>> Vogue Australia Erases Abbey Lee Kershaw, Catherine McNeil's Nipple Piercings —While British lawmakers are considering banning airbrushing, Vogue Australia made quick use of Photoshop within its 50th anniversary September 2009 issue.  Greg Kadel photographed Abbey Lee Kershaw and Catherine McNeil topless for an editorial entitled "Come As You Are," capturing the models with their nipple piercings in plain view, but in the magazine, the jewelry has been erased — Frockwriter has photo evidence.  Funnily enough, however, they kept Abbey Lee's piercing untouched in a less close up shot. [Frockwriter (NSFW)]

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —The first of many Fall 2009 Gucci ads has dropped, this one featuring Anja Rubik. Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin still did the photographing honors, but the look is a hard-edged change from the pastoral, verdant ads of seasons past.  Expected in upcoming images: perennial Gucci faces like Jacquetta Wheeler, Raquel Zimmermann, Freja Beha Erichsen, Natasha Poly, and Abbey Lee Kershaw, with a few surprises — Myf Shepherd, Dree Hemingway, and Jamie Bochert. [TFS, TFS, TFS]

>> Yesterday we learned that Catherine McNeil was recently down in Brazil shooting the 2010 Pirelli calendar with Terry Richardson along with Ana Beatriz Barros, Gracie Carvalho, and Georgina Stojiljkovic.

Today, photographer JD Ferguson posted an impromptu interview with Catherine, who just got back from Brazil, where she said she "smoked and chilled" with a girl named Daisy, "and then it was my turn on set."  Catherine calls the shoot, "Amazing. Best job I've ever done," and implies that a girl named Abbey was also there.  So does this mean Daisy Lowe and Abbey Lee Kershaw were also in town for the Pirelli shoot?

While you're pondering that, Catherine also talked raw veganism — she just converted six weeks ago — and tattoos — she was "embarrassed to say" how many she has, but finally admitted she has 14:

I'm getting a new tattoo. I'm putting it right here, and it's all these arrows that point in the same direction up this way and it signifies law of attraction.  I'm getting it in white. [Getting tattoos] is about bringing good energy into my life. They're addictive. Like seriously addictive. Plus, all mine are hidden so it's not a problem anyways.

>> We found out a couple of weeks ago that Frida Giannini chose nine models for the Fall 2009 Gucci campaign, and now we've got more details.  Apparently the designer is quite taken with London and decided to have her usual campaign photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin do the honors in a north London studio; she's even picked to feature native Londoner and 1999-2000 Gucci face Jacquetta Wheeler (left, Fall 1999).  “We’re in London, so of course I had to have an English girl.”

Joining Jacquetta in the campaign are Raquel Zimmermann, Natasha Poly, Freja Beha Erichsen, plus Myf Shepherd and Abbey Lee Kershaw, whose television commercial for the brand's Flora fragrance, which was filmed over four days in Latvia last July and created using more than 20,000 fake flowers, just debuted.

Three faces are left to be named — Lily Donaldson is likely one of them, since Frida likes to stick with the same girls and Lily has been in at least two of her campaigns.  Plus, a Gucci spokesman advises that the upcoming campaign will be similar to past seasons, “a continuation of Frida’s Gucci generation."
*image: source

>> THE MODELIZER —Abbey Lee Kershaw, who was originally only supposed to sit out New York Fashion Week due to a knee injury, is now sidelined for the rest of the season, explaining her absence from Gucci yesterday, where she is a current face of the brand.  Apparently she was cleared by a doctor to walk Milan and Paris, but when she arrived in Milan and went to castings for a day, discovered that she wasn't ready to walk in the shoes.  Currently, she's back in New York; still no word on fellow MIA models Ali Michael and Caroline Trentini and whether they'll be making an appearance this season. [Frockwriter]       
*image: source

>> THE MODELIZER —Those new faces looking to break through shouldn't give up just yet — two catwalk veterans, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Ali Michael, are leaving their usual spots at New York Fashion Week vacant this time around.  Abbey Lee, who's appearing on the March 2009 cover of Vogue Australia instead, is sitting Fashion Week out due to knee surgery (no word on whether she'll make it to Europe), and the cause for Ali's absence is unknown — big campaign, maybe? [Fashionista, Fashionista]