Roaming for Romance

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I felt semi proud of myself that I willed myself into visiting designers the day I got to Sydney. Yay for getting organised and feeling quasi-useful. That is until I started lagging everyday and falling asleep mid-afternoon. Fail.

However in my early bout of energy, first on my preview hitlist was Romance was Born, whose shows I have been following haphazardly on the internet. It's also the label which every Aussie I have ever met always says is very 'me'. Kooky, crazy, out-there, outlandish... ah yes of course.  This is all so very 'me' apparently. Still, I didn't want to JUST purely be blinded by crazy hi-jinx which only goes so far before it becomes wearying and I had a feeling that beyond the theatrics, Romance Was Born has a lot more to give.

I met Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales of the label who were midway through doing fittings for their show at their studio. Whilst they were pondering fits, I was distracted by a pleasingly furry roaming dinosaur that would feature and inform the Jurassic era based theme.  Actually, it was a 'diorama' created by artist Kate Rohde.  Speaking of which, Rohde is just one of their many many collaborations with local artists, that take you to lands far away whatever theme they so choose be it Wall Street (A/W 10), under the sea (S/S 09-10) or for the latest collection, the prehistoric era mixed with the renaissance.  

RWB well and truly stand on their own lonesome island in the Australian fashion landscape and even when I think of loose comparisons to labels such as KTZ, Jeremy Scott, Bernhard Willhelm, upon closer inspection of the clothes themselves,Coach Bracelets, I feel that Anna and Luke really do have their own sense of whimsy to everything they do that is both informed by their overriding theme as well as their desire to use interesting/suitable fabrications.  I hate using the word "couture" lightly but with a lot of their one-off pieces, that term can be applied in some respects with regards to the amount of hand work that is required.  Let's throw out "cartoon couture" if we're gonna go down the road of catchy phrasing...

Thanks to Anna and Luke for allowing me into their furry/sequinned/rainbow/printed lair...

Anna wearing RWB achingly well... me thinks Anna and Luke both design to their own personal needs as well, which is a healthy indication...

Luke here getting horny with my favourite RAFW model Rachel Rutt at his side...

I sifted through some of some classic RWB archive pieces... prints by Del Kathryn Barton on a chiffon scarf and an intarsia rose knit...

 

Onto the S/S 10-11 collection that would visit the marvels of the renaissance and then rewind a few thousand years to the times of the dinosaurs giving a heady mix that involved some mighty tremendous collaborations...

... like this woven chain mask by Erin Field and RWB using Pandora charms...

...shoes designed by Terry Biviana and RWB...

...marbled fabrics by Melissa Polynkova...

RWB's digital print of the season features the aforementioned dioramas that roam together all on shirts, dresses and on heels and thigh-high boots...

Collaborations aside, RWB themselves have been hard at work ruffling up some chiffon to make this topiary like texture where the dioramas could possibly be grazing...

... and the beaded and embroidered evil eyes that are out to hypnotize you...

After deducing that individually broken down,beats headphones for cheap, the clothes are the wondrous puzzle pieces that I'd like to pull out excitedly al the time, I guess we have to talk about the theatrics.  Held at the MacLaurin Hall at the University of Sydney, we were basically led into a Hogwarts-esque hall preceded by the dioramas displayed in resin cases and Gothic-style hall is juxtaposed against a recreation of prehistoric flora and fauna complete with tortoise and hatching eggs...

 

Then we got a genuinely authentic Jurassic Park moment where a t-rex could be heard stomping which of course led to the RWB models stomping out to a super effective drum-based soundtrack.  Seeing all the clothes styled and maxed-out with body painting and faces adorned with lace were of course as high octane as you could get and from RAFW, is probably the only production with such a heavy dose of theatrics and effects that really roused the audience.  I'm told this is thus far the biggest and most extravagant RWB show yet and whilst it was a ride and a half and of course amazing to see Anna and Luke fantasise completely and utterly, I'm also glad that I got to see them and their clothes in a quieter context that justifies why they exist as a fledging clothing label with a fanbase that don't just want to SEE RWB come to life but wear them too (proven by many peeps in the audience wearing their clothes...).

Neutrals and Comfort

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>> If you have seen me in the last few days, I've either been mute, raspy or having a nose bleed.  None of which are attractive and the latter of which would certainly not have boded well with the outfit below.   I must apologise if I seemed distracted, grouchy or looking like I might drop off... I was in fact all of those things and I blame a certain lurgy that has overtaken my body since coming back from New York - still have not got that trick of going straight from plane to shows quite right yet.  My mode of dress reflected my state of mind - dulled with the need to feel comfortable.  So if at London, you expected some exciting outfit japes, alas, it wasn't to be... phlegm, blood and other bodily fluids got in the way...

I do need to talk about some newbies/oldies though that have come in to my life... like this ASOS White coat that yes, adds me to the camel coat camp that people have been so eagerly trend-spotting on the streets.  You can't see but this jacket has some lovely brown suede elbow patches too which somehow makes me feel even more protected.  This also marks the first Crombie-style coat to my wardrobe...

