Hidden fashion stars

fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert hidden fashion stars Guess what? Lippy designers, highly-strung magazine editors, models, muses and super cool stylists aren\'t the only inhabitants of Planet Fashion. But you knew that, didn\'t you? There\'s a hive of worker bees keeping the industry moving and shaking 24/7, overseen by a handful of key players. It\'s this lot who silently steer the frock fraternity this way and that. Without them the entire fashion industry would grind to a halt. Ever wondered who comes up with the soundtrack to the trendiest catwalk show? Who decides on the latest supermodel? Who plucks ideas from absurd places and determines the look of the moment? Here, we reveal the hidden stars who don\'t so much come out at night as stay behind the scenes lighting up the entire fashion firmament.

Michel Gaubert: fashion sound engineer

michel gaubert,fashion show,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert michel gaubert There are fashion shows. There are Paris ready-to-wear shows. And there are Chanel shows. Catwalk-wise, this is as good as it gets… as long as Michel Gaubert is doing the sounds. So much more than a DJ, he decides the soundtrack of the season and is the most sought-after fashion show sound engineer. The 47-year-old Frenchman (who incidentally has dated Kate Moss) also does the music for Fendi, Raf Simons, Balenciaga, Y-3, Dries Van Noten, Sonia Rykiel, Christian Lacroix and Viktor & Rolf – you name it, he\'s done it. Not so long ago he released a compilation of fashion show tunes, called Musique Que J’Aime, with his longtime friend, Karl Lagerfeld, who he\'s been hanging with since the ’70s. During fashion week, as well as catwalk melodies, he provides music for all the endless after-show parties. Occasionally he downloads his iPod on to limited edition CDs that sell (out) at cult fashion boutiques like Colette in Paris. Otherwise his jobs range from prestigious, million dollar-type budget designer/high street collaborations in Moscow to nights at the Panorama club in Berlin (according to Gaubert now so much more fashionable than say, Pacha in Ibiza). Other Gaubert facts include that the total number of tracks stored in his Mac exceeds 76,000 and he annually spends £100,000 on new ones. His signature? Euro-pop, electronic, clean, futuristic, elegant but only if it\'s in fashion, darling. Right now he\'s playing James Murphy, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah and Devendra Banhart.

Russell Marsh: model casting agent

russell marsh,models,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert russell marsh Some models cause ripples in the fashion pond. Others arrive on the scene with the force of an atom bomb. London-based casting director, Russell Marsh, is the man with his finger on the red button. He sends out bombshell blondes, or for that matter brunettes and redheads, at whim. Blame him for making a fashion icon of baby-faced Australian, Gemma Ward, who he cast in the Prada show, aged 16. Or Ukrainian-Canadian Daria Werbowy, the poster girl of fashion, who has bagged more designer campaigns than Kate Moss. Since his ongoing collaboration with Miuccia Prada began 10 years ago - when he introduced the concept of using unknowns in fashion shows - Marsh, 44, has been the most prolific casting director in the business. He is renowned for coming up with this season\'s face and next year/decade\'s supermodel. Far more than a mere model caster he decides the direction of beauty. Casting Jourdan Dunn to walk the Prada show in February 2008, (the first black model in a Prada catwalk show since Naomi Campbell, 10 years earlier), has set a trend for models of colour. Forget what L\'Oreal think, in fashion terms Marsh will tell you if you are worth it. Where he goes others follow. When Russell cast Karen Elson in a Miu Miu show when she was just starting out, soon after Steven Meisel was soon shooting her for Italian Vogue. Marsh also first booked Sasha Pivavarova, Angela Lindvall, Lara Stone, Karolina Kurkova and Diana Dondoe, girls who represent a vastly different beauty look. He was summed up by one fashion director who said, \"He\'s an editor of girls, really.\"

Robert Forrest: executive fashion consultant

robert forrest,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert robert forrest The man with the best contacts book in fashion. He\'s been responsible for more introductions, tip-offs, canny suggestions and ear bending regarding leading jobs in the fashion industry than anyone else. Let\'s just say he oversees the fashion \'ladder\' (you know the one about be nice to people on the way up because you never know who you\'ll meet on the way down). The 50-ish fashion executive has been the definitive consultant for brands ranging from Ungaro to Calvin Klein for several decades. Whatever might be his official capacity at any given time - agent, mentor, talent spotter, Svengali, creative director - Forrest tweaks and sharpens a label until it is fit for steering onto the fashion radar. Thanks to years of experience and expert timing he second-guesses fashion moments long before rivals.
When milliner, Stephen Jones, picked up his Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards he first thanked Forrest. Currently working on projects in Brazil, the term \'guru\' is bandied about like nobody\'s business in fashion but if ever someone deserved the tag, Forrest is that man.

