Fashion editor FIONA HATWIN goes behind the scenes at
the Australian Fashion Week as three New Zealand designers cope with a last-minute hitch to their group show.
SYDNEY - Annaliese Treharne gets a call from her modelling agent at 9 am on Thursday. Could she do the first New Zealand group show with DNA, Carlson and State of Grace at the Mercedes Australian Fashion Week, please?
It is supposed to start at midday and one of the 16 models they have cast in the show can't do it. She agrees.
The model who was booked is in hospital, thinks State of Grace designer Caroline Church.
"She's quite fond of overly high heels. She's probably broken something," she jokes.
It is now 10.30 am and the designers are waiting backstage for Treharne to finish one of the 11 shows she is in during fashion week, so they can quickly fit her. She will wear two outfits each for the three designers.
Church thinks the clothes will be fine on the 19-year-old Sydney model. It's the shoes that might be the problem. She and design partner Sherilyn Catchpole found all their shoes in secondhand shops and painted them with red house paint for the show. The most expensive pair cost about $2.50.
"One girl has got enormous feet. We've found some that look like they used to belong to a drag queen. They've got these enormous toe marks," she says of the shoes they tracked down in a Sydney op shop.
At 10.55 am, Treharne arrives from the Thys Collective show and the shoes fit. She has had to wash her hair because so much gel was used it would be unworkable for the team of hairdressers working on this show.
Silk Road designer Susan Scarf is also relaxed about Treharne fitting her clothes, but Dunedin designer Tanya Carlson is a little concerned she might be the wrong size for her two outfits. She is relieved she has arrived.
"You're never prepared for how small they are. They're like ducklings," she
says, threading lace through a pair of completely beaded green shorts.
After a quick try-on of one of the outfits Treharne will wear, Carlson decides to move the buttons on the black Havana trousers.
Unfortunately, the designer doesn't have time to try the 1920s flapper-style dress called Morning Glory Fizz on the model before she is rushed off to makeup. She decides, if it doesn't look good, she won't use it.
In the makeup room, makeup artist Angela Davis-Deacon makes a start on Treharne's face. This should take 20 minutes. The look the three designers have gone for involves defined eyebrows and strong eyelids.
They have already reached a consensus beforehand about the direction the hair and makeup will take as there is no time to do major work on makeup and hair between sections.
Five minutes is all Treharne's dresser has to get her changed and for the makeup artist and hairdresser to check everything is as it should be before she reappears on the runway.
Part-way through the makeup session, hairdresser Jonathan Eaton interrupts. He needs to get her hair started. It's still wet from her shower and will need to be blow-dried before stylist Peter Ryan can back-comb it into a modern geisha look.
It'll be ruined at the end of the day, says Treharne about the condition of her hair.
Carlson finally gets to fit the flapper frock post-hair and makeup.
"It's a little bit wobbly but that's the breaks, isn't it? Its not quite right, but she's such a beautiful mover," says Carlson.
The show before has run late. This creates a domino effect and means the New Zealanders' show is about an hour late.
Finally, Treharne wears the Carlson dress out to an appreciative audience.
No one would guess the dress wasn't altered to fit her perfectly as it comes to rest ever so gently on her body with each doe-like movement. The cameras furiously click, click, click away.
And then she heads back down the runway for a quick change into the State of Grace outfits.
This show is over. For Treharne, that's six outfits, a whole lot of makeup and two shows down. Only three more to go.
Backstage bustle and catwalk cool
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