SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 06: Kym Ellery arrives for the David Jones A/W 2013 Season Launch at David Jones Castlereagh Street on February 6, 2013 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage) Photo: Don Arnold
Still life: Martin Grant installation. Photo: Karla Majnaric
After events in New York, London and Milan, Paris Fashion Week marks the climax of the ready-to-wear season - which is why Australian designers such as Melbourne's Toni Maticevski were in the thick of it last month mingling with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs as they displayed their wares.
Seasoned Fashion Week veterans Martin Grant and Collette Dinnigan were back again while Akira Isogawa, whimsical jewellery designer Lucy Folk, fashion producer Chris Ford and buyer Christine Barro could also be spotted strolling the city's boulevards.
''It's the world stage for fashion,'' says Sydney designer Kym Ellery, who made her debut at the Fashion Week. ''Every buyer is there from around the world to source the must-have designer's collection for the coming season.''
Like Grant and Dinnigan, Ellery was invited to be in the official show, but chose to make a more subtle entree away from the main venues.
While all designers yearn to show in Paris, they must wait to be invited - and, once there, the process is strictly hierarchical.
''You're not going to start with the prime spot on the French calendar,'' says Dinnigan. ''You usually have to start with appointments, showings and off-calendar shows. Then you work your way up the ladder, I guess and if you get recognised by the Chambre Syndicale, it's an honour.''
Martin Grant
Showing at Paris Fashion Week can involve a marathon effort. But for a veteran designer such as Martin Grant, who produced his collection in 26 days, it was more like a quick sprint. Grant admits that after a long and dreary Paris winter ''I stayed on holidays a bit longer''.
But Grant must have been designing while on his extended break because the first outfit of the collection, presented on mannequins at the Maison de L'Amé´rique Latin, was a 1930s swimwear-inspired body suit. ''For me summer is about bathing suits,'' he says, so Grant applied this swim concept throughout the collection from slim fitting bodysuits to wear under tailored jackets, to the bodice of a ballet length '50s-style full tulle dress which Grant describes as ''every girl's dream''. And it is. Seeing the collection presented in this way allows Grant's skill to be fully appreciated - the silhouette, craftsmanship and fabrication. The live classical string accompaniment filled the high ceilings of the elegant space and offered a reprieve from the hectic fashion week buzz. Grant's mood was light. ''I tend to smile a lot which makes the French very suspicious for some reason,'' he laughed.
''I do consider myself as an Australian,'' he says. ''But the irony of it is that in France they consider me Australian and, when I go to Australia, people almost consider me as French. In a way I'm in a no-man's land.'' Grant's style, nevertheless, suggests that he is now a true Parisian catering to a refined celebrity clientele, even though he eschews publicity and fame. In 1999, Naomi Campbell appeared for Martin Grant after she declined Versace for not offering her enough money. This unsolicited style of patronage elevates his art to a higher form.
Collette Dinnigan
Just as Grant offered unexpected combinations, Collette Dinnigan sought to create ''emotion contrasts'' at her show entitled Both Sides Now, suitably housed in a salon flanked with mirrors.
''I wanted to show things that weren't too obvious and co-ordinated,'' Dinnigan said. In addition to the heavy embroidery, beading and sweeping evening gowns synonymous with the brand, Dinnigan incorporated Woolmark's Cool Wool into six summer outfits, in bold colour combinations of bright aqua and red, a deep V-necked beige dress exposing a red bra.
On the back of the show program Dinnigan included a poem that opened and closed with the lines of Joni Mitchell's slow lament Both Sides Now. The mirrors, the poetry, it was an emotionally charged collection from a veteran reflecting upon her 18 years of showing at Paris Fashion Week. ''It's an honour to show in Paris. And I'm still very proud representing Australia.'' Dinnigan has a loyal base of international supporters including actress Pom Klementieff, model Poppy Delevingne, uber stylists Charlotte Stockdale and Martha Ward who all attended her show.
Akira Isogawa
Another veteran of fashion week in Paris, Akira Isogawa, showed his collection in a low-key showroom format. Isogawa first came to Paris 15 years ago with a suitcase of samples he sold to a Milanese buyer in her hotel room. ''She bought the whole lot. I had to go home empty-handed,'' he laughs. She's still a client today.
Isogawa chose to present in a runway format in the early years of showing in Paris, 1999-2001, and scaled to smaller presentations with fewer models in 2004 and 2005. But from experience he notes a full-scale presentation in Paris is accompanied by a heavy workload. ''You need an amazing amount of support and you need to sacrifice your private life, you sacrifice a lot. I'd rather take it slowly.''
He presents his range independently rather than as part of group showroom, a more common arrangement in Paris. His quiet self assurance sets him apart as a unique and sought-after artist. ''I have clients who have been with us for a number of years. It's OK to be independent, because they will come to see us.''
Like an artist, Isogawa always begins with the blank canvas, the fabric, which determines the garment's form. This season he collaborated with an Indonesian artist on some shibori and batik prints that have been hand-painted. One, a butterfly textile shaped into Isogawa's signature strap dress, particularly pleases him. ''The quality is actually quite outstanding.''
