Innovations in the use of colour and fabric by designers Camilla and Marc, Bianca Spender and Lisa Ho stole the runway on the third day of Australian Fashion Week.
In the domed and marbled splendour of Sydney's State Theatre, brother and sister design team Camilla and Marc revealed their Infinite Variability collection, fusing baroque jacquards with suedes, silks and leathers in a riot of colours.
"We first started off with beautiful French and Italian jacquards and then we thought it's looking a little heavy, we've got to lighten this up with some bold colours," Camilla Freeman told AAP after the show on Wednesday night.
A mosaic of fuchsia pinks, fluro limes and yellows, cobalt blues, lots of crisp, crisp white and black were sculpted into voluminous shapes and cutaway razor-sharp tailoring.
Pink sequinned bodices, hand-beaded in France were partnered with a gold and blue brocade skirt and then with a hot pink tiered skirt, while a green suede and blue silk shirt topped a pop-art print skirt.
The designers, who launched their label in 2003, even introduced a wetsuit fabric into their collection for the first time. Not as a play on the Aussie rashi, but chosen for its vividness. "It really worked with the rest of colour palette. The brightness is just incredible," Camilla told AAP.
Attending his third-ever fashion show, actor Joel Edgerton found the show "very sexy, but ultra eclectic. Every model that walked down the catwalk looked like they were wearing clothes from a different designer".
In only her second show at Australian Fashion Week, Bianca Spender, daughter of celebrated designer Carla Zampatti, has already developed her own signature style with her jumpsuits, block colour and layering of fabrics.
But this hasn't stopped the 33-year-old being daring enough to experiment with new cuts and colours in her Division collection launched at the Cargo Theatre at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal.
Inspired by modernism and the Industrial Revolution, the fauvists and cubism, Spender's startling show revealed her firsts, in colour and cut.
"I've never done yellow and I've never done yellow and nude together, but I love the freshness that they create bouncing off each other," Spender told AAP after the parade.
Style-wise, Spender explains, "I've never actually put an organza with a crepe; I'm quite a purist in that way. So it was a pure abstraction in terms of mixing them all up in a pure, clean way."
Lisa Ho dipped into colours from an Italian gelato bar for her untitled spring/summer collection at Sydney's Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The designer says she was inspired by the Mediterranean island of Capri and has taken a bold new step adding bright colours to her usual subtle tones.
"It was about the light there (Capri) and the beautiful colour," Ho told AAP after the parade on Wednesday.
Although Ho's signature silk, linen and cotton fabrics and prints featured in her tailored jackets, pants and dresses, floppy silk tulle flowed for the first time in her collection.
"The silk tulle was used in a major way this season," Ho said, referring to her elegantly draped evening gowns.
And David Bush, the general manager of department store David Jones thinks she's spot on the money.
"With Lisa, it's real fashion for real women, whether you're 20 or 50."
In the domed and marbled splendour of Sydney's State Theatre, brother and sister design team Camilla and Marc revealed their Infinite Variability collection, fusing baroque jacquards with suedes, silks and leathers in a riot of colours.
"We first started off with beautiful French and Italian jacquards and then we thought it's looking a little heavy, we've got to lighten this up with some bold colours," Camilla Freeman told AAP after the show on Wednesday night.
A mosaic of fuchsia pinks, fluro limes and yellows, cobalt blues, lots of crisp, crisp white and black were sculpted into voluminous shapes and cutaway razor-sharp tailoring.
Pink sequinned bodices, hand-beaded in France were partnered with a gold and blue brocade skirt and then with a hot pink tiered skirt, while a green suede and blue silk shirt topped a pop-art print skirt.
The designers, who launched their label in 2003, even introduced a wetsuit fabric into their collection for the first time. Not as a play on the Aussie rashi, but chosen for its vividness. "It really worked with the rest of colour palette. The brightness is just incredible," Camilla told AAP.
Attending his third-ever fashion show, actor Joel Edgerton found the show "very sexy, but ultra eclectic. Every model that walked down the catwalk looked like they were wearing clothes from a different designer".
In only her second show at Australian Fashion Week, Bianca Spender, daughter of celebrated designer Carla Zampatti, has already developed her own signature style with her jumpsuits, block colour and layering of fabrics.
But this hasn't stopped the 33-year-old being daring enough to experiment with new cuts and colours in her Division collection launched at the Cargo Theatre at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal.
Inspired by modernism and the Industrial Revolution, the fauvists and cubism, Spender's startling show revealed her firsts, in colour and cut.
"I've never done yellow and I've never done yellow and nude together, but I love the freshness that they create bouncing off each other," Spender told AAP after the parade.
Style-wise, Spender explains, "I've never actually put an organza with a crepe; I'm quite a purist in that way. So it was a pure abstraction in terms of mixing them all up in a pure, clean way."
Lisa Ho dipped into colours from an Italian gelato bar for her untitled spring/summer collection at Sydney's Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The designer says she was inspired by the Mediterranean island of Capri and has taken a bold new step adding bright colours to her usual subtle tones.
"It was about the light there (Capri) and the beautiful colour," Ho told AAP after the parade on Wednesday.
Although Ho's signature silk, linen and cotton fabrics and prints featured in her tailored jackets, pants and dresses, floppy silk tulle flowed for the first time in her collection.
"The silk tulle was used in a major way this season," Ho said, referring to her elegantly draped evening gowns.
And David Bush, the general manager of department store David Jones thinks she's spot on the money.
"With Lisa, it's real fashion for real women, whether you're 20 or 50."