Frankie Magazine L’Oreal Runway:
Melbourne Experience
Frankie Magazine L’Oreal Runway Melbourne: Experience
Written by Claudia Sorace - Braudia GM Creative Director
On Saturday I was released from hospital on the grounds that I would “go easy”. I knew, as did Bryn that there was one Runway I could still make, and in keeping with last year’s tradition, I would try and make it to the Frankie Magazine Runway Event.
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| Braudia Directors Bryn Thomas & Claudia Sorace |
Bryn and I had planned our outfits for this one for quite sometime. We were privileged enough to have VIP tickets, which gained us unlimited access to the VIP room. Still trying to recover from our ‘Mad Men’ fever, in light of our affliction, we decided to present in 1960’s attire. Mimicking a ‘Pete Campbell’ blue suit, Bryn strutted the red carpet, and holding onto his arm; I fancied myself as Betty Draper in my paisley printed, retro inspired, Hollywood starlet dress.
The Frankie Event seemed to be the perfect place to unleash our feverish passé; hopefully the tone of ‘artistic’ and ‘slightly alternative’ would favor our efforts to blast from the past. That’s not to say that the Runway was outdated… or was it? That will come later.
The Braudia duo, never ones to shy away from bubbly and canapés lingered in the VIP room only for a matter of minutes, as it conjured stifling air of insipid mediocrity. The inside is well marketed, the room is well groomed with beautiful orchids and the ‘Chambord’ bar depicts something out of a television commercial. The wait staff are all incredibly attractive and attentive (coincidence?).
However, the VIP outdoor area is far more to our liking, bathing in the afternoon sunlight and sipping on unlimited champagne; Bryndabello and myself soon found our laughter getting louder and our general social number going from the mere two of us, to a whole group laughing and engaging around us.
Retro regurgitated; when the VIP’s we were standing with realized they couldn’t light up, due to all misplacing their lighters, they jumped the VIP barrier and asked the ‘common goers’ for a light. Consequently then, without flinching (separating the social tiers) they naturally jumped back over to our side of the wall, light heartedly noting “Thanks for the light, now back in your place”.
Am I painting a negative picture? I shouldn’t. It just is how it is. Now on our umpteenth flute of champagne and barely being able to feel our cheeks, a gentle but assertive voice alerts us “The Frankie Runway is about to start, please kindly take your seats”. We were particular lucky, scoring seats in the suite booth that sits you almost in the ‘Rich and Famous’ alcove staging a birds eye view above all other fashionista’s. To top it off, more free champagne, cocktails and our own waitress with a cheese platter (by this stage I had to contain my giggles from raucously yelling “Cheese Gromit!”).
Am I painting a negative picture? I shouldn’t. It just is how it is. Now on our umpteenth flute of champagne and barely being able to feel our cheeks, a gentle but assertive voice alerts us “The Frankie Runway is about to start, please kindly take your seats”. We were particular lucky, scoring seats in the suite booth that sits you almost in the ‘Rich and Famous’ alcove staging a birds eye view above all other fashionista’s. To top it off, more free champagne, cocktails and our own waitress with a cheese platter (by this stage I had to contain my giggles from raucously yelling “Cheese Gromit!”).
Imagine this, a skinny Runway, seating either side. The Runway heeds humongous screens, this is where our tiny framed models entrance and once they have walked the length, weaving themselves through the wheat bales, they disappear.
Karen Walker – This Autumn collection is what you would expect from this kind of designer. This season Karen Walker boasts a variety of ‘Little Red Riding hood’ inspired peplum coats that range from somewhat fitted to draping and gaping. This collection was my personal favorite for the evening and it was an Orange wool suit that had me at ‘hello’. The overprinting ingests like a pajama party, Karen Walker, using this minimally, compared with the other designers who seemed to run out of creativity and use, only one fabric ream (budget cuts in the rag trade?) for an entire collection.
Designers Lime Drop and Kuwaii were guilty of this throughout their Runway presentations, which at times left Bryn and I feeling slightly uninterested and irked by the lack of ingenuity.
Kuwaii challenged a concept that we felt resonated ‘Crocodile Dundee marinated in Western Chic’ which essential sounds like an intriguing concept, however delivers a little confusing. Floppy hats adorned with flannel-esque shirts or oversized tee’s gave Kuwaii the ticket to meet commercially with their contenders, but alas did not prove anything ‘cutting edge’.
Lime Drop visualized a somewhat elusive collection. As mentioned, an over kill on the prints chosen, the variety wasn’t exactly there; the blazers did have a beautiful cut and I was most impressed with the Runway look ‘seven’ which consisted of a cut off lace jacket; accompanied with a leather skirt and simply finished with a plain black boob tube that sung ‘Billie Piper’ in ‘Diaries of a Call Girl’.
‘Wheat’ were carried away with the bags of grain that the models from Leonard St adorned. ‘Beanie dreams’ along with heavy knits were given spotlight. I was particularly a fan of the ‘swanning about’ (swan print) that was used cleverly throughout this collection. The ‘indie’ types will not find the bird prints ‘hard to swallow’. In fact, this collection in particular will appeal to the ‘Frankie’ readers who want to couple slightly alternative with mid to high-end fashion.
The ‘alternative’ continues with the Jolet collection. An Armish stunner? City slicker meets paddock preacher. The overkill of the city skyline lights was generated and then generated again. The black cut out blazer shows a Paris sleek, however it begs to differ (in my opinion) how wearable the collection actually is. Jolet certainly wants the Rubik cube to make a comeback. Unlike the Rubik’s cube, I don’t see ultimate timelessness in this collection.
Secret South had a collection that was faultless, wearable and versatile. East meets west in orange town. The snood returned in festooned Bollywood patterning. A maroon jacket had onlookers reacting with “Moves like Jagger”. Secret South is the only collection that decided to stay away from marginal difference and stayed with sleek and slinky.
Gorman was a collection that for my own personal taste was the most appealing. A leather dress that could be wiped down with a pino-clean cloth after a big night out seemingly was one of the crowd favorites. I ‘spotted’ lots of leopard print, which was the highlight – we can regenerate our wardrobes from seasons before, it is still in!
Overall the Runway was combined well. The collections blended effortlessly, even though the Runway design was a bit of a letdown. Last year Frankie Magazine presented their runway with teepees staggered, not straying far from this – we see hay and wheat bundles.
Wrapping up this season; Secret South, Gorman and Karen Walker will be seeing some of their pieces hanging in my wardrobe.
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| Limedrop |
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| Leonard St. |
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| Karen Walker |
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| Jolet |
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| Kuwaii |
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| Gorman |
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| Secret South
All photography provided by Kismet Studios, All Rights Reserved. http://www.facebook.com/KismetStudioAustralia more photos from the evening at http://www.facebook.com/BraudiaGm
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