Self indulgent Friday. Here is a test shoot I did with the delectable JoDuck behind the lense, my fav Melbourne model Katie Healey in front of the lense, Jacqueline Parker in charge of hair & make up and me behind the clothes rail.

American Apparel  bodysuit, Paul Cordero shoulder pads, Pun by Seema Pun leggings, Metal Couture bracelet,  Proenza Schouler pumps.

Myonko short sleeve crop top.

Comme des Garcons shirt, Hugo Boss belt, Bauhaus stirrups, vintage headband and shoulder pads.

Yohji Yamamoto vest, Paul Cordero flower pads, Hugo Boss belt, Jonathan Aston tights.

Comme des Garcons shirt, Hopeless Hotel bloomers, Margiela leather bomber,  T-V belt.

American Apparel body, Paul Cordero shoulder pads, Myonko bike pants, Birgit Holdinghausen rings from Studio Ingot.

Nicholson dress, Above cardigan, Metal Couture rings, M.A + belt from LEFT, Paul Cordero shoulder pads.

I think this will be my last test shoot.. ever. So much work for everyone and there is about two hopeful days in which you know it will be published in one of the almost three magazines down here accepting contributions. Blogs with no bosses suits me fine. Of all the Katie shots around… I think Jo and her lighting in the second shot..B&W close up… is sublime.

Nude make up and unnecessary clothing discarded. Silvana is new and another natural beauty who is better left unfussy- or at least with that coating and feel of a model who hopped out of bed, was running late but managed to race onto set with just enough energy left to almost turn to camera.

Messy seventies centre part and she is Winnie Cooper Wonder Years, but the minute there is a little hair spray and body she goes J- Lo circa Jenny From The Block. Let’s hope Silvana starts with a little, soon to get a lot.

Images: viviens

Today I feel sad. But for different reasons to the tears last week. Last Monday I left London. Maybe for the last time I said goodbye to my friends. I about turn to the Australian blogs I ignored whilst in Europe and now I am back. I now realise I know more about British Vogue photographers. Ten minutes of blog trails and it smacks me like lightning how I left Melbourne as I was offered a job on Wild Things, and I packed away in an old suitcase my love of yellow stained film and opened the case for a more shiny polished fashion day time 9 to fiver. Now back.. James Cameron and a Lover bikini clad Charlotte Gainsbourg are filming in Brisbane, my young friend Maria is Costume Designing her first feature in Mildura and now I have found two photographers who I think are the future for Australian film. Stills and fashion photographer and Co-Editor of Monster Children, Chris Searl and soft focus short film  maker and fashion photographer Gen Kay..same agency..some co incidence?

The November Issue of Marie Claire Italy has transformed Perth pretty Skye Stracke from cotton candy collecting girl from across the way, to rolling in the hay baby bunny. With all of the budget cuts hitting the arts hard I am glad fashion teams are still venturing outdoors because I am obsessed with high fashion looking still in the harsh daylight.

Skye was one of the chosen few and now she has taken some of the barnyard antics from her strutt for Chanel to this ed. Miss Stracke is very quietly creeping onto the European printed pages, it’s time her homeland put her on a cover.

Images: fashion models

The darker side. Same month, two sides to the sandy blonde with porcelain pout. Skye stretches out for Tush #18 shot by Markus Pritzi and styled by Claudia Scholtan. I love that she shows no fear in her poses.

Not a bad lace stained toosh on the usually sweet and innocent pale skinned Skye. Nudity next? If Miranda can why not?

images: tfs

The third issue and already bold enough to pile sticks and berries in my favorite melbourne model- Katie Healey’s hair for the cover. I have a faint memory of my friend JoDuck who shot the cover describing the shoot, but that was not what drew my hand in the Fallen direction. Those purple lips were enough to attract my darting eye that was fixated on a quick weekly magazine grab to race and sit in the park. Beautifully romantic images and the content is locally focussed which is incredible, and I want to read from cover to un-advertised back cover… the only puzzling component… there are many pretty blank pages. Like an old classic novel, but swirly strange in a magazine. Maybe there is a reason???

