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Home , Delta Goodrem, Josh Goot, Megan Washington, Natalie Imbruglia

words Glynis Traill-Nash portrait photography Alana Landsberry special report fashion changing

Left to right: Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett (Romance Was Born), Kym Ellery, of the Dion Lee, Josh guard Goot, Yeojin Bae There’s a new breed on fashion frontier, and they’re ready and raring to take on the world. y kate wilcox astian, assisted b b hair & makeup: melanie Burnicle for se

132 QANTAS september 2013 fashion

Dion Lee spring/ Australian designers summer 2013/14 have been making their mark on the international fashion stage for some time: Collette Dinnigan, Zimmermann, Akira Isogawa and Easton Pearson are just some of our established names. Martin Grant has staked a claim from his Paris base and is about to remind the home front of his allegiances thanks to his new uniforms for Qantas, to be worn on flights from early next year. Sass & Bide, Toni Maticevski, Alex Perry, Jayson Brunsdon, Camilla and Marc, and Willow have proven themselves battle-ready on the world’s catwalks. Now, the next generation of Australian fashion forces, recognised at home and, increasingly, abroad, is bringing fresh vision to this competitive and stylish battleground. With scissors drawn…

Josh Goot (left) and garments from his spring/ Josh Goot summer 2013/14 collection featuring bold silhouettes with a sporty edge (right and above left) osh Goot cemented his place as a new ✜ Customers: Notable fans include Natalie Jcreative force with Imbruglia, Kate Bosworth, Kim Kardashian, his pushing of technical Lara Bingle, and Lauren Santo boundaries. His first show Domingo from Moda Operandi. at Australian Fashion ✜ Career highlights: Josh Goot won the Week in 2005 showcased L’Oréal Fashion Festival Designer his unique take on tailored Award in 2005, a key signpost for emerging jersey pieces that walked a very fine line between talent in , along with a Qantas Spirit polished and casual – think metallic silver jersey of Youth Award; New York Fashion Week debut trench coats or sporty tank dresses. Digital printing in 2006, during which department store Henri has become one of his signatures; his silhouettes are Bendel filled its windows with Goot’s tailored bolder and more structured, with a sporty edge, while urban sport pieces, followed by two more shows his use of colour is increasingly confident. in New York, and three seasons in London; Goot is one of a number of designers, internationally, collaborated with Target in 2007; opened his first looking at woven jacquards as a subtle way of carrying store in 2012; launched an online store this year. contemporary pattern and imagery within the fabric ✜ Next: “We are moving to new studio space, construction. “I think it’s important for your personal looking to open a store in Melbourne and continually journey to keep evolving,” says Goot. working to improve the collection,” says Goot. 

september 2013 QANTAS 135 fashion

Dion Lee

ion Lee could be that once-in-a- generation fashion designer. Even before graduating from ’s Dion Lee (left) and garments from his D spring/summer 2013/14 collection Fashion Design Studio in 2007, he was being touted as the one to watch by many well- credentialled Australian observers of new me to take on more exciting projects and developments in the fashion world. Lee’s build the brand to its utmost potential technical abilities with complicated pattern- over time. cutting (while still at college, he created a versatile jacket that could be worn four “We have experienced season upon season of different ways) and sophisticated aesthetic have brought him applause from all international growth, [but] it requires resources to corners of the industry in Australia, and now international acclaim has followed. capitalise on all of those opportunities.” For his part, Lee says his collections are “driven by the development of cut ✜ Customers: The fashion-forward are fans of and construction. I am very interested in developing fabrics that combine Lee’s uncompromisingly modern designs. Celebrity elements of the industrial world and technical sportswear. The aesthetic is supporters include Megan Gale, Rooney Mara, technical, but sensual. It does have a level of formality, however it is put together Emma Watson, Charlize Theron and . in a way that feels casual and relevant.” ✜ Career highlights: Awarded Westfield Lee’s first catwalk show, in a gritty car park in Sydney’s Kings Cross in 2009, Chermside Graduate of the Year in 2008, as well as brought him immediate media acclaim, and he soon moved on to showing at Prix de Marie Claire Up and Coming Designer the – much more in keeping with his elevated style and award; collaborated with Cue in 2011; won the sometimes architectural approach. London has since been calling, and Lee put Australian trophy of the International Woolmark Prize on his first catwalk show in the British capital in September last year, with in 2012, sponsored by Qantas, and also represented another happening at this month’s London Fashion Week. Australia in the international final, in London, in In an effort to grow his business in line with increasing demand, Lee signed February this year. a deal with the Cue Clothing Company in May this year, selling an unspecified ✜ Next: Lee will show his spring/summer 2014 percentage of his designs to the respected Australian high-street brand while collection in London this month. “I’m also working maintaining full creative control. At the time of the deal, Lee told The Australian on our first retail space in Sydney, which should open newspaper: “Having a partner allows me to become more creative and allows later this year,” he tells Qantas The Australian Way. 

