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MAROON IS THE NEW
BLACK: MELBOURNE
FASHION FESTIVAL
ROUND-UP, PART ONE
BY THE McGINLAY'S STAFF
March 28, 2003
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L'Oréal Paris Ready To Wear 4 presented by Harper's
Bazaar: Akira, Nicola Finetti, Scanlan & Theodore, T.L. Wood,
Aurelio Costarella, Leona Edmiston
Tuesday, 6:30pm, Regent Plaza Ballroom
L'Oréal Paris Ready To Wear 5: Gwendolynne,
Ellin Ambe, Body, Mad Cortes, Jain, Trelise Cooper
KYM MOLINEUX
Oh fashion week, what can I say, I love it! It means
the beginning of a whole new season, therefore a new wardrobe. It
means to me and many other fashion victims, yes, I did say fashion
victims, what the new 'black' is and in this years case, I would say
that the new black, is, well, black… There were two shows that
I desperately wanted to attend this year. Ready to wear 4 and 5 held
during the second day of fashion week.
Ready to wear 4 was sold out weeks ahead, due to the
fact that the Duchess of York, or to some, the Duchess of Pork, Fergie
was in attendance, which put the paparazzi into a frenzy! This show
featured more contemporary Australian designers that have been established
in the minds of fashionites (I think I just made up a new word!) for
a few years now, Akira, Nicola Finetti, Scanlan & Theodore, T.L.
Wood, Aurelio Costarella and Leona Edmiston. I will not go into the
splendid details of these fabulous designs, but instead give you a
few inspired tips from these designers that should get you through
this winter.
Colours: red, black, chocolate brown, grey (yes grey
is resurfacing), cream/white, tan and emerald for a splash of colour
Themes: Asian, hoods (think little red riding hood),
military, Paris in the 1920s, (complete with berets), belted high
waists (yes, we are finally steering away from the tradesman bum theme),
plush poverty and of course sexy
Accessories: High boots, long scarves, carpet bags,
stockings and high waisted belts
Must haves: tailored long jacket, knickerbockers, wide
leg sailor style pant, structured skirt, a sexy silk dress, asian
style top, fitted jacket, boots, something in plaid or tweed and a
short skirt or shorts
How to wear it: Never wear two themed pieces together,
combat pants and military style jackets should never be seen together.
Choose each piece carefully, mixing the colors, having a signature
color in each mix. Wear your scarves long, not only do they keep your
neck warm, they look great as well.
Ready to wear 5 is what I had been really been waiting
for, with designs from Gwendolynne, Ellin Ambe, Body, Mad Cortes,
Jain, and Trelise Cooper. I knew I was about to be truly inspired
to spend big dollars next time I took a trip to Chapel, Barkly and
Greville streets. These designers are the up and coming within the
Australian fashion scene. To wear these labels now, is to be truly
cool and in 4 years time, when everyone else are wearing these labels,
you will be able to look at your friends smugly, saying that you have
been wearing this gear, well, for years - darling…
So what do you look out for if you are young and cool,
or trying to be young and cool!
Colors: black, white/crème, gray, muted shades
of pink, muted green, military green, brown, beige and red
Themes: timeless modern, 1980s, sporty, pop culture,
1920s, vintage sailor, post apocalyptic military, royal rags, hoods,
sexy layers
Accessories: scarves, leather and wool leg warmers,
leather belts and gloves, jiffy's, arm warmers, waisted belts, long
boots
Must haves: see-through mesh like top, structured skirt,
high wasted belt, leg warmers, long jacket, signature piece in gold
or red, pants with buckles detail, something in lace, a top with a
hood
How to wear it: Wear it with confidence, with attitude.
To make new fashion work for you, you have to be comfortable. Just
like you can spot the out of towner's on Acland or Fitzroy Streets,
you can spot a person who cannot wear new fashion. So strut girl (&
boy), strut it!!!
Designer Salon Show - Calvin Klein Underwear
Wednesday, 1pm, Sofitel Melbourne
TIM WILSON
The Calvin Klein underwear parade showed us once again
that fashion can be included as part of everyone’s day to day
wardrobe. Calvin Klein underwear has an international reputation for
style and simplicity and the Calvin Klein underwear on parade at the
Melbourne Fashion Festival was no exception.
