Mon 24 May •
Meet the fresh faces of AAFW
By Georgina Safe
Afterpay Australian Fashion Week kicks off on Monday 31 May with an opening show by Jordan Dalah. Not familiar with the home-grown designer making waves overseas? You will be soon. He’s just one of the exciting, emerging designers appearing at AAFW for the first time in 2021.
Meet the class of 2021:
When the Creativity issue of Vogue Australia hit newsstands in March, the cover story featured supermodel Gemma Ward amidst lavish and colourful fabric sets designed by Jordan Gogos.
If you hadn’t already heard of his multi-disciplinary brand Iordanes Spyridon Gogos, the Vogue endorsement heralded the arrival of one of the most exciting, and yes, creative, names in fashion. Gogos sources deadstock materials for his designs that span furniture, fashion, sculpture, visual art and more, and studied at New York’s famed Parsons School of Design.
From extraordinary patchwork and applique clothing, crafted from vinyls, denims, silks and polyesters to his signature Tria geometric aluminium tables in designer Dion Lee’s boutiques across Australia, the prodigious polymath has already proven he has a bright future ahead.
Cocooning and protective garments are a thing in fashion right now —unsurprisingly, considering the state of the world. But there are few who can make them as appealing and original as Jordan Dalah.
The Australian-British designer has been one to watch since he graduated from London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins fashion college with a collection of blooming and bulbous clothing that was swiftly snapped up by luxury retailer Dover Street Market. Juxtaposing textures such as leather, silk and wool in romantic oversize shapes wrapped up with giant bows and laces, Dalah’s silhouettes might look dramatic but they are as comforting and easy to wear as a doona. And who doesn’t want that right now?
While Dalah already has several collections under his belt, designers Angela Krantz and Gabriella Pereira will debut the inaugural range for their label Beare Park when they show at the Sydney Opera House on June 2.
Co-founded by friends Gabrielle Pereira and Angela Krantz, Beare Park takes a trendless, luxurious approach to dressing that features androgynous silhouettes and impeccable tailoring.
Oversized blazers, relaxed wool trousers and easy silk georgette layering pieces are among the pieces the brand - which has already been picked up by Belinda boutique - will present as part of its simple yet refined approach to getting dressed.
A capsule collection of 10 key pieces will be available to purchase immediately post-show as part of fashion’s shift to the see-now-buy-now model, and all garments are made and designed in Australia.
Christian Kimber creates menswear inspired by the Australian climate and lifestyle. That means collections that blur the boundaries between casual and formal wear and are as functional as they are durable.
Think soft shouldered jackets, easy chinos and lightweight merino knits, which Kimber designs from his Melbourne atelier and manufactures in Florence, Sofia and Italy.
Working with ethical and family-run operations is part of his commitment to slow fashion and putting people first, and the result is garments that are designed to outlive their owners.
Richard Jarman launched his upscale surf and swim brand Commas in Sydney in late 2016 when he couldn’t find the perfect pair of boardshorts. Named after the punctuation mark, as a reminder to pause and take pleasure in the moment, his collections of tie-front swim shorts, button-down shirts, linen lounge pants and Italian linen robes blend classic colour and original prints with soft and breathable fabrics for comfort. In 2017 Commas became the first swimwear brand to represent Australia at the prestigious menswear trade fair Pitti Uomo in Florence, and was swiftly picked up by British luxury retailer Matchesfashion.
Expect plenty of refined yet wearable resortwear when the brand that Jarman now runs with his wife Emma Jarman makes its AAFW debut with a sunrise show at Tamarama Beach on June 1.
DHL Next Gen
When Erik Yvon moved from Mauritius to Melbourne at 19 he worked in some of the city’s best restaurants before finding his true calling in fashion design. He founded his eponymous label in 2015 after graduating from fashion design at RMIT, and swiftly garnered a cult following for his bold and androgynous creations, the vibrant hues and bold prints of which reference his Mauritian upbringing.
Fellow Melbourne brand Aaizel gives new fashion life to deadstock fabrics (leftover material that otherwise would go to waste). Working with an Australian textile agency to sort through what’s available, designer Minnie Jo selects the most sumptuous options to create seasonless wardrobe essentials that are as elevated as they are sustainable.
With a CV that spans an internship with Romance Was Born to a stint at Country Road, Megan Louise Taylor’s designs fuse her love of print and digital illustration (hello Romance Was Born) with the industry chops honed at one of Australia’s biggest fashion companies.
Amanda Nichols’ brand Replica Project fuses costume and fashion, reflecting her work as a costume maker with film credits including Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and The Great Gatsby and Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant. Her extensive studies of haute couture as a Winston Churchill Fellowship recipient, as well as her work with a third-generation corsetry atelier in Paris, make her a triple threat when it comes to making her mark on the fashion landscape.
First Nations Fashion Showcase
The considerable talents of Indigenous design stars will be showcased across three separate events during AAFW. From The Welcome To Country ceremony that opens the week to the First Nations Fashion and Design Runway on June 2 and The Growth of the First Nations Fashion Sector talk on June 3, Indigenous designers and their creations will be impossible to miss on and off the runway.
Amber Days by Corina Muir, Aarli by Teagan Cowlishaw, Clair Helen, Grace Lillian Lee and Ngarru Miimi by Lillardia Allirra are among those taking part, together with Briggs-Houstan, Keema Co. by Nickeema Williams, Nungala Creative by Jessica Johnson, and Sown in Time by Lynelle Flinders.
One of the most exciting brands to debut in the First Nations runway show is MAARA Collective, a luxury resort-wear label that takes its name from the word “maara” for hands in the Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay language groups that refers to the many hands involved in its creative process.
With every product purchased, the brand donates proceeds to support digital training and education in remote Aboriginal communities where it draws inspiration from Country to present a new vision for contemporary fashion. With Indii, Kirrikin, Liandra Swim, Native Swimwear and Ngali among the other labels that will hit the catwalk, there will be much to celebrate during the first curated presentation of First Nations designers at AAFW.
