8 March 2012 – The Ballets Russes, Japanese origami, light and landscape, and famous historical women are just some of the key themes permeating the work of this year’s talented group of fashion graduates, on display in the Powerhouse Museum’s annual Student Fashion exhibition from 26 March 2012.
Since 1993, Student Fashion has provided a glimpse of the exciting potential of the next generation of Australian fashion designers. Past exhibitors who have gone on to enjoy successful careers in fashion both here and overseas include Michelle Jank, Toni Maticevski and Dion Lee.
Illustrating their diverse design signatures and technical skills, this year’s display showcases outfits from the final year ranges of top students from four Sydney-based fashion design schools. They include: Anna Langdon from the Fashion Design Studio, TAFE NSW, Sydney Institute; Claudia Adinda of Raffles College of Design and Commerce; Simone Latham from the University of Technology, Sydney; and Madalaine Blythe from the Whitehouse Institute of Design.
Anna Langdon’s Arabesque evening gown is inspired by the dramatic costumes of the Ballets Russes and intricate carvings found on ancient Middle-eastern architecture. Toying with kitsch and irony, Anna’s men’s outfit from her Kitschfolk und Kindheit graduation collection references German folk dress combined with Australian fauna motifs.
Claudia Adinda’s Digital Dimensions collection is influenced by the Japanese paper folding art of origami. Inspired by contemporary Japanese fashion designers, her work transforms unusual materials into what she describes as ‘nonsensical-shaped wearable structures’. Her monochrome palette and exaggerated proportions form, like origami, an array of visually intriguing shapes. Folded around the body, her garments re-shape the human form.
Light, landscape and photography are deeply embedded in Simone Latham’s collection Reverie. Through colour blocking and digitally printed landscapes, a vivid interplay between light and colour is revealed. This is further enhanced by the use of Electro Luminescent Panels and Swarovski Elements Crystals, which intensify the light and shadow areas and create a brilliance of colour.
Madalaine Blyth’s graduation collection Gloriana, ‘celebrates the romantic, the feminine and the artisan’. She explains that her collection ‘speaks of fated women, who reach out through time and revolution, whose stories still resonate with today’. Each outfit in her collection incorporates some reference to these women.
Exhibition: Student Fashion
Dates: 26 March to 26 August 2012
Address: Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris Street, Ultimo, Sydney
Website: www.powerhousemuseum.com/exhibitions/student_fashion_2012.php
Telephone: 02 9217 0111 or infoline: 02 9217 0444
Hours: 10am to 5pm (closed Christmas Day)
Media enquiries:
Hayley Gallant, Powerhouse Museum
Tel: 9217 0169 / 0413 985 277
