Dion Lee composes himself

This morning at the Sydney Opera House, Dion Lee staged yet another bravura presentation: his 'Composure' Spring/Summer 2011/2012 collection. Here is a gallery of images. Review to come.

RAFW Spring/Summer 2011/2012 - The commuter edition

Australia's most high profile fashion event, Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, runs from May 2-6. As per tradition, frockwriter has been making a list and checking it twice, ahead of the official release by organiser IMG Fashion Asia Pacific. Two years may have passed since the abbreviated "Recessionista edition", but that does not mean that retail is still not incredibly tough. Or that sponsors are not thin on the ground. Two longstanding RAFW partners will not be showing: Nicola Finetti, who has shown at the event every year since its 1996 launch and New Zealand's Zambesi. You can catch them in their showrooms. Also AWOL this season: Friedrich Gray, with designer Ben Pollitt taking a break from not just RAFW, but in fact putting his label on ice. The good news: among the big names showing are two of Australia's best-known designers, both returning to the schedule after several years showing in New York and London - Toni Maticevski and Josh Goot. Update 21/04: Good to see that Romance Was Born finally got over the line with its show plans. Although technically not on schedule, their slot is the next best thing: an unofficial kickoff to the week on the afternoon of Sunday May 1st. 

Also returning to the lineup are Lover and White Suede. 

A slew of solo runway debuts includes Yeojin Bae, Carl Kapp, Amber & Thomas and Friend of Mine. 

Much was made of the decisions by both Alex Perry and Kym Ellery to unveil their Spring collections at consumer events in Melbourne and Perth before RAFW. But that has not precluded their involvement at RAFW, with both now confirmed to show their second summer collections on-schedule at the event. Rachel Gilbert is also doing two presentations: a low-key lunch showing of Summer 1 on 13th April in Sydney, followed by a full-scale show at RAFW on 3rd May.

In terms of brand new labels being unveiled at the event, added to the annual TAFE 'Innovators' parade which has springboarded, among others, Dion Lee - who is showing on Thursday morning - comes a second graduate showcase this year from Raffles, showcasing six designers from Australia, China and Singapore. 

Yes, there are more off-site shows than ever before, but we understand IMG has organised a fleet of shuttle buses - as do organisers in London, Milan and Paris for their many off-site, on-schedule shows. In New York, you fend for yourself. Guys, we've had it far too easy, for too long.  
  

OFF-SCHEDULE
 
Wednesday 13th April, 12.30 - Rachel Gilbert
Thursday 14th April, 12.30 - Leona Edmiston
Wednesday 27th April, 09.00 - Life With Bird
Wednesday 27th April, 17.00 - Thurley 

Thursday 28th April, 10.30 - Carla Zampatti
Thursday 28th April, 18.30 - Ginger & Smart 
Friday 29th April, 09.00 - Sabatini (celebrating 20 years in Australia) 
Friday 29th April, 12.00 - Mrs Press  
Sunday 1st May, 15.30 - Romance Was Born

RAFW

MONDAY 2ND MAY
09.00 Zimmermann, off-site
10.00 Bec & Bridge, on-site
11.00 Alex Perry, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Arnsdorf, the OPT
13.00 Kirrily Johnston, off-site
14.30 Morrison, on-site
15.30 RTW group show 1, the OPT: Subfusco, Garth Cook, Uscari, Vagabond, Lanphi
16.30 Friend of Mine, Cargo Theatre
17.30 Flannel, the OPT
18.30 Karla Spetic, Cargo Theatre
19.30 Gail Sorronda, the OPT
20.30 Lover, off-site

TUESDAY 3RD MAY
09.00 Therese Rawsthorne, off-site
10.00 Rachel Gilbert, on-site
11.00 Sara Phillips, on-site
12.00 Little Joe, the OPT
13.00 Manning Cartell, off-site
14.30 Miss Unkon, Cargo Theatre
15.30 RTW 2, the OPT: None the Richer, Bless'ed are the Meek, Guanabana Designs, Wonders Cease 
16.30 Nookie, Cargo Theatre
17.30 Carl Kapp, the OPT
18.30 Amber & Thomas, Cargo Theatre
19.30 Marnie Skillings, on-site
20.30 Kate Sylvester, off-site

WEDNESDAY 4TH MAY
09.00 Lisa Ho, off-site
10.00 Talulah, the OPT
11.00 Magdalena Velevska, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Shakuhachi, the OPT
13.00 Fernando Frisoni, Sydney Opera House
14.30 Michael Lo Sordo, Cargo Theatre
15.30 RTW 3, the OPT: Foxton Danger, Karen Neilsen Collection, Roopa Pemmaraju, Terri Donna
16.30 Bianca Spender, Cargo Theatre
17.30 Dhini, the OPT
18.30 Gary Bigeni, on-site
19.30 Alice McCall, the OPT
20.30 Camilla & Marc, off-site

