Gocce dalla rete 2013

M.J. Bale Menswear ‏@MJBaleMenswear

Hollywood superstar and son of a former PM, Julian McMahon has been shopping at both our Woollahra and Bondi stores this week.

Sydney Confidential ‏@SydConfidential

Rachel Finch keeping Sydcon company to the right and Julian McMahon's girlfriend Kelly to the left while Missy Higgins sings Howzat! (Taped)

I know where the in-crowd goes at DJs' fashion show, and it's NOT the back row
When it comes to benchmarks for prestige and status, there are few indicators more powerful than the front row at a major fashion show.

It is here the in-crowd is sorted from the out, somebodies are corralled from nobodies and wealthy palid-faced corporate kingpins are squeezed next to the beautiful stars of stage, screen and catwalk for a highly visible ringside gawp at fashion's most glamorous spectacle.

In this country, there is no more prestigious fashion showcase than the David Jones midyear collections - a fashion event that has evolved over decades from quaint but homely in-store customer fashion parades of the 1950s to a stellar event.

As the grande dame of Australian retail, 175-year-old department store David Jones has long had the muscle to attract some of the nation's biggest corporate hitters to its front row as was plain to see on Wednesday night at the retailer's Sydney flagship store where it unveiled its Autumn Winter 2013 collections.

Having received some criticism for a pretty Parisian cafe table-themed show that confounded many who felt they weren't sitting square-on to the action in a previous year, the store reverted to the traditional A Row-B Row model for this year's show, potentially putting 180 of 360 noses out of joint.

David Jones marketing and financial services boss Sacha Laing said he believed every guest at the gala event - held on the store's ritzy seventh floor in a beautifully styled room lit with two dozen chandeliers and 1940s retro signage - felt "special" sipping Veuve champagne and dining on canapes at a David Jones fashion launch. "Getting the invitation alone makes most feel special," he said.

But one insider admitted the task of "seating the room" had again proven difficult for contracted seating consultants.

"Everyone sees themselves as A-list," the unnamed source said, "but luckily it rarely deteriorates into a brawl at DJs. They manage to keep any issues very, very private."

As they did again this year, accommodating for high-profile last-minute no-shows including that of international home-grown actor Julian McMahon (his longtime partner Kelly Paniagua occupied his front-row seat) and dealing with the guests who "were coming and then weren't, and then were, and then weren't".

Even the parents of Jessica Gomes, soon to grace the pages of Sports Illustrated for a sixth time, seemed happy to find themselves in the room's second-row seats, behind a glass door in a corner, well back from the front row-seated parents of David Jones' contracted model Miranda Kerr.

Channel 7's Samantha Armytage also managed to smile despite finding herself in a second-row seat.