It is always a treat to see Karen Nielsen’s swimwear designs on parade. And although the same collection was presented earlier in the year, the pieces at Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival made a splendid opening to the Splash event. Examining the vintage inspired one-pieces or the high-waisted black bikinis, it is clear that every woman, no-matter their size or shape, will be looking good in a design by Karen Nielsen.

In the only parade at Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival that was totally dedicated to swimwear, the designs of Lisa Maree were sure to make an appearance. Lisa Maree is no stranger to the runways of Australian fashion weeks, but this label is not a fashion veteran yet. The design innovation in the colours and shapes of this swimwear demonstrates that Lisa Maree is a designer on the way up.

Daughter Of The Gods was third onto the runway, but it was the first time most members of the audience had heard of them. The bronzed models were adorned with feathers and fluros. The way the models strutted confidently reflects the mantra of the label. Daughter of The Gods was named after the movie made to tell the story of the first woman who demanded the right to wear comfortable and revealing swimwear.

Hotel Bondi Swim’s collections were oh-so-very Sydney. Within each piece the sights and sounds of Sydney’s world famous beachs and nightspots were echoed loudly.

While Hotel Bondi Swim echoed the sights and sounds of Sydney, Bond-Eye shouted them. The colourful prints on the Bond-Eye fabric sung praises of the hot and floral Australian Summer and the way it is celebrated in Bondi.

Sol Bellow is not a widely known about brand, but, with the way each piece has been designed to flatter every body shape, it will soon be a well known brand to beach-goers. Sol Below spreads design inspiration slink black one-pieces to micro-sized scorching red bikinis. The result of the different colours and shapes made a stimulating catwalk show that got the crowd excited for the Summer ahead.

On a boiling day, there is no better feeling than to drape the body with silk and rest poolside. Colin Heaney’s silk kaftans catored for this desire. There were rain-forrest greens and sunburnt reds flowing down the catwalk. For every different emotion evoked by Summer, Colin Heaney catored with a design.

After seeing the models strut the newest swimwear designs, it became clear that skimpy bikinis are the way to go. For Spring/Summer 2010, modesty comes in the form of a kaftan – to be stripped off in moments of heat. The look to-die-for this season is the same as every summer: a perfectly toned and tanned body with just a whisper of colour to complement the natural physique.

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

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

The City Chic fashion show kicked off with huge success this afternoon as anticipated fans of the brand excitedly lined up to watch the event that had a few surprising treats.

Displaying a high standard performance with two guest models; Fiona Faulkner and international model Elizabeth Green, City Chic showcased two central themes for the spring collection with feminine reinventions of floral frocks and rock chic glamour.

The collection saw an avant-garde of contemporary dresses in spring’s latest trends ranging from romantic floral mini and maxi dresses, satin cocktail dresses, studded jeans and leggings, one shoulder top embellished with silver, acid wash denim skirts and gladiator-styled footwear from Payless Shoes.

As the show drew to a close, the audience is mesmerised by the form of Elizabeth Green showcasing a stunning black and white lace boudoir corset with a Kamikaze Couture Skirt draped around at the waist as the model strutted down the catwalk seductively to the tango beat. As she approached the bottom of the catwalk she quickly stripped off the Kamikaze skirt to reveal the sexy detailing of the corset much to the surprise and amazement of photographers and the crowd.

The surprising strip-off along with the interesting use of scenery in the background which includes fiery flames, white diamond-shaped droplets and the ticking sounds of the pendulum signifies the never-ending styles and choices made to cater for women of all sizes.

The brilliant singing performance of Natalie Colavito stole the show with a loud wave of applauds and clapping from the excited and satisfying crowds.

General Manager for City Chic, Phil Ryan hopes the collection will show curvier women that they can look and feel sexy in dresses that not only flatter their curves but be trendy as well.

“The average size Australian woman is size 14 to 16and have previously always been under catered for in the fashion industry. The fashion industry is beginning to reflect these changes which is why this collection is a step in the right direction of fashion for full figured women”, said Mr Ryan.

BLK1 Article: THANH LOAN NGUYEN

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.

The beautiful weather outside the large marquee set a perfect scene for Seafolly to parade the catwalks at Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival.
Being only the second show, the seats and the aisles around the catwalk were crammed with spectators keen to see the new trends in Summer swimwear.

Seafolly has always been a brand that is immensely popular with consumers and famed for it’s simple cuts and straight colours. It was no surprise to see that the very first foot to step on to the catwalk was Elyse Taylor, wearing a white bikini. Crisp, white swimwear of this type is a classic look which has come to be owned by the Seafolly label.

Autumn and Winter saw everything from boots to bags adorned with fringing, this was also attached to this season’s Seafolly look.

After beginning with the classics, Seafolly marched all the cliques down the catwalk: floral prints, polka-dots, palm leaves and fluorescent frills. While these looks had all be seen before in one form or another, a jolt of excitement raged when a vintage-inspired boy-leg one-piece was seen.

Until this point, it seemed like Seafolly was staying true to swimwear conventions and catering to the wants of shopping-centre consumers.

Now that all the expected designs and same Summer patterns had been shown, the Seafolly collection let loose with its prints: tessellated fluoro pinks and oranges were splashed across the catwalk. This exciting use of colour was labelled in the look-book as “Cyber”. The appropriateness of this name was observed when the mono-kini took the stage, the way the fabric was spread over the model with the pattern flowing down the body made this design look like something from the future.

While the Cyber series was a new direction for the typically white styled Seafolly to take, it held tight to the Seafolly rule that swimwear should be made to flatter the figure.

This rule was also seen in the introduction of swim-skirts to this year’s collection. The adorable ruffles circulating boyleg shorts brought back a high level of modesty to the bikini.

Resort-wear also featured in the Seafolly collection and continued to bring a sense of modesty to swimwear with a black maxi-dress and several light-weight kaftan designs.

As the models made their way along the catwalk to an applauding crowd it was obvious that Seafolly had set a high standard of swimwear at Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival. The Seafolly designers managed to showcase new ideas in swimwear and all the while stay close to the label’s tradition of inspiring confident and classy swimsuit wearers.

BLK1 Article: ELLEN CROSLEY BLK1 Photographer: PETER SOLLNER

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In a full length Jason Brunsdon dress composed of salmon pink, Stephanie Rice- Australian swimming legend- took a seat today in the front row of the opening event at Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival. Brunsdon was not only the designer who adorned Rice’s athletic bodice; he is also the first designer on show at Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival. The presence of Stephanie Rice at this event proved that Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival, although more accessible to the public, is the premium place to observe the new season trends in swimwear. Alongside Jason Brunsdon, all the other designers who were on parade at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week will once again show off their collections. More excitingly, Seafolly, White Sands, Flamingo Sands, Jets by Jessika Allen and Lenny will be displaying their newest swimwear creations.

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