136 QANTAS september 2013 print and colour are a given in any romance was born collection Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett (below) worked with Perth artist Tanya Schultz to create this “psychedelic” spring/ summer collection (left)

summer show, that honour went to Romance Was Born Perth artist Tanya Schultz, aka Pip & Pop, and her vibrant sugar omance Was Born has brought a renewed sense of landscapes, which formed the flamboyance and exuberance to Australian fashion centrepiece to their catwalk show R not seen since the Flamingo Park collections of in April this year. Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson in the 1970s and ’80s. Actor “Our collection was our reaction to the girls we imagined Cate Blanchett has even gone on the record to praise the would live in this environment, this sugary wonderland. We design duo’s “great anarchic freedom”. Since graduating dreamed up a psychedelic paradise. The collection was from East Sydney Technical College in 2004, designers based on the idea of metamorphosis, such as from caterpillar Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales have become the go-to design to butterfly, but our idea was [essentially] maiden to princess, duo for something that sits outside trend-based fashion, just like Cinderella.” attracting exhibition curators and collaborators, as well as ✜ Career highlights: Sportsgirl collaboration in musicians looking for theatrical performance pieces. 2008; Cate Blanchett wore their crochet-square dress on the Print and colour are a given in any Romance Was Born red carpet for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image collection, as is a dash of texture. At their most bizarre, they opening in 2009, the same year they won the Qantas Spirit might put a volcano dress on the catwalk (as they did for of Youth Award for fashion and the L’Oréal Melbourne Australian Fashion Week 2010) or, at their prettiest, show Fashion Festival Designer Award; exhibited in Frock Stars off lightly feathered, flared trousers. at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum in 2010; created costumes Their imaginative shows at Australian Fashion Week are for the Sydney Theatre Company production of Edward

show-stoppers, looked forward to by many attendees. They Gant’s Amazing Feats Of Loneliness in 2011. ucas Dawson have brought together improbable combinations such as ✜ Customers: Those with an artistic bent, especially dinosaurs and Renaissance Italy; underwater treasures flamboyant musicians. Famous fans include Nicki Minaj, inspired by grandma’s closet, including a crocheted octopus MIA, Lily Allen and Bat for Lashes. hat; and a Marvel Comics-inspired collection that brought ✜ Next: Sales says Romance Was Born is hoping to expand cartoons off the page and into the realm of the wearable. the label internationally, and he is looking forward to “an “Each season, we work with an artist and reinterpret their exciting collaboration with one of our favourite national

work as a springboard for our prints,” says Sales. This spring/ institutions later next year”. Best keep an eye out.  collection photography: L

138 QANTAS september 2013 Yeojin Bae (below) and her YB J’Aime collection Ellery spring/summer 2013/14 (above)

range of dresses for high summer for Yeojin Bae at the moment. Yeojin Bae I’m really excited to have both brands now in the marketplace.” ✜ Career highlights: Bae’s entire first collection was bought rom of four, Korean-born by Barneys in 2006; L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Designer Yeojin Bae says she knew she was Award winner in 2007; in the same year launched the Yeojin Bae Fgoing to be a fashion designer, for Target collection; nominated for the Prix de Marie Claire following in her grandfather’s footsteps. Designer of the Year Award in 2009; showed at the Audi Fashion Eleven years on, Bae was the youngest Festival Singapore in 2012; headlined Australia Day celebrations student, at 15, studying at Sydney’s in Korea in January this year, with a catwalk show in Seoul that Whitehouse Institute of Design. After included celebrated model Jessica Gomes. graduating, she spent the next 13 years ✜ Customers: Bae has a savvy collection of followers, including getting her grounding in the industry, musicians and , actors Sophie interning with designers Marc Jacobs Lowe and Emma Lung, professional catwalkers Jennifer Hawkins, and Anna Sui in New York, and design- Kate Peck and Jessica Gomes, and also international stars Jennifer ing for Australian brands Saba and Lopez and . Charlie Brown. In 2006, she knew it was ✜ Next: In addition to the United States and European markets time to launch her own label, and New York department store she is already involved with, Bae is looking further afield. Barneys bought her first collection. “I’m setting my sights more into Asia, and I’ve touched on the The combination of strength and sensuality is key to Bae’s appeal Korean market, which is my heritage, and I’m hoping to see where for women – there’s nothing shouty or overtly sexy about her I can go in that marketplace as well.” designs. Her skill with a dress has made this item one of the cornerstones of every collection, but she is also a dab hand with tailoring. Last year, Bae launched a new line, YB J’Aime, which has Ellery a slightly younger, more bohemian feel, inspired by a French sense of carefree chic with a nod to the late 1960s and early ’70s. ym Ellery’s label has achieved It Girl status since its launch “It’s an amazing time at the moment,” says Bae. “YB J’Aime is in 2007. The former stylist for Russh magazine says that she growing in leaps and bounds. It’s cool, edgy, with lots of signature Kappreciates “both masculine and feminine qualities in prints and that Parisian flavour I like, and the Yeojin Bae line is garments and I love to combine the two in my work”. She also cites romantic, sophisticated and elegant. I’m doing the most timeless architectural silhouettes and, more recently, draping techniques, 

140 QANTAS september 2013 Kym Ellery (far left) – her garments display “both masculine and feminine qualities”

as being signature aspects of her work. In the past year, Ellery has been embroiled in the so-called “store wars” after breaking her exclusivity agreement with Myer to sign with David Jones. The case was settled out of court and the designer is currently stocked in both major department stores. ✜ Customers: Style setters such as models Catherine McNeil, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Jennifer Hawkins, actors and singers such as , Eva Mendes and Emily Barclay, and celebrities Dita Von Teese and Nicole Richie. ✜ Career highlights: 2008 Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards finalist; Sportsgirl collaboration in 2010; 2011 LMFF Designer Award finalist; in 2012 Ellery took part in G’Day USA celebrations in New York and showed a presentation at New York Fashion Week. This year she says, “Having Qantas fly Belgian supermodel Hanne Gaby [Odiele] out to Australia for my Fashion Week show was fantastic.” ✜ Next: “I am working on my next collection, which we will Glynis Traill-Nash show in Paris [this] September.” c is fashion editor of The Australian