THURSDAY 5TH MAY
09.00 Dion Lee, off-site
10.00 White Suede, on-site
11.00 Yeojin Bae, on-site
12.00 TAFE Fashion Design Studio group show, the OPT: Leah Hibbert, Charlotte O’Carrigan, Emma Mulholland, Anna Westcott
13.00 Ellery, off-site
14.30 Lisa Blue, Cargo Theatre
15.30 Kooey, the OPT
16.30 Limedrop, Cargo Theatre
17.30 RTW 4, the OPT: Antonia Paris, Billi Keato, Luela, Sally Koeswanto
18.30 Stolen Girlfriends Club, Cargo Theatre
19.30 Alaistair Trung, the OPT
20.30 Josh Goot, off-site

FRIDAY 6TH MAY
09.00 Toni Maticevski, off-site
10.00 Lisa Maree, the OPT
11.00 Ms Couture, Cargo Theatre
12.00 Raffles RAFW International Showcase, the OPT: The Prodigal Son (Singapore), Zhigang Studio (Shanghai), Illuminati, Peggy Hartanto, Nosnim, Krystal Tsoi (Sydney)
13.00 Saint Augustine Academy, Cargo Theatre
14.30 New Generation 1 group show, the OPT: Paper Skye, Arj Selvam, Poppy Lissiman, Christopher Dobosz, Moek Theorem
15.30 Christopher Esber, Cargo Theatre

16.30 New Generation 2 group show, the OPT: Daniela Caputi, Daniella-Stephanie Puglisi, Del Playa Drive, Jaime Lee Major, Virginie Lynn
17.30 Bowie, Cargo Theatre  

images:
1/ josh goot/frockwriter
2/ toni maticevski/sonnyphotos
3/ carl kapp/supplied by little hero
4/ kate sylvester/frockwriter
5/ dion lee/frockwriter
6/ friend of mine/alexandra spencer via friend of mine
7/ emma mulholland/2threads
8/ amber & thomas/amber & thomas
9/ anna westcott/vogue.com.au
10/ stolen girlfriends club/frockwriter

Because the night - LMFF 2011

Alex Perry's Spring/Summer 2011/2012 presentation was not the only glamour event at last week's L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Although unlike Perry's show, it provided no reveal of any brand new season's offerings, the L'Oréal Paris Runway 5 show on Friday night, presented by Harpers Bazaar Australia, was nevertheless a wonderful showcase of highend PM-wear from some of Australia's most acclaimed designers: Collette Dinnigan, Toni Maticevski, Aurelio Costarella, Jayson Brunsdon, Dion Lee, Scanlan & Theodore and Willow. Here are a few shots below. Click (here) to see frockwriter's backstage portfolio shot during the show.

Ivy Shore

What a glorious Sydney summer's day for a Christmas party by the pool. That's what Pages Digital threw this afternoon at The Ivy's rooftop Pool Club. On deck were friends and family of the Sydney-based digital publisher (and frockwriter’s advertising partner), including managing director/founder Marnie Dibden Cate, husband Will ‘DJ Goodwill’ Cate, PD-ites Alex Light and Zac Bayly, designers Dion Lee, Carrie Cooper (Beau Coops) and Weave Dibden Neck (By Weave - also Marnie's sister). Much fun - and vodka - was had by all. But it wasn’t the only bash at the venue. Also poolside: the Christmas party of Sydney casting director and acting coach Sandra Lee Paterson. Could this perhaps explain why so many of the attendees on the other side of the pool looked like they were auditioning for a Sydney-based version of US reality show Jersey Shore? While observing the plethora of poufs, microshorts, daring decolletages, fake tans, testosterone and ripped abs, one wag dubbed the scene Ivy Shore. Click (here) to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery.

Dion Lee's fashion analysis

To those who may have been wondering whether Dion Lee was going to be able to pull off a second blockbuster collection fresh out of design school – in his case, the seminal NSW TAFE, this country’s equivalent to London's Central Saint Martins – the answer was delivered yesterday morning at approximately 9.30am. Yes, he did. Set against arguably the most iconic of Australian backdrops, Sydney Harbour, by way of the northern foyer of one of the world’s most beautiful buildings, the Sydney Opera House, the twenty-four year-old Sydneysider mesmerised his audience with a small, but perfectly formed collection entitled Façade.

It began with a dose of the complex, razor-cut, yet deconstructed, tailoring with which Lee has quickly established his name. The collection quickly moved into a series of bodycon microdresses with a honeycomb effect, created by the layering of synthetic mesh. These segued into yet more microdresses, this time in a sheer stretch georgette, splattered with a striking, ultraviolet Rorscharch inkblot effect print.

If asked by a fashion shrink what you saw in the patterns, you might well say Josh Goot and Michael Angel, coincidentally, two other Australians. Unlike Lee, Goot and Angel are both self-taught. They have nevertheless been at the vanguard of the recent digital print power trend. In Goot’s case, as far back as his Spring/Summer 2008 collection presented at New York Fashion Week.

Lee closed with a breathtakingly beautiful series of draped crepe microdresses in soft duck egg blue and taupe. Their skirts consisted of layered micropleated panels, with the bodices crafted from soft ropes of the same fabric, meticulously draped, knotted and interlaced.

The "drapé" was effectively trademarked by Madame Grès in Paris last century. Dion Lee just deconstructed it. If anyone is planning to revive that haute couture house, you know who to call.

Click here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of the show.