THE ORIGINAL ARTIST JAYSON BRUNSDON
The early days of Australian Fashion Week were so fabulous they could break your heart. In 1997, Linda Evangelista, at the peak of her supermodel powers, walked a white wedding gown down the runway for Alex Perry (see page 36 for more). In 2000, glamazon Eva Herzigová wore a $500,000 pearl-encrusted bikini to put Tigerlily on the radar. And It-girls such as Jade Jagger brought global glamour to the shows.
“In the big capitals, like Paris, front rows were shoulder-to-shoulder Chanel or YSL; it was all very elitist,” remembers Jayson Brunsdon, who was a fashion illustrator and editor at Follow Me magazine before becoming a designer. “[In the ’90s] Australian Fashion Week was young. You’d get the magazine queens, models and international icons like [fashion writer] Anna Piaggi on the front row, but Australian designers would also invite their friends, and they would howl.”
Sydney was the place to be. “There was a feeling of optimism on a roll, like anything could happen,” adds Brunsdon. Case in point: it was only mildly shocking when fashion’s bad boy Wayne Cooper emblazoned “Who the fuck is Versace?” on a huge screen behind his 2006 show.
