SIÂNBRITTON.
November 29, 2009

The past weekend we were invited to see our friend and crew member Siân Britton's presentation at the end of year Whitecliffe design school fashion show. This was her final (fourth) year, so along with the other students in her graduating year, she was tasked to create a conceptual range and design her own show, with the NZ fashion, media, PR agencies and press in attendance.

I quite enjoyed the overall show, a much different atmosphere compared to the normal runway attendance. Sometimes it seems that students are a little more daring than established designers - not yet completely bound by the commercial nature of the business, and free to explore their design palette in an effort to shock and wow not only the tutors, but also their peers and industry veterans, such as Denise L'Estrange Corbet (WORLD) and Liz Findlay (ZAMBESI). The fourth year graduating students were tasked to create 8-10 outfits, and the rest was up to their discretion - mens/womens, season, theme, execution. Most of the shows didn't disappoint, differing between more prêt-à-porter styles to elaborate conceptual wearable art/couture presentations.

Siân's presentation was entitled "Something Like a Phenomenon", (The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, not LL Cool J) exploring the relationship Superheroes had with their alter egos, a little like Clark Kent & Kal-el (Superman). Compared to the other graduating shows, the collection was far more prêt-à-porter, but featured a lot of chains and "hard" looking embellishments juxtaposed against soft, pleated fabrics. Perhaps she was trying to get across the message of dual "opposite" alter-egos moulding into something beautiful. Structure from soft fabrics.

photo credit: hilary johnston

Aside from Siân's presentation I also enjoyed Brooke Fairgray's show, and Lan Yu's futuristic uniform collection (the name of which escapes me right now, apologies).

Congratulations on the show Siân.