, with such depth of Australian modelling talent featured in this issue, why on earth Vogue went for such a bland, commercial-looking - and in fact totally rehashed cover of Cameron Diaz?






all images: nicole bentley for vogue australia via viviens

Vale Richard Bailey

Very sad news about Richard Bailey, who passed away yesterday at the age of 52 from cancer. By all accounts he was working right until the end. Bailey was one of the giants of Australian fashion photography, working with every major local magazine and retailer. Based in New York for 10 years, he also worked with GQ, Vanity Fair, Vogue Italia, Glamour, Grazia and Mademoiselle and his portfolio of advertising work spans The Gap, Victoria's Secret, Anne Klein, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Anne Taylor, Nautica, L'Oréal and Mercedes Benz. But Bailey's biggest showcase was by far Vogue Australia, with which he worked for 31 years. You only have to check his website, to see that the local edition accounts for over half the content of his magazine covers section.

It wasn't all safe, commercial work. Tsubi's controversial 2004 'Death Machine' calendar featured Bailey's colour-saturated images of semi-clad models, including Miranda Kerr and Michelle Leslie, posing provocatively against cars and motorbikes.

The previous year, for a book called 1/1, he shot a series of edgy, black and white images of Chic Management models, to prove the critics wrong that "There are no girls [read: decent models] in Australia".

Bailey of course lived to see Australian models take the world by storm. Many of them will be toasting him tonight.

He is survived by his wife Gillian and children Billie and Jasper.

Vale.








all images/richard bailey.com.au

The extreme cheek of Italian Vogue

screen cap vogue italia

Frockwriter loves the fact that the late Alexander McQueen finally did what more than one scifi makeup artist must have dreamed of doing for his Spring/Summer 2010 ‘Plato’s Atlantis’ show last October: use prosthetics in runway makeup. But we really didn’t anticipate that the alien-esque look would be adopted quite so literally by the fash pack. Imagine our surprise, then, to check into Vogue Italia’s website and spot the headline, The Now Idea - Focus on cheekbones, accompanied by a gallery of backstage images from the show, a video and the following instructions, which naturally squeeze in as many plugs for Vogue advertisers as possible:

“A rebuilt face, yes, but just for one night. Implants become toys you put on your cheeks to change your features and live a special night as if you were a creature from outer space or a nymph who escaped from the forest. In a soft version they are more structured types of foundation that create a smoothing and reconstructive effect, while soins help features to get lifted.

Cheekbones Volumizer by Pupa acts with a lipo-filling cosmetic action which increases volume thanks to Volufiline and Kio Pulp Complex V10. You will already see the effect after a few applications.

For the treatment of the whole face, there's the Recompacting High Definition Foundation SPF10 with anti-wrinkle action by Collistar. The special formula extends your features and strengthens the facial contours, while the marine collagen acts in the tissues giving you a long compacting action”.

alexander mcqueen SS10/vogue.it

Hilariously, the story sits directly opposite a second beauty story entitled Beauty Victim, which warns about the dangers of too much plastic surgery:

“Cosmetic surgery can dramatically improve our physical appearance. But be careful not to go in for too many operations in an attempt to achieve an impossible model of aesthetic perfection. Don't become a beauty victim.

This is what happened to American socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein, also known as Catwoman, who spent four million dollars on plastic surgery. The outcome? Her face was radically altered, giving her a grotesque, unnatural look”.