"A Crombie coat is a three-quarter length, usually wool, overcoat. It is named after the company Crombie (also known as J&J Crombie), although not all coats known as Crombies are made by that company. Starting in the late 1960s or early 1970s, Crombie-style coats were popular within the skinhead and suedehead subcultures, although very few skinheads would have been able to afford a new Crombie brand coat. Crombies were also fashionable among some mods, who saw them as a stylish item of clothing that enhanced their clean-cut image."

(ASOS White Crombie coat, Christopher kane dress, Liberty print shirt underneath, vintage polka dot trousers, Opening Ceremony x Dr Martens boots,handbags outlet, Lynn Cockburn belt, Tory Burch bag) Photograph by Phil Oh for Voguebeatsdreheadphonesbuybeatsdreheadphonesbuybeatsdreheadphonesbuy.com

Then there's this Jil Sander chunky chunky one-sleeved ribbed jumper from the A/W 09 collection that is just sculpturally magnificence defined as well as being a bargain that I scored at the Barney's Warehouse Sale for $100.  I read $400 on the faded tag and asked the lady to recheck and she said it was $100 - I had to ask her three times to reaffirm that.  Then I squealed and jumped for joy at the checkout - or was it a skip?  I don't remember... needless to say I'll be back in the last weekend skirmage of the sale next time...

(Jil Sander ribbed navy one-sleeved jumper,soccer team jerseys, Christopher Kane dress, Heikki Salonen trousers, 80%20 boots)

Finally there's this old military trench that my dad gave me aaaaages ago that I had stuffed in a paperbag somewhere, lost and forgotten until recently when I just lopped off the sleeves.  I'm actually waiting to add new and more embellished sleeves to it but instead I've taken to wearing it in its mid-DIY stage...

(Vintage sleeveless trench, KZO knit jacket, Balenciaga dress - another Barneys Warehouse sale steal, Topshop tunic underneath, Tabio socks, Acrobats of God shoes, Tory Burch bag, Lynn Cockburn belt)

All photographs above by Phil Oh of Street Peeper

Close-ups of how closely attached I am to my Blackberry and my very new and surprisingly comfortable Acrobats of God wooden wedge shoes courtesy  of Tommy Ton for Stylebeatsdreheadphonesbuybeatsdreheadphonesbuybeatsdreheadphonesbuy.com.

Mother Knows Best

>> For personal reasons, I've been thinking about my mother a lot.  I really relished the time spent at home over Christmas so much so that I've been a bit slow on the uptake with the rest of life now that we're two weeks into January.  I lingered longer over photo albums.  I needlessly sentimalised over certain food,dre headphones cheap, objects and films - anything at home that had an anecdote attached.  I'm actively listening to what my mother is saying so that when she calls me up at midnight to say that I should eat more carrots and winter melon because of my poor stomach problems (she's obsessed with nutrition), it doesn't fall on deaf ears.  I'm munching on a carrot right now in fact.

Therefore when I discovered Pip Jolley's jewellery, her latest collection entitled 'Joanne' tugged and twinged at my heartstrings.  For Jolley, it was a an ode to the women in the 1940s, who put in so much effort into their coiffures.  Taking hair curlers and turning them into silver and in the case of the ring, gold and diamonds, is Jolley's way of awarding these women with a "series of medals honouring the time spent creating the perfect coiffeur."  

This could so easily have fallen into the category of 40s/50s schmaltzy retrograding were it not for the fact that Jolley has come up with an unlikely object for fetishising in silver.  Beyond the immaculate coiffures of the 1940s though, these plastic rollers are exactly the sort that my mother has and still uses.  No tongs or electric curlers in our house (which is probably why I'm adverse to hairdryers and only allow my hair to dry naturally).  My mother favours these prickly plastic objects, sometimes with a sponge wrapper or sometimes with a clipping mechanism.  I'd wake up and she'd be cooking me breakfast (spam and scrambled egg sarnies) with a few random rollers in the hair.  Never the whole head.  Just a few where she wanted a bit of oomph.  Seven year old me would try and roll them up in my own slippery hair but to no avail because my mother already had a perm so it meant already-textured hair would hold on to those prickles.  I'm already smelling that eggy whiff of home perm kit.  Now I want to give Jolley a hug and a bag filled with lavender.  I don't know why.  Isn't that the sort of thing 40s/50s afficionados appreciate? 

Besides my self-indulgent bit of personal nostalgia, it really is quite an unexpected object to immortalise as rings, brooches and necklaces and Jolley has got a few of the pieces up for sale on her website too.  The pin curl necklace is tapping away at another memory lane experience - my teenage yearning for 'pin curls' and my many MANY attempts at pin curling my hair only to have my heavy straight locks smack me in the face as if to mock me.  

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Rising Sun

When I talked in a grandiose way about 'getting my investigative teeth' into finding out why Japanese labels were not widely stocked in Europe, or more specifically the UK, I was clearly all fluff and no solid centre.  A commentor very quickly answered in part why technically, importing Japanese designers is a bit of nightmare which saved from actually getting investigative.  Forgive me for pummelling maths and business down your throat so early on a Monday morning...

