Before I began going down to Australia for fashion week, one of the labels that I was semi-familiar with was the Melbourne based TV, designed by Monika Tywanek & Ingrid Verner. It even made mighty arduous inroads into the UK when it was stocked briefly in Topshop Oxford Circus. I remember enthusing about all things TV with another Melbournite Kat George, my ex-assistant at Dazed (now an amusing confessional writer at Vice if you're interested). Then all things TV stopped. Boo.
The V in TV aka Ingrid Verner has now relaunched with a solo label. Like any good solo project, it veers away from the originating source material and Verner, by the looks of it, is decidedly more extreme and sportswear orientated in style. This is Verner's second collection (which they're calling AW13 for the Australian seasons) and even in comparison to the first marble-print, pastel-hued Ballet Russes-inspired collection (which is available in parts at one of my favourite Melbourne spots Pet Shop Girls), it's a different style step towards an ironic take on logo laden sportswear. A blurred out, Photoshop-heavy image of a burning house is the central print motif and appears apocalyptic on silk separates, often trimmed with wide underwear elastic, printed with the words Verner, Sleep and Work, cheekily referencing Calvin Klein undies. Skater logo hoods, bilinear backpacks and an oversized puffa coat all point to a thorough investigation into the nuances of when sportswear meets the street, most likely inspired by nineties to present sub-street culture - skaters, chavs, football hooligans, b-boyers, BMX-ers.
Verner's website isn't yet functioning so it's early days yet but it seems Ingrid Verner is setting her sights on ambitions that go beyond building a domestic label with the aim of selling to Asia and Europe. Given this fair city's penchant for irony-laced/celebratory takes on sportswear (see Christopher Shannon, Kim Jones and about a gazillion graduates every year that take on a similar aesthetic), let's hope Verner gets some shop support from the UK soon.
