All The Cool Stuff that Just Happened in Australia

You know what they say, right? If you look hard enough, you can always find a fashion week in progress. The fall ready-to-wear shows, which occur in what mainstream media calls “the four major cities,” wrapped in March but since their conclusion, Istanbul, Tokyo, Seoul, Kiev, Russia, Sao Paolo and most recently, Australia, have put on their own versions of the venerated marketing event.

Observing different takes on fashion week is refreshing, it frequently adds an opinion to a city’s larger narrative. But then again, that opinion comes through only the access granted by a computer screen. This then begs the question of how long fashion month will remain just fashion month. As additional fashion weeks begin to earn momentum, it might very well be that the month long rallies become quarter long — or worse, half-year long rallies. Australia, which already facilitates a growing necessity to be there in order to be there seems like a proof of this hypothesis.

Kym Ellery of Ellery showed at least two fuzzy coats for a season that calls itself spring, a duo of strapless, gilded ornaments that resemble a regal bird and his bathrobe and enough skirt pants, double breasted vests and flamenco sleeves to ensure delivery across the Northern Hemisphere. Tome teased Pre-Fall with neck adornments in poplin — not knit — that harkened back to their Fall 2015 collection, enough lace to free the nipple in sophisticated elegance and the kind of all white ensembles that make a solid good case for a career in nursing. Christopher Esber showed three bands of leather as a blouse and slightly Grecian-inspired blue and white stripes that could be mistaken for a prayer shawl or sari worn elaborately and well outside of their intended usages.

Kate Sylvester plus-ed on the case of nipple freedom, exploring the female form within the boundaries of various sheer silks and lace, not discounting the power of a striped trouser or, you know, high waist under-thing. Big-ups, too, for the cameo by a fanny pack shown as a three-tier side-belt where a hair stylist might keep her tools. And where bodies are but a tool to express art-in-motion, Romance Was Born recreated the wearable layer cake and shied not away from ebullient color, calling to mind past references of the recently shut-down Meadham Kirchhoff, but doing so in a way that reads both consumable and practically viable. And then there’s Maticevski, where the head-to-toe gold (carry-on suitcase included!) shined like a powered flashlight in a black-out, lucite ball filled with orchids notwithstanding.

And in case you’re wondering, this is totally my look.

Of course, the question still remains: do we get it, or did we have to be there?

Images via Style.com.