Adelaide's Paolo Sebastian

For the past week, BMW Adelaide Fashion Festival has defined my life. I've spent endless hours backstage, fitting models, hanging clothes, and plenty of sitting around waiting. Most of the models were lovely (although some poor dressers had to be warned beforehand that their models were, to put it nicely, not as affable as others). Amidst the dozens of designers whose items I handled, one stood far out from the rest: Paolo Sebastian. No photo could do his hand-beaded gowns justice. Designer Paul Vaselli only released his first collection in 2007, but his made-for-the-red-carpet creations have already been worn by A-listers interstate. Get this kid to Milan, stat!

xoxo,

Coco

Ivana & Katerina swimwear

Sweetheart maillot, $159

Pin Me Up bikini, $129

Kumari one-piece, $159

One of the few items of clothing that has the ability to endlessly frustrate me is the swimsuit. Finding the perfect one at a reasonable price would be equivalent to discovering the holy grail. But I can't help but wonder if my search is over, now that I've come upon swimwear designers Ivana & Katerina.

Local girls Ivana Milosevic and Katerina Vrynios saw a niche in the Australian market for well-designed and priced swimwear, and have released their debut range 'Show Pony' in Adelaide for this summer. I had a chat with them about their gorgeous line to share with our readers.

• What kind of woman do you design for?

We would like to think that we cater for a diverse variety of women; our main aim is to create beautiful and glamorous swimwear which is stylish yet fun. We designed different styles to be able to cater for a broader range of women and their unique tastes.

• What has been the hardest thing about starting a new label?

At the beginning of this venture, both having to work fulltime in order to fund the project was very time consuming and exhausting. Finding the perfect manufacturer in such a huge industry to meet our specific needs in order to ensure our designs were manufactured the way we intended.

• Do you both share roles or do you have different specialities in running the brand?

We both share every aspect of business, from the initial design process through to managing and marketing our business. It's great having one another; we bring different aspects and creative visions to the drawing board.

• What made you interested in designing swimwear? Do you have backgrounds in fashion?

We both studied fashion design and saw that there was a need for a fresh take on swimwear in the market, which prompted us to begin creating our own brand.

• Where do you plan to take the label in future? Are there plans to open your own store or design other types of clothing?

We want to keep working on establishing our swimwear brand and hope to one day use this as a foundation for launching an apparel range, we're both very much inspired by all aspects of fashion, not just swimwear.

Ivana & Katerina will be stocked exclusively by the end of November in Chasing Nel, Urban Girl, Foxx Empire, and Celcius Tanning in Adelaide, but if you're interstate or overseas you can pre-order their range at SuenoStyle online with free postage.

xoxo

Coco

Word on the street XXVII

EVENTS

...local label Vospiotto will be presenting their Spring/Summer collection at 7pm this Wednesday 14th October at the Archer.


...Trinny & Susannah will be making appearances at Tea Tree Plaza and Marion this Saturday 11th October at 11am and 3pm respectively.

...Heat 3 of FashionTV's Diamond Model Awards is tonight at The Highway.

SALES

...the Bowerbird Bazaar is this weekend at Queen's Theatre, showcasing plenty of local design including clothing, furniture and art.

...The Highway is hosting a Melbourne Cup market featuring several of Adelaide's leading boutiques on Monday 12th October at 7pm. Tickets are $15.


xoxo
Coco

Friend of Mine

Launched last month, Teale Talbot's label Friend of Mine looks to be the next big thing in Australian fashion. Can't wait for it to hit Adelaide! For stockists or more information call 02 9826 5400.

Images via Dope Ambition

xoxo

Coco

Update: It's currently stocked in LAX.

Do not buy:

Source: Birdy & Me

Although Valleygirl is far from being renowned for original designs, it hasn't gone the way of many other high street stores by specialising in plagiarised designs. (That's you, Witchery.) We all have to put up with major high fashion brands being copied, and even though it isn't right, we justify it because it isn't as if Karl Lagerfeld or Christophe Decarnin will be put out of business any time soon. However, the game changes when independent designers, artists and bloggers are being attacked. In August, Valleygirl released a t-shirt (and an awful one at that) with blogger Kelly Smith's illustration on it without her permission. Although they have since taken it off the website, she received no compensation from them and really, nobody can know if it's really been removed from every store in the country.

Source: The Vine

One of my all-time favourite designers is TV - the independent and relatively new Melbournian duo rate higher in my books than any international designer ever could! So it's sad that Sunny Girl have cheated them, and brought it to the market before TV's new collection was even released. Although Sunny Girl claims that it's a stock fabric, I, for one, remain incredulous, as a) the TV dress is an original sketch and not based on common inspiration, unlike the universal military jacket or thigh-high boots, b) if it were a stock fabric we would have seen it before, and c) it is highly unlikely that they could think of exactly the same silhouette and black hemming even if it were a stock fabric.

Don't buyers learn this in fashion school?!

xoxo

Coco

A few more from the bU spring 2009 fashion parade!

LAX

Shoes by Gary Castles Sydney, clothes by Roger David

Chilli Mint??

Whistles

LAX

Just thought I'd add a few more images from the bU spring 2009 fashion parade. I really enjoyed doing photography for the event and am even more inclined to get a digital SLR camera now, if that was even possible. (Thanks to Amanda whose Canon I used!)

The art direction was stunning and well-rehearsed, especially for a parade with over a hundred amateur models and dozens of brands. The Gary Castles Sydney models even brought out the shoes on trays and put them on in the middle of the show! It gets better every year.

xoxo,

Coco

Creative v Commercial

I have never had more respect for a designer than I have for the team at Antipodium. Not only did they send a man down their catwalk for their opening look (can't get more androgynous than that), but they also used women of different sizes as models. Now that's creativity, blurring the boundaries and breaking the rules. I suppose it comes back to what fashion always was: an art form. It's all too easy to get caught up in the cute clothes on ideal bodies and forget that those kids look exactly the same as everybody else. Creativity may not always sell well, but it ought to be more celebrated than commercialism.

Chanelle

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