In men’s underwear a range of boxers and briefs
were on offer, particularly vertical striped boxers with deep browns
and purples and bold colours noticeably red briefs, were a dominant
part of the collection. The collection also included a series of matching
briefs and dressing gowns that displayed sexuality
and necessity.
In women’s underwear a range of bikinis and briefs
and g-strings were highly sensual and presented as comfortable and
stylish. Apart from standard white there were a number of ensembles
that also drew heavily from the bold colours also seen in the men’s
underwear parade.
What comes through in the Calvin Klein range is that
bold flat colours and deeper striped patterns are in, and the sexuality
and sensuality of underwear does not have to be lost due to necessity.
DAVID BLUMENSTEIN
I'd never been to a runway show before this, having
previously assumed them to be largely the domain of rich, deluded
people in $900 shirts, all drinking champagne and being irritating.
In actual fact, many were drinking Italian
soda water, and none of them irritated me personally.
I do not dress fashionably. To this show I wore a royal
blue T-shirt with a cartoon dog on the front, slightly mottled blue
jeans, white sports socks and brown BKs. I won't say I felt right
at home when we walked into the show, held at one
of the CBD's swankier hotels. On a number of occasions, I thought
I'd spotted a model, only to see that she had a "MEDIA"
pass like ours around her neck.
Pretty soon we were on the sidelines of the runway,
and after some stilted introduction from the Melbourne editor of Instyle
(focused largely on what kind of underwear certain celebrities like
to wear), the show started.
After the mostly nude girls started strutting out, my
brain started to wander off the task at hand, so my report will be
short and with few words over two syllables:
This year's Calvin Klein ladies' lingerie is small and
seethrough and tucks away easily. It looks good on really thin, tall
women with nice faces. Some of it was black and some was white. Later
there was some in other colours, like pink and grey. Some was shiny
too. The models' long hair sometimes rested between their breasts.
They looked a little ill when they posed. I thought they should have
given each other onstage high-fives more often, like at the end of
"Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure". One of the models
smiled a fair bit. I suspected she'd be reprimanded for this backstage.
I thought she might be the only one with a personality. I named her
"Tiffany".
The menswear had a lot of teeny tiny vertical stripes.
I don't know if that's a new thing or not. I suspect not.
The giveaway bags had very small ladies' briefs and
G-strings in them.
Designer Salon Show - Matisse Boutique
Wednesday, 5:30pm, Sofitel Melbourne
DAVID BLUMENSTEIN
There was obviously meant to be some kind of Loose,
Free '60s™-themed thing going on at the start of this one. The
models kept doing these groovy, funky moves and flashing "peace"
signs with their fingers when they got to the end of the runway, which
kind of annoyed me but presumably was not their idea.
Then there was one big, foofy brown velvety coat that
kind of looks like our old couch did in its heyday. It was cool. There
were also a lot of funny hats at wacky angles.
Contrary to what one might think, having read my mono-adjectival,
occasionally puerile and adolescent response to the CK show, I do
have an art and design background and am sometimes able to offer an
intelligent opinion on such matters (although I generally prefer making
dirty puns if any are available). I personally favour clean, flat,
unadorned blocks of colour and classic duotones in most "design"
situations. As such, I thought some of this stuff was good looking,
and some (like anything involving leopard-prints and stupid plastic
shit) was not. That's just me, though. And I still think the models
should have high-fived each other.
"Tiffany" showed up again. I'm starting to
wonder if her unnaturally happy demeanour isn't just an indication
of bimbotic tendencies.
JACOB ZHIVOV
They say that clothing cycles around so if you hold
onto your clothes long enough they'll become cool and fashionable
again. But seriously there was some ugly stuff in this range. I don't
know much about the 60s i wasn't there, I'm only 21 but if this is
what they wore back then no wonder people did a lot of drugs and had
lots of sex they didn't want to wear some ugly crap.
My favourite part was when the backing music was just
a bell ringing and the three models on stage moved very slowly in
time with the bell ringing. It just seemed funny to me. I'll admit
some of the fashion i saw did look good but avoid the 60s stuff.
