Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Week 5

This week we got 2 shoots from hell. The former thankfully turned out to be a set up and the latter, while producing some absolutely beautiful photos, was shot in the awe-inspiring, heat-blistering, fly-laden Outback. The girls started their week thinking that they would have a photo shoot before their challenge. They were met by a diva-like stylist and photographer, were put into fluffy animal suits and had makeup that looked like it had been painted on by a class of very enthusiastic kindy kids. Lola has brilliant comic timing when she's being sarcastic and kudos to Cassi for not killing anyone. Yes, she was close to it and thank God Sarah showed up when she did.

The next test and weekly challenge came in the form of client Cerrone. The models appeared in groups to showcase thousands of dollars worth of jewellery. The catch - they have to incorporate ice scultures in their positions. Right away, Clare nailed the brief and looked sensational, but even she couldn't out-pose Lola who won the challenge and diamond and white gold pendant necklace.

As always, drama is wherever Cassi goes and this week, that's exactly what she seemed to want; to go. Seeing Mikarla leave in the previous week certainly gave Cassi a bad case of guilt, making her feel that she has not been trying as hard as the other girls (she hasn't) and that she only remained due to her ability to take beautiful pictures (she does).

For this week's shoot, she girls were flown to Parachilna, SA where they stayed at the Prairie Hotel. Upon arrival, the girls found lovely knickers on their beds and were given a little glimpse as to what awaits at the photo shoot. They were also given early introduction to some very persistent and quick locals - the flies. And they were EVERYWHERE.

The next day we met Russel James and found out that the girls will, for the first time, also be posing with a male model. They had to tell a strory; they are stranded in the dessert and would have to evoke the suitable emotions for each scene. All of them were asked for their own creative input and most of the girls come up with both good ideas, and good poses. First up was Clare and ethereal said so long for this shoot. The Clare we wound up seeing was edgy, dangerous, and so very high fashion. As Alex Perry says, it looked "expensive".

Adele also impressed, silencing any doubt as to her only haveing 'one look'. As usual, no matter what else was going on in her head, Cassi delivered a stunning photo. She seemed to reach a bit of an epiphany, deciding that she did have what it takes to compete after all, and has decided to stay on in the competition. So we have Cassi, Clare and Adele with utterly beautiful shots. Other honourable mentions go to Tahnee, Lola and Franky. Tahnee did seem to struggle a little but her end product was stunning. Franky and Lola were both very much in their element shooting in the dessert and it showed. They looked strong and sexy.

Laura was visibly struggling during the shoot, as was Madison. Unsurprisingly, both were in the bottom two. I actually prefer Madison's photo, as I love how she had posed her body and her dress draped on her. Her face was a totally different story as she wore a perpetual frown (complete with furrowed brow) during the shoot. The judges liked Laura's face in her final photo, but I didn't think it was as strong as she could have been. And her body placement certainly was a mess. In the end, Madison's journey is finally over. Frankly, I'm surprised it wasn't any sooner.

Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Week 4

And so another week rolls on by. This week we finally have fashion on the catwalk. Yes, the girls are put to the test in front of judge Sarah Murdoch and ex-model and catwalk coach Mink Sadowsky. Where strutting is concerned I think its always more fun have dishonourable mentions. And these most definitely have to go to Cassi, Mikarla, Lola and Madison. All I can say is - awkward, much?

During the initial catwalk lesson, one got a feeling of things to come when Sarah once again mentioned how disappointed she was with Mikarla's seeming lack of interest and passion. I'll admit that she didn't look as though she was enjoying herself and coupled with her lamentable walk, I'd say it was enough to be very close to the chopping block. It certainly didn't help her cause when she hiked up her dress, causing Sarah to point out that once again, she was cheating in a mini challlenge. Adding salt to Mikarla's wound, this week's major challenge was - drumroll, please - the catwalk! At Sydney's Fruit Market, no less.

Parked smack bang in the middle of the huge marker was a dauntingly long yellow trailer that would serve as the stage. The girls all donned very cute white Louise Brooks-like wigs and wore stunningly beautiful colour-block dresses. Honourable mentions go to Clare, Franky, Adele and Tahnee; who as the winner of the challenge, got $10,000 to spend at The Corner Shop. Adele was chosen by Tahnee to share in her prize and parted with $1,000 for her. Unfortunately for them, Madison and Mikarla both fell flat. Literally in Mikarla's case.

