The week at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia (MBFWA) last week was a whirlwind. Running around in heels from show to show and starting some days with talks with designers at 8 am, I’m only now able to sit down and go through all the amazing photos and share all the favourite highlights from last week with you.
It seems to me that MBFWA becomes more and more intense, colourful & at times chaotic as the years go by. I attended my first Mercedes-Benz Fashion week three years ago when it was held at Sydney’s International Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay. Back then fashion week also happened be held on my first week starting my job working as Website Manager at David Jones, and therefore I was only able to attend a few of the shows. This year as we represent J’adorais, my sister Clarice & I had a back-to-back schedule of great shows at Carriageworks and meetings with talented Australian designers, and our first day at Fashion week started with some amazing shows.
Above: Me, running around between shows, wearing Aelkemi leather trench jacket, Daniel Avakian silk shirt, Blessed are the Meek leather shorts, Alexander McQueen boots. Photo by Clarice (@brigadeirochoc)
Starting with Melbourne design-duo Strateas Carlucci, whose designs we’ve been admiring go from strength to strength in the last few years. Known for their impeccably tailored jackets, knits and leathers, this collection brought us more voluminous jackets, gold brocade suits, flares, beautiful leather coats, thick oversized knitwear and plenty of layering.
Above: Strateas Carlucci’s collection, featuring voluminous coats, oversized knits & layering.
The next show was sisters Watson x Watson collection, which featured denim looks with a slight twist, patchwork wraps & dresses, cute jumpsuits and monochrome hues with striking colours.
I always have a natural affinity to sisters in fashion, particularly as I had the pleasure of meeting Liberty Watson three years ago, and she is lovely and beautiful in person too.
Above: Watson x Watson collection, featuring patchwork denim, opening wrap on left. We also met their proud parents after the show, who shared with us that their mum had been hand-sewing the quilt for the piece opening the show 24 hours earlier.
Above: Metallic ensembles and bold colours on draped dresses, on right Sisters Somer & Liberty Watson.
We went on to watch another sisterly fashion duo, Macgraw, by sisters Tessa and Beth Macgraw. The ‘Sheperdess’ collection, featured gorgeous ‘deer’ prints on pastel pink dresses, sweet white lace dresses, midi skirts, shirts with flared cuffs, gorgeous black & white checks and pinstripes. The looks were paired with gorgeous glittery flats (very ‘wizard of oz’ -“There’s no place like home”) in gold, pink and black colours, marking the sisters’ début shoe collection. (I’m quite the lover of striking flats, so would love one in each colour :). 
Making his comeback at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Australian designer Daniel Avakian’s Spring/Summer 2015 collection offered pure minimalism and elegance, clean palette of nude, white and black, and pops of lime colour. (I also happened to be wearing one of Daniel’s beautiful silk shirts from a previous collection that day :).
Above: Daniel’s collection offered sleek tailoring and feminine silhouettes, elegance, with beautiful drapery and structured lines.
My final highlight of the day was watching Gary Bigeni’s stunning SS15/16 show, I’ve admired his unique and striking designs for years so it was wonderful to see the collection up close from the front row, as an array of beautiful clean lines descended the runway, soft colour palettes in whites and blues, beautiful watercolour prints and textured tops and skirts, kimono wrap styles.
Above: Gary’s clean silhouettes, soft colour palette and luxurious fabrications, shirting & draping all worked together to present a polished collection. I also loved this bold blue patent leather A-line skirt above.
Above: Finale of Gary Bigeni’s show (photo taken on my iphone)
It’s been 10 years since Gary Bigeni’s appearance in the New Generation show at MBFW, he returned to the runway stronger than ever. We also had the privilege of attending a talk in which Gary provided his insights into how to stay ahead of the pack, and ensure longevity of his brands and success over the long-term. It was a humbling to hear of his experience and the ups and downs that the designer has had to go through over the last 10 years in order to stay ahead of the game. Hats off to Gary on another amazing collection. “Gary Bigeni in person is as brightly coloured as his designs are muted. It is a beautiful juxtaposition; something that makes you love the brand even more.”
For me the highlight of the week was not only seeing the amazing shows, meeting with great designers, but also sharing the fun of the week with my sister Clarice.
Above: In Coordinated monochrome style, Clarice wears Cos dress, collar & cuff from Etsy, Dolce & Gabanna sunglasses, Chanel boy bag.
Stay tuned as I share more highlights of MBFWA in coming posts!
Happy Monday!
xx J’adorais
As some of my iphone pictures weren’t the best quality, some of the runway photo source used for some of above pictures include: Harpers Bazaar Australia, PopSugar, The Collective Hub.
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