WHO: GABRIELLE THOMPSON
WHAT: SHOE DESIGNER
WHERE: SYDNEY, AUS
VISIT:

FFF LOVES… A woman who adores shoes so much, she makes them!

What are your staples?
Black and White Jersey pieces are the essentials for comfort and understated luxury.

What are you indulgences?
Shoes!! I must have over a hundred pairs!! I die for MARNI, Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs but now of course, I only wear tom gunn!

What can’t you live without?
Skirts and dresses. I have a beautiful print vintage Diane Von Furstenburg dress that gets an airing every summer.

What is past its use-by-date?
I just noticed a few scary lurex pieces hidden in the back of the wardrobe that need immediate removal!

What is your wardrobe craving?
Anything from Dries Van Noten - I want it all!

About Gabrielle Thompson:
Described as ‘sophisticated with an edge’, tom gunn shoes are designed in Australia and made in Italy by Gabrielle Thompson and Shannon Gunn.

Defined by the pairing of contrasting textures and colours across designs, the namesake label holds a strong focus on the silhouette of the shoe, with a mixture of demure flats, elegant stilettos and statement-making platform heels featuring throughout the seasonal collections.

With individual styling, tom gunn shoes are made with beautiful leathers and exotic skins sourced from some of the top Italian tanneries and suppliers used by many famed international fashion houses including CoSTUME NATIONAL, Marni, Gucci and Longchamp.

Launched in 2008 for the Spring/Summer season, tom gunn stemmed from a shared passion for individual design and the belief that shoes should be like works of art for your feet.

Training at the prestigious Ars Arpel School in Milan, the designers’ love of shoes was fuelled further as they learned the importance of craftsmanship and design, ensuring each shoe is immaculately made with exquisite style.

Since their label debut, the designers now split their time between Australia and Italy, designing, pattern-making and sourcing the finest materials in their quest to create the perfect shoe.

Three years on, the tom gunn label has continued to rise, and is stocked in some of Australia’s most prestigious retailers including Jean Brown Gallery, Directions, Frockshop.com.au, Nancy King, Soletta, Chasing Bow and Stella & Myrrh.

2010 will also see the launch of the designers’ first collaboration with sophisticated Australian clothing brand SABA, where they have designed a unique colour palette across select designs from the collection, to be sold exclusively through select SABA stores.

As their signature style continues to evolve, it is their use of luxury materials, combined with their unique designs and unparalleled quality that has cemented tom gunn as one of the most coveted footwear labels in the Australian fashion industry.

WHO: FRANCES PHILLIPS
WHAT: MODEL/BEAUTY BLOGGER
WHERE: LONDON, UK
VISIT: www.stormmodels.com, www.modeltipoff.blogspot.com

FFF LOVES… Frances’ fabulous tips on her blog that will ensure your model status (and her new role as Agent Provocateur’s model)!

What are you staples?
Black skinny jeans. I like Nudie whom I have just discovered whilst in Australia. Acne and TopShop are great and JBrand does good leggings. I collect little singlets for layering.

What are your indulgences?
Leather jackets. I have about a million of them — my faves are from Burberry and TopShop (a great place for leather jackets). I love boots and shopping for rings and earrings. I like to buy silver pieces from markets and costume jewellery from Erin Wasson and Dannijo.

What can’t you live without?
Jeans. I wear them all the time.  

What’s past its use-by date?
Ugg boots — they are so comfy but not very cool anymore. 

What is your wardrobe craving.
I really want some great maxi dresses.

About Frances Phillips:
English model Frances Phillips is based in London and represented by the esteemed modelling agency, Storm (who also look after uber-models Kate Moss, Coco Rocha and Alek Wek). Frances, who is Agent Provocateur’s new model come December) is currently in demand shooting in Australia and is a much followed beauty blogger. Oh, and she is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the out. Go Frances!

WHO: DIJANNA MULHEARN
WHAT: FASHION WRITER & AUTHOR - WARDROBE 101
WHERE: SYDNEY, AUS
VISIT: www.wardrobe101.com.au

FFF LOVES… Dijanna is beautiful inside and out. We want her style savvy… and her Chloe biscuit blazer.

What are your staples?
A biscuit coloured Chloe blazer, American Apparel white tees, Acne jeans and Ferragamo loafers. It’s my uniform when I write, comfy and classic.

