WE’RE HEADING DOWN THE POINTY END OF VAMFF BUT, ARE YOUR VOXFROCKERS FLAGGING? AU CONTRAIRE. WE’RE STILL BULLISH AND BOUNCING, WRITING AND SHOOTING EVERY SHOW FROM EVERY ANGLE…CLICK ON LATER FOR MISS ALEXIA’S WRAP OF TARGET’S NATIONAL GRADUATE SHOW AND STAY WITH US ALL WEEKEND FOR SOME OF VAMFF’S BEST AT STONNINGTON AND CENTRAL PIER.
WORDS: JANICE BREEN BURNS
PHOTOS, REHEARSALS: SEBASTIAN PETROVSKI, RMIT ROOKIE CREW (COMPLETE PHOTO ESSAYS: WWW.THELOUPLE.ORG)
PHOTOS, RUNWAY: LUCAS DAWSON
Sober, technical, simple; Josh Goot’s Grand Showcase last night was a stark contrast to the thunderous battalions of warrior women – feathered headresses, kaftans flying – Camilla Franks sent down her runway with an live orchestra backtrack in the same slot last year. Goot’s collection is Franks’ antithesis, a triumph of technically tailored simplicity and, considering his recent trading troubles (almost sorted, reportedly), there was certainly no expectation for such splashy theatricals.
However. It was plain for a pinnacle show on the VAMFF schedule. A little more theatre than its hypnotic dot filmscreen and techno backtrack would have done wonders for punters’ mood, a tad crestfallen by the end.
Goot’s collection, though; that was its own triumph. And, perhaps that was his intention. Though I craved showmanship and fashiony fireworks worthy of a “grand showcase”, Goot’s sharply cut and perfectly weighted and shaped soft peplum tops and sloped assymetric mini skirts certainly didn’t need a fancier framework. Nor did his hipline fly jacket and pencil skirt set in smudged brushy coloured print on technical satin (my fave), or any of his marvellous halterline tops, zipped and cropped in striking large format florals, and cut to skim and kink around the torso, and smartly styled with crisp white shirts.
Even headline supermodel Andreja Pejic, a spectacle you might expect to be styled to the max and scheduled for a couple of glorious first and last exits on a grand runway, walked quietly into the middle of the show in a simple strapless black gown of no particular note, her bombshell blonde hair left lank and barely a perceptible lick of makeup on that lovely face. (Main photo, top: Lucas Dawson)
Luckily, Andreja had made herself available to Voxfrock before the show. And, eff-why-eye for those of you resident under rocks recently, she is still in the eye of an international media storm whipped up after her gender re-assignment surgery which finally corrected the mistake she’s lived with since birth. Transgenders rule, OK?. So, naturally, I asked her about frocks.
And, we started with Aussies: what does she think of those she’s encountered in her fashionable jet-setting life? “They’re in a good place now; I compare their aesthetic with English designers: sometimes a little bit kooky. And, I’m definitely a fan of Josh Goot, Dion Lee, friends with the boys from Tome…” When she returns to Australia, she pops into FAT (stores) for a flick through the emerging and young designers’ racks. “Australia has a lot of raw talent.” She likes Romance Was Born for its highly developed “artistic point of view” and avant garde aesthetic increasingly recognised in her international world as memorably Australian.
Andreja’s own wardrobe is composed with contemporary components, but along surprisingly old-fashioned lines. “When I was younger, I experimented a lot: rock n’ roll aesthetics, grunginess, deconstructed looks, now I’m more classic, elegant. I like pencils skirts, maybe a mini skirt with a silk shirt and nice blazer draped over the shoulders. I like timeless looks and I try to balance things: if I’m showing a little bit of cleavage, I’ll wear a longer skirt, but if I’m showing a bit more leg, I won’t be showing cleavage…”
Another Andreja backstory few know: behind that sizzling pout is a reflective, philosophical and intelligent mind (she was a top student at University High). In our short chat, she weighed the worth and potential of emerging brands from “secondary” fashion sources and markets such as Brazil, Asian countries and Australia and predicted more significant change – ie: market uptake of Aussie designers – in the near future.
Finally, what does Andreja, one of the world’s most talked about fashion models like to do in her spare time? “I like reading the Economist, more than I like reading Vogue…” Nothing against Vogue, she adds, but her wish for the generation now embracing her as both fashion icon and an inspiration force of free choice, is a daily news habit. “We live in a time that’s very intense, revolutionary,” she says. “Young people should be more exposed to the world, its social injustices. You need that framework if you’re going to ever do anything about it.”
Amen, Andreja. Amen.