Tommy Ton: cool hunter

tommy ton,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert,fashion photographer tommy ton

Toronto-born fashion blogger Tommy Ton is a rising fashion star everyone wants to know. In less than a year, his website, Jak & Jil - which boasts 25,000 page hits a day - has become essential viewing with the entire global fashion industry. What sets him apart from a growing number of \'gawkers\', or \'cool hunters\', (ultra-cool paparazzi who snap stylish people) is his clued-up knowledge on the hottest labels. No matter if he\'s photographing Harajuku girls, grungy skateboarders, preppy school kids, the fash pack for handbag.com or music festival-goers, he\'s equally savvy about where his \'tribes\' shop for their gear. During the various fashion weeks Tom doesn\'t sleep. Here, fashion assistants, models and seriously connected editors clamber to be featured on his site. The only person who has yet stumped him in terms of naming where something is from is Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue. \"She really likes to test me,\" says Ton, 25. \"Once, after I had identified every garment she was wearing, I was thrown by the shoes – but then she told me they hadn\'t even been on a runway yet.\" Doh! Try harder next time. Ton describes himself as a \"nerdy kid who liked comic books\". He got into fashion when his older sister asked him to tape a fashion programme which happened to feature Tom Ford\'s 1997 heroin chic Gucci collection: \"The make-up, the hair, the way Tom spoke so intelligently about fashion… I was hooked!\" he recalls. His latest project, shooting legendary Asian boutique, Lane Crawford\'s ad campaign in his blog style on location in Paris\' Jardin des Tuileries, will surely spark a fashion photography trend.

J Alexander: queen of the catwalk

j alexander,models,catwalk,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert j alexander Yes, she\'s a man and the finest runway coach and model consultant in the business. Alexander Jenkins, also known as Miss J, literally walks the walk of fashion. Jenkins was discovered by Monique Pillard, President and co-founder of the giant of model agencies, Elite Model Management, while dressed in full drag. Pillard was so impressed with his look and of course his walk, she signed him on the spot. After making his debut on the Gaultier (womenswear) show in New York he went on to become a big star in Tokyo. Since 1991, the catwalk diva has been based in Paris during showtime as the leading contact for casting and coaching models for the runway, answering to all the major players like Valentino, John Galliano, Bill Blass, Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld and the house of Nina Ricci with its ever-changing designers. Despite hailing from humble roots - he was born and raised in New York\'s South Bronx - his elegant gazelle-like sashay coupled with his wit and wisdom, his passion for the ready to wear and couture industry, and great sense of style made him popular with fashion greats and fashion wannabes. His friendship with one of his most successful protégés, the busty American supermodel, Tyra Banks, whom he met as a teenager, has made him a global television star. Starting out as catwalk coach (usually in heels and a skirt and blouse of his own design) on America\'s Next Top Model, it wasn\'t long before he became a judge. With the result he now travels the world as a highly sought after judge in modelling competitions and charity events.

Bernard Arnault: fashion\'s fairy godfather

LVMH,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert,bernard arnault bernard arnault

He might look like a funny little French man to you but he\'s fashion\'s Mr Big. Although so far just a legend on the global stock market rather than a household name, Bernard Arnault, still has a colossal impact on what the average woman buys at Primani (that\'s Primark to you). As one of two masters of the luxury universe (the other is his mortal enemy and rival François-Henri Pinault, husband of Salma Hayek, the CEO of PPR, who own Gucci Group, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta), Arnault is CEO and has the largest stake ownership of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy). He is the man behind some of the most illustrious and luxurious brands on the planet including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Fendi, Givenchy, Celine, Pucci, Tag Heuer watches and Guerlain perfumes. In France, he\'s considered a national hero for rescuing haute couture from impending doom in 1995 when he took the brave decision to inject one of France\'s most revered fashion establishments with a living youth serum, ie, a young designer. Arnault shook up high fashion by putting John Galliano at the helm at Givenchy (and remember he wasn\'t even French!). Two years later he moved Galliano to Dior and put Alexander McQueen in charge of Givenchy. In doing so he kick-started a fashion version of musical chairs which has been playing ever since. This has made Arnault, 60, a very wealthy man indeed, the richest in France in fact. It\'s also given us superbrands.

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\"Designers are closer to artists than to engineers,\" says the art-collecting businessman, who is best friends with Jeff Koons and a chum of President Nicolas Sarkozy. \"John, Karl, Marc, they\'re genius.\" And so say all of us.