What are you indulgences?
Like everyone I love a great shoe. Pierre Hardy, Christian Louboutin, Prada and Alexander McQueen, always make me feel great and never shrink in the wash no matter how much weight I put on.

What can’t you live without?
My Carl Kapp deep red silk dolman sleeve dress. It’s a go-to garment whenever I don’t know what to wear and gets great comments every time.

What is past its use-by-date?
My Sergio Rossi pointed toe, knee length black leather boots. They have taken me all over the world and are as comfortable as an old friend. I just can’t ditch them.

What is your wardrobe craving?
An Yves Saint Laurent Smoking Suit, happy with either vintage or a Pilati interpretation.

About Dijanna Mulhearn:
Dijanna Mulhearn has over twenty years experience in the fashion industry. From retail to events management and fashion writing Dijanna has worked with major brands including Akira, Belinda boutique and Oroton Australia, managed PR for Harper’s BAZAAR as well as heading up the PR and advertising for luxury label Prada in Australia.  Dijanna knows fashion inside out. She created and wrote the long running weekly column Wardrobe 101 at the Sydney Morning Herald which was syndicated to The Age and Brisbane Times online and regularly contributes to Grazia. Dijanna lives in Sydney with her husband and son.

WHO: GABI PEREZUTTI-ISACSON

FFF LOVES… Candela’s South American style with a generous dash of NYC cool thrown in to spice things up.

What are your staples?
Candela dresses.

What are your indulgences?
Ummmm … Chanel.

What can’t you live without?
Taylor men inspired shoes.

What is past its use-by-date?
Nothing. I am pretty good at giving away.

What is your wardrobe craving?
Belstaff motorcycle jacket. Like the one Noami Watts had on Eastern Promises.

About Candela: 
South American duo Natalia Kuks-Jacobs and Gabriela Perezutti-Isacson created the first Candela collection in 2004. The label took off when they pioneered the bohemian look that was taken from their ranching background in Argentina and Uruguay. From leathers and chunky knits manufactured in Argentina to cotton voiles, silks, and embroideries produced in India, Candela’s pieces are feminine, without being over the top. Ornamented with occasional bows, ruffles, lace, and creative pops of color, Candela combines wistful, natural looks with fashion-forward city style. In less than a year Candela found itself selling to more than 200 hundred stores worldwide, including Harrod’s, Beams, Henri Bendel, Saks Fifth Avenue, Intermix, Scoop, Fred Segal, Kitson, and many more. In Spring 2006 the first Candela shoe collection was born and has become an integral part of their collection, making up about 65% of their business today.

With Candela’s continued success and growth, the brand is looking to launch an e-commerce site in early 2010, with plans of opening a Candela retail store shortly thereafter. Candela NYC is currently sold at Saks Direct, ShopBop, Calypso, Urban Outfitters, and will be in Neiman Marcus Direct for Resort/Cruise. 

Celebrity fans include Lindsay Lohan, Lauren Conrad, Kate Hudson, Fergie, and Ciara.

WHO: SARA HILLS
WHAT:

FFF LOVES… Sara’s aesthete’s eye.

What are your staples?
Ellery tee’s and boots, leather pants, Hermès collier de chien bracelets, YSL rings.

What are you indulgences?
Givenchy pants, Balenciaga cone heels.

What can’t you live without?
My engagement ring.

What is past its use-by-date?
My black jackets …

What is your wardrobe craving?
Some new mini denim shorts ready for summer …

About Sara Hills:
With a career in public relations for over 5 years, Sara Hills is one of Australia’s most celebrated and in-demand publicists, with an eye for fashion, style, and a recently turned fashion blogger.

Regularly working with the country’s best-known faces, brands and publications, Sara has earned a reputation for her diversity, experience, and sense of style.

Sara’s newest venture is Row A View, a unique fashion blog, covering high end fashion shoots, photography, model talent, street style and Australian designers new ranges. Watch this space …

WHO: CORINNE LEWIS
WHAT: ARTIST
WHERE: BRISBANE
VISIT: www.corinnelewis.com.au

FFF LOVES … Corinne’s sumptuous and colour saturated fashion influenced art, with meticulous attention to texture, fabric and detail.

What are your staples? 
Vintage dresses; La La Latrobe for the latest; Metalicus, Stella & Minx for layering; embellished belts, Italian boots and scarf for every winter occasion!

