Grey clouds enveloped the level four balcony of the Sydney Cruise Terminal as guests were seated to experience The Next Garde, a showcase of next gen designers nurtured by TAFE NSW’s Fashion Design Studio (FDS). Creatively fearless and deeply committed to building a more sustainable and ethical fashion industry in Australia, each of the four selected innovators took to the runway to present looks that were undeniably bold, with sophistication beyond what their years of industry experience might suggest.
For a show timed on the Monday morning of Australia’s national fashion week, we knew we were in for a treat. Let’s take it from the top.
EIDAN CEILIDH
Blending traditional classic tailoring and contemporary couture, New Zealand born designer Eidan Ceilidh presented pieces that were timeless, refined, and extremely wearable. The collection included coats, pants and dresses with silhouettes that were familiar with an edge, in fabrics and colours that could easily be worn throughout the day. The biggest takeaway from this was the sheer quality of craftsmanship and attention to detail regarding the wearability and fit of every garment.
FRAGMENT.66 is an exploration of identity from Sydney-born designer Emily Misaki Hon, who draws on both her Japanese and Chinese heritage to create not just looks, but statements. These bold looks incorporated elements of modern streetwear with refined tailoring and a strong emphasis on the use of textiles to create shape. Each piece examined memories, emotions, and fragments of self weaved into our identity through the temporality of clothing. In a word? Striking.
Daisy-Rose Cooper is a cross-disciplinary designer from the Blue Mountains who’s work is symbolic of the shifting connection between people, culture, and our changing environments. These themes were deeply evident in her collection for The Next Garde, where her use of beautifully earthen materials molded seamlessly (pun intended) with contrastingly futuristic silhouettes. These looks could be plucked from the runway and worn by a space age countess on a foreign planet… or just as easily to your next cocktail party. It’s this element of wearability that allows us to see ourselves in these garments. The future starts now.
S H I Y O
The work of Shiva Yousefpour for her label SHIYO combines architectural precision, cultural heritage, and avant-garde innovation, with a combination of sculptural silhouettes, intricate folding techniques, and experimental materials redefining contemporary fashion. Making use of zero-waste practices, multi-functional garments, and gender-neutral forms, SHIYO was also a lesson in styling, with each look striking perfect balance despite frequent iterations of asymmetry. In this collection tradition met futurism with an epic secret handshake, witnessed by many but mastered by few.
