Where It All Began

The truth is before I started Style Voyeur, I hated Perth!
In the beginning, starting a positive, Perth based blog, I actually had to pretend I loved this humble town.
Don't feel deceived, this journey has changed my life!

I'd travelled a fair bit growing up having a German mother, so as soon as I finished school I literally got on a plane, alone at 17, out as fast as I could. I travelled around Europe for over a year, working at some of the finest hotels, seeing the world and living by my own rules. I had a working visa, had created a base primarily in the stunning naval town of Dartmouth in England where family friends resided as artists but as soon as my visa ran out I had to come 'home'. Although my mother is German and I am actually a distant relative of the current Pope - Benedict XVI - hilarious right!? Mother dearest wasn't in fact a citizen when I was born and surprisingly (not) Germany has the strictest rules with citizenship. My father is as Aussie as they come and on his side I am 8th Generation Australian, stemming back to Mr Brisbane so I had no other choice but to return to P-town.


    I left all my friends behind, had nothing in common with anyone I knew before I left (bar my best friend who is from NZ and travelled her whole life) and I felt as though I didn't belong anywhere on this planet. It's hard to explain why it impacted me so but I felt as though my heart was ripped from me and until you know what it's like to feel as though you belong nowhere, I can tell you it is like nothing else - the worst. It took years to accept that this is where I live. I went to University, got a great job Art Directing at one of Perth's biggest design studios, but all the while. inside I felt empty. Alien to my life.

It wasn't until July of 2008 when Perth Fashion Festival Event Manager, Lauren Elliott spotted my Myspace that I was rescued.
Immediately my life changed for the better.

At the time my Myspace was my safe heaven. My outlet, filled with inspiration, prospect and colour. I had people from all over the world, most notably, Wendy James (former front lady of Transvision Vamp, residing in New York) tell me they found inspiration in my pictures and what I was all about. I was doing a similar thing to what Style Voyeur started out as - taking pictures of people and things that inspired me, discussing clothes and ideas with designers and writers (Brent Billman, writer for V Magazine became a friend) and constantly was obsessing over fashion imagery in general. Lauren Elliott decided I was the girl to create the Official Blog of Perth Fashion Festival and so I was appointed.

Back then I didn't really even know what a blog was or how to create one. I totally made it up - I did what felt natural and with the help of PFF's designer from Entropic Design, Style Voyeur was born.
It has since taken on a world of its own.

I would go out onto the streets and take photographs of stylish people spotted in the most unexpected places. I'd attend fashion events in the hope to find someone or something SV-worthy. Instead of coming home from a night out depressed with tears in my eyes at our lacklustre culture and Australian ignorance, I would sit on my front patio smoking cigarettes looking excitedly at the images I'd captured of Perth's subculture. I began to realise that you don't have to have travelled the earth to know that Perth has some of the most remarkable sights, most talented creatives and a collection of subcultures that rival some of the biggest cities in the world today.

[Artwork by Jaime Lee]

I would spend hours staying up late looking at and writing about those well dressed individuals, the individual nature of our little sub cultures, the people here who make their own reality - stylishly - while inhabiting the most isolated city in the world. Everything in my life had been preparing me for this opportunity, it made so much sense. I was complete.

For all those who love fashion and style as much as I do, Perth Fashion Festival means hope. I had been into PFF's campaigns and closely watched everything released by the festival from a young age, but it wasn't until I was involved that I felt proud to be from Perth. Ever since Perth Fashion Festival was founded by Mariella Harvey-Hanrahan, Perth's cultural diversity and creative flair for fashion has been enhanced. Every year I am delighted to be a part of such a fantastic platform for emerging and established WA creatives.

For 2010 Perth Fashion Festival will take place on September 9th - 15th and the team are already steadily planning another year of out of the box events.
There are so many questions to be asked. Who will be the photographer for the 2010 campaign? Who will fill the shoes of the gorgeous Emily Cattermole this year as the FACE of 2010?

Will the festival be held at the old Gasworks building again? It was such an amazing venue and I really hope so. I arranged the graffiti artwork with the help of artist Hurben who told me I was the inspiration for his piece [above]. It has to be the coolest and most humbling thing someone has ever done for me. It was a massive effort to get the walls painted by graffiti artists and we spent hours cutting through red tape with City Of Perth counsellors to make it happen.

L'Oreal Professionnel will direct the hair looks again this year with the team from Head Studio. Mark and Marie Cain from Head Studio are some of the coolest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and I'm looking forward to hanging out with them all again behind the scenes this year.

[Model Emily Cattermole with L'Oreal Professionnel Hair Director, Mark Thompson.]

  I cannot wait to hear all the other announcements to be revealed by the fabulous Perth Fashion Festival team in months to come!

[Lord Mayor and PFF Ambassador Lisa Scaffidi with 2009 Campaign Photographer Christian Blanchard.]

Youth Ambassador and Top Model Tom Bull.

Perth model Jessi Moloney backstage at PFF '09.

'Shelf Life'
Style Voyeur image at 'Fashion Muse' exhibition, WA Fashion Awards event PFF '09


Black & White version of Style Voyeur logo. One of the first photos I ever took @ Perth Zoo.

Emily

My mother (on chair), her brothers and my Oma.
Germany, 1954.


Artwork by Hurben.


Brash & Sassy




The stunning Sarah Ayor @ Fashion WA Launch.

Chadwick Models

(Chadwick Model Search entrant)
SHELBY

Photography: Thom Kerr
Beauty: Rebekah Clark
Styling: Style Voyeur
...
Top Australian/NZ fashion photographer Thom Kerr has been in town to shoot dozens of new faces for Chadwick Models.

This year In conjunction with Perth Fashion Festival, Chadwick Models conducted their first model search during the festival to find Perth's next modelling sensations, and they sure did succeed.