Toni Maticevski
Having previously shown full-scale runway shows at New York Fashion Week, Maticevski, like Isogawa, now opts for low-key showroom displays in Paris. ''In the past, I flew by the seat of my pants or [went with] what was offered to me. Like New York, which was amazing and exciting, but really not worthwhile in the immediate sense.'' Will the Melbourne designer ever do a runway show in Paris? ''I have a definite strategy in place now and would look to show in the future,'' he says.
Maticevski showed his larger-than-usual collection for the second consecutive season tucked away in the 10th arrondissement as if to say ''Find me if you can!'' Like Grant, he seems intent on remaining impervious to the whims of pop-fashion. ''I don't go to shows, I try not to look too much at what others do.'' Showing from an austere studio, the opulent folded satin, leather and silk shone like out-of-place jewels.
His starting point for the collection was a group of concrete sculptures, ''almost brutal forms set against nature. I kept seeing everything set against this black-and-white image.'' His choice of showroom suddenly made sense.
Intense beading, fabric embellishment and colours that were ''a bit skewed, a little bit pretty and demented'' punctuated the collection. A swirling micro-leather patchwork reminiscent of the ethereal movement work of contemporary indigenous artist Gloria Petyarre was a highlight. There is art in every aspect of Maticevski's craft. Unlike Dinnigan, Akira and Ellery, this collection will service both the international spring/summer 14 and Australian autumn/winter 2014. Normally they are held back a season for Australia.
Christine Barro
Christine Barro, the accessory queen first anointed as the accessories buyer for department store Georges, has been travelling to Paris fashion week as a buyer for 30 years. She also stocks Toni Maticevski in her destination accessory emporium because ''his ready-to-wear is world class.'' Barro functions like a fine art curator quoting the late Australian art critic Robert Hughes: ''I love the shock of the new.'' Her craft is as honed as her eye and she describes the process as ''the hunt and the catch''.
Following Barro's buy at the Lanvin showroom it's clear why she is the doyenne of Melbourne fashion. In the showroom surrounded by Lanvin's summer 2014 collection Barro is somewhat at odds with her surrounds. ''Most people write their orders with a computer, I use a pencil, sharpener and paper.'' But she is as sharp as the pencil she keeps at a point, and it's clear that she is revered by one of the most prestigious French fashion houses. Alix Maia, Lanvin's export manager, comes to check what Barro thinks of the new collection and shares Alber Elbaz's philosophy this season ''freedom in luxury, and luxury is freedom''.
Along with Barro, Sam Hussein and Tony Da Silva from iconic Melbourne boutique Cose Ipanema make the pilgrimage to Paris for fashion week. ''I think I've flown to Paris over 160 times'' says Da Silva. Having stocked labels from Jean Paul Gaultier through to cult label Dries Van Noten (who they have stocked since the label started), they continue to hone their vision of the Melbourne aesthetic recently picking up fashion darling Simone Rocha. Like Barro, their knowledge of fashion is encyclopedic and they are quick to spot new talent.
Barro notes that Melbourne and Paris ''share a deep and great creativity''. Grant, Maticevski and Isogawa all create individual ranges guided by a compass of creative rather than commercial concerns, which ''buyers look for in Paris'', says Isogawa. But Australians in Paris also possess an intrepid quality. It is, after all, a pilgrimage that few have taken on and even fewer have conquered.
So the allure remains. Talking to fashion newcomer Leo Greenfield at the La Perle cafe, where fashion giant John Galliano notoriously went on a drunken anti-Semitic tirade in 2011, the mystery begins to unravel. ''I want to walk in the footsteps of my heroes,'' says Greenfield. Having just relocated to Paris, Greenfield summed it up best. ''I've come to Paris because I'm after good stories and I believe all good fashion stories start in Paris.''
Ellery weaves her way into Paris
Kym Ellery's debut Paris Fashion Week presentation entitled Transcendenta meditated on her brand's key silhouettes: flared pants, oversized shapes in dresses, and her signature duster coat that was seen in almost every collection across fashion week.
Somewhere in this Zen state Ellery must have picked up on the art-informs-fashion vibe that ran through so many collections from Chanel to Celine.
She commissioned artist Ben Barretto to create bespoke hand-woven tapestries out of modest materials including rope and bricklayer's line to weave into her collection. The wearable artworks formed tops with hidden pockets.
Ellery has always seen her brand in Paris. "It has always been my goal; to show at Paris Fashion Week. It is where I see the label long term and it is a huge honour for me and my brand to be accepted into the Paris fold."
Akira Isogawa praised Ellery's Paris debut. "I believe she is talented and believe she will reach a wide audience because she is in Paris. It's what's next that she will need to make the right assessment on. I have learnt through my own experience that controlling growth is really important. When numbers are up you have to have capital, time and workforce to back you and deliver orders on time and with quality that is equal to a sample, that's the biggest challenge."
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