One to watch. It’s a phrase which sure does get batted about a bit, particularly in fashion circles.
But in the case of Andrea Wolf, with her striking features and even more striking designs, the phrase ‘one to watch’ rings more than true: Wolf is already proving herself in spades.
She started studying fashion at night at the West Australian Institute of Fashion and Textiles before falling in love with the course and taking up full time study.
The love affair paid off: she was dubbed Student of the Year when she graduated last year, her clothes going on to win the Eco Design category at the WA Fashion Awards.
‘It’s quite dark,’ Wolf said of her award-winning aesthetic.
‘I use a lot of blacks and dark colours. I really enjoy tailoring so a lot of the pieces are quite tailored. I’m obsessed with it.
‘What I try and do is take those traditional bespoke techniques and just present them in a modern light. I often look into Victorian/Belle Époque menswear tailoring and construction books for inspiration on cuts especially.
‘I find the menswear of these eras was so clean and strong and masculine and I take reference to these looks to create a similar aesthetic for women.’
The results include reworked sculptural leather jackets and evening gowns made from a lace mesh comprised from a number of different fibres.
‘I design in a more intellectual way,’ she explained. ‘I put a lot of thought into how the pieces go together and they’re put together and how everything fits on the body.
‘The clothes are definitely for a woman that has that strength and who puts a lot of thought into what she wears. She knows how she wants her clothes to sit on her body, she’s confident and she knows how she wants to look.’
It’s a description which suits Wolf herself, since part of her love of fashion emerged from an inability to find what she wanted to wear here in Perth.
And now she’s all set to create her first major capsule collection: she has a six month residency at The Carton, a site specific studio in Carillon City created by Perth Fashion Festival (PFF) which she shares with two other emerging designers, Ellie Meyer and Jane Kelsey.
The work created here will comprise a special section of the forthcoming PFF Student Runway.
But prior to that is her appearance in STYLEAID, where she was chosen as a finalist in the STYLEAID Absolut Creative Award. Her work for STYLEAID is all about the space in between.
‘When I was working on the last collection I found that there were some pieces I enjoyed working on more than others, and they were ones which contained spaces.
‘So like the pleating or even just figuring out how far to space the buttons, the skin showing from beneath the cut outs in a tailored jacket.
‘I’ve been reading a lot on the Japanese spatial concept called ma which is basically like that indefinable space, that pause between two musical notes or the spaces in a sculpture.
‘It’s the definition of indefinable.’
Which is exactly why Wolf is one to watch.
STYLEAID takes place July 30. www.hausofwolf.wordpress.com
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
