To most of us, Balmain used to be a lovely suburb in the inner western suburbs of Sydney. From now, 'Bal-ma' (that's how it is pronounced in French, fyi) will be the name on every one's shoulders as one helluva lot of Aussie designers are using the French houses's extended shoulder line as inspiration for their own collections.
But that's fashion for you!
Pick a trend, any trend and it's bound to eventually come back. Hey, let's bring back the jumpsuit (oh, it already is); the slouchy poo-catcher 'pant' (they are too); the denim jacket (it's never gone anywhere). Anyway you get the picture and on that note I am predicting a solid return of the velour v-neck, the skort (a skirt and short all in one thing) and fingerless gloves. Well my son has some with skulls on them, so he's got where fashion's heading...
Back to fashion week and we're just half way through day two and I've already been to tv land this morning to have a face applied; seen a simply strong and splendid show from Dion Lee (see my twitter posts for my feeble attempts at shooting models on the hop); endured a CBD power outage. (must have been all those GHD hair straighteners being used at the same time and enjoyed a simply pretty, girly and also very grown-up collection from Zimmermann.
The power failure sent shivers up the spine and right into the shiny dome of RAFW organiser Simon Lock, as men with headsets and security T-shirts (you know, those self-important ones?) started to tell is all to leave the building (like the entire Overseas Passenger Terminal) as 'the shows will not be going ahead'.
So, I went and paid the power bill and there we were
Front row and ready to start. Opposite me was Vogue's Kirstie Clements, with journo Nick Leys (Nick's job is to follow KC around for the week for the paper I used to work on, The Sunday Telegraph.) I remember doing that same thing for that very paper with models, pop stars and celebs. But at least KC will actually have something to say...
So with the power restored, Zimmermann's BitterSweet Nightshade collection wasn't full of the 'cossies' we've come to expect from the label but full of very pretty, easy and layered dresses, skinny trousers in caramel with the most exquisite twisted detailing right up the legs, lots of swinging sheer jackets and yes, a series of corset-inspired one piece cossies. I really liked it. This label, boy, what a stayer...
I've been on the twit for a few months now and feels it's time to go the Methadone. I think I may be ready to call it a day. Not for any cyber-overload reason (as that is never going to wane) but have you, like me, noticed how the Twitter tone is changing. The tide is turning with some twitterers becoming just plain nasty and kind of Sid Vicious? As anyone can ‘follow’ you on Twitter (from hereon I'm tagging it the Global Time Waster) unless you turn on the application that has you approve 'followers', and then, what’s the point of being on Twitterer to begin with?
If the GTW is about getting your 140 digits of wise words or witty repartee out to the people, you probably want as many followers as possible, so they can soak up your literary brilliance. But as soon as you let ‘anyone’ into your Twitter-verse, this is where it all comes a little unstuck. The followers, who send ‘direct messages’ and public ones, commenting, usually pretty roughly, on something you have said or perhaps done.
I happened to make an appearance on a morning TV show the other week and got insulted, not even cleverly by seriously crudely, via a twitterer, because of my painted fingernails! We kissed and made up (well, cyber-ly, anyway) but I can't help but think it's turning into a very public email system, where fellow twitterers just bang off narkily at each other about how fabulous they are while not really giving us any kind of info that is vaguely worthwhile.
In fact the GTW, I reckon, is like some sort of mid-west American religious cult. The Jonestown of the digital world. Which, I fear will, like Jonestown did, meet a horrible ending. At least with Facebook, the pace isn't as random, fast or furious and you can happily pick and choose who you don’t mind drawing into some parts of your world. As a live event–driven discussion board, the GTW can be great fun and I have experienced that. Slouched on my bed, laptop (on lap) watching Eurovision while tapping out what we think are endless short, sharp grabs of hilarity with your Twitter posse.
Ditto the recent Logies. And as for the recent NRL and scandal, Twitter was nearly in meltdown. (By the way, for those who have no idea what Twitter is about, I'm not going to explain it to you. Just google it.) But for those who do 'get' it, the camps are well and truly divided. Twitter is probably great for those who have a ‘luxury brand’ to sell. A celeb, or a TV or radio show that people regularly follow. Followers think they are in that celebrity’s world, and are getting a taste of how that particular half lives.
I’d love to see the statistics about how successful it is as a marketing tool. Is it drawing people to sites that are making a buck out of it? Sure the Demi and Ashton's, the Ellen's, Stephen Fry's and Nicole Ritchie tweets may be riveting to some and credible news sites are great for turning your attention to a breaking story, but when I put the Twitter vs. Facebook debate to a few fellow FB-ers, here's a sample of their reactions.