Snak Time

 In the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine Australia you will see quite a conceptual editorial spread on Australian radio station Triple J's 'Unearthed' competition winners 'Snakadaktal', an emerging band that is headed for top of the charts.
But let's backtrack, Photographer John Tsiavis came to me a while back to discuss styling for this editorial and the highly conceptualised vision that he had been working on with the master creator of this idea, Nik Dimopoulos. After seeing Nik's amazing concept I jumped at the chance to be involved and loved the idea to work outside of the usual 'fashion' constraints that you deal with when shooting a fashion editorial. I myself had never worked with Rolling Stone before but have with John Tsiavis on many celebrity and fashion jobs (John has photographed Chris Lilley for the cover of Rolling Stone before)  and was excited to work with Nik Dimopoulos's concept, a unique editorial for this young and emerging band that was far from expected by not only the band but also by the band's management and the magazine!
We stuck to Nik's vision and powered through a shoot that is probably best explained by looking at the above image of the band that represents a dinosaur's face...squint your eyes and you will see the eyes, teeth and tongue of a dinosaur!
Clothing credits above are: Boys jackets from Strateas Carlucci, Shirts were vintage. On Phoebe: Top by Alpha 60, Trousers from Neo Dia and shoes from Zomp.  

 

Continuing on the conceptual vibe the above image of two band members represents milk from a cow's udder, no really it does! Clothing credits: Left, Alpha 60 top, Strateas Carlucci trousers.
Right All by Alpha 60

Now you probably have already realised that the above image has something to do with birds but to help you out it represents Magpies eating worms! 'Well of course' I can hear you saying!
Nik's amazing concept was totally embraced by the band who were great to work with.

 The great joy of working on editorial jobs like this is the chance to include many amazing artists and designers and even with my dodgy photos you can see at the back of the above image the dress that Phoebe is wearing has a taxidermy bird on it created by Fionnbharr Pfeiffer!
Talking of birds, the concept was about birds, a parrot to be exact.
All other clothing by the wonderful designers at Limedrop.

 The only female in the band, the beautiful Phoebe wears mohair top, trousers and breastplate by Neo Dia with gold cuffs by Madam Virtue & Co in a image inspired by underwater and fish.

 So many hands make light work or should I say concepts come to fruition and I couldn't have done it without my wonderful assistant Glenda Tarle who did more than steam up a treat on the shoot.
Big thanks Glenda for all your work on an amazing shoot.

The creative Fionnbharr Pfeiffer working on the scene making the 'worms' look just so!
Please check out more of Fionnbharr's work on his website fionnbharrpfeiffer.com

 Quite an unusual image above, amazing what you can do with a few balloons!

 Two of the boys from Snakadaktal getting used to wearing their white gloves and of course Strateas Carlucci leather jackets.

 Photographer John Tsiavis with Nik Dimopoulos working on the right choice of shots while some of the band look on with amusement at what they had actually been involved in!

Whitened faces helped add to the 'toothlike' appearance of the band before fifth member Phoebe came into add the tongue to the dinosaurs face.
A BIG thank you to Photographer John Tsiavis and Creative Director Nik Dimopoulos for allowing me to be involved with this shoot and to Make Up Artist Kim Tavares and my assistant Glenda Tarle thank you for your talents and great work.
Please go out and purchase a copy of the September issue of Rolling Stone Australia to check out the whole editorial of a band that you are sure to hear a lot more from in the future.

Photographer John Tsiavis
Creative Director Nik Dimopoulos
Stylist Philip Boon
Assistant Stylist Glenda Tarle
Make Up/Hair Kim Tavares
Talent Snakadaktal

A Darling Magpie

 To continue my pledge to show you what I've been up to for the last year or so I thought I'd post an editorial I styled last year for London magazine 'Magpie Darling' photographed by She is Frank.
All the clothing I selected was from Melbourne's ultimate high fashion store Madam Virtue & Co owned by my wonderful friends JC Lloyd Southwell D'Anvers and Dean Hewitt who hand select and custom design the amazing creations they sell in their salon like store.
The above dress and neck piece was designed by JC which I'm sure you will agree is shockingly vibrant in purple silk.

