The 29th Melbourne Fashion Festival is bumping out of the Royal Exhibition Buildings as we speak and your flatchat VoxFrock Rookie Crew slowing, disbanding for day jobs, uni deadlines and life in the Real World. Our parting gift, Dear Reader, is this last whizz across the MFF forecourt with the VoxFrockers. Sophia Matelli writes a dreamy little poem to accompany shots by Theadora Violet who combed the crowd for those ping! moments that define Melbourne streetstyle. Scroll down to meet them and tomorrow, click back for the crew’s final tribute to the precious back and front-of-house professionals who support their fledgeling careers in fashion journalism.
(Thirty minutes before the show.) There is the buzz. The evening is balmy, still in its summer pastel mood, the music stylish and upbeat. Photographers linger as guests mingle, eating, drinking, soaking in the energy, shedding hesitation. More arrive, and more.
(Fifteen minutes before the show.) At first, they seem reluctant. They let their elevated ensembles do the talking. A head-to-toe red get-up walks in with dramatic tulle tutus, elegantly structured blazers, striking silhouettes. Statement shoes arrive; blue velvet knee highs, abstract-shaped wedges, even hair-finished shoes. (Of course!) Summer is here in vibrant pinks, lilacs and reds. Patterns never clash but multiply; plaid skirts, animal prints, lace.
Photographers scramble to snap their chosen guests. Everyone has a star moment: flashes goes off, light strikes gleaming garments, a fashion show!
(10 minutes before the show.) The sun leaves the party, guests find their likeminded crowd. Flashes of fur jackets, long ribbons, headscarves, bustling lines form.
(5 final minutes before the show.) The Royal Exhibition Building bathed in purple light, brimming with enthusiastic guests ready to escape into another world crafted by designers, producers, models. Infectious, electric energy, everyone united by the love of fashion, community and place.
Sophia completed a Bachelor of Design Communication at RMIT in 2022. Since then she has worked with creative partner Emma Sinclair on two publications producd under their brand ‘Look!’. Sophia has always had an interest in fashion and was able to explore this deeper through Look! Book. She worked with designers and creatives in the fashion industry to create a visually immersive experience combining photography, interviews, collage and graphic design. This is Sophia’s second tour on the VoxFrock Rookie Crew.
Theadora is a photographer and videographer increasingly in-demand for fashion, commercial event and private client projects. She is a science graduate and studied film animation and photography at Deakin University. Theadora is also a seasoned traveller, equally passionate about photographing fashion as exotic locations and far-off destinations. Her fashion photography is nuanced, narrative-driven and tends to reportage. This is Theadora’s third tour on the VoxFrock Rookie Crew.
ABOUT THE VOXFROCK ROOKIES
The Voxfrock Rookie Crew is a selective industry-based mentoring programme for tertiary graduates of journalism, photography and related study majors who have a genuine interest in developing high quality strategies to report, write and photograph fashion as a complex and inspiring social construct. Crews have been run for more than a decade by veteran fashion editor Janice Breen Burns (mentoring journalism) and legendary VogueAustralia shooter Monty Coles (mentoring photography). Star graduates of the Voxfrock Rookie programme, Chrissy Dore and Tilly Parsons, have also been appointed crew mentors. Many VoxFrock Rookie Crew alumni – too many to list here – have progressed to stellar careers in fashion, media and related industries. In 2023, the VoxFrock Rookie Crew was folded into the mentoring programme run by FashLab, Melbourne’s community of independent small brands and related creative professionals and craftspeople working in all categories of Victoria’s fashion industry.
