There’s a unique kind of electricity that only a graduate fashion show can conjure.
It charges the air before a single spotlight hits the runway. At DRAFT., we look forward to these shows whenever they come around because, unlike much of Australia’s fashion calendar, there is a rare intersection between high production quality and bold creative firsts. First ideas, first risks, first collections built on instinct more than industry pressure.
At this year’s Fashion Design School (FDS) graduate showcase, emerging designers stepped onto the runway to say this is who I am… are you ready?
Ten design graduates were selected to be a part of the industry showcase at Sydney’s The Venue: Oliver Parry, Bee Star, Arella Yuill, Annalise Nicole Emmi, Leah Aroona Maier, Noah Vey, Tate Boswarva, Zoe Markopoulos, Isabella Panebianco Fenech and Luke Rutherford-Durney. These fashion mind selects not only represented themselves, but the larger cohort of FDS grads at TAFE NSW (the first dedicated fashion design school in Sydney, whose graduates have shaped the Australian fashion landscape since 1955).
Themes of renewal, conservation and whimsy wove throughout the showcase. Collections like Oliver Parry’s The Stockman Sacrifice reimagined ancient Swedish folklore through salvaged linen sheets and naturally dyed silks. Luke Rutherford-Durney’s Book of Janus nodded to the ghosts of Medieval Europe with the sleekness of a street silhouette.
Ideas were spliced together as much as the garments themselves. One highlight was designer Leah Maier’s collection, Of Earth and Thread, which drew on the contrasting beauty of our natural world, featuring garments crafted from silk dead sock and yarn waste (that dress!). Arella Yuill’s collection THE PURSUIT OF OUIET sought to reconcile contradictions of solidity and transparency through colour and movement, with use of bold red/orange hues and silk organza a loud, yet voiceless, protest for the emotion that fashion may elicit.
It was evident throughout the entire showcase how much thought and effort each designer had put into the sourcing and treatment of the materials, from Tate Boswarva’s lazer-cut denim to Zoe Markopoulos’s stunning copper halter dress. These designers prove that concept, style and function don’t have to be exclusive from one another. In a way, the showcase served as a greater metaphor for the future of Australia’s fashion landscape, with pieces pieced together by future trailblazers who believe that we might have our cake and eat it too…
So long as we reflect on where we’ve come from, and keep in mind all that’s at stake.
