AAFW 2023 / Journal Notes

Australian Fashion Week has just been and gone in Sydney and even though I did not attend, I was craving people’s thoughts about it. The nature of social media often doesn’t allow the time to form opinions or discussion especially around Fashion Week as you have to almost be sharing in real time. As someone who didn’t attend, I was lucky enough to have the time to sit for days watching the shows online and observe the things that stood out to me. So with that I journaled and here are the note I made along the way.

TEXTURES

Texture is always something that peaks my interest on the runway so I couldn’t go passed the elements of this raffia-style application across a few of the shows. A special note for those textured flower elements.

INFLATION

This is a favourite purely for nostalgic reasons. I have sewn a few bubble skirts in my time so to see this on the runway made me especially joyful. Maggie Marilyn presented them in mini and maxi length, while Blanca sent down a skirt that was a more deflated bubble mini with a maxi length skirt layered under.

HEAVY METAL

Heavy metals seem like their here to stay, with many of the labels collaborating with jewellery designers on their collections blurring the line between fashion and accessories.

HAIR NOTES

I noted two quite juxtaposed looks making their way down the runway this season.

Taking the lead from the ‘undone’ hair Miu Miu showcased and opposing the slick high pony that has been giving us headaches for the last year, a lot of the designers sent down low, loose looks. The lower the better, barely hanging on looks that look effortless.

On the other hand there was a lot of these anti-gravity hair looks, sleek but graphic in shape. I particularly loved the structured twisted, braided ponies. Both these looks have me putting off my next hair cut.

YELLOW IN FOCUS

A colour that stood out to me while consuming hours of AAFW content was the peep of yellow throughout. Everything from a banana yellow to a light lemon was sprinkled across many shows. It also has me wanting to get married in that yellow leaf veil.