The highlight of day 5 at Mercedes Benz Australia Fashion Week was Zambesi’s return to the MBFWA runway in one of the most anticipated shows, with their intelligent, individual take on modern fashion…
Evelyn Ebrey is on location at Mercedes Benz Australia Fashion Week 2013, covering it for thread.co.nz with her daily diary posts. Here’s day 5…
Read our MBFWA Day 1 post here and MBFWA Day 2 here and MBFWA Day 3 here and MBFWA Day 4 here.
MBFWA Day 5
After a wonderful week full of amazing Antipodean fashion, Day 5 was upon us all too quickly, with just a handful of shows wrapping up the last day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia for 2013.
Kicking off the morning with a range of new faces and fresh ideas, the New Generation show presented the collections of Betty Tran, Desert Designs, Faddoul, Jamie Ashkar, Natalie & Sarah, The Letter Q, Tristan Melle and Zhivago in a brilliant display of creativity and innovation. With so much talent on display it was really hard to pick a favourite but I adored the lovely lace from Betty Tran (pictured below)
… and stunning textures from Tristan Melle (pictured below).
Another young designer making her MBFWA debut was Project Runway winner, Christina Exie, who presented a monochromatic collection (pictured below) of striking sports luxe separates with pops of cobalt blue and tomato red, accented by deep blue lips and slicked down hair. It was a confident debut of sleek, modern pieces with modest hem lengths making for a really practical and wearable collection.
Next up was Staple The Label, who presented a futuristic range (pictured below) inspired by refracted light and faceted surfaces. It was an unusual collection of metallics, sheers and knits in separates and short sixties style dresses with a focus on new materials, which reminded me of a modern version of The Jetsons cartoon.
The highlight of the day was next, in the form of Zambesi’s return to the MBFWA runway in one of the most anticipated shows of the week. Known for their intelligent, individual take on modern fashion, Zambesi opened with a series of six chic all-white outfits, which combined with the soft nude makeup and moody lighting, had an almost celestial feel. Although it wasn’t long before the darker, edgier side of the label came out to play, appropriately to the sounds of Australia’s own INXS. Mixed in with the minimalist mens and womenswear was a delicately tasseled maxi-dress and an amazing emerald plaid print, the mens shirt and shorts outfit of which in organza was particularly stunning. An effortlessly cool collection with a feeling of nonchalant elegance from the Zambesi team, it was fantastic to end the designer shows of MBFWA with such a brilliant show from an iconic kiwi label.
Officially closing the week of MBFWA shows was a gold-themed event ‘Hello Elle’ to celebrate new Bauer/Hearst magazine, Elle Australia, whose first issue launches in September with former Shop Til You Drop Editor Justine Cullen at the helm. 80+ outfits from each label who showed during the week, plus a few more local favourites took to the runway in a fashion extravaganza and brought the week to a glittering finale.
It’s hard to believe it’s all over again so quickly, but I’d like to thank all the wonderful people who helped make my MBFWA 2013 such a fantastic one. It’s always incredibly inspiring to see the amazing depth of talent we have in this part of the world, and I absolutely cannot wait to shop the gorgeous new collections I saw this week in a few months time.
By Evelyn Ebrey
14 April 2013
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