Usually when you think of emerging designers you think of kids who are barely out of fashion school, scraping together dollars and cents to showcase their first collection. But that image isn’t necessarily always the case. After all, in fields such as writing or art, the emerging talent can be someone who has laboured at their craft for a number of years, perfecting and honing their skill to finally present an end product that is breathtaking.
Amanda McKenna is one such emerging talent. Her label, mandi mac, is all set to glisten and gleam on the catwalk this StyleAID, but those in the (fashion) know are already aware of this creative and slightly quirky label. After all, it has been forging its own path since winter 2003, when it was originally stocked in a wave of original and left-of-centre boutiques across Australia. Now it can be found in Fremantle’s Hustle and Mt Lawley’s Libertine, the latter McKenna’s own store that she opened with business partner Alyssa Over back in February 2007.
‘I feel honoured to be part of this event,’ McKenna told OUTinPerth about her acceptance to appear in the Emerging Designer Showcase as part of StyleAID. ‘As well as being THE fashion event of the year, it is also for a cause very close to my heart as many people of my vintage have been affected by HIV and AIDS.’
Once you look at McKenna’s work, it’s clear to see why she was chosen: her fabrics are all vintage sourced and come together to create shapes and silhouettes that are nostalgic, romantic, ecological and incredibly playful. ‘My label mandi mac uses a combination of old world charm in vintage fabrics and trims which then collides with modern day style. It’s all about the unpredictable, peeking around the corner or sneaking a glimpse through Alices’s looking glass.
‘The use of vintage garments and fabrics with a hand worked touch are what makes my label unique,’ McKenna continued. ‘The mandi mac studio prefers to lay it’s hands on all the garments that leave the studio, knowing they have been lovingly created. Mandi mac turns towards the craftsmen and the arts crafts movement of the turn of the 20th century for inspiration. This was a great period of creative innovation with a hands-on, DIY approach.’
It’s this bespoke lovingness which translates into a label that is at once boisterous and ladylike while being bold and refined. In a fashion industry that all too often panders to layers and layers of seriousness, mandi mac isn’t just a breath of fresh air: it’s a full scale gale blowing away the cobwebs. It’s a trend which McKenna believes is manifesting itself in a multiplicity of means throughout the West Coast fashion scene.
‘Perth fashion has come a long way over the years,’ she explained. ‘Isolation isn’t such an issue now. I find the innovation and energy over here as great as the East. The isolation can be turned to our advantage. It gives us more “space†to develop our signature without all the “white noise†that can come with being in larger cities. Just seeing what has sprung up in the last 3 to 5 years has proven that the fashion industry in Perth is thriving. StyleAID has really contributed to raising the profile of Perth designers and letting Perth know we have some great people right here in our own back yard.’
And you certainly won’t miss mandi mac on the catwalk at StyleAID. Hers will be the outrageous label, the one having the most fun, the label going a little crazy as though it were at a Mad Hatters Tea Party, complete with cups, saucers and teapots. But what of the future? What are McKenna’s all important prediction for the summer of 2010?
‘Organic fabrics and fibres are going to be huge,’ she cooed. ‘Up-cycling is going to be more and more popular as a fashion choice, not just a quirky statement. And there will be more sculptural silhouettes with a focus on cut.’
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