 The location was an amazing home that had changed little since the late 1950's that photographer Natasha Frank (She is Frank) had found and was a beautiful contrast to the highly saturated colour of the clothing. Above the dress is by Lanvin from Madam Virtue & Co as is the neck piece, shoes are from Zomp.

The above sequined dress is by Madam Virtue & Co as is the neck piece.

The shots in this post are only three from the editorial, more can be seen on Magpie Darlings website in their Back Issue pages www.magpiedarling.com

Photographer She is Frank
Stylist Philip Boon
Stylists Assistant Alysha Roe
Make Up/Hair Megan Harrison
Model Bridget

Andrej Pejic - Never seen editorial!

 Last year I was asked to style a shoot by photographer Susan Grdunac. The subject was probably the  fashion industry's most talked about model, Andrej Pejic.
For whatever reason the shots you see here have never been seen by the public and I think they should be, a few magazines were approached but nothing eventuated so they remain (until now) unseen.
I jumped at the chance to style a shoot of the wonderful Andrej who has confronted and wowed both the fashion world and the media, he challenges our notions of what masculine and feminine fashion is and creates a storm of controversy in our ever conservative world, which I love!
I didn't want to style Andrej in a completely feminine way, as he had been styled many times before but wanted to create a sense of masculinity that still was gender neutral. The photographer and I both wanted to use a female model too that represented a contrast but that had the same gender neutral aesthetic.
Andrej in all the shots shows both strength and vulnerability which of course shows why he continues to be a great model and along side the female model at times shows a more masculine style while still being androgynous.
The above shot is Aurelio Costarella corset and knickerbockers with vintage fur by Linda Black.

 Andrej can model Menswear wonderfully and the above shot he creates a classic menswear pose.
Andrej wears Neo Dia jacket and Trimapee trousers

 You can see in the above shot that Andrej mixes the strong/vulnerable with female model Stephanie.
Andrej wears Comme De Garcon jacket from Madam Virtue & Co, trousers and shoes from Trimapee.
Stephanie wears Vintage Romeo Gigli suit from Madam Virtue & Co and shoes from Zomp.

 This is a behind the scenes shot (hence the blur) with Andrej wearing Neo Dia cape, Trimapee shirt/shoes and Leopold jeans

 I love this quick snapshot of Andrej and Stephanie in vintage furs by Linda Black that shows intimacy and connection.

 The beautiful make up and hair in this shoot was masterfully put together by my fantastic friend Nigel Stanislaus who I've worked with for years and who is Maybelline NY Australia's Make Up Director.
We all had an amazing time working with Andrej and post shoot we took some time for a dress up, above Nigel and Andrej strike a pose trying on some of the vintage furs I'd sourced from Linda Black

 As you may know reading this blog I like myself a bit of vintage fur so Andrej and I rocked the vintage arctic fox together post shoot!

I loved working with the down to earth and super friendly Andrej Pejic and found him to be a true professional, no request was too much. The leather trench coat he is wearing is by Leopold, and my hat
I look forward to seeing more of his work and the way I think he will recreate himself in years to come.
There are more wonderful images of Andrej in this shoot that are still to be seen so I welcome any publications that may want to feature this shoot.

Model Andrej Pejic
Photographer Susan Grdunac
Stylist Philip Boon
Make Up Nigel Stanislaus
Hair James Nicholson
Stylist Assistant Alysha Roe

Clothing Credits
Madam Virtue & Co
Aurelio Costarella
Leopold
Neo Dia
Linda Black
Trimapee

'Torquing' Fashion

As a break from the normal things I post about (behind the scenes etc) I thought I'd look back at one of the biggest and best things that has happened to me over the past year and a half, co creating Fashion Torque, Australia's only live fashion chat show with Jenny Bannister.
Jenny is a legendary Australian fashion designer who has been in the fashion industry for over 35 years, her work has been collected by galleries and museums all over including the NGV in Melbourne, the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and the Powerhouse in Sydney as well as a few pieces in the Smithsonian in the US not to mention appeared on an Australian stamp! Jenny is now retired from running her fashion design business and is now my co host on Fashion Torque.
Both Jenny and I love to dress up, (Very recently Suzanne Carbone from The Age newspaper called Jenny 'Human dress up box Jenny Bannister') and I suppose we are both not afraid of either colour or people staring!
The below photos are us at our most outrageous and colourful and amuse more than me no end!

