Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia, held at Carriagework’s in Sydney, was not only a display of the finest clothing designers Australia has to offer but also the cream of the crop in Swimwear designers. It was great to see existing and emerging swimwear designers alike showing at Australia’s most prestigious fashion event, after all, Australia is an island and swimwear is a big part of our culture!
Designers Talulah, N.L.P., SUBOO and We are Handsome had individual shows, showcasing their newest beach cover ups, ready to wear and swimwear collections. Four designers, Bondi Bather, Cleonie, Surface too Deep and Carena West, joined forces to create what was named “GROUP SWIM”, an extravagant runway show displayed the SS 14 collections one after the other.
Some of the highlights of the Swimwear shows were We are Handsome draping LARGE SNAKES (so scary, glad I wasn’t modeling!) around the models necks. N.L.P straying away from the traditional runway show by showcasing their pieces through a contemporary dance piece, to a soundtrack in which they created and released on the night. Bondi Bather truly bringing Bondi to the runway by having one of the models strut down the runway in absolutely nothing but a “sand bikini”.
Something I would have liked to see more on the runway is some curvier models, N.L.P. used professional dancers as models who had great, healthy bodies, refreshing to see as a few of the models throughout the week were much too skinny, a lot of controversy was created in the media, having designers apologize for using unhealthily skinny models. I think swimwear is definitely a market which should display a healthy body image to encourage girls to be healthy and confident. Body image is a serious issue these days and I think designers should be the first to take responsibility for setting a good example for girls!
Swimwear trends generally have blurred lines, each collection had its own style but some of the overall trends for SS14 were animal prints, neoprene, high-waisted bikinis and a lot of one pieces!
I was lucky enough to be hosting the live stream for MBFWA with Nicole Warne and Margaret Zhang and really enjoyed interviewing all of the swimwear designers to gain further insight in the wonderful collections they put so much hard work into! We hope you enjoy our behind the scenes look at MBFWA!
-Natasha Oakley 
Photos Courtesy of MBFWA/ IMG.
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