MSFW 2013 DESIGNER RUNWAY FOUR

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week Designer Runway Four featured elite design aesthetics and contemporary silhouettes from a selection of well-loved local and national design legends. With a sultry soundtrack from DJ Will Pyett and an accompanying audio visual display by VJ Olaf Meyer and lighting director Richard Grenfell, the runway well and truly came alive in an exciting new-age cultural explosion.

This evening’s show opened with a paint splattered double denim ensemble by Australian design powerhouse Gorman. The label’s love affair with print and colour continues for spring summer, with a collection featuring mint hued leopard print, safari inspired geometry and a plethora of triangles. The psychedelic prints reminiscent of decades past made way for futurism in the form of a holographic silver shift dress; the future looks bright.

Honor Among Thieves presented a throwback to the 90s, complete with the perfect pair of blue denim overalls. Menswear took on a grungy aesthetic, denim was washed, worn and torn, and separates were prim and plaid. The collection is designed to be stripped back or piled on, and each piece is equal parts dapper and disheveled.

Limedrop’s spring 2013 offering is fun, flirty and frivolous. The silhouette is athletic, with boxy shoulders cut into sports-luxe leathers and models dressed in playtime ready caps and backpacks, however the collection is rich with feminine sensibility. Pastel hues are key, and prints are layered in way that makes them appear almost three-dimensional.

Kuwaii’s spring summer collection is a delicious mix of luxe fabrics, everyday separates and understated detailing. The Kuwaii silhoutte is clean and classic, yet the colour palette is more directional; jade, mint, lilac and graphic black and white. Fabrics are draped, twisted and laser cut creating garments that are refined and inherently modern, ranging from sleek suiting to the softest of slips.

Both the men’s and women’s lines from Kings of Carnaby keep in line with the label’s signature style; a little bit 60s, a little bit grunge and very, very Melbourne. Floaty, feminine blouses are worked back with tailored lines and skinny silhouettes. Shirts are clean cut and masculine and separates are brought to life in wearable shades of blue and tan. A mod-inspired shift dress in blocked shades of tan takes centre stage as a soft silk skirt breathes life into a structured leather torso.

Gold lamé pants and fluffy feather earrings by Carly Hunter make way for a series of monochrome ensembles. Prints are oversized and graphic, sitting pretty on everything from shorts, to draped halters, and to oversized tee-dresses. An enviable white on white shirt and shorts combo cements the humble Birkenstock’s place as the footwear choice of the fashion forward this season (time to dust them off boys and girls). These black & white looks are followed by two-pieces in shades of dusty pink, pale mauve and deep navy, all easy colours to work into a wardrobe of winter neutrals.

The Bul spring summer silhouette sits away from the body but, in the most subtly seductive of gestures, drapes in all the right places. A fluid rust toned tank and pants is utterly chic and versatile, traditional breton stripes are given a chunky makeover, and a series of white-on-white looks encourage even the most discerning black-on-black devotees to strip back their winter layers.

Alpha 60’s spring line is a lesson in understated elegance. The silhouette is crisp and modern featuring structured crops teamed with midi length skirts, high necked shift dresses and one particularly captivating white flare skirt. The collection takes shape in shades of black, white, lavender and navy, and is capped off with potentially the most fabulous pair of white flat pointed toe shoes I’ve ever had the pleasure of casting my sights upon (a purely objective observation, of course).

The Above label is synonymous with structure and architectural construction, and this ideal resonates throughout their entire spring offering. Each garment works seamlessly with the rest of the collection, from crisp collared shirts to silky front tucked trousers, each look completed with intricately cut paper millinery.

Digital prints were central to show closer Jolet’s collection, with graphics and colours splashed across tanks and minis and climbing their way up maxi skirts. Stiff teal suiting followed, and was chased by a selection of monochrome ensembles in fine silks and supple leathers.

MSFW 2013 Designer Runway Four was a perfectly executed lesson in combining the past and present to create the future of fashion.