Here We Go Again / VAMFF 2015

Melbourne Fashion Week, we meet again, hopefully not for the last time. 

I always get nervous before my first show. Although you could call me a regular, I still feel a little bit on the outside of the fashion world. The media, in general, is often segregated from the rest of the crowd. We sit cross-legged at the end of the runway, baggy jeans over form fitting dresses/pants, comfortable shoes rather than heels, watching the fashion elite glide past as they find their seats before the show. 

My favourite part about photographing at fashion week is not the clothes or the models, or even the contacts I get to make. What I enjoy most is just watching everyone. I love seeing what everyone wears, I love observing the selfies, the note-takers, the groups of gossips, the girls in heels that look impossible to walk in, the men dressed sharp and dapper. I just find events like this absolutely fascinating.

I went backstage last night for the first time since 2012. I had forgotten how pushy and how competitive photographers can be. We had to tiptoe over make-up cases strewn all over the floor, push past packs of hair stylists and assistants, hoping we didn't knock anyone or anything over. It was utter madness. 

In the end, I didn't feel comfortable getting in people's way so I just hung back, preferring to capture the candid moments rather than getting the models to wink whilst staring down at my lens. 

On Thursday night, I'm going to be going up into the backstage area with full force and armed with my previous experience to get some shots I really wanted to nab last night.  

I found that most of the collections last night were very muted in styles - which of course, is perfect the Melbourne winter. Kuwaii paired really lovely warm and peachy colours with greys. The collection felt so snuggly rather than cold. I especially love that pink paired with the grey skirt on the right. 

Many people who were in the pit with me were so excited for Alpha 60's collection and afterwards I understood why. Despite the fact that the models looked awkward as hell walking in the shoes, I loved the lines and the textures used in this collection. The grey jacket down the bottom right-hand corner was calling my name.

During the show, I didn't really enjoy Kloke's collection as I found the colours to be classic but boring. It wasn't until I was editing the photos that I realised the detail in the pieces like the zipper in the second image and the flecks of gold in the third garment. Their collection kind of reminded me of a skater girl clashing with a hobo which made the outfits seem extra comfy!!

If someone were to buy me every single jacket that is featured here by Búl I would not complain.

Limedrop is always a favourite of mine. I loved the soft water coloured patterns and flowing lines featured in the first two images contrasted with the third and fourth images that felt much more edgy. I loved the sunglasses some of the models were wearing, pictured brilliantly in the third photo. They changed colours as the light reflected off them. In one of the photos, I took, the glasses even appear to be pink! 

And, of course, Gorman. Not my favourite collection of their's but I still have many items on my wishlist that will never see the light of day because of my uni student budget. I think I'm drawn to Goman so much because they have this knack for pairing prints and colours together that I just wouldn't normally think of. I especially love all of the shoes and socks (I can actually probably afford those socks to that's a plus). I love the green cropped pants in the third last image. I'd prefer it as a skirt, but they were just so shiny and pretty that I couldn't say no to pants. I also LOVE, LOVE LOVE the scarf in the last photo. Someone please give me that scarf now because I need it and those cute pompoms in my life for the winter season so I can feel complete and whole. 

Kudos to the ladies and gents at Frankie for once again presenting an awesome show! I especially loved the golden glitter runway background and The Pink Tiles who played a pretty sick set of pop-punk before the lights went down.

You can see more photos that I took on Style Melbourne.