I really love a show – we all do, and Fashion Week is show just like any other. It’s about glamour, excitement – colour and movement. Everyone is giving their best performance and the audience is thrilled and enjoying it – except we’re not!
Whatever makes Simon Lock think that the overseas fashion buyers will continue to travel half way around the world to spend days sitting in hot, smelly, badly ventilated spaces, while they are insulted by shows that run later and later.
No good making feeble attempts to distract them from the discomfort by getting cute boys to give out free sugary drinks in case they faint fall and call their lawyer. They just won’t bother to make the trip – “send me the video, Darling, I’ll choose something”. So my visit to the 4 Boys show got off to a bad start. The audience was on time so why were we waiting 35 minutes for the show to start - poor management again. Finally things got going.
The four boys, Dion Lee, Christopher Esber, Guy Hastie and Spencer Webber were all students of the Fashion Design Studio at TAFE NSW. The show had some really interesting pieces, particularly jackets, but a very limited array of colours – you could just hear the audience perk up when a bright pink piece arrived.
There was a distinctive ‘house‘style which seemed to be a result of influence from those who had the power to pass or fail, forcing the students to reflect a particular teacher’s taste. This was a shame as I wanted it to be a ‘student’ show – the best of the future and it wasn’t.
The second of the four students, Christopher Esber did something really silly which distracted from his rather good, if conservative clothes – each model had an apple in her mouth. Pretentious? We’ve all heard of Magritte, pet – get over it. The audience wriggled with embarrassment and the models looked even less animated when they were finally getting something to eat. All four students had clearly worked hard – there was just no fire, no excitement.
If this is the future of Australian fashion then these boys deserved better. Start with a good venue to show their clothes, which does not alienate or suffocate the audience. We need a change of attitude in the modelling agencies – these girls are too thin and they do not reflect the women who will buy the clothes. So nothing is shown to its best advantage and the shows just look cheap and tacky. And a change in attitude in the schools and colleges, forget about safe and conservative and let imagination be the guiding principle.
If Australian Fashion Week is to remain credible as a showcase and trading floor for our best designers, the basics must be done professionally and done right – and the show must go on – on time!
