What happens off the catwalk makes Australian Fashion Week unique

It’s not what’s being paraded down the runway – though the over-representation of Crocs was disconcerting – at Australian Fashion Week that really sets the annual gathering apart on the social calendar.

Rather,it’s what’s happening off the catwalk that makes the festival of the frock so unique.

After spending a week on Planet Fashion,PS can happily report that the Australian rag trade – and those who gravitate towards it – remains one of the most creative,kooky,ridiculous,egomaniacal,dynamic,bizarre,frivolous,deadly serious,hilarious,competitive and completely over-the-top arenas there is.

PENTHOUSE GLAMOUR A SMASH

The shows at Redfern’s Carriageworks,and those held across the metropolis,from the gardens of waterfront Mosman mansions for We Are Kindred’s quaint but treacherous tea party (several media big hitters were practically carried down the steep steps,while others were foolishly refused entry at the gate by clueless clipboard carriers) to gleaming $100 million penthouses high above the city forMichael Lo Sordo’s megawatt glamour,each drew a diverse collection of our city’s social “tribes”.

There were the walking art installations,likeJenny Kee in her statementPhantom Of The Opera-esque cape at Romance Was Born’s intimate and beautiful show atKen Done’s gallery in The Rocks. Design duoLuke Sales andAnna Plunkett collaborated with a still very spritely,almost 82-year-old Done,and breathed new life into long-forgotten doona designs in the process.

An avid PS reader,Done says he is busier than ever,enthusiastically sharing details about an upcoming installation for Vivid to be projected on Customs House,and a new show being planned at Casula Powerhouse. Done has no plans to slow down.

It was a very different kind of fashion tribe – the slinky cocktail set let by a martini-fuelledOlympia Valance – who rode the lifts (much to the annoyance of some well-heeled neighbours) to the shiny new 88th-floor Crown Sydney penthouse for the Michael Lo Sordo show.

As the fashion locusts hoovered up the Moet and caviar before settling into the plush $30,000 velvet sofas for the sleek lounge show,not even a giant vase smashing onto the marble floor moments before the parade was enough to derail proceedings.

A team of butlers frantically mopped up just in time for the heavenly production to commence,with models descending the staircase like Grecian goddesses. Adorned in sparkling crystals and satin shifts,they worked their way around the rooms as the setting sun dissolved over the harbour.

SPENDER TEAL’S THE DEAL

Back at Carriageworks,Sydney’s stitched-up society matrons eyed off their next holiday ensembles for their inevitable return to the Amalfi at the popular Oroton show. Things were decidedly more complicated at the gender-bending Nicol&Ford show,before getting positively “ghetto” at theErik Yvon parade of muscle men in tiny jocks by the self-proclaimed “queer boy from Mauritius”.

Yvon borrowed heavily from the underground “ballroom” scene to stage his “sissy ball” extravaganza which,despite being one of the most popular shows,would have blown the minds of the conservative Murdoch press commentators already fulminating over the “all gender” toilets.

Holding court on the front row of Yvon’s show was a statuesque beauty wearing what appeared to be a homage to Tweety bird:a bright yellow bodysuit and matching skull cap. She turned out to be Melbourne performerHayley Tanzer,a self-proclaimed Eurovision tragic who has been knocked back by Australia three years in a row. She ended up auditioning for the tiny European nation of San Marino,but sadly had no luck.

Outside Carriageworks the invite-less wannabes turned up dressed like Christmas trees to lurk with intent,endlessly parading up and down hoping to be “discovered”.

Not that inside was much better. The media centre was packed with social media influencers while former reality TV stars jostled to claim their front-row seats,some barely clinging on to the pews by half a cheek given theGame Of Thrones-like antics to get a better spot.

No such dramas atBianca Spender’s refined launch show on Monday,though. PS spent the post- show celebrations interrogating sister andindependent “teal” political aspirant Allegra on her upcoming tilt as an independent at the seat of Wentworth,once considered the bluest of blue-ribbon Liberal seats.

What would her late mother,the designer and devout LiberalCarla Zampatti,let alone her fatherJohn Spender,or late grandfather,Percy Spender,all loyal Liberals,make of her ambitions?

“Mum always wanted women to stand up,for women to lead ... to be politicians. She firmly believed we needed greater gender balance in parliament and in leadership. I know she would be 100 per cent behind me,” Spender confidently surmised.

“Dad lost his seat to an independent. He has said that the Liberal Party has changed,moved to the right and doesn’t represent the small-l liberal values that I certainly grew up with.”

And what will she be wearing on election day? “Well,it will be something by Bianca,but we haven’t actually discussed that yet ... but safe to say it will be teal!”

STARS FAIL TO SHINE

Sadly,in terms of “star power”,2022 won’t go down as a vintage year. Previously,we’ve seenJerry Hall,Bianca Jagger,Cate Blanchett,Linda Evangelista andElle Macpherson jetting in for Fashion Week,though things have become slim in recent years,especially now with former regularJodi Gordon in rehab. However,on Friday,camera-shy Melbourne socialiteNadia Bartel did make something of a public re-entry following her spectacular fall from grace last September over those images featuring the mother-of-two snorting suspicious white powder.

Instead,it was left to the likes of former foreign affairs ministerJulie Bishop,Married At First Sight has-beenNasser Sultan andKyle Sandilands’s ex-girlfriendImogen Anthony to soak up the limelight on the front row throughout the week.

Sultan was later spotted seat hopping,momentarily scrambling for a spot next toPhoebe Burgess,who was clearly more interested in capturing smiling selfies.

It was a delicious moment to savour as the team from the recently re-birthedHarper’s Bazaar Australia,headed by ex-Voguette and now editor-in-chiefJillian Davison,was positioned directly opposite their rivals atVogue Australia and its boss ladyEdwina McCann,who had just jetted back from her bossAnna Wintour’s Met Gala in New York,where she shared a table withMiranda Kerr andKaty Perry. Talk about poker faces at 10 paces.

Clearly,it’s a tough life for Australia’s fashion mag queens,who are also the fledgling industry’s biggest cheerleaders and wield enormous influence on young designers’ prospects:McCann lamented the “terrible timing” of her early departure from Fashion Week after just two days.

McCann,along withMarie Claire’sNicky Briger andHarper’s Davison,found themselves ensconced in business class on Wednesday morning jetting out of Sydney to California for an uber glam Louis Vuitton junket,leaving their minions to cover the rest of Fashion Week. Apparently the LV bosses – big advertisers in the mags – “insisted” they attend. Another champers,Pats?

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES

NSW Police investigations are continuing into an assault claim against aspiring political candidate and former Special Forces commandoHeston Russell. PS revealed the investigation five months ago,however no charges have been laid.

A man claims Russell hit him during an argument at a private pool party in Sydney back in January,after which the man and two bystanders provided witness statements to the police. Russell denies hitting the man.

Friends of the alleged victim,who asked to remain anonymous citing fears for his safety due to Russell’s aggressive supporters,have told PS he was frustrated by the time it has taken.

Russell,who triggered a wave of controversyafter selling nude images of himself on Onlyfans,has been campaigning hard for his fledgling Australian Values Party federal Senate ticket,conducting an exhausting social and mainstream media onslaught,and appearing on talk back radio,along with writing opinion pieces in the accommodating Murdoch press.

It has been left to PS to provide further coverage on Russell,such as the time he inadvertently crushed a $150,000 luxury BMW in a former friend’s Woollahra car stacker.

Well-connected Sydney political lobbyistMichael Kauter and his medico husbandDavid Gracey,were hosting Russell,along with a group of other friends,during a long lunch in their home back in September 2020 when the car-crushing occurred.

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