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Out of the Shadows: MSFW 2008

Written by Tania Braukamper

Out of the Shadows, the second main parade of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, was aimed at the cool kids. You know, the ones who consider themselves quite alternative but are somehow yet to realise that their quirky styles have become rather mainstream and commercial. And so the usual suspects - along with FAT, purveyor of all such things - took to the MSFW stage... but were sadly less edgy, less new than usual.

First up was a flashback of Fat throughout the years - some cool pieces, some fairly out-there statements, and a nice reflection of how far the store has come.

Antipodium threw in a touch of the tuxedo trend with their shirt-dress and bow-tie combination. Other stand-out pieces involved use of the sheer trend in skirts, dresses and tops.

There were more sheers in Alpha60, who didn't stray too far from what they've been doing in previous collections; though their black and white colour pallet and oversized printed tees were at least building on a recognisable signature style that people have come to know and expect.

Life With Bird presented some immensely wearable pieces - including what was probably the only piece with a draped cowl neck I could ever really say I liked. Cute printed mini-dresses with peek-a-boo open backs were some of the most likeable and saleable items of the whole show.

Therese Rawsthorne's collection lacked coherence jumping from bold hot pinks to red and black printed florals - but did make interesting use of layering and texture.

Nom*d's looks didn't inspire me. It started with a cropped tee... on a guy... and went downhill from there. (Midriff-baring tops for guys - please no!) Raw hems, randomly placed zips, and pants that look like they should be worn to bed are not as edgy as perhaps some seem to think. You start to feel like you've seen it a thousand times before. Dig deeper though and there are some diamond-in-the-rough pieces worth a second look - like this sheer black dress.

Last but certainly not least, TV brought some much needed colour to a shadowy evening. A dress with fringed shoulders was bird-like without the use of actual feathers. The powder-blues and feminine ruffles were rather welcome, later giving way to less fortunate prints.

The show closed with more of the bird theme - a spectacle of models wearing coned beaks and flapping their arms like birds. Questionable, bordering on ridiculous - and which some of the models seemed (understandably) less than enthusiastic about.

Though all up there were plenty of well-constructed pieces and wearable looks, the show fell a bit flat. Whether a result of the current economic climate and the need to produce more commercially appealing product, or something else entirely, it's a shame that these labels aren't moving forwards with the pace we'd hoped for. Plenty of these garments will sell - and that's a great achievement - but so far this week there's been nothing to really draw gasps of amazement from the crowds.

All photos of the shows can be found in the Fashion Diary.

Written: 4th September 2008 at 08.55

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