What are you indulgences? 
Inspiration for my paintings: 50’s cocktail dresses, especially embellished with sequins, beads, brocade, coupure lace… extravagant details, full flowing sleeves. Vintage hats, Lover lace dresses, Zimmermann, Gail Sorronda’s frills, Romance was Born lace. My last indulgence; my one of a kind George Gross navy wedding dress.

What can’t you live without?
My eclectic vintage collection, a mix of 40’s glamour, 50’s dancing dresses, and 80’s sexy ruching and exaggerated silhouettes. My fave piece for the moment; a Studibaker fur and sequined waisted jacket or my Grandmother’s creation from the 60’s — a Dr Chivago style black coatdress with leopard print fur hem and collar, cinched waist and full skirt… my Mum wore it back then. More recently I’m in love with my Rock & Republic leather jacket.

What is past its use-by-date?
Denim shorts of any kind.

What is your wardrobe craving?
Vintage Valentino! Just a once in a lifetime! J’Aton Couture, a pair of the latest Just Cavalli jeans but I’d settle for Nolita. Of course with Summer approaching, I have my eye on high waisted bikinis from Zimmermann.

About Corinne Lewis:
Fashion, old-world beauty and the feminine form; it’s clear Corinne Lewis has a thematic preference when it comes to her art. Faceless forms draped in folds of fabric and strings of pearls pose on her canvases. Vibrant colours dramatically dance with light and shadow across their flesh. Corinne’s elegant and luxurious neo-realistic style breathes life into her work creating a collection that is distinctly stylish and sexy.

Corinne has always been an artist at heart. As a child, a brush or pencil were never far away and as she grew older, her passion grew stronger. Throughout her schooling career she won many art awards and was accepted into the Queensland College of Art.

She graduated in 1992 as a graphic designer and briefly pursued work with a couple of advertising agencies. However, the dissatisfaction of computer-based design saw her make the decision to go it alone as an artist.

She displayed work in group exhibitions on the Gold Coast and Brisbane and had success with a series of flower pieces in Montville. The soft curves and flowing folds of her floral technique helped develop her style and its influence can be seen in her current work.

As an artist, Corinne draws on a vast collection of stimuli. From her adventures in England, France and Italy studying old masters Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Rubens and the work of photographer Guy Bourdin, to her infatuation with screen legends Audrey Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, Corinne’s works have seen an eclectic mix of influences.

She has also received inspiration a little closer to home with work by fellow Brisbane artists and friends Virginia Morrison and Andy Wild proving very influential. So, too, has a collection of garments created by Corinne’s fashion designer grandmother and aunt which Corinne still paints and wears today.

WHO: MARNIE GOSS
WHAT: DIRECTOR AND OWNER, FROCKSHOP.COM.AU
WHERE: BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
VISIT:

FFF LOVES… her super-stylish eye for picking exactly what every Fatale is dying to wear. Plus 24/7 shopping is simply to-die-for.

What are your staples?
Kain tees, J Brand jeans, Cable cashmere knits and A.L.C. black slouchy pants. They are all high quality, basic items that I will have for a very long time. 

What are you indulgences?
My Balmain for Giuseppe Zanotti military boots. They aren’t the most practical purchase. As the military trend won’t be around forever but they were too good to pass up!

What can’t you live without?
Smythe blazers as they come in the most beautiful cuts and fabrics and go with everything. I also can’t live without Zimmermann Swimwear. Summer would not be the same without their gorgeous bikinis.

What is past its use-by-date?
My flat knee high boots. We have had some great times, but it is time to say goodbye.

What is your wardrobe craving?
The new season collection from Camilla and Marc, especially their new jewellery range. It is also in desperate need of the beautiful slouchy blazers from Ellery.

About Marnie Goss:
Fashion entrepreneur Marnie Goss is no stranger to high end fashion - after finishing two degrees in Communications (PR) and Business (Marketing) at university, she packed up and shipped off to the shores of the United Kingdom where she developed a love for online shopping and international fashion labels, and worked with renowned brands such as Krug champagne and Versace. After a career high as a publicist for Louis Vuitton, Marnie returned to her home shores and quickly identified a gap in the market for a luxury fashion website – and Frockshop was born.  She’s certainly on the road to success – with 10,000 hits a day to the website, a rapidly expanding client base boasting about 50 exclusive labels from Australia and further ashore including Antipodium, Josh Goot, Zimmerman, Ginger & Smart, Camilla & Marc, Lisa Ho, J Brand, and CC Skye, and a loyal customer base placing orders every season, frockshop.com.au is the online destination of choice for Australia’s label-lovers. A self-confessed workaholic, Marnie admits that working for herself is the biggest motivator, and it only takes the click of a mouse to prove her hard work has most definitely paid off.