"One reason Japanese brands aren't prolific in the uk is that the cost price of units are prohibitively expensive (especially so because of the exchange rate from Yen to Sterling). This is before distribution costs such as freight for stock, customs duties, VAT, administration, and agent commissions are factored in. The final retail prices ends up being much more than what the market can bear if the standard trade markup of 2.3-2.5 is applied. There are always exceptions to the rule, such as the cult brands Visvim, Neighborhood, Yamamoto but they have spent years cultivating brand awareness and a very specific following that is willing to pay over the odds."

Last time round I proposed one solution to get round the above problem - the website Koshka which stocks 20 Japanese labels at varying levels of familiarity - but here I'm rounding up some of my recent Japanese that were procured by means other than going to Japan directly, as well as re-affirming the good of Koshka. 

I was also prompted to do this round-up, by the section devoted to the new generation of Japanese designers that have broken through in recent years.  I felt there may have been some omissions but then again, it was a section of about four silhouettes, not allowing portrayal of the dizzying breadth that the designers who show at Japan Fashion Week and those that present more discreetly in Paris have to offer.  Dependent on perspective, these designers that I'm flagging up aren't really considered 'new' either but nonetheless I've broken it down as thus...

(Toga grey patent jacket, Topshop peter pan collar shirt, Shida Tatsuya metallicised woolen cape, Kolor grey tweed trousers, Alexander Wang wedges)

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Toga

Longtime readers will be familiar with this grey patent jacket that has gotten much 23q4 since I bought it at the Feathers sample sale a few years ago.  Most will probably be familiar with Toga full stop.  Going back to Feathers, it's also one of the few shops in London that has a good lot of Toga (still eyeing up the layered kilt skirt that's on sale right now) which makes Toga probably slightly more accesible than others.  The designer Yasuko Furata graduated from ESMOD in 1994 and founded Toga in 1997, becoming known for her multi-layered styles.   In recent seasons, I've especially become enamoured with her use of varying textures and embellishment details which somehow justifies a full-wack price for say a layered kilt. Toga's latest S/S 11 collection plays a similar tune to Givenchy's except the leopard print is softened here and there are plenty of floral brocades pieces and neat collared-shirts to offset the animal.

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Kolor

Shamefully I only discovered Kolor through shopping at Lane Crawford on my last trip to Hong Kong where I also incidentally won a leather jacket by the same label in the 160th Anniversary arcade fest where everyone was a winner.  I believe Kolor may well be more well-known on the menswear circuit as Oki-Ni and blogs like Slamxhype have all been krazy about Kolor for a while now.  Vogue.com's profile on Kolor provides much insight into the label's inception - designer Junichi Abe, a Bunka Fashion College graduate, having worked at Comme des Garcons, started Kolor in 2004.  The emphasis is not on major seasonal shifts but on wardrobing cornerstones made in fabrics that have a lived-in quality.  This doesn't equal lazy fabric frays or deliberately torn holes but rather the fabrics are of the utmost priority for Abe.  The tweed trousers that I ended up buying from Lane Crawford, notching up my first Kolor purchase, never cease to catch the eye not because of the more obvious detailing such as the zippers but it's down to the texture - a lady on the bus once said 'Those look nice and nubbly.'  That these nubbly trousers manage to fit well is an added bonus of a blessing.  The Corner seems to have 'cornered' Kolor's retail presence online and hopefully they'll be getting in some of these sportswear-inspired pieces from the S/S 11 collection...

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Shida Tatsuya

Then we come to the main event - correction, the most hulking event - in the outfit pictures.  The Shida Tatsuya fuzzball of a cape with its silver sheen, which I admired from Koshka's website is now on my back after some troublesome Royal Mail issues (I still have 2010 snow-delay packages yet to arrive...).  After playing around with its haphazard shape for a while, I've decided that a number of things can be done with it but primarily it will function as a bulging skirt, akin to tying a puffa jacket around your waist and as a predescribed cape, again more like a giant chunky jumper that's draped over the shoulders.  Shida Tatsuya studied at Nagoya Mode Gakuen and started his label in 2006, showing as part of Japan Fashion Week.  There's a playfulness that I see in Tatsuya's clothes, similar to what I love about the likes of Tsumori Chisato and mercibeacoup.  There's a naturalistic approach to draping fabrics on the body which is probably why there's irregularity in the cape and the way dresses and cardigans fall.  I quite like this sort of generosity in fabric which pervades quite a lot of Asian-based designers.  I quite happily accept the bag lady jam jar label and will go about my merry way even if someone might shout "There's a sheep hanging around your arse!" 

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Koshka's selection continues to grow since I last talked about this German-based site that aims to bring Japanese designers to the world.  Their selection doesn't focus on the established names that are in the leagues of say Toga or Kolor but rather on slightly lesser-known names that focus on craft and wearability, reflected in a selection that doesn't prescribe to our notions of Japanese avant garde.  It's worth regular checking-out if only for stocking up on Ayame socks. 

(From left to right, top to bottom: The Dress & Co. hooded green jacket, Fil de Fer print knit cardigan, M & Kyoto shawl collar mixed print jacket, Durbuy clogs)

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