 This is at the launch party of this years LMFF (L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival)

 Jenny very kindly invited me to her fabulous beach house so of course the kaftans had to come out! I think we called this a 'beach meeting'...

 I was asked to host a competition event in the city and asked Jenny if she would be my glamorous barrel girl!

 A Fashion Torque show early in 2011 we decided to discuss the topic of Androgyny in Fashion, so Jenny of course relished the idea of dressing with a more masculine edge.
A side note: Jenny walked the entire length of Chapel Street shopping strip in Melbourne like this and in her words 'Not a person on the street said a thing!'

 Now both Jenny and I see the importance of keeping a high profile when promoting Fashion Torque and we could get no higher than being at this party called 'Mile High Disco' on the 89th Floor of The Eureka Tower in Melbourne! We both love a bit of disco time too!

 I snapped this photo of Jenny at the afterparty of our Melbourne Town Hall Show for LMFF in early 2011, I thought it was very Lady Gaga-esque!

 This photo above is also during LMFF 2011 when I hosted LMFF TV with my partner Joshua Koko.

 I asked Jenny to co host with me the event Mission 65 Fashion in mid 2011 that was a charity fundraiser I co created with my friend and General Manager of Fundraising at Prahran Mission, Erica Myers Davis. It was a 1940's themed event executed by my 3rd Year Whitehouse Institute of Design Styling students.

 Well as previously talked of in past posts on this blog I love wearing fur and so in June last year Jenny and I decided to tackle the topic we called 'Doramania- The obsession of owning fur'. We thought we may have had Peta on our door but no not a sniff. We are photographed here with Fashion Editor at The Herald Sun Anna Byrne who told us about her paper's refusal to allow fur into the fashion pages!

A shot of me hosting LMFF TV early 2011

 

Jenny and I at the Finale Party of Project Runway Australia, wearing a bit more fur!

 While not really us doing anything to directly promote Fashion Torque, we did go on holiday to Bali in August 2011 and of course even 'off duty' we still love a dress up and again the kaftans came out, not to mention the hours before leaving for Bali the kaftan creating workshops that ensued at Jenny's home/studio! This is us enjoying a cocktail at the Bulgari Resort in Uluwatu Bali.

                         And the kaftans continue with me at the W Hotel and Resort in Seminyak

 We like all Fashion Torque topics to be as current and relevant as possible and so we discussed the subject of 'New Media' and talked about blogging and online media in depth, one of our guest panelists was Sacha Strebe who is Online Editor for Fashion Exposed and Premier pictured here with Jenny who decided to dress as international teenage blogger Tavi!  

 There is nothing bigger in Melbourne than Spring Racing Carnival for fashion folk and last year we discussed this at a special show we did at Melbourne Central, our guest panelists were 'Milliner to the Stars' Kerrie Stanley and International Make Up artist and Maybelline NY Make Up Director Nigel Stanislaus, of course all dressed in their best racing outfits!

 Our first birthday show was literally a HUGE event supported and sponsored by the City of Melbourne which was held on the stunning Portico Balcony at The Melbourne Town Hall, the Beatles in the 60's had stood here and waved to the masses of teenagers. It was the perfect setting for all of our guests that mostly comprised of the past year's guest panelists!

 This is a late night snapshot of Jenny and I at the disco after our good friend designer Gwendolynne Burkin's white themed birthday, this is one of my favourite shots of us both!

                                        Jenny and I judging Fashions on the Field in late 2011

                                        At the launch party of online style portal 'Couturing'

                              At Government House for the morning tea launch of LMFF 2012

               Our most recent show on Fashion Film May 2012, both looking as cinematic as we can!

Fashion Torque is something that continues to grow and grow and I love that not only Jenny and I have the opportunity to play dress ups and let our imagination go wild but hopefully our audience feel they can to.
Fashion Torque is a live fashion forum that is more chat show than seminar with different fashion guest panelists and is held the last Wednesday of every month at 7pm in the Hasti Bala Room at The Carlton Hotel 193 Bourke Street Melbourne.
A huge thank you to our major sponsor The Carlton Hotel and to other great sponsors Ciccone Cosmetics and Acqua Panna Fine Dining Waters.
You can check out more Fashion Torque details and Jenny and my escapades at out Facebook page www.facebook.com/fashiontorqueshow

Frankly...

