Saving the Planet, One Frock at a Time

Melbourne Fashion Week’s planet-altering policies on diversity and sustainability popped and blossomed across every workshop, forum, street walk and runway. Your Voxfrock Rookies Atusa Moghaddam and Stephanie Bakas were at the pinnacle showcase of fashion’s new world order, Town Hall Runway 6.

Words: Atusa Moghaddam Photographs: Stephanie Bakas

Chloe Mottau opened the show with flowy, layered dresses, beautiful print-on-print tops and pants in silks and linens featuring quirky details such as the tulle ruched rear panel on an oversized blazer dress.

Lois Hazel showed classics with colour pops, Kuwaii designer Kristy Barber’s kinky prints were inspired by Australia’s iconic fauna and BUL ‘s soft, simply styled, pastel pieces were designed for loyalists of ethical fashion with a longevity bonus.

ELK ‘s comfy-looking “Gleam” collection featured vibrant, multicoloured prints in viscose and linen, styled with Helen Kaminski hats. “(We’re) naturally colourful individuals,” said designer Marnie Goding. “So (this collection) was born out of a desire to bring colour to our “love party“.”

Dress Up showed refined summer casuals and Kalaurie‘s handcrafted creations were monochromatically dramatic including a half black-half white shirt dress and a long black trench coat with ruffled shirt tucked into booty shorts and styled with a peasant-inspired head scarf.

Vovo , by designers Phoebe Taylor and Ashlee Pierce, closed the show with a sixties-inspired collection of sparkly, romantic hand-made designs and rising music star KAIIT sang the models through their finale walk. “It was Incredible to see all these beautiful creations in one place,” said Phoebe Taylor of VoVo, “And (Kaiit’s) performance was an amazing heart touching addition.”

Footnote. The show’s ethical accessories and shoes are worth remembering, including by Sans Beast, ST. AGNI, and Poppy Lissiman.

Meet the Rookies

Stephanie Bakas (Photographer)

Stephanie is a second year Bachelor of Fine Art student majoring in photography at RMIT. Her goal is to specialise in fashion photography. She has five years’ experience including with the Melbourne Fashion Festival and MPavillion.

Atusa Moghaddam (Fashion journalist)

Atusa, above, is a freelance fashion writer with a Bachelor in Fashion Design and a degree in Digital Marketing. She has owned her own fashion label and worked for independent Australian designers. Atusa is now studying a degree in Entertainment journalism at Collarts and managing a curation of her fashion writing on the social media platform she founded, ModeMuse. She also finds time to produce and co-host the Creative Essence podcast featuring interviews with top creatives in fashion and related industries under the mentorship of Voxfrock’s Janice Breen Burns.