Pedestrian TV's little Mean Girls guide to MBFWA actually neatly summed up the gist of the week without getting into the specifics of course of who came out with A+ to err... C- grades. They predicted that the still-relatively-new designer Magdalena Velevska would come out on top as Prom Queen - someone that is current hot property and is making waves. Neon piped embroidery and coral drawings caught my eye last year and in between, she's delved into dramatic fringing and richly hued paisley. For her latest spring summer 2012-3 (southern hemisphere summer...), she's lightened the load considerably, taking a cue from a technique she used when she was at school by embroidering zig zag beads inbetween leather pieces to mimic fagotting in knitwear. She's refined that further in this collection by adding silk embroidered borders to the sides of the zig-zagging beads and in some cases, using phosphorous thread so that it glows in the dark if you charge it up with enough light. I can testify that this indeed does happen as I crouched underneath Magdalena's desk to see a bit of glow coming off of one of the dresses. The cellular-looking print also comes alive in the dark as glow-in-the-dark has been applied in waved flecks.
I know there's been a lot of hot tropic, climate-driven and sun-induced influences going on in a lot of Australian designers' work but here pool and beachside antics are only vaguely referenced in the collection. Velevska primarily looked at the mercurial surface of stingray, which inspired a lot of the textures as well as looking at underwater sealife in general. Above the waterline, she also revelled in the summer season by lightening up the clothes. If you dived right into a pool in these assymetric hemlines and buttoned up shirting, you'd emerge looking like you purposely soaked yourself, as these straight-up mostly silk pieces were a sleek foundation for Magdalena to then work on top of with her eye for detailing. Therefore those beaded zig zag lines get to curve around in jellyfish or coral-esque formations. Magdalena's point de mousse embroidery returns with as a newly flattened and circular motif. Her love of neon also comes through loud and clear in the use of the brightest of highlighter yellow, anchored by white and cream lace. The level has certainly been polished up but here's hoping Velevska maintains that streak of spontanaity that means a) highlighter yellow remains high on the agenda and b) she continues to nurture her penchant for minute construction details.
