NATIONAL GRADUATE SHOWCASE PRESENTED BY TARGET AUSTRALIA
WORDS: ALEXIA PETSINIS, VOXFROCK ROOKIE CREW
PHOTOGRAPHS: LUCAS DAWSON
A runway space might be considered a blank canvas; a site to be inscribed with the colours and forms of the untamed creative mind. So it was at Thursday night’s National Graduate Showcase, where 12 emerging designers from institutions across the country presented their collections in one of the most highly anticipated events in the VAMFF programme.
After a good three or four years of slog-it-out-and-start-again pattern drafting classes, garment construction and elaborate design briefs (and regular meltdowns and no sleep), it was finally time to fly for these graduates. Monique Duggan opened the show with a collection of Op Art inspired garments emboldened by a Warhol-esque palette. In stark contrast were Megan McGrath’s edgy menswear garments that evoked all the rebellious charm of urban streetwear through her use of denim and layering.
MONIQUE DUGGAN
PHOTO: LUCAS DAWSON
April Yap captured the sensory experience of a walk through Chinatown, with calligraphic prints gradually disintegrating from the body in frenzied flashes of green and blue. Erica Deluchi dissected parts-of-the-whole garment, following a design process that trialled layering of linen and waxed fabrications. The result was an easy-come-easy-go collection of oversized garments demonstrating elegant drape and movement.
APRIL YAP
PHOTO: LUCAS DAWSON
Ever wondered where all your little plastic price tags ended up? Alexandra Hackett took them. All 25,000 of them (and counting). The RMIT graduate offered social commentary about the nature of consumerism in the fashion industry with a series of jaw-dropping creations featuring plastic security and garment price tags. Conversely, Vanessa Emirian was inspired by sentiment of simpler kind; the perfect circle, pure in its wholeness and indivisible in garment form. A crowd favourite to say the least.
VANESSA EMIRIAN
PHOTO: LUCAS DAWSON
Sophie Teh offered another interpretation of Oriental culture (MAIN PHOTO,TOP) based on bold applications of colour and garment layering (we never say no to a good pom-pom fest), while Rachel Zheng’s breathy silk garments proved a graduate collection can indeed function as elegant eveningwear when removed from the runway.
Neoprene was the hero of Donald Chung’s menswear collection, based on the military proportions of the hyper-masculine form in which stark angularity reigns. Contrastingly, Felicity Gleeson explored the delicate techniques and effects associated with the finely finished surface; experimenting with lace on a sugared pastel palette.
DONALD CHUNG
PHOTO: LUCAS DAWSON
In her ‘FLOR’ collection, RMIT’s Lauren Acciarito followed the evolutionary processes of the flower; exploring the properties of foam and weight in garments that resembled beautifully distorted blooms. Closing the show was Natalie Kieleithner’s blood-red tribe; tasselled and pulsating garments that recalled the human body’s visceral and sensory inclinations.
If this lot are anything to go by, the future of design in this country rests in fairly good hands.
Alexia Petsinis, info@voxfrock.com.au