WHO: JENNIFER KASSELL
WHAT: FASHION DIRECTOR & HEAD BUYER MYCATWALK.COM
WHERE: SYDNEY
VISIT: www.mycatwalk.com

FFF LOVES… a mycatwalk 24/7 shopping fix and her “shoe love is true love” attitude!

What are your staples?
Grey marle oversized boys singlets, leather shorts, crystal necklaces and nude heels.

What are you indulgences?
Shoes, I have no boundaries. In my opinion, shoe love is true love.

What can’t you live without?
My jacket collection, black ksubi sunglasses and toe rings.

What is past its use-by-date?
My wardrobe gets a good clean out every month so it’s thankfully pretty up to date. I could probably let go of the last standing sequined piece and let her rest in peace.

What is your wardrobe craving?
Nude leather shorts. There is definitely a small space just waiting for the perfect pair to reside.

About Jennifer Kassell:
Jennifer is the Fashion Director and Head Buyer at MyCatwalk.com

Mycatwalk.com is Australia’s leading online designer fashion store. Where MyCatwalk conquered others have followed - it was Australia’s first online boutique – but it still remains the largest e-boutique of it’s kind, attracting over 5 times the traffic of the closest competitor.

MyCatwalk’s Fashion Director Jennifer Kassell brings a wealth of experience in Buying, Fashion, Industry contacts and personal flair to her creative role. With a finger on the pulse of style trends and opportunities in every country, Jennifer has collaborated with the crème de la crème of Australia’s leading fashion designers which has seen her managing projects as far afield as New York, Hong Kong and London, as well as her home town of Sydney. Jennifer has a holistic, hands-on understanding of the Australian Fashion Industry and is regarded by many as a key influencer thanks to her unique personal style – pulling eclectic, casual and chic pieces together in perfect harmony. This is a lady who absorbs fashion in every sense of the word and translates this into key trends for her loyal customers.

WHO: EMILY PERO
WHAT: PUBLICIST
WHERE: SYDNEY
VISIT: www.evhpr.com

FFF LOVES…  Emily’s style. We would die for her wardrobe and adore this beautiful shot of her by Garance Dore

What are your staples?
Bassike tees, bassike jeans, basically bassike…

What are your indulgences?
Scanlan & Theodore leather pieces and Guiseppe Zanotti shoes

What can’t you live without?
Converse, my leopard print coat and my hooded oversize army jacket.

What is past its use-by-date?
Anything in my fridge

What is your wardrobe craving?
More accessories

About Emily Pero: 
Working in communications for over 6 years, Emily’s area of expertise lies in fashion and the arts. The Senior Publicist at EVH, Emily looks after brands like bassike, Superfine, Ellery & Rachael Ruddick. She is also a communications consultant for Chalk Horse gallery in Sydney - www.chalkhorse.com.au. She has written for various national and international publications and and currently is a contributor to Russh Magazine.  

WHO:

FFF LOVES… Faux Fuchsia’s witty repartee as she actions her life while reporting on what she’s wearing, eating, cooking and doing.

What are your staples?
Silk frocks with pockets. At last count I owned over 70. I love Chloe, See by Chloe, Milly and Tibi.

What are you indulgences?
My Pucci dresses. If they weren’t so ‘spensive I’d buy tonnes more.

What can’t you live without?
My three YSL clutches from Jean Brown. Functional and beautiful at the same time.

What is past its use-by-date?
Nothing at the moment as I’ve just had a ruthless declutter and given tonnes of things to the Salvation Army and my girlfriends.

What is your wardrobe craving?
By Malene Birger dresses (I wear the ones I own to death and am obsessed with getting my mitts on more) and I’d also like another Missoni scarf.

About Faux Fuchsia:
Faux Fuchsia is a enigmatic, witty, late 30s solicitor from Brisbane who shares tales of her life through her eponymous blog. Originally inspired to blog as a way of keeping in touch with family overseas, Faux Fuchsia now enjoys a loyal following from around the world. Faux Fuchsia endorses good grooming, glamour, blowdried hair, dresses (aka frocks), Barbie nostalgia, decorating, cooking and entertaining, gardening, decluttering, watching movies, reading and thank you notes. Chipped nail polish revolts her.