Fashion commentator Glynis Traill-Nash breaks down the trend towards orientalism, and wraps up this year’s L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival.
The term “orientalism” has been bandied about a lot for Spring 2013. It’s a term I’m none too fond of, as it’s so generic, especially when you can buy a one-way ticket to the source of the trend, with a stopover on your way back.
Destination: Japan
The main trend under broad this parasol concerns designs directly influenced by Japan. Miuccia Prada, as per, was one of the leaders in this trend for Spring 2013 (in store now, pictured above left). The Prada show featured models in leather tabi socks and platform sandals, with prints inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and kimono-inspired shapes.
Artfully folded fabrics invoked the art of origami, seen at Prada, and also Christopher Kane and Mugler. Balenciaga, meanwhile, featured flat tie waist details on trousers and pencil skirts.
Etro went all-out on the japonisme trend, with kimono tops and dresses, and even some outfits that resembled karate outfits (pictured above right). Dries Van Noten was more subtle in his references, citing the chrysanthemum – the flower of the Imperial House of Japan – on silk separates.
For a really easy take on turning your wardrobe Japanese, try on trousers inspired by the traditional umanori, with its wide legs and tie waist (see tomenyc.com). Or, even easier, just add an obi belt to items already sitting in your wardrobe – look to Haider Ackermann and Lanvin for inspiration, especially when working with more tailored looks.
Stopover: Vietnam
Peter Dundas headed to Vietnam for his collection for Emilio Pucci. Knot closures ran down the side of skirts and dresses, while dragons and tigers were printed in gold or embroidered on sheer dresses and crossover jackets. And you would only have to put on those wedge sandals supported by entwined carved dragons to take a literal step into a more exotic fashion phase.
The L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival has wrapped for another year. This year I headed south to host three Fashion Industry Forums, covering topics including The Fashion Media Landscape Transformation and The Designer’s Universe. We had a stellar line-up of panellists including Vogue editor-in-chief Edwina McCann, fashion editor of The Australian, Damien Woolnough, designer Yeojin Bae and sass & bide CEO David Briskin. The forums were lively discussions that also prompted plenty of questioning from the audience.
Another highlight of the week was the day-long Business Seminar, hosted by Wish editor David Meagher, which included a Q&A with London-based designer Mary Katrantzou, who proved to be as down-to-earth as her designs are of another stratosphere. New York-based illustrator Bil Donovan gave a live illustration demonstration while taking questions from the audience, and Marc Worth, co-founder of trend forecasters WGSN, took on the future of that subject in reference to his new venture, Stylus.
Evening runway shows presented by our glossies kept Melbourne’s fashion set ready to hit retail the following day.
But one of the highlights was the Sportsgirl National Graduate Showcase, featuring the best of last year’s fashion design graduates from the Queensland University of Technology, Sydney University of Technology and Melbourne’s RMIT. Standouts included Kathleen Choo (pictured above left) and Karen Yang from UTS (who had also headed to Dunedin, New Zealand, for the iD Dunedin Emerging Designer competition the previous week – pictured above centre), Natasha Fagg (pictured above right), whose densely textured embellishment contrasted with the clean lines of her garments, and Cesar Chehade’s deep-sea creature-inspired collection (pictured below).
If this is the future of Australian fashion, it’s in safe hands.
By Glynis Traill-Nash
@GlynisTN
