Camilla Fashion Collection 2010 – Camilla Franks – Rosemount Australian Fashion Week 2010

From the minute the vivacious Camilla Franks created her first kaftan five years ago a fashion icon was born.
This former actress had been making her own theatrical costumes for years and inspired by her mother’s love of kaftans, launched a collection that would change the course of Australian fashion history.

With fans the likes of Sharon Stone, Prince, Nicole Kidman, Mischa Barton, Bette Midler, Kim Cattrall and Elle Macpherson, it wasn’t long before Gwen Stefani, Paula Abdul, the Pussycat Dolls, Fergie and Beyonce would all embrace her wow factor flair for colour and design.

The Camilla label brings worldly charm and exotic flavour to timeless fashion. “It’s a label that doesn’t discriminate,” says the designer who constantly travels the world in search of inspiration. “I make for all shapes and sizes – all personalities and walks of life – I just want to make women look and feel beautiful whether it’s in a figure-hugging micro mini or a lavishly bejewelled cocktail dress”.

Creating from scratch the scores of vibrant and graphic prints which take centre stage in each of her ranges, Camilla’s stockists are testament to her ever-increasing global popularity. The label is stocked in high-end boutiques and luxury department stores worldwide including Harvey Nichols (UK, Dublin, Dubai and Riyadh), Henri Bendel and in her hometown David Jones. Building on from this success is a unique fashion partnership with international beauty house Elizabeth Arden which launched in 2007 with Camilla’s ‘Mosaic’ Collection.

In 2007 Camilla launched her ‘Women of the World’ book in association with UNIFEM – the women’s fund for the United Nations. Available nationally in David Jones, the 100% non-profit coffee table book pays tribute to 100 influential and inspiring women.

Dynamic Australian fashion designer Camilla Franks has been the definitive style catalyst in transforming kaftans into chic wardrobe staples for fashionistas and celebrities across the globe.

Due to her overwhelming success in Dubai, Camilla was flown over by Harvey Nichols Dubai as their special guest of honour to close their 2007 Spring / Summer Collection Parade from which she received rave reviews.

In August 2008, Camilla made history as the first Australian designer to be personally invited aboard The World, one of the globe’s most exclusive luxury cruise liners. While on this magnificent journey through the Greek Isles and the Adriatic Sea, Camilla showcased her Spring/Summer Collection with a captivating fashion show. Camilla will again showcase her designs this season on board The World as it sails the high seas of Mexico next month. Onboard The World is a ‘pop-up store’ the first seaborne boutique for the Camilla label.

To further captivate the affluent clientele of the luxury travel market, the Camilla label has forged an ongoing partnership with the six-star Huvafen Fushi Resort and Spa chain, operated by Per Aquum Resorts. Camilla will host trunk shows at their various idyllic retreats in the Maldives, Dubai and Sri Lanka, including a joint collaboration with Swarovski for each hotel guest to “crystallise their own Camilla kaftan”. During this time, each guest of the Huvafen Fushi Resort in the Maldives will be able to personalise their own Camilla piece that has been specifically designed for the resort.

Camilla’s ‘Soleil’ Collection (launched in Sydney aboard the 52-metre super yacht Kokomo 11 owned by property magnate Lang Walker) was inspired by the pristine waters of the Antilles.  ‘Soleil’ features romantic silk crepes and jerseys and exciting bold prints. Camilla has incorporated her signature relaxed, free-spirited style with cultural imprints inspired by exotic nooks in the dreamy Maldives, the Caribbean, African and Mexican coasts.
Camilla Spring / Summer 09/10 presents dreamy silk crepe halter dresses with Swarovski crystal detailing, hand beading and ethereal peasant dresses. Transcending resort wear and beach style, Camilla’s statement pieces now take centre stage on the red carpet and at black-tie events and perfectly translate from day to night.

BLK1 Photographer: Victoria Rika-Heke

Images: © BLK1 2008-2010. All Rights Reserved.

