Winter will be a lot less gloomy if Jennifer Hawkins has anything to do with it.

The former Miss Universe strutted the catwalk in Melbourne last night in a succession of daring outfits at the launch of Myer’s autumn-winter collection, which featured loads of leather, lace and lurex.

PICTURE GALLERY

After opening the show in a form-fitting embellished leather gown by Melbourne designer Toni Maticevski, Hawkins paraded several looks including a jaw-dropping white sheath with a plunging neckline by Arthur Galan AG and closed the 30-minute show in an elaborate hand-beaded gown from sass & bide.

The label’s Sarah-Jane Clarke said she and co-designer Heidi Middleton conceived the military inspired crest design on a trip to Buenos Aires and Peru.

“That’s where we started feeling all these whole masculine and female energies and that’s where the camellias and the gold rose cravats came from,” she said.

The art deco Mural Hall was adorned with enormous images of Hawkins inlaid with digital tickers displaying the names of the 24 featured designers. An evocative soundtrack included music from Sade and Australian Sarah Blasko.

Leather, including a luxurious cream dress from WA designer Morrison, featured heavily while peplum appeared on dresses, tops and jackets. International model Alexandra Agoston floated down the white runway in a black Aurelio Costarella gown and Perth’s Sarah Pauley wore an elegant off-the-shoulder dress by Fleur Wood.

The clothes were accessorised with wide-brimmed hats, leather caps, driving gloves, big hoop earrings, pointed pumps and knee-high boots.

J.JS LEE, Lucas Nascimento, Marques’ Almeida, Simone Rocha and Sister by Sibling are the latest names to receive NEWGEN catwalk sponsorship for spring/summer 2014. Nasir Mazhar, Sophia Webster and 1205 will be given presentation backing, while footwear designer Liam Fahy has been awarded support to stage an exhibition.

“Being part of NEWGEN puts designers on a fast-track to international exposure, giving them the opportunity to learn how to do business and allowing them to meet with top level buyers and press,” said BFC ambassador for emerging talent and chair of the NEWGEN selection committee Sarah Mower. “With the professional back-up of an amazing volunteer team of NEWGEN industry committee members, all of the winners this season have honed their product and upped their game. We can’t wait for London Fashion Week to see what they’ll do.”

This season, NEWGEN’s judging panel focused on choosing talents who are ready for the profile, platform and support that the scheme offers – in a renewed focus on designer business support. While the initiative’s committee will provide mentoring groups for the designers, the BFC will host focused seminars and one-on-one seminars and Topshop will impart its company knowledge on business.

Since its launch in 1993, NEWGEN has offered Britain’s most talented emerging designers a platform from which to show their work to the international press and buyers. Previous winners include Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Erdem and Matthew Williamson. The British Fashion Council initiative has been sponsored by Topshop since 2001.

The party’s over for Fashion’s Night Out.

The annual shopping event has been part of New York Fashion Week each September since 2009, when it was created in response to the recession.

It was masterminded by Vogue’s Anna Wintour and championed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

The event expanded to 500 US cities and 30 cities globally, including in Australia.

Celebrities mingled with shoppers, champagne was served and designers sang karaoke and played ping-pong to drum up business for the important autumn retail season.

The council’s chief executive, Steven Kolb, said this week that he was proud of what had been accomplished.

However, there was grumbling from some stores and designers that it cost money they weren’t sure they saw back in sales.

Fashion’s Night Out will still be held in select international cities.

A RETROSPECTIVE of Azzedine Alaïa’s work will open at both Paris’ Musée Galliera and the Musée d’Art Moderne this autumn. Specific dates have not yet been finalised, but the display will undoubtedly be a must-see for anyone visiting Paris later this year.

The showcase will be curated by Musée Galliera director Olivier Saillard and will feature as many as 100 dresses, all carefully selected from Alaïa’s archive.

It will be a busy year for the designer who is also opening his second store in October, situated in Paris’ Rue de Marignan. He is also working on his first fragrance, due to launch in stores in 2015.

SIENNA MILLER and Tom Sturridge are the new faces of Burberry. The engaged couple star in the brand’s autumn/winter 2013-14 campaign and share a kiss for the cameras – marking the first time that they have been shot professionally together as a pair.

