The buyer's verdict on fashion week
Like most fashion buyers, Chelsea Power from MATCHESFASHION.com spends a lot of time on a plane and in the back of a taxi. She estimates she does around 50 flights per year, travelling the world to find the next big brand, spot the trends we will want to wear next, meet with labels the site already stocks, and understand each of the markets she looks after.
For London-based Power, who was attending Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia for the second time, her highlight of last week was a tie between the Matteau and Lee Mathews shows.
"Both are what I'd call true Australian style," she said.
"The Matteau show had gorgeous colours, I loved the casting and when I ducked backstage I could see the show really encapsulated the moodboard. Lee Mathews is really original, it's not like anything I've seen. The fabrics are lovely, the shapes are easy to wear and when I posted pics on Instagram all the girls in the office [in London] were like 'OMG we love!' which is always a good measure."
Power was also impressed – although less familiar – with Bassike and Aje.
Teneille Oakley, David Jones' womenswear buying manager, agreed that Aje and Lee Mathews were stand-outs for the week. She said P.E Nation's collaboration with Speedo was another highlight.
"I am really excited about the collaboration between P.E Nation [and] Speedo. It’s been great to see how P.E have injected their personality and edge into such an iconic brand," Oakley said, adding that the offsite shows throughout the week added something special in "showcasing Sydney and elevating the fashion".
Fashion buying is a job that, with its international travel and front row seats at fashion week, looks impossibly glamorous. And it is. But it also involves writing buying orders at 2am, a lot of spreadsheets, long days and schlepping about. Power said one of the best parts of the job is the chance to use both business nous and creativity.
"[Fashion buying] uses both sides of your brain, you need to be able to back up creativity with numbers and spreadsheets," she said.
Eva Galambos, director of Parlour X, said Christopher Esber was her favourite show of the week.
"It felt like a truly designed collection that reflected the best of his signature design principles. His woman was sexy and confident," she says.
Galambos said there was "a lot of effortless and practical, optimistic dressing for the modern woman" this year.
"But I would've loved to see a lot more elevated designs and presentations."
Another highlight for Galambos was her role as a judge on the St George NextGen designers showcase, which supports emerging talent.
"This year was no exception for young innovation; Madison Hislop had interesting fabric fusions with colour treatments and distressed knits. I was impressed by quite sophisticated shapes and luxurious finishes from a graduate. I also loved Benjamin Garg who followed Madison, he had a distinct and cultural point of view. [It] felt fresh," she says.
The Next Gen showcase was a highlight for Sydney-born, London-based buyer Holly Tenser from Brown's Fashion, too.
"It was a really different point of view, it was very original, wasn’t taking inspiration from somewhere," she said. Tenser also loved the Matteau, Aje, Bondi Born and Michael Lo Sordo shows.
Tenser buys women's ready-to-wear and resort for the iconic London fashion boutique which was started by Joan Burstein and husband Sidney in 1970 and acquired by online fashion platform Farfetch in 2015. In addition to travelling the world to various fashion weeks, Instagram has become an important tool for her endless quest of discovering "newness".
"I use Instagram . . . to get a feel of what I want to see [when attending fashion weeks]. I'll look at a brand's aesthetic on Instagram, it's probably one of the most powerful tools for a brand right now," Tenser said.
Key trends from fashion week
Playing with proportion. From the puffed sleeves at Bec & Bridge and Hansen & Gretel to the longer silhouettes at Lee Mathews and Anna Quan.
Sophisticated sexiness. Cut-outs and crop tops showed off the female form in an elegant way at Christopher Esber, Carla Zampatti and Matteau.
Feathers and lace. Fun feathers and lace were seen at Alice McCall, while Michael Lo Sordo paired sophisticated feathers paired with slinky silk pieces for evening.
Think pink. US designer Jonathan Simkhai was inspired by sunsets for his resort collection and you could tell. There were pops of pink at Alice McCall and Bassike too.
