Easton Pearson.......................On the runway, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriageworks, Sydney

The Courtier.........................Easton Pearson, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Sydney

Wonderland..............................Easton Pearson, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriageworks, Sydney

Lewis Carroll's Alice finds herself washed ashore on the banks of Wonderland and right in the middle of an outrageous Caucus-Race. My trip to Australian Fashion Week was much the same: racy and extravagant at Sydney's Carriageworks. A fine swim at Coogee's sea baths prior to the shows added to the atmosphere of being awash in another world. Like in the seawater, colours flashed by on the runway and in the surrounding fashion-pack.

As in Wonderland, Fashion Week has many doors to pass through to gain access to the actual work on show. Once you pass through one door, there is another, and then another, all different sizes and some with guards. I tried my best to shrink through the hierarchy, making it back stage and to my seat towards the back of the audience. But thanks to the wonderful help of stylist Lesley Crawford my adventure in Sydney really took off and I was promoted to the front row.

From the Caucus to the Royal Court! The front row at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is hallowed ground for fashion editors, power-bloggers, stylists and celebrities. I was nervous sitting there and very aware of the wonderful performance of the guests around me, a show that is often more important than the actual collection presented. However not so for Easton Pearson’s vibrant collection HyperReal.

As staff peeled back the plastic sheets concealing the catwalk, DJ Jonny Seymour built an intense atmosphere with Zoe Keating's eery track Into the Trees, and so the ritual began. A wild parade of courtiers flowed onto the runway in a collection brimming in colour, beaded details and couture-like volume. Like Carroll's classic tale this collection was timeless and untouched by contemporary trends. It was a unique take on dressing, refined by the designers Lydia Pearson and Pamela Easton, who have based their label in Brisbane since 1989.

If the collection was untouched by contemporary trends, I could still see its place on the street and in contemporary life. Magical in style and production but not out-of-this-world in terms of practicality, so I am inspired to post drawings of real people I’ve seen wearing related looks. Australia may seem far from Paris but viewing this collection in the flesh felt everything like the experience of Haute Couture. Sydney was exotic, bright and full of optimism, but HyperReal was an even grander Wonderland.

LG

From the Front Row..........Easton Pearson, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Sydney

Into the Blue............Easton Pearson, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriageworks, Sydney

The HyperReal.............Easton Pearson, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriageworks, Sydney

The Last Sitting...................................Kate Sylvester, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Sydney

Famed actresses and Americana were the clear propositions announced in Kate Sylvester's Spring Summer 2013/2014 runway presentation. And nothing speaks of Hollywood more than scenes of sets backstage, mirrors laced in lightbulbs and frantic staff milling around starlets.

Such a world was exactly what I found when led into the passageways of Carriageworks to preview the collection entitled; The Last Sitting. Here Kate was directing her own LA story by preparing her models to play a character; a new Marilyn Monroe, a contemporary one.

I quickly started sketching all the imagery that whirls past so quickly on the runway; shoes, skirts, makeup and hair. This glimpse backstage gave me information to fuel my drawings but also insight into the story and inspiration underpinning the collection.

The bright lights of the runway set created the atmosphere of Bert Stern's photographic studio, whose legendary images of Monroe set the colour pallet for the collection; skin tones, lipstick pink and pearl.

As the models practiced their exits, I took in the collection; here translucent organza skirts and rose embroidery give the collection the femininity Marilyn dreams up. But masculine bomber jackets (albeit studded in gold stars), sporty caps and the use of leather throughout the collection reminded me of the actress's complexity and ambiguity. These signifiers perhaps noting her loneliness and of course the consequence: the ever present men.

In The Last Sitting Kate takes the emblems of these lovers and pairs them with the signatures of the starlet. Building a contemporary wardrobe that speaks of this complexity, rather than just a Hollywood daydream. Joe Dimaggio's baseball mitt is transformed into leather jackets and skirts with its cross-stitched detailing even reaching the boots.

Kennedy's knits and Arthur Miller's button down shirts are present, but its the tan baseball leather that dominates. This dramatic contrast to the feminine details propel the collection, and harks back to that very Hollywood tale of dark meeting light.



