Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Camilla Franks takes one big step forward at RAFW
One of the highlights of RAFW Day 1 was the Camilla show. Sydney-based actress-turned-designer Camilla Franks specialises in kaftans with beautiful prints. There are only so many occasions you can wear a kaftan however - at least in this part of the world, no surprise that Franks has a big Middle East business - and her resortwear shows, while usually very colourful, have never really stood out from the Fashion Week pack. Yesterday was different. Partially-inspired by James Cameron's 2009 3D blockbuster Avatar - and with the styling assistance of Michelle Jank - Franks' extraordinarily beautiful prints exploded on the runway, in a series of dresses, shorts, kimonos and swimwear. Click here to see frockwriter’s Posterous photo gallery of the collection. And here is a post-show chat I had with Franks. Apologies for the delay in posting these. Hope to be a bit better organised today.
Monday, May 3, 2010
A new day dawns at RAFW
So the first two shows of the first day of the soon-to-be post-Simon Lock era of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week have wrapped. The first, a very pretty collection of draped jersey goddess gowns and digital print blouses and maxi dresses from Fashion Week veteran Lisa Ho. Delivered in a nude colour palette jolted by shots of magenta and lichen green, it was an easy, breezy patio-perfect collection with relaxed lines. The same could be said for Ginger + Smart's 'The Transcendent' collection. Jumpsuits ruled, ditto a knockout series of bodycon dresses, fluid trousers, kimono tops and plissé blouses, the best in a spectacular digital print. Obviously an early SS1011 trend. Click here and here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic galleries of both collections. The relaxed mood of the clothes was in direct contrast to the vibe vis-a-vis the seating arrangements of RAFW founder Simon Lock. Lock usually sits in the very first seat on the right hand side at the beginning of the runway. Sitting in Lock’s spot: IMG Asia Pacific general manager Dan Hill (above). According to Lorraine Lock, Lock has been “banned” by Hill from attending many shows and is “beside himself”. Frockwriter will check with Hill for his side of the story (update: when we approached Hill, he suggested we discuss it at another time. According to an IMG source, Lock had to submit a "list" of show requests that he wanted to attend. Lorraine Lock reports a number of those names were crossed off by IMG). In the interim, it's worth noting that in 14 years, Lock always prided himself on never missing a single show. An interesting start to the week.
RAFW SS1011 launched - and how to follow the coverage on [frockwriter]
So Rosemount Australian Fashion Week SS1011 is officially off and running. After a week of various 15 year anniversary parties to which the event's founders discovered themselves, curiously, uninvited, nice to see both Simon and Lorraine Lock front and centre at last night's 15 year tribute dinner thrown by MAC (although that is obviously not Lorraine, but Carla Zampatti in the photo above). Approximately one hundred fashion names sat down to a degustation dinner courtesy Brent Savage, from the Bentley Restaurant and Bar, while ten models from Chic Management teetered on skyscraper pumps on a series of mini podiums down the middle of the room. Each model was kitted out in an extraordinary paper dress created by New York artist/costumier Zaldy especially for MAC. Just a quick headsup on frockwriter's coverage this week.
For the second year in a row, to cover all the news from RAFW, the blog is going to move into a slightly different format. There will be more analysis than last year. There will also be more photos. And video, as usual.
This page will anchor the various coverage components.
To attempt to cover a maximum number of shows, I have outsourced the management of frockwriter's photo galleries to a brilliant web publishing platform called Posterous. Here is the direct link, but I will blog pointer posts here directing you to the Posterous galleries. Please disregard the first entry, which is a replication of the previous Bvlgari post here. I was simply testing the water.
Why Posterous? Because it creates instant photo galleries via email - instead of laborious manual uploads which take time. Beyond RAFW, Posterous is also going to become my new TwitPic - that's the photo hosting application that is attached to Twitter, which unfortunately comes complete with its own tacky advertising.
You don't like, use or even understand Twitter? Totally understand. We had this discussion last year. But here's the thing, plenty of people do use Twitter - in my specific case, 2,700 followers, which FYI is more than double the number of daily subscribers to this blog. So it's a big audience and Twitter devotees want information as it's happening. So if you are not following the Twitter feed, you will miss out on some information.