Ginger and Smart Fashion Collection 2010

Australian luxury brand GINGER & SMART is about creating inspiring product to a design-literate customer. Always sophisticated and sharply modern, ‘Chic, Modern and Effortlesss’ is the strict style mantra for each collection. The Fashion, Luxury Accessories and Spa collections are the happy result of the strict philosophies of luxury, quality and innovation.

The label was founded in 2002 by Sydney-based sisters, Alexandra and Genevieve Smart out of the desire to combine family talent to build a strong fashion-lifestyle brand. With Alexandra’s creative business background as an Editor and Publisher for luxury lifestyle magazines, books and the internet combined with Genevieve’s years spent at the helm of Lisa Ho as Senior Designer, and her grounding with Australian swimwear and fashion luminaries, Zimmermann, their united industry knowledge covered every possibility, probability and all the potential of a successful and exciting family fashion business.

Their three buzzing retail stores, designed in harmony with their unique concept, have created welcoming havens to reinforce the core conviction of the ‘Luxury Escape’ – even if it is in your lunchtime. GINGER & SMART product is also placed with carefully selected and prestigious stores throughout the world. Available in over 100 boutiques in Australia, including David Jones and over 40 leading international stockists including Matches, UK; Cara and Co., Russia; Lane Crawford, Hong Kong, CK Tang, Singapore.

T h e T r a n s c e n d e n t SS 2010/11

The inspiration for this collection is The Transcendent, or the fourth state of consciousness, lying beyond waking, dreaming and sleeping.

Magnetic prints illustrate this blissful wakefulness and future beauty, through diffused angles and blurred perspective – the light and images you see when you close your eyes.

The depth of colour palette meanders from calm shades of nude, lilac and mint to vibrant injections of blush and grounded tones of olive, smoke and oily blue.

Silhouettes are fluid, modern and effortless with sleeveless jackets, sexy slouchy trousers and chic dresses worn with silk printed lingerie.

The Ginger & Smart Accessory line accompanies this collection including sharply modern shoes with angular metal heels and ultra -soft bags in draped and twisted perforated leather in grind grey and nude.

Available nationally from Ginger & Smart boutiques David Jones and selected stockists from July.

BLK1 Photographer: Victoria Rika-Heke

Images :

The first day of Rosemount Sydney Fashion Week has been known throughout its fifteen year history for being a day of highly-charged chaos.

The Overseas Passenger Terminal at Sydney’s Circular Quay was brimming with anticipation before the first show

At 9am sharp, a long line of fashion guests were lead into the darkness of the runway hall. Samantha Harris, of Indigenous Australian background was the first model to set foot on the runway. Harris was given the honour of opening for Lisa Ho. Lisa Ho is a designer famed for her wearable designs that are loved by many.

While Lisa Ho started the runway schedule as a veteran fashion week exhibitionist, the second runway show was a first time debut. Seventh Wonderland proved themselves to be a label that will be long remembered for the stunning swimwear in their Spring/Summer 2010 collection.

Carly Hunter, Guanabana Designs, Story By Tang and Uscari all followed in the women’s ready-to-wear show

Following the women’s ready-to-wear was more ready-to-wear, but this time, it was coming from New Zealand. Zambesi showed a runway which made spectators sigh for a Summer far-away.

Rachel Gilbert and Bassike were also first timers on the Rosemount Sydney Fashion Week runways.

As the afternoon wore on, experienced exhibitioners Bec & Bridge and Aurelio Costarella brought the events at the Circular Quay to a close.

Stay tuned to BLK1 to see full coverage of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week

 BLK1 Photographer: Victoria Rika-Heke

Images and Article: © BLK1 2008-2010. All Rights Reserved.

