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SYDNEY - As the sun sank over Sydney Harbour fashionistas were able to sneak a peek at the latest spring/summer collections from Azzolini and Anabella Ramsay.
Starting over one hour late tonight, a record for this year's Australian Fashion Week, the Azzolini show at the arthouse Dendy Cinema comprised an eclectic range of men's and women's swimwear.
A five-minute film, set to British electronica duo Goldfrapp's cover of Australian icon Olivia Newton-John's 80s hit Physical, introduced the work of designer Michael Azzolini.
It featured models frolicking in the sea and reclining suggestively on the water's edge on a pristine beach at sunset.
But the classic look of a woman's silhouette cast against a setting sun jarred with shots of greased-up models gyrating on a revolving platform who resembled blow-up dolls.
The film distracted a little from the Azzolini's collection, which featured about a dozen different looks and was staged on a mini-catwalk in the cinema itself.
Male models strode across the stage and down the aisles in mid-thigh canary yellow boardies and black euro-trunks with red-piping.
Girls wore strappy, black bolero-style tops paired with simple, black briefs and triangle bikinis in a range of prints, including the Redhead matches girl and a magazine-cover collage of images from the 2006 Azzolini calender.
One notable absentee from the catwalk itself was Australian model Michelle Leslie, who was jailed in Bali for possession of ecstasy in 2005.
Although she previously modelled in the flesh at Azzolini's shows, tonight Leslie was reduced to a seat in the front row and a cameo in the introductory film.
"I'm a huge supporter of Michelle, she's my best friend," Azzolini said after the show, but added the media attention her appearances attracted was too much.
"She's been in my show every single year and tonight is not the Michelle Leslie night, it's Azzolini night."
Leslie said the collection was "amazing".
"I think Michael is so talented, I love everything he does," Leslie said.
"He's always changing every year but it's always moving forward, so he's just brilliant."
Meanwhile, over at the Fashion Week hub of the Overseas Passenger Terminal, also at Circular Quay, Anabella Ramsay indulged in a nautical colour palette consisting mainly of white, shades of blue and the palest yellow.
Stripy blue and white long-sleeved shirts were layered with waistcoats and vests showing a clash of different fabrics, colours and prints.
High-waisted crochet shorts, little stretch leggings and wrap-around mini skirts were paired with simple cotton tops in Ramsay's own palm-frond print.
The models, with their crimped hair and coral lipstick, looked like girls from more innocent times.
Their accessories were equally unsuggestive: wooden bananas hung from lobes and crochet leis strung around necks.
Ramsay, visibly exhausted after the show, said the theme of her collection was French-tropical.
"I wanted to take a bit of French Polynesia with the palm-printed silk and mix it with a bit of a French theme which I have going on in all my designs."
- AAP