 As promised in my last post I went along to talented fashion photographer She is Frank (Natasha Frank) exhibition titled 'Fire and Ice' this past Thursday night and chatted with the lady herself about her contrasting styles of landscape and model. She shot the beautiful landscape images in Iceland on a recent trip and I loved the way she presented the exhibition landscape against portrait with a more art photography feel than her more known fashion work.  

 The 'mysterious' She is Frank with myself at the opening night of her exhibition and also book launch of all the work on show.

 Landscape versus portrait, very well received on the night note lots of green dots!

 A great crowd turned out to support She is Frank at the Everleigh Gallery.

You can view She is Frank's exhibition 'Fire and Ice' upstairs at the Everleigh Gallery till May 31st.

Well done Natasha, I can't wait to work together soon!

Being 'Frank'

 Well hello again dear blog reader, I have been true to my word (so far) and am posting regularly so in an attempt to link the last 18 months of work to the current day in this post I will feature a fantastic photographer who I was lucky to work with way back in 2010 when she was an emerging photographer but of course now has established herself as a 'go to' fashion photographer!
'She is Frank' is her unusual but very memorable name, the talented photographer behind the unusual name is Natasha Frank and in this shoot we did in 2010 that was featured in the early 2011 issue of New York Magazine 'Tokion Factory'. Why I decided to link this shoot we did (one of my all time favourites) to current day is that the wonderful 'She Is Frank' is launching a book and exhibition this coming Thursday (24th May 2012) called 'Fire and Ice' and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the exhibition and what she has been up to creatively lately! Will write a post about the launch!

 Back to this shoot and as some of you may have noticed, it features the stunning Alice Burdeu winner of 'Australia' Next Top Model' and star of many editorials in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar etc. As you would have seen in this blog (way back in time) I have worked with Alice quite a few times and look forward to working with her again soon.
I think Alice looks amazing in this style and is reminiscent of a young 70's Jerry Hall, and folks that IS her actual hair!

 When Natasha and I sat down to discuss the style of the shoot we wanted to contrast extreme glamour with everyday suburbia (with a 60's twist) and so two friends of mine (Kirsten and Nadia) had the perfect house and were so very giving to allow us to use it as a location. It was the perfect back drop to our shoot.

 Not only were we lucky enough to have Alice Burdeu involved but the lovely Zoe and Melody who made the perfect trio of stunning subjects! Most of the clothing was sourced from my great friends Dean and JC at Madam Virtue & Co with a few key pieces from Gorman and Aurelio Costarella.

 If you have read this blog before you would see that I love vintage and surround myself with it constantly so that in turn flows onto my work. The phone Melody is holding in the above shot is my own from the 60's by Ericsson and sits on my desk while writing this!

I simply love this shot (above) of Alice in vintage YSL from Madam Virtue & Co

She is Frank (Natasha) always injects an element of humour in her work and I love that about her, the above shot has that touch of humour but is so vintage and glam! I love the inclusion of the book 'A Clockwork Orange'.

The above shot of Alice is one of my favourite of all time and I use it as the opening of my folio, it is such a beautiful and striking photographic image. I loved this shoot so much, from the location and the clothes  to the models to working with the amazing Natasha Frank (She is Frank). That it was picked up for editorial inclusion in Tokion Factory Magazine is just the icing on the cake!

If you are in Melbourne you should definitely make a trip to see the exhibition "Fire and Ice' by
She is Frank from this Thursday 24th May at The Everleigh Gallery, 150 - 156 Gertrude Street Fitzroy running till May 31st.
I'll be there at the opening on 24th May 2012 6pm - 9pm.

Editorial Credits
Photographer She is Frank
Stylist Philip Boon
Stylist Assistant Sarah Kempson
Make Up Megan Harrison
Assistant Make Up Janice Wu
Hair Rob Mason
Models Alice Burdeu, Melody Le, Zoe Vink

Clothing & Accessories Credits
Madam Virtue & Co
Gorman
Aurelio Costarella
Glitzern
Ghost & Lola
Zomp