Fashion is a dichotomy, a contradiction.
On one level it’s about dressing up, having fun and looking fab. On the other, fashion is a creature of phenomenal foresight. It has the potential to unite the visionaries of tomorrow with the shapers and makers of today, all with an effortless air.
The overall vision? An opulence fuelled by the enthusiasm of incredible intent. Nowhere is this more evident, in one night, than at STYLEAID.
As the fabulously attired brainchild of the WA AIDS Council, STYLEAID is now in its 14th year. It has emerged as Perth’s premier fashion fundraiser, specifically assisting in the development and maintenance of HIV/AIDS research and community support.
Consider, for a moment, the numbers that make STYLEAID.
This year saw Burswood’s Grand Ballroom play host to 750 guests who all helped raise $200, 000.
STYLEAID’s centrepiece parade featured 16 of WA’s biggest and brightest fashion labels brought to life by 77 of the state’s hottest models.
Of course, the entire event is actualised by a tireless committee of 13 individuals who bring together and coordinate approximately 300 volunteers.
And, after you add one-off creations by 13 of the most promising fashion students around, the end result was last Friday’s STYLEAID OPULENT, accurate in name and pefect in articulating the dichotomy inherent in fashion.
How so? Well, to understand that, let us consider the clothes.
For emerging designers, STYLEAID is the place to debut.
This year’s bright young things included ZSADAR and Tindale, the latter the recipient of the STYLEAID Absolut Creative Award, a prize complete with $5000 and industry mentoring.
ZSADAR tore the catwalk apart as a fashion onslaught, simple yet stylishly executed. Shane Newton’s debut collection has become something to anticipate, the sheer exclusivity of the label seeing only 10 of each garment going into final production.
Well warranted hype surrounds ZSADAR’s SS12 range. It is sure to sell out fast through the label’s website, the only place you can purchase this youthful yet elegant attire.
Tindale’s debut was just as equally anticipated, and with just cause too.
Designer Shelly Tindale is a promising talent, her dedication apparent in the clothes she creates.
Yes, her garments stem from a conceptual headspace. They are the exploration of dilapidated architecture extrapolated across the human form.
The result is as iconic as her spatially segmented cape yet as covetable as the fraying scarves that were in abundance throughout her showcase.
Tindale is a label for women who cultivate sophistication, both socially and intellectually. It is urban, elegant and slightly out of this world.
No doubt everyone will be craving a frayed Tindale scarf this season, with the more astute seeking out the incredible cropped leather jacket that invoked an audible gasp across half the room.
Yet while these two labels embody different ends of the fashion spectrum, together they encapsulate the strength and imagination of the WA fashion industry.
They confirm that our state produces some of the most unique designers in the country.
And they don’t come more unique in vision than Aurelio Costarella and ae’lkemi, another pair who embody different aspects of fashion’s language.
Yes, they both create awe-inspiring eveningwear. But while Costarella has hit his stride as an internationally recognised label, dressing A-listers all across America, ae’lkemi is the promising bright established star of tomorrow on the brink of similar success.
One creates an old world nostalgia adorned with rose filled hairstyles. The other invokes a sequin city romance. Together, they define the forefront of extravagance our state is renowned for internationally.
And then, falling between the debuts and the die-hards are the daring labels who are sure to shake things up.
One Fell Swoop is emerging as a force to be reckoned with. While there was an obvious glitch in the parade during the course of their segment, One Fell Swoop retain a ferocity and edge.
They do not succumb to trend like other labels, but rather push forward with a vision that is bold and intoxicating. Put simply, they beguile.
Garth Cook holds a similar promise. While his digital prints are already sublime, his tailoring is refining an inherent articulation with each passing season.
It’s exciting to see his eloquence emerge.
Then there are the ingénues, the young women who dare to architect the catwalk with an untamed audacity.
Take for example Jaime Lee. This is the couture of the future: resin dipped heels; crochet dresses; sequin explosions across sculptural gowns. Ornate, outrageous, inexplicable… words cannot surmise the depth and breadth of what Jaime Lee Major creates.
In this instance, Daniella Caputi becomes the balancing duality.
She too brings a unique insight into what is wearable, her balsa wood capes and gowns softly rattling like shamanic instruments.
But beneath the understated tenacity is a commerciality that no doubt will be a hit this season, particularly with Billie & Rose picking up her more wearable laser cut pieces.
Outside of the label line-up were two new additions to STYLEAID’s parade: Zekka and Dilettante.
These are both WA Fashion Award-winning Best Dressed Boutiques. Together, they have reinvented Perth’s social pages and fashion landscape, bringing some of the most amazing European labels to the world’s most isolated populace.
Zekka does so through the subtlety of Haider Ackermann, Rick Owens and Ann Demeulemeester.
These are the epitome of Zekka’s look, a fluid unconventionality of luxurious functional form that is distinct, tinged with the otherworldly and pragmatically dreamy.
Dilettante, on the other hand, is nobly romantic. Sometimes outspokenly so. But with just cause: they embody the maverick spirit.
After all, who would present a Vivienne Westwood collection and then close their parade by having drag provocateur Ash Baroque appear as The Old Dame herself, complete with washed out face, pencil thin eyebrows and shock of faded ginger hair?
Yes, they even presented Viv with a bouquet. It was like being at a Westwood show, a coup that not only threw the production team but heard whoops of joy erupt from the audience.
For pure theatrics, Dilettante stole the show, although that sequin gold gown was something to behold.
Which is the crux of STYLEAID each year: it has to be witnessed. This is why, quite simply, it has become the hottest fashion ticket outside of Perth Fashion Festival’s annual line-up.
But while Perth Fashion Festival keeps in mind the overall presentation of the clothes first and foremost, STYLEAID could benefit from lighting that accentuates the fashion rather than feeding the need to put on a great big glittering show.
Some garments emerged in shadows, and one wonders if the technical glitches elsewhere in the parade were the result of inexperience, apathy or the onslaught brought on by the high level of sartorial talent.
Irrespective, STYLEAID certainly achieved one thing: it highlighted what West Australian fashion can achieve when brought together, the power it has to reinvent and reinvigorate, to assist in transforming the landscape.
How WA fashion is a community affair that brings new talent to the fore, a community that more than happy to donate energy and time to raises funds that will make the lives of the 1270 currently living with HIV/AIDS in WA all that much better.
And for all the themes one could ever create for this event, for all the scope one could articulate, only one word appears to be the perfect pairing for STYLEAID year after tireless year: essential.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
***