Of course, the show hasn't been without this week's worth of drama. We start with Cassi throwing a tanty over Clare having a shower and waking her up. I'll admit that 9.00 a.m. would be early for me, but with things to do and palces to be, these girls obviously needed the early start. Kudos to Clare for not making a bigger deal of having someone storm into the bathroom while she was stark naked and switching off the shower. Understandably, Cassi was then under attack from everyone else, though she did say to the cameras later that she was going to apologise in private. Whether she did or not remains unaired.

Next up we have Mikarla versus Tahnee and Eloise. Schiffer-esque Mikarla was told earlier on that she needed to eat healthily to put on weight and to stop smoking. While we haven't seen it played, it became obvious that Mikarla was flaunting at least part 2 as Tahnee and Eloise had collected her ciggarette butts and left them in a McDonald's takeaway bag and cup on Mikarla's bed. Cue the shouts and swearing, with Mikarla accusing the two of putting on weight; going so far as to call Tahnee fat. The coup de grace? Cassi tipping all the butts out onto Eloise's bed.

The girls have their photoshoot at some old graffitied warehouse-like sheds. The client is 'U' by Kotex and they want one girl to front their now packagining campaign. Truth be told, none of the girls did it for me this week. I was more interested in the heavenly bright beautiful dresses than I was the models. However, Franky did finally come alive and was eventually chosen by Kotex for their campaign, though my favourite would probably be Madison's photo. Come elimination, Mikarla's dedication and Eloise's lack of strength were called into question once again and were sent home.

Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Week 3

Oh Franky, Franky, Franky! At this point, I think she is the weakest link and we should say goodbye to her. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This week, the girls had their makeovers. Some girls were given drastic changes and other not so much. Laura got asked by Jonathan what she'd say if she were told that she was to go bald. The reaction was hands clapped to mouth and a look of shock. But you do sort of get the feeling that the girl would have gone for it. The same can't be said for Franky, who upon being told that her hair would be cropped, promptly announced that she wasn't doing it and would rather leave the competition.

In fact, she said this more than once and were I in Sarah Murdoch's shoes, I would have let her go. Unfortunately, Franky belatedly seemed to realise how much she does actually want to be in the show and did not make good on her threat to walk. Shame really, as she just gave more dead fish in her photo shoot.

Sponsor Maybelline New York made an appearance this week, with the girls doing an ad as their challenge. Sparks flew when Lola stole Cassi's line. True, Cassi probably would not have been able to deliver said line with the same oomph and panache as Lola did, but I still thought that was uncalled for. The situation wasn't made any better with Lola winning the challenge; a hamper of designer goodies.

The photoshoot was done on location at Swain Park with the theme of natural beauty. Unsurprisingly, Cassi, Clare (though its not my favourite shot of her, I agree with Alex Perry that its very Cate Blanchett as Galadriel) and Tahnee absolutely shone. I also loved Adele's photo but I think the first thing you notice is hair. Laura looked nice, but nothing particularly special, and Madison reminds me of a very young Brooke Shields. Final nods go to Eloise who looks utterly at home doing natural beauty.

I thought Franky, Lola (really stiff looking), Georgie and Mikarla were right at the bottom. The judges agreed and Georgie was sent home. I had hoped that Franky would be the one to go. Her meltdown at makeover shows that she's not as dedicated to being a model as she would like to think. Struggling at 2 out of 3 shoots is another bad sign.

I suppose we can just wait with bated breath to see who goes next.

Fashion at the Met

They call it, the "Oscars of the Fashion World" and it certainly proved to be another eye-catching event, as the stars, models, fashionistas, socialites and designers ascended the red staircase at the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This year's theme was “The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion”. Unsurprisingly, the fashion was center stage as Marc Jacobs, Kate Moss and Justin Timberlake hosted the glamorous event.

I have my top picks and may I say, they are stunning. There were also some absolute shockers (stand up Madonna and Leighton Meester) but for now, let's just enjoy the absolutely gorgeous.

Chanel Iman

Claudia Schiffer

Kate Beckinsale























Iman Giselle Bundchen




And just because I love the colour and wearability of this frock, I decided to put Rachel Bilson in as well.

Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Week 2

Last week, I said that I had thought Leah should go. I'm sure her look is striking but to me, she just looks mannish and not in a good way either. To jump to the end of this week's show, Leah has been given the boot. Hurrah, I say.

