The bloggers of RAFW Part 3: Sassi Sam's Sam Winter

The third interview in frockwriter's bloggers of RAFW series: a chat with Sassi Sam’s Sam Winter. Sydney-based Winter established her Sassi Sam e-commerce site five years ago - and the Sassi Sam blog 18 months ago.

The bloggers of RAFW Part 2: An Australian Wintour's Megan Aney

As part of frockwriter's bloggers of RAFW series, here is a short interview with Gold Coast-based Megan Aney, from An Australian Wintour.

The bloggers of RAFW Part 1: Aych blog's Hannah McArdle

For those who followed my RAFW coverage on Twitter, this particular video will be a repeat: a quick chat with Auckland’s Hannah McArdle of Aych Blog. It was part of a short series of blogger interviews I shot at last week's event. Given that it only went on frockwriter’s Posterous feed (where it has nevertheless been viewed over 650 times), I wanted to blog the bloggers of RAFW series in order here, so voilà.

ABC Art Nation's story on Sonny Vandevelde

On the eve of RAFW, frockwriter mentioned that the ABC's hot new Art Nation show would be dedicating its entire May 2 edition to fashion. After sending the embed code for the fashion bloggers story, the producers kindly shot through deets for the standalone story on photographer Sonny Vandevelde that was also featured. It was shot during the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival in March, when Sonny had a solo exhibition of his backstage work at Mars Gallery. Great to see his editorial work also given some due attention.

Dion Lee's fashion analysis

To those who may have been wondering whether Dion Lee was going to be able to pull off a second blockbuster collection fresh out of design school – in his case, the seminal NSW TAFE, this country’s equivalent to London's Central Saint Martins – the answer was delivered yesterday morning at approximately 9.30am. Yes, he did. Set against arguably the most iconic of Australian backdrops, Sydney Harbour, by way of the northern foyer of one of the world’s most beautiful buildings, the Sydney Opera House, the twenty-four year-old Sydneysider mesmerised his audience with a small, but perfectly formed collection entitled Façade.

It began with a dose of the complex, razor-cut, yet deconstructed, tailoring with which Lee has quickly established his name. The collection quickly moved into a series of bodycon microdresses with a honeycomb effect, created by the layering of synthetic mesh. These segued into yet more microdresses, this time in a sheer stretch georgette, splattered with a striking, ultraviolet Rorscharch inkblot effect print.

If asked by a fashion shrink what you saw in the patterns, you might well say Josh Goot and Michael Angel, coincidentally, two other Australians. Unlike Lee, Goot and Angel are both self-taught. They have nevertheless been at the vanguard of the recent digital print power trend. In Goot’s case, as far back as his Spring/Summer 2008 collection presented at New York Fashion Week.

Lee closed with a breathtakingly beautiful series of draped crepe microdresses in soft duck egg blue and taupe. Their skirts consisted of layered micropleated panels, with the bodices crafted from soft ropes of the same fabric, meticulously draped, knotted and interlaced.

The "drapé" was effectively trademarked by Madame Grès in Paris last century. Dion Lee just deconstructed it. If anyone is planning to revive that haute couture house, you know who to call.

Click here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of the show.

Jayson's New Wave

Every season Jayson Brunsdon mines some bygone hard glamour era for inspiration, more often than not hovering around the mid century. Last night, he made poolside chic his muse and cited a couple of film refs: Jacques Deray’s La Piscine from 1969 and Jean Luc Godard’s 1963 film Le Mépris (Contempt). Both were part of the French New Wave cinema movement, which coincided with a new, futuristic mood in French couture, one that was spearheaded by Pierre Cardin and André Courrèges. Courrèges was Brunsdon’s biggest reference, heralding a new sporty direction for the Sydney fashion illustrator-turned-designer. Beyond the trademark hostess dresses and shirtdresses, was a smart, structured series of trench coats, piped A-line skirts, striped sweaters and knit sheaths, with a cute two-tone, A-line shift in caramel and white. The short, full dirndl skirts and roomy pailletted tanks are sure to appeal to Brunsdon’s more mature customers, which is obviously where the money lies. But there was no shortage of youthful exuberance in pretty wasp-waisted, full-skirted party dresses, which looked tailor-made for the new generation Brigitte Bardots and Jane Birkins. Click here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of the show. And here for a video of the finale.

Manning Cartell's backstage drama

While snapping away in the show leadup, wound up getting stuck backstage at Manning Cartell for the show proper this morning. Not such a bad place to be, of course, provided you can steer clear of the production team, as they scramble to dress the models in between exits. There are often five dressers to one girl, each pulling at a different part of the outfit. A more sophisticated collection than we have come to expect from Manning Cartell, with luxury fabrics such as guipure lace deployed in elegant sheaths and jet embellishment used on cigarette trousers and a few interesting addons - notably, a gunmetal-beaded, 20's-look bib, layered over a black lace sheath. Teamed with the entire collection: dramatic Lucite earrings from Alexandra Blak. Click here for frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery.

Kate Sylvester's charming summer

The collection was called ‘This Charming Man’, but there was no sign of Morrissey the muso (or the Australian designer for that matter, who has nevertheless been flitting in and out of shows for the past two days). Auckland’s Kate Sylvester did however deliver yet another charming collection of her signature discreet chic. If you had tapped leather as an emerging trend of this antipodian summer season, you are not wrong. Several collections have included leather, among them yesterday’s hot newcomer Flannel and Sylvester one hour ago. Her caramel leather series included a mid calf length A-line skirt, bomber jacket and matching bustier and knickers. Also of note, soft Liberty-like florals on sweet pinafore dresses and roomy trousers – another emerging trend in Sydney – and her knit twin sets, swapping a cable knit bodysuit for a regular sweater with one pair. A little more subdued than usual - the autumn/winter 2010 collection shown in Auckland had much more attitude - but there is more than enough to keep Sylvester’s cult fan base happy. Click here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of the show. And keep up to date with our real-time coverage of RAFW via Twitter and Facebook.

Sally Koeswanto and the Ready to Wear 2 show

There's no doubt about it, the quality of RAFW's group shows is getting stronger. Here is frockwriter's pic gallery of yesterday's RTW2 group show, which we covered live backstage. Particularly liked the Jakarta-based Sally Koeswanto, who had a couple of very strong looks - not to mention some killer accessories, all her own collection.

Kristie Lawrence's hot Flannel

One of my personal highlights of RAFW Day 2 just has to be Flannel. It's a new brand by an industry veteran, Kristie Lawrence - who launched Empire Rose over a decade ago. Buttersoft leather tabards, jodhpurs and A-line skirts and a series of quite spectacular suede dusters with ultra-long fringes, screamed luxury sportswear. They were teamed with sweet lace dresses, roomy trousers and other simple, yet sophisticated, separates in a barely-there colour palette of white, mustard and ecru. Here is frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery with a few runway shots. And below, the final walkthrough and a post-show iv with Lawrence. Once again, just a reminder that if you would like to follow frockwriter's live coverage of RAFW, head to our Twitter feed or Facebook.