Professor Louise Wilson: designer teacher

louise wilson,fashion designer,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert professor louise wilson Since becoming course director on the legendary MA course at the revered seat of fashion learning, Central St Martins, in 1994, Prof Wilson has nurtured a generation of fashion designers. Her trailblazing protégés include Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, Sophia Kokosalaki, Richard Nicoll, Jonathan Saunders, Marios Schwab and Christopher Kane, many of whom have changed the course of clothing globally. Old girls and boys who don\'t go on to start their own labels fill in the gaps in prestigious design studios: Albert Elbaz has two MA students at Lanvin, Phoebe Philo had three at Chloé, Gucci menwear has two and so on. The former designer, now 43, runs her department like a professional atelier. Famously outspoken with a booming voice and a laugh like a thunderclap (fledgling designers apparently get the feel for the toughness of the industry via her terrifying tutorials), Wilson\'s no-nonsense approach and faultless track record make her a formidable force in the industry. Even though Lee McQueen is considered the scariest man in fashion, guess who he is frightened of?! Last year, Wilson ascended the ranks into fashion royalty being rewarded an OBE in the Queen\'s Birthday Honours for her contribution to fashion design. Too right.

Ezra Petronio: creative director

fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert,ezra petronio ezra petronio If you\'ve ever wondered why so many fashion designer campaigns are so uniformly perfect it\'s probably because the same guy is behind most of them. Ezra Petronio, 41, is the most highly sought after creative director/art director in the world. Most recently he has notched up campaigns for Chanel, YSL, Prada, Miu Miu, Chloe, Pucci and Colette (the Paris boutique). Since he founded his Paris-based agency, Work In Progress, (now called Petronio Associates), with partner Suzanne Koller, in 1994, his cutting edge has seen it become the most prestigious for a designer to work with. As well as revolutionising fashion and beauty advertising, he has pushed boundaries in the fragrance, music and even art worlds. Projects range from strategic advertising, visual identity, fragrance bottle design and packaging, to overall brand development. Thriving on new discoveries in design, research and interactive media, Petronio and Koller are also able to show they are one step ahead of the rest with their biannual fashion/cultural magazine, Self Service, which is considered a must-read to all industry insiders. Petronio, received the ultimate recognition in November 2008 when Karl Lagerfeld appointed him the new artistic director for Chanel (replacing the late, Jacques Helleu). So far his capacity includes overseeing art direction for make-up and watch campaigns. It is thought he could move into the fragrance sector very soon.

Alexandre de Betak: catwalk producer

catwalk,fashion show,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert,Alexandre de Betak alexandre de betak

This set designer and show producer created an entire new genre of catwalk show when he was asked to get involved with the American lingerie giant, Victoria\'s Secret in 2000. Picking up idea-wise where the late, Gianni Versace left off, Betak\'s combination of supermodel-only shows, exceeding the usual 15 minutes, with lavish costumes, stage sets and theatrical scenes (models dressed as angels have been known to hang from the rafters), earned him the nickname, the Fellini of fashion. Creating haute catwalk statements has seen him produce some of the most memorable shows in the past decade: Christian Dior, Hussein Chalayan and Viktor & Rolf, to name a few. More recently he\'s become something of an artist himself. In 2003 he made his design debut with an acrylic glass bookshelf and leather furniture in collaboration with French design house, Domeau & Perez. Betak\'s art morphed into a striking backdrop at the Rodarte show in New York earlier this year, where models tottered around a pointy, glass atrium (and in front of seats covered in tin foil to mirror the sci-fi effect). \"You need to make the show memorable, but you can\'t take away from the clothes,\" says the wise 37-year-old Frenchman and husband of doll-like French model, Audrey Marni. \"You want to do something different and newsworthy, but you\'ve got to stay within the image of the designer.\" Our sentiments entirely.

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Always one step ahead of rivals, his latest mission is to reduce the carbon footprint of fashion shows by recycling materials. \"Shows last 10 minutes and you should see how many dumpsters we fill,\" he explains.

Gawain Rainey: location hunter

gawain rainey,fashion insider,under the radar,fashion expert gawain rainey Tally ho! What\'s this, the British aristocracy has moved on from hunting and shooting in the country to earn a decent crust in the fashion world. Gawain Rainey, as his name suggests, is a toff. He is the nephew of Lord Harlech and married to the lovely posh, aristo-model, Jasmine Guinness, who is mother to their two sons. Operating out of London\'s hip Portobello Road since 2003, Gawain\'s company, 10-4 Inc, is considered a global production company and something of a fashion phenomenon. They now produce photographic shoots all over the world for a whole host of leading photographers/publications plus brands from Patrick Demarchelier in India for British Vogue, to Mario Testino in West Wycombe for D&G and Venetia Scott in Spain for Margaret Howell. Catwalk show productions include Jasper Conran, Issa, Asprey and Kinder. They\'ve also worked on campaigns for Jimmy Choo, Versace, Gucci, Topshop and Burberry, organising all aspects of glossy photo shoots including casting and production. They also co-ordinate the trickier elements of fashion we don\'t often hear about, from buying art and props for shoots to scouting for intriguing locations, set-building, organising accommodation, balancing tight editorial budgets and possibly knowing the fash pack as we do, finding posh scoff in the back of beyond.