Fun Fashion Week paradox: it’s only once the glamour has subsided, the final show wrapped, the host city reverted to normalcy, that our stylish futures emerge in the form of a trend forecast – one from which we can draw inspiration and plan our upcoming wardrobes (and budgets) accordingly. Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia, whose 2018 Resort shows closed last week with a joyful spectacle from Romance Was Born, was generous in sprinkling a coherent set of trends upon us, the grateful public. Below, the top 5 looks to add to your wardrobe in the coming months:
Relaxed Suiting
Without a doubt, the top trend to emerge from Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia was slouchy, effortless suiting, seen everywhere from Bianca Spender and Dion Lee to Christopher Esber and Akira. More undone than corporate-boardroom, the tailored suit was relaxed and reinvigorated for Resort 2018 in an array of wearable iterations. Oversized wide leg pants with cuffs and roomy pockets were a staple of Fashion Week, and so easy to coordinate with your existing wardrobe (see my post on palazzo pants here – I’m a huge fan). Pair with a matching slouchy jacket for guaranteed cool. For something different, Bianca Spender’s take up-top was especially refreshing. She paired both a cobalt sleeveless blazer and a fluid lavender trench with matching wide leg pants, to beautiful effect. If you’re gunning to push it further, her elegant blazer dress will have you kicking style goals well into 2018.
Bold Colour
If in the past you’ve shied away from injecting colour into your wardrobe, now’s the time to double down and give it a try. Cobalt blue, tomato red and crispest white were splashed across the catwalks of Fashion Week in a riotous celebration of the Aussie spirit. Dion Lee, who opened Resort 2018 with a stunningly confident show outside the Opera House, paraded a series of covetable deconstructed suits, draped tops and fitted turtlenecks with asymmetric cut-outs in the brightest crimson. Relative newcomers Double Rainbouu injected their grungy, casual-cool streetwear with kooky patterns and prints that were appealingly unisex. Not to be left out, our national colours of emerald and gold also popped up in the collections of Sass & Bide and Ginger & Smart, among others. Take home message? Start plotting your colourful wardrobe takeover now.
Ruffles, Fringing & Frills
In my favourite collection from Resort 2018, Romance Was Born – those masters of joyful embellishment – pushed their already irreverent, kooky aesthetic to new disco heights with a show that blended pop art, theatre and spectacle. Show-stopping ruffles and frills adorned dresses in an array of styles (slip, midi and mini), as well as sleeveless tops and whimsical voluminous shirts, with prints from Archibald Prize-winning artist Del Kathryn Barton incorporated into the exultant vision. Rainbow fringing featured in a standout full-length dress with a superb sense of movement. Sass & Bide riffed on the theme with fringing on dresses and jackets, and an uber cool floor-length black and white rope cardigan (mind your step).
Slinky Slip Dresses
Bias-cut slip dresses were another ubiquitous and effortless trend at Fashion Week Australia, with designers including Bianca Spender, Romance Was Born and Ginger & Smart getting in on the act. Spender’s silk numbers (both slip and midi dresses) were the most sensual and fluid, with her expert draping skills sheathing the female form as if in liquid. If you’re looking for a slinky number for an upcoming event or celebration, look no further. Romance Was Born debuted a fabulous black lace version embellished with Del Kathryn Barton’s striking artwork.
Turn up the Volume
Volume was big news on the catwalks of Fashion Week Australia, with relaxed suiting, oversized shirts and pouf sleeves cropping up on multiple runways including Ginger & Smart, Romance Was Born and Sass & Bide. Nowhere was this trend more evident, however, than at Strateas Carlucci, whose slouchy suiting was so super-sized it engulfed limbs at will (a whisker too much, in my opinion). The designer styled these voluminous pants and jackets with of-the-moment logo tees, printed with such gems of the Aussie vernacular as ‘devo’ and ‘suss’. Amid certain international criticism that Australian fashion needs to burst from its insular bubble and engage with the wider political conversation, Carlucci’s logo t-shirts were a nod to the politically charged global fashion climate, and just perhaps, a means of peaceful protest in these troubled times.
Featured image – Dion Lee Resort 2018
Photo via – MBFWA: Facebook