FRANCE: Australian designer Dinnigan shows latest Ready-To-Wear collection in Paris

Record ID: 587220

  • Title: FRANCE: Australian designer Dinnigan shows latest Ready-To-Wear collection in Paris
  • Date: 8th March 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF MODEL WEARING BLACK LACE TOP WITH PINK SKIRT AND BELTED WAIST VARIOUS OF MODEL WEARING FADED PINK TOP WITH SILVER SKIRT AND BELTED WAIST VARIOUS OF MODEL WEARING BLUE AND WHITE OFF THE SHOULDER DRESS VARIOUS OF MODEL WEARING BLACK LACE COCKTAIL DRESS AUDIENCE VARIOUS OF WHITE DRESS WITH PEPLUM VARIOUS OF SOFT RED DRESS WITH LACE SHOULDERS VARIOUS OF SILVE
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Business,Arts,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA4M3CJOYPSSPPYBMHYWMF14FBK
  • Story Text: Australian designer Collette Dinnigan mixed sweet and innocent with dark and mysterious in her latest Ready-To-Wear collection called "Highlander", which she said was inspired by the Mel Gibson films "Braveheart" and "Mad Max".
    The designer, 45, used her usual lacing and delicate fabrics on tops or entire cocktail dresses. But the white or cream fabrics were mixed with black to add a sense of danger to an otherwise sugar sweet look.
    Waists were highlighted by belts which were lined with sequins.
    Silhouette was very fitted following the natural shape of a woman's body.
    "I think it's very much about the contrast about a very innocent and rosy cheeks and snow drops and swan feathers. It's the innocence of a child mixed with that very dark side of the ice queen, very strong studded, icicles, almost sequinned icicles and I like mixing it together with different lengths and the contrasts to make it much more confident so soft and hard really, male and female," Dinnigan told Reuters Television backstage.
    In 1995, she became the first Australian to launch a Pret-A-Porter collection in Paris and remains the only one listed by the French fashion governing body, the French Federation of Couture and Ready-To-Wear Courtiers and Fashion Designers.
    Dinnigan was born in South Africa but moved to New Zealand and Australia, where she later worked in the costume department of the Australian Broadcasting Company to learn her trade.
    The designer said time was the main factor in proving her worth in Paris.
    "I think like anything in life, to have a history, shows. It's like doing time isn't it. You do have a history and there's a lot of hindsight now but it's great, it's what I do, it's my job. I don't do my collections to be the only Australian in Paris but it's a very tough city and most people would agree it's the number one fashion capital of the world. The designers here are incredible."
    Dinnigan has dressed some of the world's most glamourous women including fellow Australian, the model Miranda Kerr, and Britain's Duchess of Cambridge.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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