RAFW 2007 - First Casting

6 weeks out from the inaugural RAFW, known as Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (previously MAFW) the behind the scenes action starts for many of the models vying for a place on this year’s runway. Individual designers are responsible for casting their own models and have been asked quite firmly to ensure that girls reflect the voluntary code of healthy body images. Pictured is Kate Peck (Vivian’s Model Management) being cast for designer Marie Hatzis’ “Madame Marie” show. Over the next few weeks the castings gain momentum as designers try to snap up the best girls for their shows. At this casting over thirty girls were seen in under an hour, only the better “walkers” are asked to change from their own street clothes into one of the designer’s outfits for a second walk.

Hamish Ta-mé (Guest contributor)

Where Would You Wear That?

From Cincinnati with love comes this often-said phrase, which is also going to be the highlight of many "Cincy fashionistas" in June this year. The event, located at The Cincinnati Art Museum, is show-casing an intriguing collection of Japanese avant-garde Fashion designs, among whom über-cool Yohji Yamamoto's work is going to be featured. The exhibition is showcasing from 2 June 'til 12 August.

“Examine the work of several of the most forward-looking fashion designers of the twentieth century through this exhibition of more than fifteen pieces designed by Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, and other avant-garde Japanese designers over the past thirty years. This innovative, multimedia installation showcases designers who have changed the way we look at clothing.”

Jil Sander Wears Heavy Metal Heels

If it weren't for the guys over at Hintmag we would never have found these metallic bronze patent leather stilettos. Trying to make some sense out of Jil Sander's teutonic website seems even harder than reading an old business spec from her countrymen at SAP. But back to the shoes now - we can’t get these stilettos out of our heads. By the looks of things you couldn’t possibly stand up in them either... but who cares, as we always say "Style is everything, comfort is nothing", right?


Thank you Jil Sander, oh and thank you Hintmag! And thanks for nothing SAP!

Things To Love From the RTW A/W 2008: Leather

While grey is undoubtedly key colour this season, it looks like we’ll be dunning the transparent shades for another season or two. Neutrals were everywhere on the runways for A/W 2008.

But even more exciting than milky shades is the cool leather that's jumping back into the lime light.... Louis Vuitton featured a haematite biker girl jacket that was absolutely awesome (complete with matching leather pants if you want to do the full monty!). We also loved this pale grey knee length leather skirt which looked like it could well and truly become The Purchase of the Season. At Prada we saw mustard coloured leather, both coats, and suits (perhaps a bit too much, not sure if we liked it all). Burberry Prorsum sent out a parkas in soft, bottle-green leather - how cool and very futuristic! But out of all the leather our absolute favourite was this cropped Hermes riding jacket.

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The Media Kit and The Demographics

“Vogue is a word that for over 100 years has never gone out of fashion.” So says Kirstie Clements of Australian Vogue. The famous words are published in the media kit, available online via Vogue’s website. Clearly Vogue is a middle-of-the-road fashion constitution, un-comparable with Dazed & Confused and Oyster for instance, but we can’t help but wonder what the Editor-in-chief had in mind when she allowed this full page ad in the magazine. While we realise that fashion editors are pressed to fill ad space, and a sizeable ad such as this would bring in a handy 10,680 bucks, the words 'desperate move' are brought to mind when looking at the Vogue March issue. This is mail-order junk at the best of times. Kirstie Clements should be asahmed.

Gone in Sixty Seconds

“All of a sudden everyone rushed to the roller door and people who were in the back of the queue have all of a sudden secured a place in the front. That caused lot of grief and many women were shouting obscenities at each other. Not a pleasant sight.” Oh the joy of shopping...

SMH reports on the release of Stella McCartney for Target

Vogue for TopShop for Vogue...

Sassy images of Kate Moss in a tie-back tuxedo-waistcoat evening dress, a stripy “busboy” jacket with matching shorts, and a pair of flared satin glam-rock trousers... Well, Vogue’s April issue is likely to give sales figures a serious up-swing through the exclusive interview and fashion-shots of Kate Moss herself. While it's no secret that the fashion-bible is doing better than ever, the transparent co-work that seems to be going on between international fashion sources one another, strikes us as a more interesting observation. Vogue is referring to TopShop, and at the same time the High street chain is encouraging readers to pick up the latest issue of Vogue. Clearly the industry feeds of each other, but it's not often as obvious as this.

LMFF - From a Photographer’s Angle

Following our post yesterday, we’d suggest you'd log onto Doofdoofdoof.com to see what lovely Hamish Tame has been up to recently. The Sydney-based photographer’s shots of LMFF are again infinitely more fun than the official website itself. His photos cover anything from sleeping beauties, unusual dietary habits (!), affectionate models, and cool hairstyles. Well done, Hamish - you know exactly what we're after!

Hello Fashionista Bloggers! Adios LMFF Website!

The Melbourne Museum Plaza along with LMFF Fashion Cube are some of the key venues where the most stylish Melbournistas are circling at the moment. We’re referring to L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, the annual Melbourne event, which (supposedly) has attracted a large number of visitors from all over the world. For instance Topshop retail genius Jane Shepherdson from the UK, who's holding a special business seminar at the end of the week. Designer Jasper Conran teams up with Jane Shepherdson, and a luxury goods consultant from LVMH. Considering such a small profile venue, it isn’t bad going at all. Since the grand opening yesterday, we’ve frantically been logging onto LMFF for a bit of sneak pre-view of exclusive winter fashion. But lo and behold - to our disappointment we were directed to a crappy website that lacked (mostly) of basic information and inspiration generally. Instead we’ve been amazed at these fellow fashionistas who've managed to put together a much more professional coverage already (and we're sure there's more to come soon); take a look at Sassybella’s excellent coverage for instance, and Fashionising who’s got lots of images up already.

Balenciaga: Puts Tie Dye back Into Perspective

When describing Balenciaga’s new-romantic grunge collection last night, Susie "Style Bubble" illustrates it perfectly in her comment about how impressed she’d be, seeing that “woven stripy coat priced at god knows how many 1000's of euros, when you can get the same thing at joss-stick selling Camden stalls for £10.” Go Susie! Yes, she’s absolutely right... The collection had elements of a very twisted bohemian look, but it wasn’t all to do with home knitted long rugs from dopy hippy markets. "Palestinian shawls" worn with soft velvet blazers played on the random theme in Ghesquière’s show, but it was more to do with cool girls from Camden college, than dread-locks and weed (though clearly Nic’s Camden girls looked like they’d be up for a smoke or two). Well-cut cricket trousers, turquoise opaque tights, tassley studio 54 disco dresses, and other eye-catching pieces deserve a big applaud in this show... Shoes were as always extremely high, this time with touches from the gladiator scene and colourful ice-hockey equipment. Completely weird of course but at the same time absolutely gorgeous.