Canberra’s fashion scene has comfortably gone mainstream in the past two years (much of the credit has to go to FASHFEST, Canberra’s largest annual fashion festival). But just because everyone’s all about local talent as of late, doesn’t mean that the talent wasn’t always there. Corr Blimey is one of Canberra’s longest standing fashion labels, and was trail blazing experimental street style since 2001 – before it was cool. Designers behind the label, Steve Wright and Louisa de Smet are all about the brave, the novel and the exciting, and their collections reflect that from beginning to end, with imaginative uses of materials, cuts and structures. 

Last year, at FASHFEST 2013, Corr Blimey showed their collection, VILHA NARKA, which completely blew me away. I’ve never seen that cut of shoulder, which consisted of perfectly circular disks incorporated into structured bodices. It was extremely sculptural and yet wearable, although, most likely, a style before its time – it felt like a peek into fashions of the future. In fact, to the astute observer, Corr Blimey has always had a knack of being ahead of its time.

My dress (worn over Zara asymmetric skort) is from Corr Blimey’s ‘Three Colours White‘ collection – all white, transparency and sports luxe (long before Alexander Wang ss 13). The dress itself is simply beautiful, but it’s the design details that get you thinking. Corr Blimey’s obsession with the circular shape is apparent everywhere. In this dress it’s in negative space in the hem and shoulder. When you think that the circle is an altogether counter intuitive shape to work into clothes to fit a human form (straight lines and rectangles are much easier), it’s immediately clear why it is that Steve and Louisa come back to it again and again. 

Looking at this dress, it just seemed natural for me to be out on an abandoned tennis court after sunset in a pair of converse canvas.

Corr Blimey will be showing at this year’s FASHFEST, which will be held over four nights from 30 April to 3 May 2014. The location for the annual fashion event is worth a mention – Canberra Airport (awarded Australian Airport of the Year 2013) will be providing a huge, beautifully designed space, which will be transformed to house FASHFEST’s highly anticipated fashion parades. Get your tickets here before they sell out!

Also, read my blog post detailing all the types of tickets up for grabs.

Also get all the news on FASHFEST’s twitter and facebook!

Dress – Corr Blimey
Asymmetric Skort – Zara
Bracelet – Wildwood Shop, Canberra
Canvas Sneakers – Converse