aussie fashion week - the year of the shoulder

swine flu jokes, balmain inspired shoulders, slipping and/or falling in precarious heels, leggings as pants (mostly by attendees at the shows not so much on the catwalk), twittering front rowers, boys wearing spray on jeans and deep v necks revealing waxed and spray tanned chests, and uh, did i mention shoulders?

luckily for us our labels are a little more 'left of centre' than all that, and i may be biased but i think romance was born, tv, and gary bigeni produced the strongest collections of the week - leaving behind obvious trends and any notion of the dreaded 'recession' dressing.

romance was born

an under the sea granny's tea party was the inspiration behind the madness that ensued at romance was born. a tea party that included oysters (printed on silk satin and georgette), clams (inspiring clam shaped panelling on dresses) and an array of pastries (one girl literally wearing a lamington??). girls seductively wriggled and writhed on the catwalk ending up being part of a huge tableaux in front of an incredible floral centre piece with neptune plucking away at a harp. it was uplifting, eccentric, and suprisingly wearable and not a balmain marching jacket in sight. favourite look? the pamela anderson meets lady bunny mermaid girl. what recession? swine flu? never heard of it.

shoulder emphasis rating = 4/10, shoulder pads were evident, but they are used externally, and in some pieces used to pad hips, or dyed to create mollusc like shapes.

tv

tv's collection 'army dreamers' boomed into life with bob marleys buffalo soldier, with girls stomping down the catwalk in punched suede dresses, a sexy jungle print, and pieces with utilitarian closures such as knots, twists and ties. it felt a little 80's (with coloured denims, and tapered pleat front pants) a little glamourous (with floor length jersey gowns) but all with a deliberately off-kilter tv vibe.

my favourites were the supersized perforated kaftan, geometric knits, and jersey dresses. 

shoulder emphasis rating = 5/10, there were shoulder pads giving some jackets and dresses an authentic power dressing look, but they are removable.

gary bigeni

ok, so my catwalk photo's of the gary bigeni show sucked, but i'm not vogue.com.au ok?? gary's show was a concise meditation on drape, volume and form, zips allowed garments to split apart, giving a harder geometric element to the organic shapes he's known for. there's still the tricky pattern cutting where dresses snake around the body with few seams, but there's an ease to the whole look. favourites? long line silk georgette pieces with side zips, a knit jumper with joined arms with tiny rib holes on the elbow for your arms, and some killer draped one seam black dresses. super clever stuff!! but when is he going to do men's wear?? i want one of those joined sleeve jumpers!!

shoulder emphasis rating = 0/10, not a shoulder pad in sight

and that's a wrap guys!! i'm exhausted and fashioned out - but there are some new exciting finds that i'll tell you more about soon... i'm off to wax my chest...