The MBFWA Diaries Part 4

Day 3. Today I’m sitting down and having breakfast, dammit! I still make the Art Gallery of NSW in time to go backstage at Lisa Ho. Once again the hair is brilliant and unexpected…

Julie Roulston brings Thread her diary from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia.

Read her first instalment on Romance was Born here and The MBFWA Diaries Part 2 here and Day 3 here. Next up, Day 4…

The MBFWA Diaries
Part 4

Day 3. Today I’m sitting down and having breakfast, dammit! I still make the Art Gallery of NSW in time to go backstage at Lisa Ho. It’s the same venue as last year and I remember backstage being light and high-ceilinged, making for great photographs.

Once again the hair is brilliant and unexpected. The last couple of times I’ve seen Lisa Ho shows she’s shown variations on the Goddess theme complete with luxurious long locks. There’s change afoot! Hair is coloured in glorious shades of pink, yellow and blue, ironed poker-straight.

Both hair director Kenneth Stoddard (Redken) and makeup key Linda Jefferyes (M.A.C) agree that this is a shift for the label, but stylist Fiona Lane (current Fashion Editor of Madison magazine and former Editor of NZ Fashion Quarterly) shrugs this off, saying it’s just normal evolution for the Lisa Ho girl who she says is young and current.

Hmmm – the clothes are different too, though, and it’s a good different. There’s more tailoring than I remember, and some knockout, thoroughly modern gowns. Bravo, Lisa Ho!

Next up Alice McCall, where I find lovely Michael Beel (Buoy, Wellington) backstage for ghd once again.

The hair is relatively simple this time – centre parted at the back and braided over the head with wisps pulled out for a little edge – the look is “a playful yet modern Russian doll.”

The makeup is very pretty and includes little half sequins under the eyes (Amber D from M.A.C spots the Givenchy ‘homage’ immediately).

The show is stunning. McCall’s Dresden motif is strong but wearable and I love the way she successfully interprets it into looks both body-con, and not. The accessorisation is fantastic, too, complete with sparkly dangly earrings or pompoms – or both.

Wilde Rose, Alice McCall’s daughter.

Alice McCall and Wilde Rose.

Ruby Rose – an Australian TV personality and Maybelline ambassador – at the Alice McCall fashion week show.

Killer heels on models at Alice McCall.

At Bec and Bridge (below: close-up of printed shorts) I sit in the aisle to get pictures and am nearly knocked out when a late entrant to the show runs into her seat. There’s a lesson in that! Alyx Gorman coins a great phrase after the show – the ‘shaftan’ (shirt/caftan) – Fashion Weeks can need lexicons! (Have you ever been “FRowed”?)

Oroton is a big deal show in The Tent. (photos below supplied)

As I’m taking my Row 2 seat I see online pioneer Linlee Allen, who published the very witty Stylebyte some 12 years ago. She’s been doing celebrity fashion product placement (and much more, no doubt) in the US, but is moving back to Australia to run her own fashion marketing consultancy in Melbourne. I’m very touched when she gives me her goodie bag, saying she won’t use any of the FABULOUS things inside it. I’m talking a silver leather pouch, for starters. Perhaps the fact she wrote the copy in Oroton’s showbook has something to do with it.

Oroton’s new clothing line looks a lot like what you would see from say, Hermes – but that makes sense. I wonder if Taylor Tomasi-Hill (US Marie-Claire), who styled the show, selected the pale yellow for nails? It does show off that luxe leather nicely.

Loved the thick cornrow hair (by Cloud 9) played against the classic styles, too.

Oroton model with designer Ana Maria Escobar.

Fashion blogger Bryanboy.

Below: Susie Bubble of blog StyleBubble at Oroton.

Two more shows for me today, and tonight holds dinner hosted by M.A.C’s Tatum Savage and Jodie Matthews, to celebrate New Zealanders at MBFWA. A square meal alone will be standout and that’s not even taking into account some very fab company…

Words and photos by Julie Roulston using Sony NEX
6 May 2012