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| Ground Hog Day |
The
Shuttle met the designer
Oscar de la Renta in Sydney a few years ago. It was at a party in a marquee erected outside the
Park Hyatt Hotel with a magnificent view across to the
Sydney Opera House.
Oscar arrived with the late
Lady Sonia McMahon. He said he loved Sydney and Melbourne and wished he had discovered the cities much earlier. As to a question on Australian fashion :"
it shows promise" was the master's diplomatic reply.
What Oscar would think about the froth and bubble of the 2 cities seasonal fashion shows is a mystery. Same guest list, same location, same designers. Each and every show is like a repeat of the last. Just the fabrics change.
One social writer recently resorted to trilling about the seating arrangements at the last
David Jones show, excitedly reporting that they had scored a front row seat and that a fashion publicist who had incurred their displeasure had been relegated to the back row.
The inanity of the reporting (possibly influenced by the heavy advertising of Australia's 2 leading department store chains) is as vacuous as the guest list-"
fabulous nobodies" in every sense. A series of alleged social faces who feature at every event as
Ipad wielding publicists breathlessly inform the feverish paparazzi of the arrival of yet another footballer or TV news announcer. At least the French champagne proffered soothes the boredom.
Now Oscar de la Renta has
declared war on these guest lists and is to ban them from his New York 2014 parades : "
decision-makers in the business should not have to fight their way
through "30,000 people, and 10,000 who are trying to take pictures of
all of those people, who are totally unrelated to the clothes". And he has allies on the
New York Times including
Cathy Horyn and the legendary
Susy Menkes. Perhaps it's fortunate Mr de la Renta didn't experience Sydney & Melbourne's low-rent-a-crowds and departed with fond memories of our local fashion industry.
We really do love the department store David Jones. Especially when they keep having fashion shows with acres of flesh (skinny flesh of course). Thus on Thursday night we battled through the late night shoppers to ooh & ahhh over the delectable models Jessica Gomez and Joan Smalls who jetted in for the night.
One guest at the David Jones Spring Summer fashion parade last night was TV presenter Angela Bishop, pictured right. Angela's mom is the Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP who has just had a horror few weeks culminating in her resignation as Speaker of The House. Something to do with a helicopter. And what did Angela think of Bronnie's Mensis Mensis Horribulus (hey it's Latin for a ghastly month!).
As our snap shows Cassi does look rather gaunt although the camera can fib. Alex appeared on the 9 Network's Morning Show and told hosts Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson that it "was a mistake" after looking at photos from the show.
Mia Freedom has bought into the debate on Mammia, describing the parade as The Hunger Games while Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank has expressed concerns over Cassi's health. Van Den Dungen helpfully Instagramed a snap of her lunch which seems to consist of 2 croissants, water and a hugely unhealthy energy drink- not the sort of thing to be recommending to young girls who may be following her career.
The obsession with thinness is always evident during Fashion Weak and anyone who has shopped with a larger lady as the Shuttle did last week knows how ridiculous it has all become. Looking for larger lingerie at both Myer & David Jones in Bondi's Westfield proved fruitless (and just finding an assistant was like Stanley discovering Dr Livingstone) Racks and racks of unsold stock- thin stock -was on display yet nothing for the average sized or above, woman as most Australian women are. 
