First Look at AusFW 2012

Australia's Fashion Week is always a must see in the fashion calender - When people think of Fashion Weeks they always think of New York, London, Paris and Milan; all of which are in the western world. Most people don't think of the Fashion Week in Sydney and ignore the buzz that surrounds it down under, even though Australia is home to some of the top designers in the world and AusFW is all about showcasing their talent and new collections.

Being based in London it is hard for me to have all the updates from AusFW but I will try and keep up with the highlights and shows from big designers throughout the week - thanks to the internet and online websites such as Vogue Australia and can keep up to date with what is happening down under. And today is Day 1...

Australia's Fashion Week kicked off earlier today with 'Romance Was Born' opening the day and kicking off Fashion Week with a 'bang' - literally.

Romance Was Born is known for their attempt at mixing comic, bold designs with high fashion. In the past the designs haven't always paid off. Their recent collaboration with Marvel Comics has made the fashion industry question their designs,this is not normally your average fashion related company that you'd expect a designer to collaborate with. However, the result from this morning at fashion week was completely different to what was expected from the collaboration.

When I heard that Romance Was Born was kicking off Fashion Week I admit that I was personally a little skeptical of the results because sometimes their designs can border more on costume rather than couture. But I stand to be corrected with today's results. I don't know if it's because of the fact the film 'Avengers Assemble' has been a huge success that RWB was also so successful this morning, but whatever it was it paid off.

The designs were innovative and paid a lot of homage to marvel comics. They were far from tacky. The fabrics, colours, and also the set were innovative, you could tell a lot of thought and creativity had gone behind everything. The set this year was kept simple, unlike previous years. The set was an empty pier at the Sydney Theater Company with a pop-up paper back drop made by Benja Harney. The simplicity and sophistication of the back drop really let the pieces from the collection shine through, and all attention was on the designs of the clothes.

Here are some highlight pieces from the show so that you can make up your own mind about RWB's new collection.

Ultimately, this was the perfect way to kick off Fashion Week; high energy, fresh, new and fun but still maintaining simplicity and sophistication.

Romance Was Born has paved the way for the rest of the week, I'm hoping that the rest of Fashion Week lives up to the start that was created by them.



B.