http://www.fallenmagazine.com.au/

This is what happens when New York based risk taker Chadwick Tyler takes the pictures for a Russh editorial. His photographs remind me of a poem my grandfather used to recite to me. “There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead, when she was good, she was very very good and when she was bad she was horrid!” I can’t recall it all, but you get the gist. He captures innocence and irreverence. Anger and spite. Yet no matter what,  you notice the clothes just as much as the emotion.

images: russh

Behind the iconic Vogue images of Australia’s most beautiful models, and my favorite outback editorial is Max Doyle. Photographer extraordinaire who has been around since I first fell in love with The Face. Sydney based image maker and Editor in Chief of doingbird Magazine, he has stepped up the standard of Vogue Australia as well as shooting for the best of British- The Face, i-D, Dazed & Confused.

Max was cleaning windows in London one week, and the next he found himself on a catalogue shoot in Miami. Impatiently assisting for nearly three years in London, and now he is the man Kirstie Clements goes to book for Vogue cover shoots. A higher standard and more sought after magazine when Max is in charge of the cover star rather than re-prints.

I love the way his images show the beauty hidden behind a slightly naughty caught in the light of his model muses. Isabel Lucas never looked so cool.

http://www.namesagency.com.au/

Oh WOW Daul !!!!!!  One giant denim rockabilly step for Australia. Russh is not rolled into a time capsule and buried for trees to grow above the surface and R.I.P to be the new header. They were the rumours that were whispered at the Acne Paper party in London. Then I just saw the cover for Issue 31 on the blog. A newly bottled blonde from South Korea makes the cover.

Russh has always ignored Australian stereotypes, boundaries and ever since the beginning been known for allowing newcomers and angular tomboys to front the covers. Now, at a time when sales are imperative and the powers that be could have twisted Fashion Editor Stevie Dance’s arm to put a glossy dimpled supermodel on the cover. It’s not just that Daul Kim is the only Asian I can recall to appear on an Australian cover but also the shot is full length and looking away from the lens. A dooms day corridor.

Daul Kim is a favorite in the land of mushy peas featuring in Dazed, and i-D, a regular for Vogue Nippon and Korea and even has her own model blog i like to fork myself. This Russh cover goes down in history as my favorite. I love Daul and her editorial poses are so unabashedly shameless. If I wasn’t already a subscriber I would be out buying this issue. I might just buy a subscription for all my friends for Christmas.

Images: russh

Late night blog trails. I came across another Brisbane girl plastering images on a daily basis. Sara. My favorite blogs tell the news. Latest editorials. Newest models. Big house bankruptcy and fashion labels starting up. Occasionally I flick from the news to some commercial channels of self portrait pleasers. Then I found harper & harley which is a blog that groups together many beautiful girls whose blogs stream street style photos of themselves. Upstairs… Columbine Smille, now a new blog for me to check daily as alongside the portraits there is a behind the scenes story. Assistant to Sweden’s mega stylist and blogger Elin Kling. Sweden may be the most progressive country when it comes to giving jobs to bloggers, Elin creates outfits for Idol and has also put her name to a pair of Levis. Elle.se has set the pace and picks up on any cool fashion kids and has a long list of bloggers including Lover fav Fillipa Berg.

4th and Bleeker blogger Alexandra Spencer makes it into the latest Oyster promoting Fuse, shot by Steven Chee. 4th is fast becoming the model blog to go to for DIY pleather pants, and how to buy vintage and Saville Row it to fit.

Twins. Sara and Laura. Who is the pretty one, which is evil? Feel good look cool is another Sara find. These matching sisters look very Finnish Alexandra Spencer. A triplet on the run? Photos of food, secrets as to which twin features in the photos and straight edgers. No alcohol! I am fascinated by twins, but even more intriguing is there ability to look like models yet have such non-mainstream opinions.

Thanks to Sara for blog introductions….

http://harperandharley.blogspot.com/