It seems that newlywed chief creative officer Christopher Bailey is feeling somewhat romantic this season – not least seen through the brand’s recent Burberry kisses project – with this new campaign described as “a continuation of the playful and romantic mood”. The images were photographed by Mario Testino, while the video campaign is accompanied by a specially created version of Tom Odell’s Hold Me – which was recorded live at the Burberry Prorsum show during London Fashion Week in February.

“This was a shoot full of love and laughter,” said Bailey. “It was such a treat to work with Sienna and Tom, and to capture their magic together.”

The news is not quite the big reveal that the British brand had perhaps hoped for: rumours that the pair had shot the new campaign first emerged back in April – whispers that were only strengthened when Sienna attended the Met Ball wearing Burberry and accompanied by Bailey. The actress has also worn the label almost exclusively for the past few months.

Miller and Sturridge join the likes of Emma Watson, Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne, Edie Campbell and Romeo Beckham in starring in a Burberry campaign. Click through the gallery to see the first images from the Trench Kisses campaign and go behind the scenes on the shoot.

After years of struggling to find her place in the fickle world of fashion, Perth model Jessica Gomes is blazing a trail right to the top.

The 27-year-old, who was repeatedly told she was “too curvy” and “too exotic” for high fashion, was yesterday named retail giant David Jones’ fashion ambassador.

Gomes will replace Miranda Kerr, who was on a $1-million-a-year contract, and the role confirms her place among Australia’s fashion elite.

It is also evidence of a growing appetite for models from multicultural backgrounds. Gomes, who is half Singaporean-Chinese and half Portuguese, told West Weekend magazine she was happy to pave the way.

“People are becoming quite thirsty for a different type of beauty in the industry,” she said. “It has taken a long time, though.”

David Jones chief executive Paul Zahra said yesterday Gomes was a firm favourite on the retailer’s runways because of her unique look.

But when she was younger Gomes used to wish she had blonde hair and blue eyes, and she initially sought work in Asia after struggling to make it in Australia.

“People weren’t really booking Eurasian or ethnic girls in Australia. It was more the blonde, girl-next-door look (everyone was after,” she told West Weekend magazine.

“Australia is becoming a lot more multicultural … I’m just so happy that this change is beginning to happen.

“People want a bit more than a coathanger. They love to see a bit of power and personality and sex appeal and that’s really empowering for me because at the beginning of my career I really struggled. People would say, ‘Well, what are we going to do with you?’ Now people are really embracing it.”

Gomes got her break in the 2008 swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, and has appeared every year since as well as modelling in campaigns for Clinique, Louis Vuitton, Adidas and Gap.

She said though she was happy to be the “healthy curvy girl who looks good in a swimsuit”, she was excited to be back in the fashion world.

“I do love fashion,” she said.

“I love wearing nice clothes and I’m pleased the fashion industry is embracing curvy girls.

“It’s amazing to think people like Anna Wintour are looking at Sports Illustrated models now and thinking they might be worth including in Vogue.”

Gomes is among a growing cohort of Perth models, including Nicole Trunfio, Megan Gale and Miss Universe Australia Renae Ayris, making their way in the fashion world.

Like Trunfio, Gomes enjoys a jetsetting lifestyle.

She took to the runway for David Jones’ autumn-winter launch in Sydney in February before flying to New York to ring the closing bell of the stock exchange. Later that month, she and best friend Trunfio posted photographs on Instagram of them rubbing shoulders with Hollywood heavyweights at the Oscars Vanity Fair party.

Gomes is now based in Los Angeles, where she hopes to launch an acting career, but was in Australia this month for the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival and the Grand Prix celebrity race, where she competed alongside Ayris.

She said yesterday she was excited to be following in the footsteps of “iconic” faces such as Gale, Kerr and Lauren Hutton.

Kerr’s five years as David Jones ambassador ended after negotiations broke down amid suggestions she had issued a “long list of demands”. Mr Zahra thanked Kerr for her contribution to the brand.

Aurelio Costarella will be the only WA designer with a stand-alone show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia when he showcases his summer 13/14 collection at Carriageworks in Sydney on April 8.

This show also marks the commencement of Costarella’s 30-year celebrations in the fashion industry.

