Nancy MacDonell reports from Australian Fashion Week
Friday, May 2

It's a bright sunny morning, so I decide to head to Paddington, one of Sydney's main shopping areas, before going to the tents. Design-wise, two retailers stand out. One is Aesop, the Aussie skincare line with the amber bottles and the all-natural formulas. In keeping with the brand's understated approach to beauty, there isn't a single mirror in the shop, which was designed by the Melbourne-based architect Rodney Eggleston. In fact, there's nothing on the walls except for a few well-chosen quotes ("A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but not necessarily in that order." —Jean-Luc Godard). I pick up some Ginger Flight Therapy for the 25-hour flight home.

Right around the corner from Aesop is the Willow boutique, which just opened ten days ago. The shop is airy and light, a feeling that's reinforced by the sliding glass door next to the ground-floor dressing rooms. It opens onto a tiny garden with a large mirror at one end, so you can check yourself out in natural light before deciding whether or not to buy. The shop was once an art gallery, and designer Kit Willow has decided to keep up the tradition by hosting exhibits. Up now are moody backstage photos of her last New York show, taken by Elli Ioannou (above).

Bryan Boy, the Manila-based blogger whose musings (www.bryanboy.com) are something of a cult read in fashion circles, is in Sydney for his first ever fashion week. Impressed by his evident passion for accessorizing, I asked him how it was all going.

What are you wearing today? Jeans from Eairth, which is designed by Melissa Dizon; a Topshop shirt with an Hermès twillie; a vintage coat; and a brooch by Ciara Marasigan-Serumgard, who's a designer in the Philippines. And my Birkin. I got it at the Hermès shop in Hong Kong.

What do you blog about? Myself, mostly. For some reason, people like to read about my antics. I'm not an insider whatsoever—I mean, I'm doing my blog from my bedroom in the Third World—but I love fashion.

What do you think of Australian fashion week? It's really organized! I've never been to New York or Paris, but I've heard from my friends how you spend a lot of time going from place to place.

Are you planning on attending either of those? Definitely. I really want to see Balenciaga and Lanvin. And Louis Vuitton. I know I could get into that because I've spoken with Marc a few times.

Oh? When Suzy Menkes gave him a bad review, I made a video in support of him, which he saw. So he e-mailed me. And I e-mailed back saying, you're not Marc Jacobs. So he sent me his personal cell phone number and told me to call him. We talked a few times. He named the BB bag after me. That's my best fashion story so far.

After four days of walking by the Licorice Lace display at the main venue, I decided it was time to learn more about the three-month-old lingerie label. Like quite a few other lines that I've seen this week, it's designed by a set of sisters, Latsamy and Suzie Phommaseisy. Why launch an underwear collection with your sister? "We thought it would be fun!" said Latsamy. "We have quite different tastes in fashion, but we agree on lingerie. We wanted something that was pretty and sexy without being vulgar. We're both small, but we could never find bras that weren't underwire or padded, so we designed a triangle style. And the bra with the satin bow in the middle is supposed to look like a present that you want to untie."