Bid to heavy out ‘everyday’ models revealed

A STORM has erupted around Australian Fashion Week

A STORM has erupted around Australian Fashion Week, with a swimwear designer claiming she was told her size 8 to 12 models weren’t fit for the catwalk.
MaraJoara designer Leesa Fogarty last night put the future of her label at risk after pushing ahead with plans to use "everyday Australians" in her show against the advice of AFW organisers.
Fogarty advertised at nightclubs and universities for models and held an open casting call in Melbourne on Sunday.
"We wanted to cast everyday Australians because they’re the ones that are going to buy our swimwear," Fogarty said.
The popular label was stocked in Sportsgirl last summer season and was the retail giant’s first step back into selling swimming for about eight years.
But plans for Fogarty’s parade; Australian Fashion Week’s closing show; were thrown into disarray when AFW organisers phoned yesterday morning allegedly to tell her the show was in jeopardy because her models didn’t fit the bill.
"They had models on standby. They wanted us to use professional people," Fogarty said.
"They said our models weren’t the quality that Australian Fashion Week would want behind it."
Fogarty admitted her models were not perfect, but said she sent stick-thin girls away from her casting call in favour of real people.
Her recruits, including two Miss World Australia finalists, had been rehearsing since Monday and Fogarty said she did not have the heart to tell them the show might not go on.
"Can you image how they would feel?" she said.
After heated discussions yesterday, Fogarty said AFW organisers agreed to let the show go ahead but advised her to use professional models.
The young designer stood her ground.
"Models might wear my swimwear, but what’s the percentage of models to everyday people in this world?" she said.
Simon Lock, managing director of IMG Fashion Asia Pacific, which owns and operates AFW, said his team watched the parade run-through and offered Fogarty "help with several production elements".
When asked if some models were too fat to star at his event, Mr Lock said: "Can you ever imagine me suggesting that? We never interfere.
"Designers can do what they want, it is their gig, ours is just to stage it. Our job is to build the event and we are not about to tell them what to do."
Mr Lock said the production elements offered to Fogarty included staging, lighting and help with sourcing models if she needed.
"We have an experienced production crew to help any way they can, so we offered this to the label as we do any label," Mr Lock said.
He said Fogarty took AFW up on the offer and was helped with visuals and lighting.
It’s believed the label put a call into a leading Melbourne agency yesterday for 16 models, but the order couldn’t be filled at short notice.
The show went ahead last night with the recruits and for more than 15 minutes they strutted in the same swimwear to at least three different musical sets.
A tall blonde woman wearing nothing more than an iridescent blue plastic g-string pawed the catwalk shakily and showed her behind in a tribal homage.
The female and male models varied in age from very early teens to late-20s.
Some were very fit, some were very skinny, a lot were healthy female and male bodies, both short and tall, which can be seen on any beach around the nation.
But it didn’t take guests long to figure out the models were ring in’s with amused faces because of the catwalk styles of the younger models. Some openly giggled in the seats.
In a united front, Fogarty joined hands with a friend and pumped her hand in the air at the end of the runway as her show closed. After the show, Fogarty told the Herald Sun:
"I feel proud, they’re beautiful girls.
"Someone said this week is anorexia week on the runway.
"You need to set real examples and what a woman should look like.
"We stayed true to the brand with our show."
Several men interviewed by the Herald Sun after the event said they knew the girls weren’t models but "it made it more real as they were real people”.
"I appreciated it, they were really fine,” one man said. But a woman leaving the St Kilda Sea Baths complex sniggered: "I am not saying a thing: what can I say? Bizarre.”

About Editor-in-Chief, Madeline Jones

Always an activist and looking to bring plus size women into a fashion forward mentality, in 2006 she combined forces with friend and online magazine publisher, Valery Amador, to create PLUS Model Magazine, where they could respond to plus women's demand for fashionable clothing displayed prominently on appropriately sized models. Since then, Ms. Jones has quickly become the, 'Anna Wintour' of the plus size industry where she is frequently called upon for her expertise and insight; Appearances and interviews include ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, Entertainment Tonight, Coco Perez, Fox News, HuffingtonPost.com and 200+ other media sources.