Facebook is one other option via which to follow Twitter. My Twitter feed is currently integrated into my personal Facebook page. There is also a frockwriter fan page (button on the RHS). The latter is however still a bit of a work in progress, since it's tricky integrating one Twitter feed to more than one page.
Another option of course is simply to read my Tweets in the Twitter widget that has been temporarily installed at the right-hand side of this page.
Hope that clarifies things. Better get to it.
Bvlgari's 125 years of Italian jewels
With 13 shows a day, it's unlikely many Rosemount Australian Fashion Week attendees will have a spare moment to scratch themselves this week. Let alone, hop along to the Sydney chapter of the travelling 125 year retrospective exhibition of Italian fine jewellery maker Bvlgari, which opened last week and runs until Thursday in the flagship Castlereagh Street Sydney boutique. But for anyone not tied up at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, or just anyone with a passion for jewellery, this exhibition is a can't miss. The jewellery is extraordinary, with some pieces dating back to the early 20th century. Included are pieces on loan from collections such as Elizabeth Taylor's and also items worn by the screen legends Ingrid Bergman and Sophia Loren. Ram raiders and those after four finger discounts are, naturally, unwelcome - hence the exhibition has heavy security and is by appointment only. Those interested should email vintage@bulgari.com.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
ABC Art Nation tracks fashion bloggers
Well we did say RAFW is shaping up as a blogocalypse. And look, frockwriter actually means that in the nicest possible way. A mere whisper at the 2006 event, bloggers are really coming into their own this year. According to The Sydney Morning Herald's Georgina Robinson, whose story about fashion bloggers was splashed on page one of smh.com.au on Thursday, IMG had (as of Wednesday) officially accredited 20 bloggers this year. Robinson later revealed on Twitter that the company had knocked back another 30. In the interim, a number of those knocked back have had their accreditations rushed through. On the eve of RAFW, ABC's Art Nation joins the score of mainstream outlets to track the rise of fashion blogging as part of today's fashion-focussed show. I was honoured to be included, alongside Lady Melbourne and Fashion Hayley (with Sonny Vandevelde featured in either this or a separate story. Sonny was filmed during his recent LMFF exhibition).
The program airs at 5.30pm on ABC1 today and it will be repeated at 7pm on ABC2. Hopefully it will also go online.
In the interim, here is the teaser video from the ABC Art Nation site.
Just to further clarify the accreditation issue for bloggers, some appear to have erroneously believed an accreditation was the only entry point to the event.
Incorrect.
An accreditation, while handy, is only a guarantee into the main venue, the trade show, the media centre and the daily group shows that are organised by IMG. The guest lists of all solo collection shows are strictly at the discretion of the designers. Which is exactly how it works overseas. Earlier this week one Sydney publicist mentioned that 50percent of her guest list/s are non delegates.
Publicists appear to be thawing to the idea of bloggers. Which is great news. Because at the end of the day, they must surely realise that although the number of Australian newspapers, magazines and tv outlets covering RAFW has remained fairly static over the years, the number of independent online media outlets has grown exponentially. This coverage is new, additional exposure for all concerned.
Just a few of the great blogs that will be front and centre covering include, once again, Sonnyphotos (your go-to for the best backstage photography), also Imelda (the shoe expert - with an acerbic general fashion eye), Cultures In Between (an achingly cool indie perspective), the upwardly-mobile Sassisam, New Zealand's Aych and Isaaclikes and Sassybella.
There are many, many more, including etailer blogs (such as The Grand Social). I am flat out today and I am so sorry I don't have time to compile an exhaustive list, but please sing out in the comments so people know where to find you.
Best of luck to everyone with their coverage for the coming week.
I will do a post later today to clarify how frockwriter's multi-platform coverage will work this year. I am hoping this will make it easier to follow. Guys, I cannot do everything on Blogger. It's as simple as that.
In the interim, I have also included a Twitter widget to the RHS set to anyone referencing RAFW. If you are not familiar with Twitter, just click on the links highlighted in blue for more info about those people.
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