TPFF16 One Fell Swoop
Another week of fashion - and running around like a crazy woman is over, with the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival officially closing last night. With that comes the time to reflect on the week that has been and discuss something I have thought about a lot this week, have Instagram Stories and Snapchat killed the relevance of blogging about fashion shows?
This year Bloggers traded SLRs for iPhones, and Instagram Stories and Snapchat became the go-to channels to document all that was TPFF. Gone are the days where our feeds were clogged with blurry runway show photos, with the importance placed on keeping a beautifully curated feed while still instantaneously reporting on the shows, Snapchat and Instagram Stories seem to be the perfect option. However, from what I have observed this practice has taken away from the beautifully detailed images posted on Instagram and probably this very post. As people have already seen the shows in real time - and from hundreds of different perspectives, why would our time poor generation want to read a show overview and see static images?
I personally enjoy reading what others thought of a show and particularly love seeing close-ups and detailed shots of the clothes, which just don't translate in 15 second badly lit videos. So in my eyes show overviews are still relevant but probably only to those that have a deeper interest in the fashion industry and want to see more detail than social channels can provide. So if you are like me I hope you enjoy my posts from the shows and I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
One Fell Swoop was all about theatrics but in an effortless and mesmerising manner that didn't take away from their creations. As attendees took to their seats, the runway was already adorned with draped white figures and the foggy smoke filled catwalk set the mood for what was to be an eerie and ethereal experience. The masters of drapery and twists did what they do best, slim delicate silhouettes with drapes in all the right place in a stunning neutral palette of greys, silver, ivory and cream and later in statement lemon and leopard print. While the models almost floated down the catwalk I realised that a lot of people, including myself were expecting to see something different to come down the runway. Every season and every year as consumers, media and industry folk we expect designers to reinvent themselves and come up with something new and exciting.
But the reality is trying to be conceptual is, for the most part not financially viable and takes a lot of time - think Raf Simons for Dior. What One Fell Swoop did at TPFF was stay true to their brand and built a beautiful collection that is relatable, wearable and most importantly - for them - sellable! I mentioned to a friend last night that I had borrowed a One Fell Swoop dress from a friend to wear for the show, and even though the dress was a few sizes bigger than I normally wear, it fit perfectly because they have mastered the art of creating garments that suit any body shape and size. And if that's not a selling point, then I don't know what is.
First image courtesy of Telstra Perth Fashion Festival official photographer Stefan Gosatti all other images taken by myself.
I hope you enjoyed my first wrap-up there are a few more to come! I would also love to hear your thoughts about the whole Snapchat and Instagram Stories killing the relevance of runway blogging, leave your comments below!
Xx Nadine