Chinatown Street Runways
On Saturday night, Melbourne Fashion Week hosted Street Runway 2 and 3 in Chinatown. In a celebration of the city’s diversity, both Chinese designers and Chinese-Australian creatives were featured. Honking car horns, the smell of fried dumplings and a mosaic of red lanterns set a vibrant back drop. The shows drew in a broad mix of attending ethnicities, with both fashion goers and onlookers from balcony apartments watching on eagerly.
Street Runway 2
Li Chang
No stranger to fashion shows or red carpets, Li Chang’s pieces are highly sought after by Chinese celebrities and the fashion elite. Opening the show was a breathtaking one-sleeved half-blazer dress, followed by variations on the blazer theme. Backwards, long lined, or two-piece. Add a few designs out of left-field that included fuchsia lining, green tulle tutus and hot pink corsets.
The Lethe
This Australian brand creates structural pieces that play with a limited colour palette and unconventional shapes. Take its sheer tops, off-centre dresses and layering of vests. To the soundtrack of a string quartet’s Justin Timberlake medley, yellow dandelion motifs mixed with pink feathers and large shiny silver buttons.
Mary Ma
From a model in the late 90s, Mary Ma has blossomed into one of China’s star designers. Ma’s opening number was a deep-V structured leather dress complete with bulky shoulders that doubled as mini bags. Her creativity spanned sheer black capes, embellished shirts and wide brimmed hats, to western wide-leg flares, bolo ties, tassels and denim. Attention was focused on the big and the bold.
Photos: Lucas Dawson Photography
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See Melbourne Fashion Week’s Street Runway 1 here.
