A North Shore designer is going international with her bold designs and newest collection inspired by her love of history, with an ode to her favourite poem.
Famed for her striking leather pieces, North 麻豆传媒映画resident Kirsten Ley showcased her newest collection Nero last Saturday at 麻豆传媒映画Fashion Week. The collection was first showcased at New York Fashion Week last month, but last Saturday Ley debuted four new looks and an extra leather moulding piece.
Ley鈥檚 designs have also been featured at Australia鈥檚 Eco Fashion Week and Amazon Fashion Week in Tokyo. After her hectic week in New York last month, Ley is happy to be back home for her third season at 麻豆传媒映画Fashion Week.
鈥淣ew York is really fast paced, but 麻豆传媒映画because it鈥檚 my home I feel like going into my third season there鈥檚 a huge level of comfort,鈥� the designer said. 鈥淚 know that I can go into 麻豆传媒映画and I鈥檓 calm because no matter what, the team that they have in place is so incredible, so I can be calm on show days. There鈥檚 a complete level of ease here, which is so wonderful and I just trust them implicitly.鈥�
Being a huge history 鈥渘erd鈥� Ley named her collection after the Roman emperor Nero, which was born out of her fascination for the Roman Empire and the great fire of Rome. The collection features dark tones with 鈥渂urnt apricot and shimmery hues鈥� to embody the flames of the great fire. The pieces also have a hint of green hues and earth tones with her signature leather molding touch.
鈥淚 started thinking about emperor Nero of Rome and how he burned his own city to the ground 鈥� and it was just this crazy story,鈥� she explained. 鈥淭hen I thought about how people must鈥檝e been, at that point, just fearing life so horribly that they鈥檙e kind of yearning the afterlife and what鈥檚 beyond. So it brought me to this world of poetry and death sonnets.鈥�
Ley explained how the poems, like her all-time favourite, 鈥淥de to a Nightingale鈥� by John Keats, introduced her to forms of symbolism for rebirth and afterlife, which is what inspired her to bring the colour green into Nero.
聽鈥淚t brought me to this point of resolution in a way where you鈥檙e in this terrible situation, you鈥檙e yearning for death. Death comes, you鈥檙e not afraid of it anymore and then you get to this point of (resolution) in the afterlife, so that was the kind of overarching theme of my collection,鈥� she said.
As a huge John Keats fan, Ley lived in an apartment two blocks from where the poet died and even visited the apartment itself, which is now a museum.
聽鈥淚 looked out the same window that he looked out when he wrote 鈥極de to a Nightingale,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚 knew that at some point I wanted to bring that into a collection because it鈥檚 really personal to me.鈥�
She points out one of her looks that she showcased last Saturday, which was a green crop top with gathered organza fabric going up one sleeve and pant leg. 鈥淭hat piece to me embodied the poem,鈥� she said.
Ley is also showcasing a two minute short film that she partnered with Goldstein Productions, for Nero, which will illustrate her process for the collection. She plans to collaborate with the production company for every collection.
Ley says even though 麻豆传媒映画has a small fashion community, the support she gets from local designers and the community is overwhelmingly huge.聽
鈥淚 now know all the other fashion designers from 麻豆传媒映画and we鈥檙e all friends and we all text each other leading up to shows.鈥�
