New Fashion Shows

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New Fashion Shows

The fashion industry is demanding ever-thinner models. But Crikey publishing director and former women’s magazine editor Marina Go says jutting bones and hollowed cheeks are bad for business.

It was all a bit emperor’s new clothes to me. When painfully thin models appeared in many of the shows during Australian Fashion Week last week it seemed apparent the fashion industry wasn’t being honest with its models. The truth is that the models were too skinny, and unhealthily so.

The model’s job is to show the designer’s clothing in its best light, yet the biggest story to come out of the week was the shape and size of the models. Most major news outlets reported on the skinny models. If you surveyed the average female consumer I would put money on the fact she wouldn’t be able to list the major fashion trends from the week. According to a report on Cleo magazine’s website, at least one fashion blogger had to photoshop out the angular bones that were detracting from the fashions. In some cases it was difficult to focus on the clothes at all.

When I was a magazine editor in the ’90s, the fashion industry was under attack for glamourising the heroin chic look. Pale, angular, skinny models like Kate Moss and heroin addict Jaime King were in demand. At the time the trend was said to signify a rejection of the healthy, sporty supermodels of the ’80s, when models like Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford dominated the catwalks of every fashion capital, advertising campaigns and fashion magazine cover. But fashion is cyclical. The emaciated look of the mid-’90s was soon shouted down by a horrified global society and the curvy body was back in fashion, courtesy of Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen.

But now the fashion pendulum appears to have swung back from supermodel to super skinny. I have read that the skinniest of the models at Fashion Week were those who worked the European shows. European designers have always preferred thinner models than Americans. And we seemed willing to accept whatever we could get down here. If skinny models are in demand in Milan and Paris, who is prepared to appear unfashionable or uncool by calling out the obvious?

I was heartened to read Vogue editor Edwina McCann’s plea for designers and stylists to choose healthier-looking models following the shock of seeing so many ultra-thin frames on the catwalk last week. Change needs to begin at the top, and in the fashion industry the editor of Vogue magazine carries enormous influence. Still. It takes someone whose opinion is key to speak the truth and create change.

“The fashion media in this country is finally calling out the truth … the emaciated look is ugly.”

When I was the editor of ELLE magazine in the late ’90s a successful, naturally curvy model arrived on our shores looking painfully thin. She was here to promote a particular brand of clothing. When she appeared on the catwalk for the first time, a group of us gasped. There was audible discomfort. We quietly discussed how terrible this model looked. But when her agent said, “doesn’t [model’s name] look incredible?”, 50 heads nodded and a couple even embellished the lie.

The model’s body didn’t just look thinner, it had changed shape. The word at the time was that the model had removed a rib to achieve her body ideal. I was shocked to hear it at the time. And yet we didn’t express the horror we felt. I have thought about this often.

So here and now is the opportunity to right that wrong. Emaciated models with jutting bones are not chic, cool or hot, even if the look is in for at least some sections of the fashion industry. They do not wear the fashion well. I cannot imagine myself in a designer gown when I am feeling uncomfortable seeing their bones sticking out beneath.

RPT-Australia Fashion Week sashays to new prominence, edginess

Reuters) - A bemused Australian Rail Corp employee in a safety vest sat by a roped-off dusty train carriage, watching a bevy of young women clad in short skirts and spiked heels negotiate the deeply grooved rail lines that criss-crossed a disused shed.

Welcome to Fashion Week, Australian style.

The Australian fashion extravaganza, which this week showed its Spring/Summer collection, has gained increasing prominence as major retailers are drawn to an economy that came through the global financial crisis relatively unscathed.

Organizers said on Saturday that the week-long show, held for the first time in disused rail yards on Sydney's grimy but gentrifying east side, welcomed nearly 2,000 delegates to watch the 66 established and emerging designers presenting 52 shows.

The event was live streamed for the first time as well this season and Jarrad Clark, director of global production with IMG, which oversaw the week, said most shows were near capacity.

"We are the country (where) they come to find unpretentious, cool, urban chic," said Clark.

Typical was local Sydney label Manning Cartell, which lived up to its tough-luxe reputation, showing a futuristic collection of metallic boxy cropped tops, formal shorts and pencil dresses.

Ultimately, more than 20,000 people tuned in from over 77 countries, reflecting interest in fashion produced by a country that has experienced an unbroken two decades of economic growth.

Australian luxury fashion retailers such as Oroton and Sass & Bide are experiencing solid sales alongside international luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel.

Australia, which has long had a reputation of easy-going, laid back style, turned up the edgy factor with a move from its long-time home on Sydney's harbour to disused rail yards in the city's gentrifying, but still grimy, inner east.

TURNING UP THE EDGY FACTOR

Models for designers including Christopher Esber, Alex Perry, Jayson Brunsdon, Easton Pearson and Christina Exie paraded down catwalks surrounded by concrete walls, air conditioning ducts and floor grills.

For designers like Exie, the winner of Project Runway Australia who was presenting her first international collection, the new surroundings perfectly suited the stripped back, modern aesthetic of their collections.

But not everybody was happy to switch the breathtaking harbour views of the Overseas Passenger Terminal for the Carriageworks, the rail yards that have been revamped by the government as an arts and performance space.

"Circular Quay was better, there was more of a buzz and a fun atmosphere," said Caroline Cox, the designer of shoe line Tilly Rose.

There were also grumbles about IMG's decision to move the show ahead from its traditional dates in May and reports of a dearth of potential buyers at the Premiere trade event running alongside the catwalk shows.

IMG brought the event forward to bring it closer in line with buying schedules and other shows around the world, but many participants said it still wasn't early enough.

Kathryn Cizeika and her design partner Katie Freeman had hoped to meet more international buyers for their Empire Rose label and were disappointed at the light foot traffic past their stand in the Premiere trade hall.

"We did have a good talk with a prospective Chinese buyer this morning, but it's been slow," Cizeika said. (Editing by Elaine Lies)