Ksubi Closes Fashion Week

Having Ksubi close out Fashion Week on the tenth anniversary of their RAFW debut was a fitting way to kick off the end-of-week partying.

The catwalk comeback of their almost-lost denim label had been surrounded by a whole lot of hype in the lead up, but a lot of sentimental vibes were flowing too: could this be a return to Ksubi’s halcyon days?

They enlisted legendary stylist and fashion editor Brana Wolf to style the collection entitled One Via Zero (in honour of their tenth birthday at RAFW); the models had been hand-selected over a two month casting process, and the show would be live streamed to the masses – an Australian first.

Rats were rumoured to have been gathered and bagged…

With two thousand fashion peeps, media types, friends and voyeurs herded into a loading dock outside the Royal Hall Of Industries in Sydney and thousands more watching online waiting for the show to kick off, there was a real electricity in the air: it felt as if something amazing was about to happen.

The setup was staggering: four huge screens, a catwalk in the round, super complicated stage lighting, stadium style soundsystem and an ominous black booth dead centre of the room. Something effing crazy was going to come out of that thing – probably a major supermodel? Maybe Taylor Swift. Julian Casablancas is in town… maybe he would come out and sing “Hard To Explain”?! Hyperventilating ensued.

The lights went down, static crackled, sound cue to two hearts pounding over the speakers, an extended silence, music kicked in loudly and then…


The clothes…
Well, Ksubi do denim – not couture, so you have to keep things within that context.

With One Via Zero Dan Single and George Gorrow have moved away from the graphic prints and hyperactive colours and steered their focus onto texture. Moulded textures that created sculptural shapes featured heavily: papery dresses that resembled a crumpled note you’d pass in gym class.

The denim was super tight as always and distressed, stone wash, acid wash, tattered, ripped and braided – a nod to the Nineties (tres vintage), and featured in shades of pale blue, super light grey, and white.

Mesh pieces in black and white were matched with matte black sunglasses. Dresses and jumpsuits featured cutouts (one of the season’s big trends). Jackets abounded. The black leather shorts were nice and there was a great braided chambray shirt. And there was one rat, which (rather hilariously) the audience audibly awww-ed at.

The textural component that has been introduced to the designs is actually really interesting and definitely a step in a new direction for Ksubi and their clothes. Overall, however, the collection wasn’t really worthy of such an epic production.

The most disappointing part was ironically the styling – after all the excitement about Brana Wolf! How did it happen? The shoes were all pretty bad and didn’t fit the girls, and the trucker caps looked shit. The hair and makeup were just blah. On the whole it just seemed over-thought.

Kind of like “It’s a celebration because we’re back at fashion week – but we don’t want to make it too partyish or we’ll seem obnoxious. We’re doing a huge amazing production, but let’s downplay that by having the models walk out looking tough, austere. We’ll keep the hair and makeup really understated and colourless. No fake tans either – don’t want them making our clothes look pretentious. We want to show people we still have our tongue in cheek but also that we’re serious about the clothes speaking for themselves. We want to show people we’ve matured. And yet we’re referencing our past as well…”

I could just see the wheels turning in their heads.

The highlight – and awesome surprise – was most definitely the catwalk presence of Emma Balfour, the grunge goddess from the Nineties who still looks incredible. Another highlight was the choice of tunes: “Another Day In The Sun” by 1980s cult Sydney band The Moffs.

The show – the whole production – was pretty amazing just for the sheer scale of it all. It was more about the event itself and less about the clothes.

I guess ultimately though, after all the hype and excitement and expense, it all felt a little bit anticlimactic.

When the last model walked off and the room went silent a dude behind me whispered: “Is that it?”

He kind of read my mind.

The live stream can be viewed HERE and it’s a good way to watch the show. Better than watching it live – go figure.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the clothes too, so get in the comments section and get busy people.

Title Image by Lisa Maree Williams via Getty

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