AUSSIES TAKE TO PARIS AND NEW YORK: After four seasons showing off-schedule in Paris, 31-year-old Perth designer Kym Ellery is moving up to the major leagues. On Oct. 6 at 9.30 a.m. at a to-be-confirmed Paris venue, Ellery will show her spring 2016 collection as part of the Chambre Syndicale’s official schedule for the first time.
Known for her voluminous tailoring and signature oversize bell sleeves and bell-bottom flares, the designer looked for inspiration this season to the 1969 Wrapped Coast project by French environmental sculptors Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which saw 1.5 miles of Sydney’s coastline wrapped in one million square feet of fabric and rope. Ellery’s collection riffs on the draping and wrapping of the body via drawstrings and metal eyelets, many iterations of the cotton shirt and prints inspired by Australian flora and marine coral.
“It feels a little surreal, but also like I’ve been given the green light to just go hard,” Ellery said of being on the official Paris schedule.
Ellery forms part of an expanded Oz presence in Paris this season. Taking a leaf out of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund’s Americans in Paris book, the Australian Fashion Chamber will stage a 3,767-square-foot Australian Designers Abroad showroom at No. 9, Place des Vosges from Oct. 5 to 8, presenting the spring collections of Camilla and Marc, Christopher Esber, Bassike, Ginger & Smart, Michael Lo Sordo, Romance Was Born and Strateas.Carlucci. The Paris contingent will be preceded by a number of Australians at New York Fashion Week, including Zimmermann, Dion Lee and Rebecca Vallance and others taking part in the Fashion Palette showcase on Sept. 10 at Pier 59 Studios, such as Bec & Bridge and Emma Mulholland x Mambo.