Now that we've got that out of the way, onto he meatier parts of this week's episode. The girls are given a bit of a talk on nutrition and then sent off for a bit of a fitness test. Generally, very few girls seem in any way athletic so I wasn't exactly expecting something new this year. The girls were given a serious of exercises testing strength, flexibility, cardio, etc. to determine their fitness age. The girls range from ages 16 to 20, but the youngest fitness age was a disappointing 26, coming from 16 year old Tahnee. The oldest was 45 (shock and horror!).

Tensions build between Mikarla, who must think she's doing a lot better than she really is, to be telling Cassi to suck it up and not pull out of the challenge, when a pulled shoulder muscle gets in the way of the latter. To be fair to Mikarla, it does seem like Cassi has too many disclaimers when it comes to working out (she pleaded weak ankles and 1 wonky spinal disc during the fitness test). However, unlike Mikarla, Cassi does take breathtakingly beautiful photos and given that www.news.com.au has already announced that she walked during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in a news article, we can rest easy in that she makes it at least to the top 3 (who are usually given the honour of walking during Fashion Week).

Franky still gets on my nerves and I'm not sure why. When I saw her audition I was absolutely blown away so maybe I'm just expecting more from her. Clare, I still absolutely love. She won this week's challenge and along with Tahnee, accompanied Sarah to the ballet. Back to the whole Mikarla vs Cassi thing; I can't help but have a soft spot for Cassi, even though I do agree that she is pretty much a bogan. Some of the other girls do tend to pick on her and though her infamous temper has yet to rear its ugly head, it can only be a matter of time (in fact, next week we finally get to see some of it).

This week's photoshoot was for client Cosmopolitan magazine (for the June edition) and required the girls to call upon the gymnastic skills learnt during the week. They were told that out of the 12 remaning girls, only 8 would get their photos in the spread (editor Bronwyn McCahon eventually put in 9 photos instead). Of the 9 photos, my favourites are Clare (of course), Cassi, Adele and Laura. Considering that Cassi probably sat out most of the gymnastics lesson, she absolutely nailed the shoot. I do think the way Tahnee has posed makes for a very interesting photo, but you can see in her face that that position was not the most comfortable. Still, it worked and made it into the spread. The girls who bombed were Eloise (a pretty but non-spectacular shot), Lola (nerve-wracked) and Leah who just kept on looking like a man.

During judging, Alex Perry brought up a very intersting point regarding Clare's look and how suited it was for this photo shoot, and how he was interested to see if she can do moody and dark. Now, I'm looking forward to an edgier and tougher shoot.

Already, I can't wait for my next AusNTM fix.

Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Week 1

After a super-long hiatus, I'm back and kicking off with my thoughts of AusNTM Cycle 5. Going by the promo shot I immediately went for Clare. On the whole though, I didn't like the way the girls were styled. After seeing their photo in Foxtel's April magazine, I got a better idea of my favourites. They are Clare, Adele, Cassi, Georgie and Tahnee.

After watching the first episode this week, I'm happy to say that I absolutely love Clare and really hope she wins. The last time I felt this sure about one of the girls was with Alice Burdeu who went on to win the competition and is probably the most famous winner of both Australia's and America's Next Top Model franchise.

I won't give an entire synopsis of the show. Suffice to say, Clare shone and Leah just didn't do it for me. She doens't strike me as being particularly good-looking, both in her photos and on screen. Lola looks a lot better on screen than in her photos (in which I felt she looks ever so slightly tranny) while Mikarla is adorably ditzy (though I suspect that might drive me nuts after a while). Cassi - absolutely gorgeous but with munted teeth and definite 'bogan-ness'.

And as much as I love Tahnee and think she's absolutely stunning, she really needs to learn about fashion. Asking "what is couture?" after being told that they had a couture swimwear shoot coming up is not how you want to stand out. I think Franky has a great body and very strong walk but she absolutely tanked at the shoot. Adele so far is very quiet but I think she's one to watch and Madison. All I can say is, THAT HAIR!!!!! She already looks Malibu Barbie and that hair does not help. To be fair, she's a very pretty Barbie and she looked great in this shoot but note that her hair was slicked back off her face.

Personally, I would have got rid of Leah and given Laura T another chance, but I suppose after boasting that you've had modelling experience and have even jetted to Milan for work, you should be able to perform much better than she did. So now we're down to 12 and I'm sure its going to be another interesting week coming up.

Clare Venema

Cassi Van Den Dungen

Tahnee Atkinson

Adele Thiel

Georgie Kidman

And the photos from this week's shoot (the girls are listed in alphabetical order):