Stylin' 938
NEWS
It seems this week is a busy one in terms of local fashion events. This Tuesday, fashion majors at the Raffles College of Design and Commerce will centre their graduate collections around the theme of armoury and protection, as a response to the anxiety surrounding the global economic crisis. Raffles College’s Program Director of Fashion, Robert de Giovanni, said “we prepare our students for working in the fashion industry by encouraging them to engage with various aspects of the wider world, and to reflect those ideas and encounters in their designs and creations.” The Armourists will feature the work of 30 students, appropriating medieval influences and the Dark Ages to bring home notions of security and fortification in their soft tailoring and evening wear. Lancome Paris is the official makeup sponsor for the event, which will be held from 9pm at Carriageworks. Tickets are $10, including a complimentary beverage, and available from Tara Donnelly through 0432 257 958 or tara@qtcommunications.com.
If you loved the Sydney Fashion Festival and need to cure your transeasonal blues, FACE Fashion is offering a showcase of fashion design talent this Thursday at Fox Studios. The one-hour showcase marks the first year anniversary of FACE Fashion, and will feature collections from Fiona Vougdis, Stolen From, Perspective Apparel, Pizzuto, Kylie Hawkes and Lemisee. The event will be hosted by Samantha Brett AKA the woman behind Sydney Morning Herald’s Ask Sam blog. As if it’s not one of your guilty pleasures too… Tickets can be purchased from stickytickets.com.au and range from $39 to $99, including red carpet treatment complete with gift bags and an after-party. For more information visit facefashion.net/thefashionevent. See you there!
New from Puma for summer 09 is the archive collection, which recalls the retro stylings of the ‘80s. Catch The Cat, the series of six unisex photo print tees, pay tribute to Puma’s graphic archives and vintage logos in metallic and ombre finishes. The collection ties in with the upcoming Puma Archive Uncovered series, in which The Hives, Children Collide and Boy + Girl will be challenged to play their favourite covers, mirroring the vintage nostalgia and iconic references of the tees. The best bit- When you purchase a tee you get a free ticket to the gig, which are not available to be purchased by the general public! So hurry up and hit up your closest Glue store, where Catch The Cat is available exclusively from $45 to $60. For stockists call 1800 811 511.
A week after releasing his own Five Euro coin to commemorate the 125th birthday of Gabrielle Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld has made a silent film in her honour to be shown in concurrence with Chanel’s Paris-Moscow, luxury pre-fall ready-to-wear collection. Karl cast Lithuanian supermodel Edita Vilkeviciute to star as Coco in the biographical film and chose other cast members from his intimate entourage, as he believed extras did not know how to handle clothes. The 10 minute film took only 48 hours to make, given its massive budget. Lagerfeld said of the film, “It’s a funny movie, unpretentious.” Unpretentious- We’ll believe it when we see it. Unfortunately it will be screened only to A-listers at Le Ranelagh theatre, so we’ll just have to wait til it hits the internet.
2008 TAFE DYLON AWARD
The ‘Painted Faces’ brief for the 2008 Dylon Colour Award conjured imagery ranging from clowns to Native Americans tribes in Sydney TAFE students who proved their design prowess. Last month, the Carriageworks Art Space exploded with colour and creativity, as the cream of the crop of Sydney’s TAFE fashion students showcased their works as part of the Fashion Design Studio’s annual showcase.
22 year-old Anna Westcott, a first year student, was the well-deserved winner of this year’s Dylon Award. Westcott’s structured and sculptural outfit was inspired by traditional Japanese arts, and the influence of the Orient is evident in her piece’s high collar and origami-like detail. Second place was taken by 18 year-old Angelina Anderson’s interpretation of clowns and their dress, followed by an effervescent adaptation of the African Maasai tribe by 23 year-old Christina Rodi, who was awarded third place.
The designs of these students and their unique use of colour take cues from international Spring/Summer runway shows, in which major designers took a fresh approach to traditional dyeing techniques to produce a plethora of prints. Tie-dye looses its connotations of free love and uninhibited recreational drug use in 2008, as chic, urban minimalist Narcisco Rodriguez employs the method to construct constrained outbursts of colour. Diane von Furstenburg and Chloe called upon tie-dye’s more refined relatives – dip-dye and ombre – to create a neo-bohemian feel on Grecian gowns. Oscar de la Renta took on Ikat, a dying technique originating in central Asia and South America that results in a bold graphic effect, using it on anything from bubble dresses to bow sandals.
From Dylon’s sponsorship of the Fashion Design Studio since 1994, The TAFE Dylon Award has worked as a platform for many young designers to penetrate the Australian fashion industry. Dion Lee, who showed his first collection at this year’s Australian Fashion Week, was highly commended for this award in 2005. Michelle Robinson was awarded first place in 2001 and has since set up her own label and gone on to be very successful. 3D favourites, Romance Was Born, also found success after one half of the label, Luke Sales, won in 2002 and banded up with fellow TAFE graduate Anna Plunkett. We look forward to what winner Anna Westcott and her peers have to offer our monochrome wardrobes.
TAKE A LOOK BOOK: MOOKS – CULTURE IS DEAD!
Mooks Winter 09 is a collection that highlights the power of the youth, both past and present. The collection pays homage to significant moments in history, showing how young people have come together to attempt to overthrow the bourgeois.
One example that shapes the collection is France’s history. From the French Revolution to the Sexual Revolution of Marquis De Sade, to the bohemian subculture of the 1960s, the influence of the youth was imperative, resulting in a new free and rebellious culture that pronounced the stifling old culture dead.
This new culture is represented in Mooks winter designs, which flaunt controversial symbols and slogans. With slogans such as “be young and shut up” and “rich are dead,” the catch-cries of the youth throughout the punk era are recalled, this time infused with irony. Mooks Winter Collection is sure to make a statement. To Generation Y!