After more than 40 shows and presentations, what did our experts learn from Australian Fashion Week, and the industry’s take on summer 2023-24? And how is the industry doing on important matters of diversity and representation? Style editor Damien Woolnough and fashion editor Melissa Singer break it down.
The ‘buzz’
DW: For 27 years Australian Fashion Week has lurched from season to season, venue to venue and from big names to “Who is this?” But after five days in the trenches, the Resort 2024 shows felt like a turning point.
MS: There was definitely a “business as usual” feeling to the event, which, after several years of cancellations, postponements and last year’s tentative return, gave the event a fresh energy.
DW: Since lockdown the industry has changed dramatically. Many key buyers have already placed their orders by Zoom before May. Australian Fashion Week has become more about “fashion-tainment” and the organisers are ready for this change by increasing the number of consumer shows this year.
MS: You certainly got the feeling that some shows were more about the spectacle than the clothes. Shall we talk about some of the best ones?
Runway hits
DW: The best expression of this change was the eagerly anticipated team-up between fashion wonder kid Jordan Gogos and the master Akira Isogawa.
The audience was treated to a performance art piece but under dim lighting you could barely make out the incredible work. This was for an adoring audience, not for buyers or fashion editors to inspect clothes.
In this unlikely fashion buddy movie Gogos was the star but I would have liked to see more from the support act Isogawa and his unique take on beauty.
MS: I agree it was a sensory feast, and what sets fashion week apart from consumer-led events such as the Melbourne Fashion Festival. It’s pleasing that shows such as Gogos-Isogawa are still supported by the industry and, as you say, the paying public. But there were some damn good commercially driven shows, too.
DW: The Melbourne Fashion Festival should watch out because Australian Fashion Week is confidently moving into consumer territory, with speed. The Cue show was a fast-paced, well-produced demonstration of everything in store that celebrated the customer. It made sense for the public but not for a diminishing industry audience.
MS: I can definitely see more consumer runways creeping into the schedule in future years, but one of my favourite shows, Bianca Spender, would have been ruined in a larger space. It needed the proximity to provide that feeling of intimacy, whereas the scale of a show like Alemais, which opened the week, at times made the clothes feel distant, disconnected even. So, it’s a fine line.
DW: The Alemais show was one of my favourites. Designer Lesleigh Jermanus knows how to present a complete collection. There was the perfect blend of pieces her customer already loves, progressive prints that will sell and some icing on the cake for the audience that probably won’t make it off the runway (although I would love to see that Dolly Parton fringed rhinestone skirt suit at my local RSL).
MS: Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Paris-based Australian Catherine Baba’s styling for Alemais, assisted by some seriously fabulous shoes. I just thought it was too long. And again, it could have been better lit, so we could, you know, see the clothes.
Nailing the elusive mix
DW: Sydney’s arbiter of hip-baring sexiness nailed the mix and the lighting. Michael Lo Sordo’s spectacle blended high-impact evening dresses with tailored pieces that were immediately available for customers to purchase. Speaking to him the day after the show he mentioned that orders for the lounge suiting were high.
Even the hip-baring dresses that showed more underwear than a ’90s rapper, and swooping velvet gowns were popular. At first, I thought, ‘Who will wear this?’. But while grabbing breakfast with Pip Edwards from P.E Nation, she ordered a velvet number before her first coffee.
MS: Speaking of early starts, there were a few (who said fashion people don’t get up before noon?). Aje – and Tourism NSW – scored a coup by holding the first show at the new Sydney Modern gallery, while in another history-making moment, Ngali was the first Indigenous designer to hold a solo show at fashion week. There were more than a few tears in that room when the models and designer Denni Francisco and her artist collaborators took their final bow.
Model behaviour
DW: There are so many reasons why I loved Ngali and also Ikuntji Artists. They have risen through the ranks and made it out of the group show mix.
I was impressed how both labels managed to deliver shows with heart that kept the focus on the artistry on the runway. My tears started when the front row screamed “Mother” as Vogue’s first Indigenous cover model Elaine George took to the runway at Ikuntji.
MS: I loved when we bumped into George backstage, and she’s still as giddy as a schoolgirl to be walking after such a long career. It was also fabulous to see stellar Australian talent like Gemma Ward opening Aje, as well as plenty of fresh faces. I couldn’t take my eyes off Lenny Nunes, who seemed to be one of the designers’ favourites judging by the number of shows she walked.
DW: This wasn’t Gemma’s first comeback since her international modelling heyday, but it was the best. The confidence she brought to Aje and Cue was beguiling. For me, she is only inched out as model of the season by Stephanie Carta, a veteran of the fashion scene without the first name recognition, who brought a dark and dangerous glamour to Henne, Gary Bigeni and Alix Higgins’ shows.
The diversity gap
MS: OK, time to discuss the proverbial bugbear. The D-word. I honestly wish we didn’t have to keep talking about this issue. There were some shows where diversity was so seamless that I didn’t even notice it, but then there were others that jarred. Henne, the brand co-owned by Nadia Bartel, sending out one model over a size 10 as its first look screamed tokenism, while Bec & Bridge sent larger girls down the runway in sheer tops with no undergarments or support to speak of. I am all for the art of fashion and celebrating bodies, but it just felt … uncomfortable, for the models mainly.
DW: I felt that the divide between shows aspiring for a traditional fashion ideal (think: thin), and celebrations of diversity from emerging labels like Erik Yvon, Youkhana and Nicol & Ford was growing. In a number of shows plus-size casting felt tokenistic, in others it was expressed without consideration of fit or fashion. Top points to Cue for getting this right.
What was your most memorable moment?
MS: For me, it came at sundown on Monday, sitting in the charming rickety sheds of the Royal Australian Navy Sailing Association at Rushcutters Bay, the sun setting behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was licking salt off my fingers, thanks to some welcome catering in the form of fish and chips, watching a collection by hyper-sustainable New Zealand designer Maggie Marilyn that oozed preppy confidence. Despite all the cynicism sometimes surrounding this industry, I was reminded that clothes can sometimes make you feel pure joy.
DW: Mine was also by the water at Melbourne label Joslin’s AFW debut, where the seats were washed away by the high tides at Clovelly Beach but the perfectly pretty show went on.
It was still a better view than the fashion editors sentenced to the third row at Blanca to make room for influencers.
Fashion week is still figuring out who it is for, and we are all along for the ride.
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