Good on ya to Brendan Berne, Australia’s ambassador to France, who allowed Kym Ellery to shoot her fall 2020 collection look book and movie in his handsome Parisian residence. It was a fittingly swanky backdrop for a collection in which Ellery explored and expanded her instinct for irreverent luxury dressing, aimed at “a woman who is going to work. She’s busy. I imagined that she’s from the 1980s, but then she definitely has a smartphone. So she’s modern-day. She’s got a big dog, and she likes to party.” This haphazard tarot-card profile manifested itself in various ways. A lovely irregular gray herringbone coat featured extended neck flaps and removable marabou trim at the cuffs and top left pocket: The pocket trim was attached via a magnet, so it could be thrown back onto the garment. The herringbone returned in a miniskirt teamed with a cropped black power-shouldered and pussy-bowed black duchesse top. A fine flecked charcoal-on-white knit fabric was fashioned into a full-armed minidress worn with musketeer slouchy thigh-highs. Shirts and shirtdresses in crumpled-finish black and white leather with chunky metallic fastenings were tough. A khaki drill trench came with a detachable zippered cloak designed for dramatic gestures.
Tailoring pieces saw stripped seams inverted to feature and delineate the outside of soft exaggerated volume suiting. Printed blouses, skirts, and dresses featured a “running man” print reminiscent of Matisse’s dancers, and a plain silk one-shoulder slip dress in ivory silk was encircled by a softly descending spiral of pink ostrich trim. A wing-fronted strapless silk minidress in black came with two truncated built-in panniers at the thigh, an interesting exaggerated top-and-bottom garment that also expanded the presence of its wearer. Ellery’s considerably mixed-up sensibility delivers designs that undercut their classicism just enough to feel discreetly subversive.