The pavilion at Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival was standing room only. The crowd had been kept waiting a little under half an hour, and were welcomed by a cheeky television personality grabbing voice pops from the designers seated in the front row. Usually when the lights go out at a catwalk show, the tone in the room is very serious. This was not the case at the Summer Holiday session. Jokes about mankinis and male-kaftans were made and the crowd that had been kept waiting in the claustrophobic pavilion had been brought back down to earth.

Jets By Jessika Allen was the debut parade for the Summer holiday series. It was a surprise to see a shift away from the usual strong cuts and nautical looks of this swimwear label. Usually, Jets By Jessika Allen is famous for the classic nostalgia it brings back to swimwear- but this time on the catwalk, the Modern Muse Collection all but did away with this tradition. The cuts were a lot softer this season, many of the costumes featured frills and (very puzzlingly) some of the models were seen to carry clutches that were traditional to evening wear. After a few minutes of seeing what could be purchased at David Jones the room slid into silent darkness. Clever light-sound technology stimulated the feeling of a aeroplane landing just outside the hangar. This signalled the new arrival of the Jets Menswear collection, which had never been seen on runways before. The Jets Menswear collection was a bipolar opposite to Borat’s Mankini. The Jets Menswear is a collective of boy leg trunks and patterns which complimented this seasons women’s wear. In the end, the Jets range was all about the women. The clutches suddenly made sense when the kaftans were unveiled. The Kaftans of Jets by Jessika Allen could be easily mistaken as glamorous cocktail-wear, reminding the audience that while the label has grown to take monopoly of the hi-fashion swimwear market in Australia it is still focussed on feminine summertime splendour.

Flamingo Sands followed Jets. While Jets can be worn by all ages, Flamingo Sands is definitely a young label because of it’s bright and busy prints. The thin string bikini’s brought about memories of hot, humid days spent on the beach in Surfer’s Paradise.

As always, Camilla was the Kaftan Queen. Models were marched down the catwalk in flowing fabrics, posing just at the end in a flutter of colourful fabric, the likes of which drew a direct parallel to a butterfly. Prints on the fabrics were blended between palm leaves, tropical flowers and animal prints- with every kaftan showing a mixture of all these Summer conventions.

Kooey is a very Australian name for a swimwear label and the didgeridoo instrumental that started the display made it clear that they are damn proud of it. The Australian pride was carried strongly in the colours of the one-piece costumes which reflected the desert climate. A closer look on their website showed that they also stock the all-aussie rashie and female boardies. However, what was seen tonight on the Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival was definitely glamorous and with the frills and hugging cuts, showed an influence taken from the Jets design.

For all of the five minutes White Sands were on the catwalk, the label showed that they were
able to re-invent themselves and the typical expectancies of swimwear to create a delightful collection for Summer 2009. The highlight of the White Sands show was the Southern Summer bikini print which displayed an embossed palm leaf against a solid-cut bikini and one-piece design. When palm leafs are thought of in the world of swimwear, they resemble a tacky plastic image that people try to look away from. White Sands managed to recreate this symbol to be something of intrigue and style.

Lenny was the last swimwear designer to showcase their wears on the Summer Holiday runway. It could be said that they were the most original. Instead of drawing inspiration from Goddess-like forms and divine Summer settings, the Lenny designers decided to focus on the Serpent and the colours of the earth and the water. Soft browns and cool blues showed the meeting of the water and the earth, while the scattered scales of the prints kept the serpent motif slithering strongly.

The Summer Holiday Display finished in a confusing manner. Models plodded to the end of the catwalk, to brief applause and then a Rosemount advertisement began to flood the aural atmosphere- but it was cut- the houselights then turned on and the crowed tent was left unsure whether to stand and leave the pavilion or whether each designer would send models out to gain a round of applause. Perhaps there was some kind of technical difficulty with the audio-visual order of things or perhaps the one-time showcases of each designer was all that was needed to leave the spectators in awe.

BLK1 Article: ELLEN CROSLEY BLK1 Photographer: www.petersollner.com

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Images and Article: © BLK1 2008-2009. All Rights Reserved.