the fun factory / trimapee

Penthouse Mouse is a temporary fashion, arts and event space that affords emerging designers and artists the opportunity to show their wares during the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. More than just a shopping location Penthouse Mouse encompasses site specific artworks, runway shows, live photo shoots and other random happenings in a collaborative, freeform and innovative format.

It all sounds terribly wanky right? Freeform and innovative? Woah. Well, I went along the other night and despite being distinctly underwhelmed with the collaborative freeform-ness of the space, I was impressed with a bit of what was for sale.

There are so many great labels coming out of The Antipodes that I thought this might be a nice opportunity to start some sort of a regular post on local designers.

Here's what Trimapee say about Trimapee:

With thematic and historical influences, Trimapee (the a has umlauts but I'm yet to locate them on this keyboard) aims to transform the humble wardrobe into a means of expression. Versatility is created through a juxtaposition of styles creating a variety of looks for any occasion.

They remind me of a few NZ designers, which I like, particularly at this time of year when as much as I hate to admit it, Summer is waning and scarves are reappearing. NZ does Winter fashion ever so well and so it seems do Trimapee. I am quite enamored with a jacket of theirs sporting zip off sleeves and hood, in a heavily lined black denim. Also large loose knit sweaters and dresses I can imagine layering over sweatshirts and thick tights.

As well as taking part in this year's Penthouse Mouse, Trimapee have a fashion installation – Hang Your Heart in Shame – in place at their store The Milk Shoppe Gang from March 16–22. The Milk Shoppe Gang, which has quickly become one of my top 5 shops in Melbourne, can be found at 78 Johnston Street, Fitzroy.

Penthouse Mouse is set up in an ex- roller rink and arcade formerly known as the Fun Factory, until March 22, find them at 243 Toorak Road, South Yarra. Upcoming events include a short film night on Friday 20/03/09.



These pictures were all nicked from the Penthouse Mouse website. If I get around to it next week I will try to scan some of the gaunt cave dwellers of Trimapee's latest campaign, The Gods Mistakes collection.