No sooner does Stephanie Carta reimage herself with
a solo cameo on the runway of last week’s Givenchy haute couture show in Paris, than another antipodian clotheshorse is caught offguard looking trashy by Mark 'The Cobrasnake' Hunter. The highly glamorous shots depict the 17 year-old New Zealand model Zippora Seven sitting in a Bondi gutter, chugging back a bottle of Cooper’s Pale Ale. They were taken just prior to Christmas at the launch of Hunter’s 'Too Young' exhibition at Ksubi’s Bondi store. Considering last year's furore sparked by a topless image of Seven in Australia's
RUSSH magazine - which image also included bottles of Môet champagne, prompting Môet and The Sebel to distance themselves from the controversy - one might assume that Seven, or her management, would be a little more vigilant vis-a-vis her public image.
Frockwriter confirmed that the woman in the image is in fact Seven with Seven's Australian agent Priscilla Leighton-Clark.
Leighton-Clark was unaware of the photogallery prior to
frockwriter's call, but confirmed that Seven was in town on November 26th and also identified the man in the blue shirt.
The man's name is apparently Jack and he once briefly worked at
Priscillas.
Leighton-Clark told
frockwriter:
"Unfortunately, yes it is her. I'm responsible as much as I possibly can be, but I can't hold their hands when they go out. Zippora is 17 years old [as of September 08] and she has been living in Paris away from her family. Sure the girl shouldn't be sitting in the gutter drinking a beer. But look it's one beer. It's underage of course but I'm not going to judge her for drinking one beer".
In May last year
RUSSH found itself
the target of an Australian Classifications Board enquiry over a Derek Henderson image of Seven, then 16, who was photographed topless sharing a bubble bath with 15 year-old male model Levi Clarke.
Four bottles of Môet champagne were visible in the foreground of the picture and Clarke’s eyes were closed in the shot, prompting some to suggest that Clarke looked as if he had passed out.
Although
RUSSH was eventually
let off the hook over a loophole - the magazine was deemed “unsubmittable” - the incident prompted much handwringing from Seven’s various agency reps, including Priscillas.
Leighton-Clark told
The Daily Telegraph:
"I can't be on every shoot. Had I known it was to be a topless shoot, (Seven) would never have done it."
This is the fourth controversial set of Cobrasnake images in five months to involve Australasian models – and the second set of images to involve a minor.
In July last year, as reported by
frockwriter, Hunter photographed the then 16 year-old Australian Tallulah Morton at a party in Paris
looking inebriated and clutching a magnum of Absolut vodka.
Morton was featured on
The Cobrasnake again in November at a
NO magazine party in Auckland,
holding what looked to be a mixed drink.
NO magazine declined to respond to
frockwriter's enquiries as to whether the magazine had served alcohol to minors at the party or on other related Auckland shoots/events that week.
Stephanie Carta, who is also represented by Priscilla's in Australia, was photographed on New Year’s Eve at Club 77 nightclub in Sydney’s Kings Cross,
looking very much the worse for wear and being supported by friends.
Last month, Nicole Trunfio was photographed at a party in Byron Bay,
clutching two bottles of Corona beer.
The photo was published 24 hours after US cable network BRAVO announced that Trunfio was due to be
the new model mentor for the 2009 US season of Make Me A Supermodel.