WHO: Georgia Hardinge

FRONT ROW: Nicola Roberts in all her violent violet blazer, towering heels and cigarette jeans glory – minus the sunglasses. An optic shock of colour – whether on the heads, faces or bodies of the buzzing crowd – despite the torrential rain and oppressive skies outside.

WHAT: Pushing the parameters of her signature architectural aesthetic with a focus on contour and sculptural forms, Merit Award winner Georgia Hardinge presented her macabre take on the contemporary female with top-heavy proportions, lashings of bonded pleats and 3D fishscales to club beats and a bit of Bjork. Integral to the ‘Spined’ collection was the designer’s marked exploitation on internal vs. external. Inspired by the unorthodox photography of Joel Peter Witkin, Hardinge combined the concepts of death, mutation and disfiguration with those of anatomy, contrasting corpse prints on fitted bodices with vertebrae lines and scrolled peplums. Intense graphic prints, consuming futuristic “armours” and a palette of chantilly creams, black-on-black, slate grey and sheer rose evoked equal measures of morbidity and femininity. The result: an extraordinary synthesis of rigorous line and sensual empowerment.

HIGHLIGHT: The jaw-dropping sculpted contour cape.

QUOTES: Overheard an impressed Ms. Roberts revering the collection, “I loved it, I thought it was amazing.”

Words: Sarah Bonser

Photography: Cris Leone