This is the second time Ellery has shown at Paris Fashion Week. She showed her Spring 2014 collection there last season, breaking the trend for Australian designers to show in New York, after scoring a covetous invitation from the (deep breath) Fédération Français de la Créateurs de Mode.
The collection Ellery showed on Monday at the Bastille Japanese might have been presented in a smaller format, but the clothes were no less opulent than September’s outing. Titled ‘Patientia Vincit Tandems’ and inspired by the ancient religion Zoroastrian, her latest effort wove royal symbols into her signature oversized outerwear and decadent textiles. Graphic leather, silk satin, de-bossed organza and hand-sewn ivory sequin accents all justified the cozier setting.
But as with most things Kym Ellery makes, it was the silhouettes that stole the show. If you’re not down with ostentatiously fluted sleeves and hems yet, you better look away now. These flare out like capes from the elbows, knees and below the bust, toeing the delicate line between whimsical-pretty and ugly-pretty (Miuccia would be proud) with undercurrents of goth-romanticism. And those coats are well worth sweltering through a comparatively temperate Australian winter for.
