Ben Pollitt is taking a break

boudist.com

A few Rosemount Australian Fashion Week shows are still up in the air ahead of this Thursday’s release of the official schedule by organisers IMG Fashion Asia Pacific. In the interim, see frockwriter’s preview of what's on. But one name will definitely not be among the late additions: Friedrich Gray. That’s because Ben Pollitt, the designer behind the Sydney-based label, has ceased production – temporarily, we are assured, by his spokeswoman Rae Begley, who confirmed that Pollitt “is definitely taking a break”. Although retailer Belinda Seper, Pollitt’s mentor and former employer, told us she was unaware that Pollitt had produced an Autumn/Winter 2011 range, according to Begley he did do a “small injection” for winter. But there is no Spring/Summer 2011/2012 collection and for the moment, it is unclear just when Pollitt will be resuming work.

Friedrich Gray SS0910

Short and sharp - unlike my BlackBerry photos unfortunately, however these were aimed primarily at giving the gist of the show on Twitter in real-time - tonight's Friedrich Gray show provided a slick debut to Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, which does not officially kick off until tomorrow morning. A crowd packed into the UTS Atrium on Broadway to see designer Ben Pollitt's eighth collection, with in fact so many people attending, they had to line the Atrium's mezzanines just to get a good view. Inspired by David Lynch's 1984 sci-fi turkey Dune, the collection showed all the hallmarks of Pollitt's early collections: long, linear, androgynous silhouettes, much black and draping, killer patchwork leggings and a striking series of graphic singlet dresses featuring a digital print designed in collaboration with Sydney contemporary artist Scrapwall. Brand new territory for Pollitt: resortwear, albeit of the pitch black variety, in a series of black cutoff shorts with matching bikini tops. Pollitt later quipped he was calling the look "alien beach couture".

Click here to see a backstage portfolio from Sonny Vandevelde.