The Canberra Centre has been giving the average punter an opportunity to dream of glamour with a series of fashion shows. I went along to one of these on Friday afternoon.
As JB and I arrived the models were showing extravagant white lacy underwear. I later decided they must have done the underwear first because it would have been the hardest to get on and off.
Now I am an avid reader of Cleo and Cosmo, plus I have that fashion bible CityNews at hand so what follows is my interpretation of what on earth these models were wearing. That said, I came away from the show with the distinct impression that more than half the outfits they had shown were actually wearable, unlike what frequently turns up in magazine fashion shoots. For this I applaud those who put the show on.
This autumn, those summer dresses don’t need to be thrown away because you can wear them with a jacket, shrug or scarf to keep warm. There was quite a bit of this shown.
Stockings also help keep legs warm, and are a big feature this season.
Of course the best way to keep warm, especially in Canberra is with a coat. Trenches are still hot and there’s quite a bit of tweed still hanging round from the 50s look last season.
For the men, think grandpa-ish: vests, argyle jumpers and cardigans. Plus leather jackets and denim never go out of fashion.
After a brief few seasons where it took a back step (even fashionistas added some colour to their outfits!), black is back with a vengence this year.
Heels with everything of course, although the nasty taste for wedges still seems to be lingering. Note the underwear visibility of this ensemble.
It transpired about this point the models were from the Lizzie Wagner Academy and the MC was none other than Ms Wagner herself.
The colours of the season are all rich tones, called by most ‘berry’ colours — blackberry, mulberry, raspberry, blueberry and so on. These are matched with earthy colours plus the occasional splash of teal as seen in the trench on the right here.
Hats are hot too, although not something I’ll be picking up as I almost always feel stupid with something on my head. I did once have a hat something like this one, but a friend parked half a case of beer on top of it for the best part of a week.
I should mention too that a girl came up to me about halfway through the show and asked what I was taking photos for. I briefly explained about the RiotACT and she asked if I could send her some of the pictures. It transpired she was an advertising and promotions coordinator for the Canberra Centre, and she gave me approximately $24 worth of coffee vouchers for my trouble. My first paying photography job!
Much to the disgust of anyone who isn’t a stick, skinny jeans are back and it’s near impossible to get anything else these days. But they do look great on those with the legs and self-confidence to pull them off.
A tailored but relaxed look seems to be the go for men’s casual wear. Jeans as per usual but nice jackets. Plus stripes are in for everyone (apparently a la 60s mod).
JB thought this girl looked like Inara from tv series Firefly (and recent movie Serendipity).
As with any winter wardrobe, boots are a necessity. Heels, flats or (ick) wedges, this season’s boots are pretty much any colour and with embroidery or buckle embellishments. What seems not to be making a comeback this year is the ug boot, thank goodness.
I fell in love with this bomber jacket with (faux) fur trim on the hood. The colour is just so bright and cheerful for winter. (By the way, real fur is also back, in spite of the best efforts of PETA and their paint buckets).
The hipster era is over, with high waists back on all the designers’ catwalks. This look can be transferred to dresses with belts on the waist rather than the hips. This all emphasises an hour glass figure and is advocated by Cosmo as flattering for ‘curvy’ girls (read anything larger than size 10).
The big new thing this season is what both Cosmo and Cleo call Victoriana style, much to JB’s disgust (“It’s either Victoriana OR Victorian style but you can’t have Victoriana style!”). This means lace and blouses with ruffles as well as pencil skirts, tights and stockings (as mentioned previously) and lots of bows.
Collared shirts with jumpers over the top is a neat if preppy look for men and one which should be easy to achieve without having to buy many extra clothes.
I didn’t particularly notice him at the time, but in all my photos this guy came out looking pretty thick. Here he is as a football player pretending he’s a lawyer.
This outfit shows off the pencil skirt, with a ruffle for accent, plus a berry coloured cardigan with a belted waist.
Argyle tops are also again in fashion for women (in the shop where I work they walked off the shelves last winter). This model only appeared in this segment and the finale and she seems to be a token older woman.
This style of dress has a special name which I cannot for the life of me remember, but it has been being worn on red carpets all around the world for the past six months or so. It’s very elegant and again emphasises an hourglass figure.
Once upon a time I would never have dreamed of putting yellow and pink together, but darken both colours and they seem to go fine.
One of the fashion aspects of West Wing I love is all their loooooong warm coats. I could very easily see myself in this one in Washington (the boots are pretty cool too).
This was the only other all black outfit in the parade. Note the bag — I read somewhere the other day (it’ll have been one of the aforementioned three mags) this season’s It bag is berry coloured with buckle trims. Lucky I was given something matching this description for my birthday!
I think this dress is a nice alternative to black and the patterns make it just that bit more noticeable.
Once again we see The Bag, or something like it anyway. Plus a scarf, which you practically cannot go without if catching buses in winter here in Canberra.
At the end of the show all the models walked the catwalk, applauding the audience for some inexplicable reason. And so ends your taste of this season’s fashions.
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