CUTTING EDGE: Dion Lee's crystalline-heeled shoes were a highlight.
JAYSON BRUNSDON: Terry cloth-inspired.
ERUPTION: A volcano dress from Romance Was Born
ROMANCE WAS BORN: Medici references.
TRIBAL VIBE: At Stolen Girlfriends Club, there was a "post-apocalypse beach vibe with a touch of tribal".
Talk about fun in the sun. While those of us north of the equator are gearing up for fall’s camel coats and cargo pants, our fashion friends down under are just now warming up to the idea of bikinis, wedge sandals, suspender socks and reptilian makeup. Here, scenes from Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, which ran May 3-7.
The Ksubi show was one of the most talked-about at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week. Its afterparty was equally controversial, beginning with models scoffing the cake – a large beast in the shape of the label's rat "branding" – and ending with founders Dan Single and George Gorrow, best remembered for releasing live rats on to the runway at Australian Fashion Week 2001, chucking cake around.
Cake fight, cat fight. Whichever, ducking pieces of flying rat sponge was a reflective moment.
It was the cult denim label's 10th birthday and one Ksubi wouldn't have been celebrating if Quiksilver founder Harry Hodge hadn't rescued the brand after it went into voluntary administration (liquidation) in January owing A$9 million (NZ$11.3m).
Ksubi's was the final of a hectic schedule of 60 shows, which saw a fair share of exhausted models doing 15-hour-plus stints because of late show starts.
Those walking for Ksubi had to scale a stepladder in platform wedges, another model ended up on the floor backstage at Therese Rawsthorne having a nap, yet another fainted from exhaustion at Annah Stretton's show and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, and then there was the poor model whose poppers of her bodysuit popped and she had to walk with her hands holding the front and back of her crotch.
Still others were spotted limping at Dion Lee's show when the ankle straps of the Terry Biviano shoes he used came undone.
That was a pity, as Lee's show and shoes were ahighlight of the week, Australian media even going as far as to proclaim that Lee, 24, had "saved fashion week".
The youngster is undoubtedly Australia's favourite fashion son right now. There was much expectation riding on his show following his successful debut last year, after which he burst into tears from exhaustion and stress.
And he delivered in spades with a sophisticated show that juxtaposed tailored jackets with clever cut-outs that exposed the skin, with knotting, pleating and draping techniques, and ultraviolet Rorschach inkblot prints.
This time, it was a confident Lee who faced the barrage of media who stormed backstage. I joined the stampede, making a beeline for the shoes.
Not because of the malfunction but the marvellously crystallised heels. Lee took the term home-grown to a new level, submerging the heels in "chemical baths" for a week and allowing the crystals to grow organically. It took three weeks of trial and error to get the mix just right.
Meanwhile, Sydney's Jayson Brunsdon stayed true to his classic silhouette but the look this year was more relaxed and fresh with cotton lace frocks, terry cloth shifts in Neapolitan icecream colours, classic 60s sundresses made of plastic fabric inlaid with lace, and swimsuit gowns in bubble wrap-look crushed polyester.
Inspired by David Hockney's pool paintings, the plastic gowns referenced plastic pool toys. His muse was controversial Sydney model and "it" gal Lara Bingle, who he described as the "classic Australian girl". Past muses have included Audrey Hepburn and his mum.
There were eruptions at Romance Was Born. The label is the closest thing Australia has to couture and it didn't disappoint.
Its Renaissance Dinosaur collection was a "paleontological fascination" as well as topical with a volcano dress referencing Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull. Design inspirations linked the Jurassic period to renaissance Florence and the Medici court.
The apocalyptic tribal backdrop of rocks, trees, jungle birds and dinosaur sound effects from the Jurassic Park soundtrack were a familiar theme throughout the week.
Camilla Franks unabashedly referenced the colourful world of Pandora from James Cameron's film Avatar; the models at Bianca Spender had feathers for eyebrows and blue hair extensions.
Kirrily Johnston's collection Apocalypto imagined "the future of the human race, post-apocalypse, at the dawn of a New World Age ... a space where roads are torn up by tree roots and skyscrapers are run over with creeper vines and bird life".
At Stolen Girlfriends Club, there was a "post-apocalypse beach vibe with a touch of tribal" with form-fitting orange crocodile print denim.
Wearability was key for most designers, though many of the frock lengths were barely butt grazing. The good news is most designers lengthen skirt lengths when they go into production.
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