Along with the oh-so-talented Perth based make-up artist Rebekah Clark and myself styling, Thom has been putting Chadwick's new talent behind the camera and the results so far have been impressive. Clearly the standard of models in Perth is exceptional and it is a lot of fun for all of us working with girls who are confident, happy, gorgeous and intelligent. The new faces at Chadwick all seem to be just that!
  

(Above and below)
NICOLE

This afternoon we are doing a Beauty shoot with Nicole (above). With the combination of her stunning features and Thom's out of this world talent in photography the story is sure to be a winner!

(Above and below)
BETH
Beth promised me she would go home and listen to some Ramones songs!

(Below Chadwick Model Search entrant)
PAIGE

NICOLE wearing Jessie Hill Boots, cut off shorts from Good Sammy's, T-shirt from Winifred & Bance, necklace Forever New.

Short suit design by contemporary WA Designer Carly Hunter.

TIFFANY who came third in the Chadwick Model Search wears a vintage sequined dress and bow tie with bobby socks from David Jones.

BETH in a Ralph Lauren inspired outfit from Winifred & Bance with Nine West wedges.

JESSI rocking her own sporty booties, Rebekah's Rolling Stones T-shirt, 1940's style skirt from Winifred & Bance and my bangles from Planet.

Animal Print Overload!
 Style is about knowing all of the rules and then breaking them one by one.

Thursday - 10/09/09

WINNER of the Fine Details Award: Sophie Kyron.

I love all of the nominees for this award. Alister Yiap and Generics Accessories both have extremely strong designs and they will always be winners in WA fashion. Comparisons cannot really be made between the three labels but someone had to win and Sophie Kyron's jewellery is utterly breathtaking! As you can see in this image it is made for the urban goddess and has somewhat of an ethnic princess feel to it. I will certainly be using her pieces in future styling jobs.



Generics Accessories



WINNER Designer of Tomorrow: Paper Sky.

The other nominees in this category, The Butcher and The Crow and Carly Hunter are my absolute favourite up-and-coming designers in WA at the moment and I have full faith that these designers will be making waves for years to come!

The Butcher and The Crow


Carly Hunter.
The Creative Edge: Hendra Widjaja (Make-up)

Best Dressed Boutique: ZEKKA

Hot New Talent: Millicent Lambert (Model)

Runway of the Year: Paris Fontana

Photographic Model of the Year: Bridget Malcolm

I took this picture of Letecia Price before the Ruth show. It is my favourite from PFF 2009!

Wednesday - 9/09/09

Emily with the Creative Director of Fashion TV Oceania- Ben Davis

Mark Thompson's own design

Some of the designers stocked at Ricarda include: Comme des Garcons, Nom*D, Claude Maus, Maison Martin Margiela, Therese Rawsthorne, Forte-Forte, Helmut Lang, Rick Owens, Zambesi & Kirrily Johnson.

Tuesday - 8/09/09

Dean Drieberg from Miss Bossy Boots

Sunday - 6/09/09

The divinyls gear complete with Tara Moss' Fetish novel on the floor in the middle of the VIP bar upstairs @ Fashion Paramount.

Letecia chills out between shows in this model hangout Den inside Chris Huzzard's studio backstage @ Fashion Paramount. There are so many cool rooms everywhere and the whole place has a really old fashioned vibe.

Paris getting into character before the show.

Amber Browning looking stunning!









Melanie glowing backstage.


The fabulous Tiah Eckhardt @ the notorious W&D after party.

Sunday - 6/09/09

Student Runway has been the highlight of my festival so far. The effort student designers put into their work is out of this world!

Saturday - 5/09/09

Emily jamming in Carly Hunter


L'Oreal Professionnell creates amazing soft curls for the catwalk


Jessi Moloney wears Leah Tarlo jewellery. Artwork in background by Hurben.


Tammy Stone in a dress by Breathless

Alister Yiap

Beautiful Emily my love


Satin

Saturday - 5/09/09

Betts shoes in the colour of the season - nude.




Antipodium







The fabulous Panache & 33 Poets designed by one of my favourites Rebecca Paterson


Emily wears S2 & Tom wears Stand.


Joveeba


The Betts boater @ Ae`lkemi


Models left and right wearing Ae`lkemi


Christian Blanchard with Lisa Scaffidi who's wearing Ae`lkemi sequined jacket, Empire Rose dress and shoes from Zu.

Best seat in the house - 4/09/09

Style Circle - Tuesday 18/08/09

Vivienne Westwood dress from Dilettante

Earlier today I was flicking through the latest NYLON magazine and came across a picture of none other than Perth's own up-and-coming Supermodel Letecia Price. I recognised Letecia, who was discovered by world class model scout, Christine Fox from Viviens models in Perth, before I read the credit - model: Letecia @ Ford - and was so happy to see this bright young thing on the pages of one of the world's coolest U.S. based magazines.

Letecia has been in New York since the beginning of the year being represented by Ford Models NYC and is clearly making a successful career out of modelling. Last year at Perth Fashion Festival Letecia was one of the most talented and funnest models to be around and we got some great shots for SV.

Another top Perth model - and SV's biggest crush - who's making waves over seas is the gorgeous Tom Bull.
Tom, who is with Scene Models in Perth, recently sent me pictures from inside Alexander McQueen's  London HQ after he was directly booked by the designer this season. Tom has been jet setting around Europe since November 2008 and has modelled in London, Athens, Milan, Paris and Germany working for exclusive high end fashion labels such as Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Etro, Canali, Alexander McQueen and many more.

I look forward to more hangs with these two amazing models in September when they return for Perth Fashion Festival.
 

Tom chilling at the front reception area.

Too cool for Lee McQueen?

 

We all scream!