Fashion Week gossip from the front row: Models, Hollywood A-listers, parties and clothes

THE key moments of fashion week are not always on the runway. Here’s our snapshot of the stuff that kept everyone talking backstage and beyond.

IN among the frills and spills of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, there were always things to keep stirring the style set as they tripped from fashion show to show.

Attending four days of runway spectaculars with around 12 shows on the schedule per day, didn’t deter guests from strapping on their Louboutin stilts and teetering from venue to venue.

The working fashion week is wrapped and all that is left are shows for public consumption over the weekend.

So, for the flash-pack, it’s time for some sandshoes and a good lie down but here’s my take on the week that was.

THE HOT AND NOT LIST

• Gorgeous Victoria’s Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio flew in to walk for Alex Perry and also spent the day before shooting a top secret advertising campaign with leading fashion photographer Simon Upton. We won’t be seeing the results of that for months to come.

News_Module: Always stylish: the gorgeous Ricki-lee

• Mega celebrities were a tad thin on the ground - that was, until Gerard Butler sat down at the Icebergs restaurant in Bondi for the Ellery show. He was joined by Emma Lung and Charlotte Best as front row buddies. Others who featured during the week included Ruby Rose, Ricki Lee, Jessica Mauboy, Frances and Bridget Abbott, Terry Biviano and Sarah Murdoch.

News_Module: Bloggers-in-arms: Elle and Tash from They All Hate Us

• Here a blog, there a blog, everywhere a blog, blog. Yep, Fashion Week microblogging media turned macro with an insane amount of Instagrammers, Tweeters and fashion FB’ers taking their place in the front and sometimes second (oouch!) row. Usually showing off what they are wearing as opposed to the what is on the runway, some of the best and cutest included @theyallhateus @garypeppergirl @lindyklim @nikkikphillips @myempirelife @oraclefoxblog and @sydneyfashionblogger.

BITCHIEST ONE—LINERS FROM FASHION WEEK

• Blue. Blue. Blue. The mood at Fashion Week wasn't at all, but the runway was full of it. Deconstructered denim, soft trench coasts, wrap skirts and oversizes shirts, got their blue on.

MORE TRENDS FROM FASHION WEEK

• Melbourne based designer and Myer star, Toni Maticevski was pretty much given the week’s gold star for best show. Others who did Australian fashion proud were Dion Lee (who showed his diffusion collection), Aurelio Costarella, by Johnny, Strateas.Carlucci, Ginger & Smart, Phoenix Keating, Ae’lkemi, Michael Lo Sordo, Alice McCall, Haryono Setiadi, Bianca Spender, Jayson Brunsdon and Aje.

News_Module: Toni Maticevski - a runway hightlight

• Clever and chic Carla Zampatti was rightly given the first show of the week with everyone still admiring how she has remained and retained her relevance in fashion land after 50 years in it.

• One show didn’t let a major newspaper fashion editor in after she made the effort to get there late one night. And on time. Seems her name just wasn’t on the list and the clipboard princess refused to allow her in. Oooops.

• Cooler-than-cool model Julia Nobis walked in one show and one show only for Ellery, the designer who is starting to make her mark on the international schedule, showing in Paris the last two seasons.

News_Module: Imogen Anthony . . . and her Bondi Bather sandy bikini

• Witty model Imogen Anthony, who also happens to be Kyle Sandilands’ girlfriend, did something not many would dare do and allowed a bikini made of sand to be stuck on her body as she sashayed down the runway for Bondi Bather. Now, THAT takes confidence.

• It was about a snake called Candy at the sexy swimwear show for We Are Handsome. The fashion duo were the first to use the extraordinary Paddington Resevoir space, a venue that has been in hot demand as an event space. Kudos for snagging it.

News_Module: A snake called Candy slithers at the We Are Handsome show

• As sure as night becomes day, the n ever-ending debate about the weight of Fashion Week models took up more airtime than the actual clothes did. There. Is. No. More. To. Be. Said.

• Instagram has become its own runway show with everyone’s feeds full of bloggers thanking various labels for loans of clothes with endless pictures of gorgeous girls wearing good/bad stuff.

• There was much guffawing about media reports saying models were complaining there was no food backstage. Poor loves! Umm, here’s a tip: perhaps take your own lunch to work, or buy a sandwich just like the rest of us!

News_Module: Swarovski bejewelled fashion week

• Swarovski certainly grabbed a star-spangled front row with ever-so-handsome blokes Kris Smith and Tom Williams taking up their pews to watch model twins Jordan and Zac Stenmark take a twirl.

• A couple of glam, luxury labels — Bollinger and Bvlgari — made life for the style set hard this week by both hosting incredible celebratory dinners on the same night as major fashion shows. I mean, what was a girl to do?

Until next time ...

Follow Melissa on Twitter and Instagram @melissahoyer

News_Module: A Bollinger party . . . just to top the week off