Up Chic Creek Without A Paddle: Australian Fashion Week Day 04 – A Recap

If Day 04 of Fashion Week was #literally the end of the world as we know it, then creative polymath Mark Vassallo was the leading horseman of the apocalypse having styled two of the week’s most visually-arresting shows, both of which bookended the final day of – and this is a legitimate overheard – “the [redacted alliterative expletive] convention” that was the chic, enervating wench Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia.

Double air kiss off the week that was with this one final ICYMI expedition up shit creek without a paddle.

[Recap 01, Recap 02 and Recap 03 can be found elsewhere.]

Alice McCall’s 10th Anniversary Cruise collection In My Dreams was like watching a Pinterest mood board of heavenly 70s poolside attire and sports luxe couture alike cream its extremely well-cut mesh palazzo culottes, and that’s a compliment of the highest order – all scalloped edge everything, exaggerated cocoon sweatshirts covered in trippy abstracted prints and the resurgence of glitter of the hair, body and wardrobe. 

If that wasn’t enough, confetti cannons blew their load over an incredibly dreamy suspended set piece crafted by production designer Alice Babidge. Then, almost as if on cue, Instagram exploded too as it it wasn’t able to even deal with what was happening right now.  

NKOTB Hayley Elsaesser’s served midday Redneck Nostalgia realness with a debut collection of easy, wearable separates covered in prints that evoked just that – redneck hankering for beers, palm trees and nostalgia for the Hot Wheels logo.   

Coming up in the spot looking extra fly, rapper and noted fan of fashion Lupe Fiasco made his catwalk debut and capped off the official schedule by closing the week’s only strictly menswear offering from Song For The Mute – a highly-accomplished exercise in industrial tailoring set to a pulsating soundtrack that cut deeper that the models’ cheekbones, prompting someone behind me to say – oblivious to his own volume – “Jesus fucking Christ, my ears.” 

Deal with it, mate. This. Is. Fashion.

Hands down, DI$COUNT UNIVERSE’s off-schedule presentation at the InterContinental was as close to gush-defying as the week got, especially for the hotel guests who couldn’t fathom what the f*shion was going on in their expensive lobby. 

“What’s happening?” a patron of rich $25 mojitos at the bar asked me. “Fashion,” again the only reply that sprang to mind. “Where is the after party?” he then pressed. “The hotel lobby,” I replied, a pretty poor R Kelly reference fell dead to the ground with deafening confusion.

The show itself though, well that was like Brooke Candy ate all the emojis and washed them down with the history of Japonisme themed disco attire; nary an inch wasn’t covered with a sequin, a stud or a buckle. Next year however, it’d be nice to see design duo Nadia Napreychikov and Cami James branch out from the restrained and subdued minimalism that has so far characterised their quiet collections. 

At Song For The Mute: “How good is fashion though?”

A blogger in the media centre with almost-endearing earnestness: “I just, like, really love [a very pregnant pause] Australian Fashion Week.”

And this, an IRL overheard in GIF form in the foyer. Chic.

Lead Photo: Ryan Pierse via Getty