Neither Here Nor There

My dear, ridiculously talented friend Siera kindly volunteered to model one of my Stardust garments. Based on Lady Una and the Romani from Assassin's Creed, The Gypsy is carefree and passionate, with a bit of sass.

'Fashion Capitals of the World' Runway

Last Friday it finally happened- the Fashion Capitals of the World runway, held at Melbourne Central. This project started last year and it was a great relief to see all our hard work in motion!

Before the garments even reached the runway, there was the hard task of transforming 2D sketches and patterns to 3D mockups.

Not everything works out the way you planned first time around!

 As you can see, the back was too small and the shoulders didn't sit properly- also the cuffs were too wide. Luckily the skirt part of the dress was perfect!
None of the fabric stores carried coloured frog closures, so being the resourceful cosplayer I am, I mixed art inks and gold fabric paint to custom dye them.

Second time around, everything worked perfectly!

Before I show the finished garment, have a few more 'behind-the-scenes' images!

My beloved spine heels arrived on the morning of the runway.

Hair by SuJin @ Just Cuts and makeup by Sara @ Napoleon Perdis

Backstage, a couple of hours before the big show

Aaannddd-

Here it is! Ana K wearing my Eastern Opera gown.

It was a wonderful runway and seeing work from the European design schools really humbled me. To have been a part of such a project well and truly hit home when my work was displayed alongside Parisian couturiers studying under Madeleine Vionnet's teachings and a graduate student's Master's collection from Milan.

It was an unforgettable night and one I'm so very proud of, not only of my work but also the work of my fellow Academy students too!

Fabric Therapy

A quick post just to show off the lovely fabrics I've purchased for my Eastern Opera project!

Beautiful Japanese silk from a handsewn koto cover!

(the shopowners were so distressed when I mentioned I was cutting it up T___T I’m so sorry)

 The silk chiffon I found at Tessuti, and it is the loveliest, softest whisp-of-a-fabric I have ever held. Turns out it’s from Dolce & Gabbana and that would explain the ridiculous price I paid for it per metre!

An Eastern Opera

As per my last post, I've continued to use Dame Nellie Melba for as inspiration for my Fashion Capitals of the World entry. However, I decided to incorporate another culture that has quite a long history of opera too- the Chinese.

The Chinese are intricately woven into Melbourne's history beginning from the gold rush and continuing today. With that in mind, I've designed an Eastern-Edwardian evening gown using the distinct 1900s silhouette highlighted with Chinese silks.

Dame Nellie Melba

A sneakpeak of what’s going into my submission for the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival “Fashion Capitals of the World” exhibit. Trying to tackle everything 'Melbourne' is a big ask, and one of our fashion tutors has urged us to "highlight the interplay of diverse cultures that gives rise to something uniquely Melburnian".

Being the only costume designer on the team, I've decided to highlight our Performing Arts culture using Dame Nellie Melba as the key figure. Her operas mix many cultures to portray something 'uniquely Melbournian'.

Explaining the Creed

First of all, my process of getting a Tumblr was suddenly expedited upon the creation of this particular post. It was humbling enough to have had an article written about my work, let alone to suddenly see it all over Tumblr!
My Tumblr bears the same name as this blog, so if you're the Tumbling type you can find me over at Archadian Skies.


Now that my graduate show is over, I can take the time to explain my year-long project! There's no better way to explain this than by using the boards I made as part of my submission report. Let's begin!

The Star-Seeker

Finally, an actual sneakpeek at my Graduate Collection to be debuted this Friday on November 18th 2011! This has been a long time coming and to see my dress in a photoshoot seems to drive it home for me.

This is the villainess from my 'Stardusted Opera'. She's loosely based on Lamia from Stardust, crafted on the archetypal Witch who is both beautiful and terrible. My talented friend Lilly Higgs is responsible for all of my illustrations, but you only get to see this one for now!

"The Little Black Discount" photoshoot

-is now a mini video! Many thanks to Sammeh for being our secondary photographer on the day, and for making this amazing video!

The photoshoot and blog entry can be seen over here.

Thanks for reading!

The Age: Design a Career in Fashion

It is with a rather sheepish grin that I say hello to you all again. I do apologize- life swallowed me up and to be honest I'm still wallowing in its stomach feebly pawing at its insides (read as: all my assignments are due in a fortnight along with Semester exams)

In the time that passed, I was interviewed by The Age newspaper to talk about my decision to swap courses from History at The University of Melbourne to Fashion and Costume Design at The Australian Academy of Design.

It was an exciting opportunity and one I was very thankful for. It also shows that good work doesn't go unrecognized!

Do expect more updates in the following fortnight as several of my assignments tie in together for my graduate Stardust project.

Thank you for stopping by!

Starry Eyed

The first step in my graduate collection was experimenting with makeup to create a look reminiscent of Yvaine the Evening Star from Neil Gaiman's 'Stardust'.

One of our subjects required a magazine to be created, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and get one of the looks sorted out! This look was a lot of fun to create and as we shot this in the laneways of Melbourne we left glitter patches wherever we went |D

Everybody's Starry-Eyed by ~warui-chan on deviantART

LMFF Opening Night report

Oops! How time flies! The opening night for The Complete History of Lust went fashionably well and a great time was had by all. It was a nerve-wracking night for me, being surrounded by prominent figures in the fashion and art industry and underneath it all it was a very humbling experience.

Save or Splurge?

I was extremely lucky to receive an invitation from Paris Kyne, a master Milliner in Melbourne, to take part in his exhibit 'The Complete History of Lust' which is part of the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

He wanted us to explore, using our particular genre which in my case is costume and fashion, the human tendency to always want more. I decided to explore what fashionistas struggle with every new fashion season- do you save money and buy a replica, or do you splurge an entire paycheck for the latest look?

With that in mind, I created the 'Little Black Discount'.

The Little Black Discount by ~warui-chan on deviantART