Adelaide's own Jaimie Sortino on A Night of Fashion at the Art Gallery

It's taken more than a year to prepare, but Adelaide's couture dressmaker Jaimie Sortino is finally ready for what he says is his biggest parade ever. For the first time, he'll show alongside a glittering array of local and national designers, including Carla Zampatti and Willow at A Night of Fashion at the Art Gallery. Not only that, but he'll be among the first designers to ever show in the Elder wing of the Art Gallery of South Australia. But the 23-year-old says there are no nerves.

"It's more exciting (than nerve-racking)," he says. "I've always wanted to show at the art gallery."

"When I found out it was here (at the gallery) it made me ten times happier."

The grand architecture of the gallery has informed the 15 designs Sortino will be releasing for the first time at the event.

"I came here for inspiration and it's kind of a view of soft white romantic Paris," he says.

"I automatically just thought of floaty, elegant, big, and something white just came to me and I ran with white the whole way through.

The gowns, which are all white, comprise Sortino's only collection for the year.

"I try not to go towards seasons, only because I don't like the words spring/summer/winter/autumn," he says, adding that the pressure of seasonal production can be too much for a single dressmaker. "A lot of people think there are other people working on it, but it's just me working on it."

Sortino says he's learnt from previous mistakes, dropping perceived pretension by producing a collection that is more wearable.

"I definitely like to tell a story with my fashion but I've edited it not to be so literal," he says.

"And that's where I think I got lost last year; I just got very literal in what I wanted to do, and (this year) I just went away and really edited myself.

"(Now) I've found a really good balance between making wearable art and making something that also appeals to the customer who has to buy it, and I really listened to the people that wear my stuff.

"I'm excited to see them on the runway, because they've just been sitting on my mannequins for the last year and a half."

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To be among the exclusive crowd who will view the designs on the runway at the art gallery, you can purchase tickets here. Other designers showing on the night include Bianca Spender, Willow, Carla Zampatti, Scanlan and Theodore, Couture + Love + Madness, Paolo Sebastian, with curated collections from Claire Inc and The New Guard. Tickets include pre-show cocktails and after-party access.

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Cameo Dream Machine dress

One Teaspoon leather jacket | Mimco necklace (gift from Mimco) | Cameo dress

It really is impossible to say no to a dress with a beautiful texture like this Cameo piece from their Dream Machine summer 2011 collection - and that's before it's $10 at the brand's sample sale. If you're a fan of Cameo, Keepsake or Finders Keepers and you've never been to an Australian Fashion Labels sample sale, it's well worth your time. And as sample sales go, they're usually relatively elbow-free. 

Chanelle

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Jazzy Sunday

Estie's Closet blazer (gift from Estie's Closet) | Thimble Boutique top and shorts (gift from Thimble) | Need Supply Co shoes

Happy Sunday morning! Throw on some silk for comfort without compromising on style, wear pink because you can, and listen to some equally silky sounds to set the mood.






Recommend me some jazzy Sunday music!

Chanelle
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PS - Malaysian friends (I know you're there!), check out Thimble Boutique for really affordable fast fashion. It's especially for you, but it does have worldwide shipping for the rest of us, thank heavens.

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Two steps to DIY painted denim shorts

(Alternatively titled: Thighs, meet world.)

It's been a long time since I put on my DIY cap, so when Minkpink HQ asked if I wanted to be involved in 'suping' up a pair of their quintessential slasher shorts my answer was along the lines of 'duh'.

1. Dye. I was going for a deep, dark navy blue, which clearly I didn't reach. Guess I should have done a little more research on what brand of dye to buy. The intention was originally to get a nearly black blue and shine it up with fabric wax, but since it turned out denim blue all I could do was live with it. (If you try this, apply wax after the paint has dried.)

2. Paint. When I was about 10 I decided it would be a great idea to paint my room pastel green with a floral border. I don't live at that house anymore, but I stand by my choice of colour, except for clothes, not rooms (ew). There isn't really much to this step except using enamel paint so it sits on top of the denim. I prefer an imperfect look, but you could use masking tape for clean lines.

Voila.

