Belinda Luscombe said something interesting in her What Was That Decade About article for Bazaar’s January issue. Frankly, I found the bulk of the mag boring but Belinda’s piece, a summation of the last ten years of style, convinced me of something that I had already considered about the future of fashion. One of her arguments was that shopping will move away from stores awash with mass consumption with buyers instead choosing to seek out local rather than global design.
There are a number of boutiques in Brisbane that dedicate themselves to “emerging” designers. The Tribune Brisbane is a great example of a store that generally works exclusively with fashion graduates. But even in some of the more established boutiques, the ones that take on the bigger Australian labels you can find someone new, like my old fashion college friend Emma Rea. I think Emma is one of those Brisbane designers whose label will move beyond the boundaries of the city, state and even the country! Emma’s eponymous label started slowly, post study, but it’s only been in the last few seasons that her presence has really grown having found a strong following locally.
With Emma’s aesthetic there is always an undercurrent of rock (and roll) as well as a strong female protagonist, taken from music, art or film, that guides the collection. This season’s The Raven, is another dark and brooding affair where the drama of layering again becomes her signature. The silhouettes are romantic but with an element of androgyny and typifies the kind of conceptual creativity that her fans have come to admire.
