holy blazers batman!

I went last night to my first fashion show at L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. It was presented by Vogue and so we all had free Vogues on our seats along with a fan because it was hot. The front rows had real goody bags in which I imagined were things like cosmetics and maybe even candy, who knows really. It doesn't matter because I accidentally left my magazine in a bar later and probably would've done the same with the show bag so obviously didn't deserve one.

Runway shows at LMFF go quickly, so quickly! It was fun though and due to the 'sell out show' not actually being full my pal and I got to sit next to each other and discuss. My thoughts this morning (having not taken notes and enjoyed a couple of wines post-show) extended only so far as good music choices/blazers/apricot/Therese Rawsthorne, however I've looked through some photos to jog my memory so here's a wee rundown:


Romance Was Born opened the show with this outfit. I loved the brick phone, the model, and the money coming out of her briefcase. I tried to tweet live from the show like a real fashion blogger but I didn't want to miss anything so didn't press the right buttons. The un-posted tweet however, said something along the lines of 'Romance Was Born: sequins, bloody sequins, 80s power dressing, ca$h'. I obviously wasn't especially enamoured with all the sequins but was pleased when the model in the sunglasses above came out, she strutted, hard, which was way better than all the other walking. My friend whispered to me "I like that wind cheater, that's grouse" which blew my mind in all sorts of Australian slang ways and reminded me that I still haven't quite worked out the word 'grouse'.

Dion Lee was one of the designers I didn't really know about before. There were some cool metal details on the dresses, and this shirt was actually (hard to tell in this pic) a lovely sheer cotton with crisp seams and collar which made me swoon.

Ellery was another label I wasn't too familiar with, though decided I quite like due to the sheer mauve and this grey skirt, which looks a bit blah in the picture but I do remember thinking 'I'd wear that'.

I loved Arnsdorf's slouchy tan coats, they remind me of Molly Ringwald in a want want want kind of way. I thought the models looked awkward and weird holding bags but maybe that's just me. I love those peach pants, and the creamy blouse with little bow.

I was actually looking at Antipodium's website yesterday and all of this stuff is available now. I like the long back/short front grey dress and also what I have dubbed the 'mini mouse ears bodice with squiggly straps' on the dress above and also available in a cute top. I spent some time this morning wondering whether it's pronounced an-tih-po-DEE-um or an-tih-POH-dee-um and then feeling a bit stupid about the whole thing.

Gary Bigeni, yet another I didn't know much about before last night (Australian fashion amateur, obvs). Again I loved mauves, this time a bit bluer, and the pink dress had a whole load more fabric attached to the back, like a cape or a toga, which I liked. I didn't really see much of these last night as the runway was lit with black lights except for the end with the photographers. It was probably the most high-concept part of the show but made forming an opinion on the clothes rather difficult.

Freidrich Gray disappointed me a little. I loved his beautiful silk dresses and tunics printed with Rorschach-like cosmos from a few seasons ago, but wasn't so into what I saw last night. That jumper looks comfy though!

My friend pointed out at one point that they were using 'bigger' models this year which I didn't really understand as they all looked super skinny to me, however there was one girl who might have been all of a size 6, or maybe a really tall 8 so I suppose that must have been what she meant. My boobs ached for her as she bounced past in some of the sheerer gauzy tops (that's her in the black and white dress).

Therese Rawsthorne was definitely the stand out for me. I never thought I would like anything with one shoulder but that dress looked amazing. Also the sheer lavenders and mauves and slouchey coats of course...

These photos were all taken by Lucas Dawson. Some of the clothes looked different to me last night than they do here and almost all of them you can view in lookbook context on the designers' websites.