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.

Jayson's New Wave

Every season Jayson Brunsdon mines some bygone hard glamour era for inspiration, more often than not hovering around the mid century. Last night, he made poolside chic his muse and cited a couple of film refs: Jacques Deray’s La Piscine from 1969 and Jean Luc Godard’s 1963 film Le Mépris (Contempt). Both were part of the French New Wave cinema movement, which coincided with a new, futuristic mood in French couture, one that was spearheaded by Pierre Cardin and André Courrèges. Courrèges was Brunsdon’s biggest reference, heralding a new sporty direction for the Sydney fashion illustrator-turned-designer. Beyond the trademark hostess dresses and shirtdresses, was a smart, structured series of trench coats, piped A-line skirts, striped sweaters and knit sheaths, with a cute two-tone, A-line shift in caramel and white. The short, full dirndl skirts and roomy pailletted tanks are sure to appeal to Brunsdon’s more mature customers, which is obviously where the money lies. But there was no shortage of youthful exuberance in pretty wasp-waisted, full-skirted party dresses, which looked tailor-made for the new generation Brigitte Bardots and Jane Birkins. Click here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of the show. And here for a video of the finale.