Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia SS1213: The Survivor edition

So Australian Fashion Week is back in its third incarnation from April 30th to May 4th. Founded in 1996 as Mercedes Australian Fashion Week, Rosemount became the naming rights sponsor in 2007 and now, five years later, Mercedes-Benz is back on deck, to the reported tune of AUD 1million. The new official title is Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia. For the past four years we have pulled together a preview schedule ahead of organiser IMG Fashion Asia Pacific's official schedule release. So here we go again. Why so soon? Because earlier this week IMG went out with a press release - unusually, some nine weeks ahead of the event - to announce which designers are on board so far this season. Could the timing of this release have anything to do with next week's L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival? We have a hunch it might. UPDATE 07/04: FINAL CONFIRMED SCHEDULE BELOW, VIA MBFWA. UPDATE 16/04: BOTH DION LEE AND JOSH GOOT HAVE NOW CANCELLED THEIR MBFWA SHOWS. 

Flame war - Elliot Ward-Fear and Thom Kerr do battle for Autumn/Winter 2012

Elliot Ward-Fear’s moment in the sun has been a long time coming. The 23 year old NSW TAFE graduate, who hails from the picturesque Blue Mountains just outside of Sydney, has yet to make a standalone runway outing in Australia. That’s due to change in late April, when he is scheduled to stage his solo Australian Fashion Week debut. Ward-Fear’s first two collections didn’t generate any wholesale sales, just a few private commissions. But they did score quite some publicity – thanks notably to an edgy campaign for Autumn/Winter 2011 from Australian fashion photographer Thom Kerr. After skipping one season altogether, Ward-Fear is back in the game with an Autumn/Winter 2012 collection called Flame, which comes accompanied by yet more conceptual Thom Kerr imagery. Here is a first look at the lookbook, starring New Zealand’s own comeback queen, Liv O’Driscoll. 

Young guns: Thom Kerr shoots Codie Young in Elliot Ward-Fear

Last month Frockwriter mentioned that young Sydney fashion designer Elliot Ward-Fear was about to shoot an Autumn/Winter branding campaign with the upwardly mobile Sunshine Coast model Codie Young. Well here is an exclusive preview of that collaboration, which was shot last week in Brisbane. It was lensed by Thom Kerr, styled by Sarah Babcock, with hair by Shaun Casey, makeup by Becca Gilmartin and graphics courtesy Lekkur Studio. Just a reminder, again, that 22 year-old Ward-Fear only graduated from TAFE NSW's Fashion Design Studio last year and has yet to sell to a single stockist. Although privately he has sold a number of pairs of the 18cm microsuede booties that prompted three models to stumble in the group TAFE show at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May this year (note Ward-Fear has upped his own ankle-breaker ante with a pair of 45cm shoes for AW11, see below). And gifted one pair, together with a spectacular spiked Lucite necklace, to blogstar Bryanboy, who has been getting a lot of mileage out of both. 

Elliot Ward-Fear's bottom line

Elliot Ward-Fear’s profile is completely disproportionate to the size of his business. In fact the 22 year-old Sydneysider has yet to snag a single stockist. Given that he only graduated from TAFE NSW last year, that’s not so hard to grasp. But that hasn’t stopped pieces from his spectacular 'Beauty In Exile' debut collection, which was unveiled at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May, finding their way into two episodes of Australia’s Next Top Model, this month's ARIA awards and even an audience with Miuccia Prada. When your stocks-in-trade are 18cm microsuede booties and gargantuan, stalactite-like Lucite jewellery, people tend to notice you. Having a publicist doesn’t hurt of course - and he's had one of those since June. Next week Ward-Fear is going to be flat chat. First up, he will unveil his Autumn/Winter 2011 ‘Spirit of Clothing’ collection at press showings in Sydney. Here is an exclusive preview of that collection, which includes some quite beautiful dresses, such as this pretty, deconstructed tennis dress in fondant pink and white and the intricately-seamed caramel wool bodycon dress, above and below, which boasts a curious cutaway panel at the derrière. The latter is designed to be worn, we are told, with a full, flesh-coloured brief - as white hot new Australian model Codie Young will discover later next week when the Vogue Australia September covergirl shoots Ward-Fear's first lookbook in Brisbane with Thom Kerr.