Annika Pol puts on the finishing touches before her final collection call-up

SPECIAL INTER-FEATURE
Go to: Special Graduate Q&A
Individual Graduate Q&A
Go to: Annika Pol / Bronwyn O’Brien / Jacquelyn Wellington

The chaotic yet equally momentous time of final graduating students of the University of Technology, Sydney Fashion course means two things: the completion of four slogging hard years meeting both the demands of attaining new skillsets and doing well academically and the outcome of becoming a fashion designer.

The convergence of media coverage in the form of journalists and bloggers were uplifted backstage by model fittings, hair and makeup with the first show annually reserved for industry associates including past alumni and established local designers. Past designers have included Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett of Romance Was Born, Little Joe, Susien Chong and Nic Briand of Sydney based label Lover.

The University of Technology graduates are viewed upon as esteemed potentials who will work within the local industry or investing their individual talents and skills abroad. As the continuation of the graduate showcase follows at the end of each new year, one quality that strikes out is a newer, younger generation of would-be fashion designers destined to strive to work hard, keeping their noses down but for other more established designers first. For the past 10 years, the immediacy of post-graduates establishing their own businesses have been wide-ranging but potentially at the cost of ruining their design skillset for a business approach more focused on expanding the brand and customers than their raison etre.

Last year, a forum of invited designers created by former UTS lecturer Timo Rissanen [now professor of fashion design and sustainability at Parsons New School of Design in New York] and Alison Gilt proposed a detailed outlook on sustainable outcomes in the production of garments by ultilising every each of material and fabric. With those invited including Susan Dimasi of Melbourne atelier MaterialByProduct detailing special techniques of cutting making that maximised fabric, perhaps sustainability in fashion might be the longevity of these post-graduates into Australia’s long term fashion success?

Invited backstage by graduate student Annika Pol, notably awarded by a running competition from V-RAW and invited to showcase her designs in Melbourne, she wore a floor-length noir ensemble that gestured the embodiment of Ann Demeulemeester. But in previous confabs, illuminating Japanese designers have been her most enduring interest. She introduced the works of her fellows class graduates in Jacquelyn Wellington and Bronwyn O’Brien.

The fashion design course envisages for students to conceptualise their ideas first and foremost, eschewing a final collection that reflects a commecial prêt-a-porter quality. Jacquelyn Wellington, who had been awared three times in Melbourne for academic excellence endured a post-apocalyptic arctic year for which her collection entailed heavy mélange knitted fabrics with the use of Mongolian sheepskin. Her strong concept for her collection as primal instinct and survival of human existence was well-produced, collaborating closely with Chiara, also a fellow graduate with the ambitions of becoming a creative producer.

The torrent weather forced clever ways to photograph Jacquelyn’s collection outdoors. The teutonic and slated terrain was needed to evoked a genuine isolating landscape of an arctic ice-age. Ragged and slashed lace yarn techniques fully realised her entitled collection ‘Cyberia’ that concisely describes her garment pieces.

Introduced to Bronwyn O’Brien’s work, who became heavily involved in the creation of menswear was a distinguishable trait of which the course has not readily produced. The affable and charming young graduate took the challenge and excitement involved in making a men’s collection by looking into the historical periods of the Weimar Cabaret. A thriving and flourishing science and arts period before the Nazi regime descended, by infusing the attitudes, drama and fashion of the decadent period, a series of knitwear of soft yarns consisted of subtle twisted necklines. One with a mockline, the jacquard knitting resembled chainmail armour. She described the collection ‘Laughter of the Damned’ as being both rigorous and having a softer nonchalance in the collection’s wearability. Jersey pants and more formal pieces of an archetypal suit were placed together and therefore providing a new cue of masculine streetwear.

Clearly, she takes an interesting in contemporary menswear to her heart. On her own personal blog Design Brain Bucket, she cites and questions the conventions of producing menswear and if at all it can be pushed beyond gender and wearability. In her illustrated example of Raf Simons’ checked woolen skirt suit, menswear forges a new perspective – that is the communication of individuality and in Simons’ words youth.

Annika was less photogenic than both Bronwyn and Jacquelyn, but you couldn’t help but notice many of her mannerisms: welcoming yet self-effacing. Like Sam Chermayeff, Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima’s trusty sidekick, she interjects by the possibility of working one day at Comme des Garcons’ atelier. Her ‘Savage Slaughter’ collection contained imagery of blood red stains, that was imprinted on plastic coats and leathers sourced locally to resemble animal hides. The recurring motif of red pigments splattered on her designed garments reflects the constant undertones of Japanese film but in Annika’s case, the collection was transformed into a performance of a social nature. The garments were not to conform the human body and whilst she used drawcords to construct her fabrics, they aimed to elucidate the world consumption of food and future needs. This duality within fashion that sometimes contradicts one another and eschewing the notion of prêt-a-porter is successfully more intriguing to be able to create a dialogue that fashion’s own commerciablility.

Other notable graduates, aforementioned Chiara Bianchino who seeks to work in fashion imagery, moving image and production has developed a high caliber level of visual sensory. Her own website Absorb which she created as her graduating project has realised a series of potent films, conceived with a talented range of graphic designers, make-up artists, stylists and photographers. Her artistic repertoire had lent her own skillset for Annika, Jacquelyn and Brownwyn’s creative direction of their respective collections. Her notable enthusiasm for a newfound expression in Australian fashion film is also on the backdrop of the industry’s alternative use of the traditional runway. Prime examples have included the men’s collection by Stefano Pilati of Yves Saint Laurent in 2008 ultilising a musical score by Michel Gaubert, British designer Gareth Pugh and the pioneering work by British photographer Nick Knight for ShowStudio.com.

Graduating designers Bronwyn O’Brien and Jacquelyn Wellington (pictured). The former currently a finalist for the Australians in New York Foundation (AINYFF) and the latter will further take her skills in Melbourne

By the long night’s end, after three consecutive shows punctured by intersessions for the public, family members and friends, to demand these graduating students with a prêt-a-porter finish would have been incredibly cynical. The fashion industry has caught onto another key punchline: slow fashion. Yet its existence has been the derminator for many createurs, many of which unfortunately have left the business altogether. The night was a great time to experience admiration and the skills of which the graduates have attained. Remarked by the esteemed MA Fashion course director Louise Wilson of Central Saint Martins, she says, “Forget generations, the fundemental thing is that students used to work within their own individual skills or with what they could afford. I call that youth.” With Australia’s nimble resources, Bronwyn’s sought knitting factories to assist her knitwear pieces; Annika seeking leathers in Sydney and wools from New Zealand. Their resilience and focus has realised a honed collection of their own making.

You can visually see in Annika’s, Bronwyn and Jacquelyn’s eyes that they were relieved after a frenetic final year. Yet they also begin a new journey, twisting and turning into experiences that will carry forth emotion, determination, conviction and the prospect of Australia’s promising new future of fashion createurs that will hopefully earmark originality and integrity.

For more information on each featured designer, please contact Cultures In Between at contact@culturesinbetween.net