Fashion Week Day 5: Surf's Up And The Gym Calls

Your Australian Fashion Week update in under three minutes - by Clare Press

Camilla Franks put the early into rising by showing her Resort ’17 collection, titled Jambo Jambo, on a boat that left the dock at 7.30am. Beautiful weather and glittering views quenched any fashion fatigue, and that was before the African drummers, dancers and choir started up. “Camilla is the queen of the full production,” says our fashion news editor Bree McDonald. “It felt good, like everyone’s serotonin was rubbing off on me.”

So what about the clothes? There were caftans of course, but also a strong swim offering. We don’t know if the printed surfboards will be commercially produced, but here’s hoping.

We Are Handsome continued the colourful swim theme, splashing digital prints across their signature one-pieces and bikinis, as well as leggings and crop tops from their growing activewear line.

It was the day for it. P.E. Nation’s debut pushed an edgier, kick ass approach to getting fit by way of NBA styling, and neon accents worked back with black. This, according to designers Pip Edwards and Claire Tregoning is fashion activewear, equally at home in a club as at the gym. Case in point: a grand prix checkered clutch bearing the slogan “Game on!”

A combined Swim runway showed collections by Aqua Blu, Duskii and Palm Swimwear, before visiting New Yorker Cynthia Rowley brought a Montauk feel to the evening’s proceedings, with her pop-beach take on surf culture.

Rowley’s girls wore mirrored aviators and red lippie with their folkloric dresses and fringed suede jackets before diving into colourful neoprene territory. The designer ensured she’d snag today’s front pages by balancing models in her covetable printed shorty wetsuits on surf boards held aloft by bronzed bodies from Bondi Rescue.

The day closed out with 10 Pieces - Australia’s answer to Yeezy by restaurateur Maurice Terzini and his partner in life as well as fashion Lucy Hinckfuss.

You may remember their show from last year when they emptied the Icebergs pool for a runway and accessorized their models with drones. This time, they packed an empty lot at Fox Studios with hundreds of friends and fashionistas and screened a short film made in collaboration with Fitbit. Then 10 models stomped out clad in layers of monochrome sportswear, including a knitwear collaboration with John Macarthur from Purl Harbour. A singular vision, and a striking one that had nothing to do with the sun-bleached Sydney of cliche.