LG

Taking a seat at Easton Pearson.............Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriageworks, Sydney

Jonny................Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriage Works, Sydney

Sarah Murdoch..........................Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriageworks, Sydney

After the show (Easton Pearson)..............Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriageworks, Sydney

After the show (Easton Pearson)...................Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Carriageworks, Sydney

Livia Arena exit...............Independent Runway, Docklands, Melbourne

On the runway.............................PAGEANT, Independent Runway, Melbourne

Black and white..............Woolworth's, Smith Street, Melbourne

Emerald green................Union Street, Erskineville, Sydney

Its a match...........Independent Runway, Docklands, Melbourne

Video Piece.....................Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne

Gertrude Street is one of my favourite streets in Melbourne and its famed gallery, Gertrude Contemporary, is the jewel in its crown. Therefore I was excited and nervous when artist Veronica Kent  curated my work into the gallery's project space, SLIDE for 2013. 

For the show, which is running until April 27, I have developed a video piece that looks at placing my work inspired by street culture back in the social landscape. This project was created with special thanks to Gavin Youngs from The Apiary.  

LG

Image: Geometric Print, Smith Street, Collingwood. 

National Gallery of Victoria...................Akira Isogawa

The National Gallery of Victoria has just published a collection of my drawings on their website as part of the gallery's contribution to the 2013 L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. I saw the project as an opportunity to explore and draw from the gallery's extensive fashion archive. 

The works include my impressions of names such as Akira Isogawa (shown above), Karl Largerfeld and Comme des Garçons. To explore the project please visit http://blog.ngv.vic.gov.au. 

LG

Hipster Bunnie.............Happy Holidays Everyone!

Floral Print................Smith Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne

Black and white.............Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

Black on black..........Peel Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

Floral Cape........TOMBOY, Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

Black and white......................Rose Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne

The sign-writer.........Brunswick Street, Ftizroy, Melbourne

Zig Zags..........Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

Ocelot Print........National Gallery of Victoria, St. Kilda Road, Melbourne

Jungle print........Peel Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

In conversation.............................National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

An invitation to draw for the National Gallery of Victoria's blog during the L'oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2013, brought back some memories. 

I was reminded of  how ten years ago, I was obsessed with Tim Blank's TV series, Masters of Style. It was the closest I could get to studying designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Valentino and John Galliano. 

I saw this exciting invitation as an opportunity to research first-hand the works of those I'd dreamed about as a teen. For this project I worked to create drawings from the designs of Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, John Galliano, Azzedine Alaïa, Karl Lagerfeld, Comme des Garçons and Pierre Cardin, and Australian and New Zealand labels such as Kara Baker, Martin Grant, World, Akira Isogawa, Le Louvre, Magg and Toni Maticevski. 

I then looked to the street in search of echoes of what I was researching in the Gallery, creating a suite of drawings that looks for visual relationships between designer garments and the street culture of Melbourne. 

This collection of drawings will be published on the National Gallery of Victoria's blog from March 18 2013. I wish to continue this project as I feel I have barely scratched the surface of this rich and exciting collection of fashion and textiles. For this opportunity I thank greatly the curators at the Gallery, especially, Danielle Whitfield. 

In addition to this project I will be talking publicly for the first time about my art work at the National Gallery of Victoria's Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square. This event will take place March 21 2013, at 12:30pm in the centre's Crossbar Cafe, Level 3. For more information please visit the National Gallery of Victoria's Website. 

LG 

Drawing of Saint Laurent Jacket, NGV

Off to the pool.........Alexander Parade, Fitzroy, Melbourne

Polka dots and kicks.........Cibi, Keele Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

Gold highlights.......Spring Street, Melbourne

Tram dash....................Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

Gumboots in the rain..........Smith Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne

Black and white..........Rose Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne

The breton.......The Whistling Fish - cafe and bookstore, Robe, South Australia

Hoodie and pup..........off to the fete, Robe, South Australia

Down the coast...........First Ramp, Robe, South Australia

Shell Coat......Victoria Street, Robe, South Australia

Grey Gardens.........Off to the fete, Robe, South Australia

Aqua shirt with head phones........Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

Jacq on the phone..........Smith Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne

Lotus Print..............Mater Street, Collingwood, Melbourne

The shopping run.........Smith Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne

Cape..................Victoria Street, Robe, South Australia

Red Scarf......The Whistling Fish, Robe, South Australia

Back from the coast......Union Street, Robe, South Australia

Summertime......Brother and sister off to Town Beach, Robe, South Australia