Charlotte Russe beanie | Sportsgirl ring and dress (worn as top) | Ralph Lauren chambray shirt | H&M necklace | Minkpink slasher shorts

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Behind the seams with Keepsake's Carmen Dugan

 

The first time I meet Keepsake designer Carmen Dugan, it's at a grungy bar in what used to be a two-storey house.

"You should meet Carmen; she's a designer," somebody says.

I ask her about her label, but Destiny's Child is blasting through the speakers, and conversations  are always a second priority in the presence of Beyonce. What did you say your label was called again? Never mind. We dance.

Later I realised she was the head designer at Adelaide's own Keepsake. If you're a young woman in Australia and not familiar with Keepsake, you'd certainly know of its sister labels at head company Australian Fashion Labels, Finders Keepers and Cameo. Heck, it's stocked worldwide, and everyone from Hayden Panettiere to Nicole Richie, Nicky Hilton and the Kardashians have been papped wearing the label's dresses. That's more than most 23-year-old designers could say about their work - and probably more than any designer based in Adelaide.

"I was just very lucky," Dugan says, adding that she didn't expect to be able to stay in Adelaide. "Even our TAFE lecturers told us, 'you're probably going to have to move.'"

Indeed, many of her graduating class of 2009 had to move interstate in pursuit of success, or leave the business. Even Dugan's co-designer at her former label had to give up design, and now works in fashion retail. Widely considered among the most promising young designers in Adelaide at the time, Dugan and her friend Kayla Bath formed Frankie & Bath in their final year at TAFE. The duo was placed beside labels as big as Ellery, Alexis George and Bowie at local trade shows, their reputation quickly snowballing. But it wasn't long before the label was put on the shelf, and Bath hasn't released anything since. Adelaide's tough conditions serve to magnify Dugan's success. 

Dugan had already been working for Australian Fashion Labels when the company's design director Melanie Flintoft formed Keepsake to hit the trendy formal wear market at a low price point. 

"It started off as an admin job and then I just kind of moved up," she says. "I have a general brief of what needs to be arranged each month and the type of customer that is."

After about ten months of behind-the-scenes work, the label's first collection was released in October 2011 and has only grown since.

"So far the collections that have been seen at retail - the brand's changed so much from even that. So the range that's in store now is still early days."

With 90 per cent creative control over the label, the designer can hint at what we can expect from the brand's November drop, whose lookbook was photographed last week.

"I'm starting to do exclusive prints each month, which is really exciting. We've got some quite thick jacquard fabrics and some rose gold sequins and a lot of beading."

The label drops 28 garments every month but December - 308 garments a year - so it's a wonder she can even remember what's in the November drop, which she started designing in January.

"We're working on probably three different ranges at a time at different stages of the range. For example, at the moment I'm designing April 2013 and then Tuesday I'm shooting for November this year, and then I'll also be working on fittings for January, and so there's a lot going on."

So how much time is actually spent putting pen to paper for a fast fashion designer?

"You don't get a lot of time really dedicated to it," says Dugan. "Unfortunately we just have to get the designs out. But I try to spend as much time as possible (designing) because it's the most important time, really."

With so many dresses, Dugan says she doesn't always recognise her work when girls wear Keepsake on the streets. But when she does, surely it must be difficult not to criticise the way the dresses are worn if they aren't styled the way she had originally envisioned? Dugan is more gracious than I: "That's the risk you take putting it out there. No one's going to wear it exactly how you would wear it, so you just have to take it as it is."

Fortunately for Dugan, there'll be no questionable styling on Saturday, September 1 when she shows the upcoming Keepsake collection at Fashion Avenue in the Queen's Theatre in Adelaide. The label will be flanked by local and national designers including Porcelain, Alannah Hill, Gorman, Alex Perry, Lisa Ho, Morrison, and more. Tickets are from $60 and available online.

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I wanted to show you a couple of Dugan's designs from her most recent collection, so I took a couple of quick snaps for you. Initially I was really intimidated by what seemed to be Lilliputian waist sizes, but they're actually extremely flattering, comfortable and right on the standard size.

Below: Keepsake's Have It All dress, $99 and Good Intent dress, $139 (both gifted), available from new Australian online boutique Freez. There's an extensive bargain section with plenty of dresses under $30, so it's well worth a look.

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