Once again the North Perth-based designer is using his event to showcase the talents of other WA creatives as Perth born, LA-based singer Grace Woodroofe will be performing live in the space providing an original a cappella set.

“An artist collaboration of this depth is the ultimate treat for me, combining fashion, music and art – my greatest loves,” Woodroofe said.

“Aurelio’s designs are strong and powerful, yet delicately assembled with great detail. I am so honoured to be a part of his vision.”

Costeralla added: “When I first heard Grace sing, I was totally transported. Her voice is other-worldly . . . haunting, in the best possible way. Grace epitomises the Costarella woman. Strong, creative, confident and self-assured. Grace is the ultimate Aurelio Costarella muse.”

This is not the first time Costarella and Woodroofe have worked together.

Last year, Woodroofe appeared in the No Home short film, OBSCURA, featuring an Aurelio Costarella winter collection, filmed and photographed by local cinematographer Justin Griffiths.

The talents of other WA women will also be present – with Costarella collaborating with Reny Kestel on elaborate headwear, Lee Preston on hair direction and Prue Barnes on shoes.

KATE MOSS has designed a technology-focused accessories collection in partnership with Carphone Warehouse. The line – dubbed “fashion tech” – is aimed at women and will feature covers, cases and add-ons for smartphones and tablets.

“My phone’s as much a part of my look as my bag or shoes, and yet there’s so little choice out there,” said Moss. “My whole approach was to treat this as any other fashion collaboration; I was heavily involved in the design process and loved seeing my vision come to life in the final product. From the quality of materials to the design, I wanted the best for my range that reflected my personal style.”

The Kate Moss Accessories Collection will launch this summer and will be available to buy in all Carphone Warehouse stores nationwide, as well as online at carphonewarehouse.com. Moss and the design team have been working on the project together for several months, which fuses the supermodel’s natural style sensibility with the latest handsets.

“We looked at the accessory ranges available today and found that consumers were crying out for something different,” explained Julian Diment, marketing director at Carphone Warehouse. “Fashion tech blurs the lines between fashion and technology, and Kate Moss is the perfect match for us to drive forward integration and creativity from the two industries.”

THE style of Diana, Princess of Wales will come under the spotlight next month as a Channel 4 documentary looks at her most unforgettable wardrobe choices – from the gown that she wore to dance with John Travolta at the White House to the black halter neck number she wore for that Mario Testino portrait. The 60-minute-long film will focus on the story behind the ten famous dresses that were sold at Kerry Taylor Auction in March – which were cumulatively bought for over £800,000.

Princess Diana’s Dresses: The Auction will feature insights from some of her closest confidantes and style advisors, including Virginia Clarke, with whom the late Princess lived at the time of her engagement to Prince Charles; Condé Nast International vice president and senior editor Anna Harvey, who advised Diana on her royal wardrobe; and designers such as David Sassoon and Victor Edelstein – both of whom created ensembles for her.

The programme will include archive footage and never-seen-before interviews to help explain Diana’s fashion decisions, influences and motivations. Watch it for yourself on July 16.

Modelling darling Miranda Kerr has been dumped as the face of chic lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret for “being difficult”, according to USA Today.

A report by US Weekly claims the Australian beauty’s $1 million three-year-contract as Victoria’s Secret Angel has not been renewed.

RELATED: Gomes earns place in fashion elite

The report says the modelling mum, who has a two-year-old son Flynn with husband actor Orlando Bloom, had a difficult reputation.

Sources told US Weekly that the 30-year-old was not a big seller for the lingerie brand, compared to former Angels like Alessandra Ambrosio.

“They can still use her for catalogue, where she will get a day rate, but she doesn’t have to be an Angel to do that,” the magazine reports.

But in a statement overnight, Victoria’s Secret president Ed Razek said the company had nothing but praise for Kerr.

“Miranda Kerr is one of the best models in the history of the business – and easily one of the most popular. She is also a consummate professional. Any rumours to the contrary are simply untrue,” Mr Razek said.

“While her international commitments have kept her away from us more than we’d like over the past few years, she will always be an Angel to me.

“We have no plans to stop working with her. In fact, I’ve already invited her to walk the runway in this year’s fashion show and, happily, she’s agreed.”