Ryan Turner on the runway at New Zealand Fashion Week 2018. Image by James Yang Photography.
There is always a sense of excitement when a designer shows at NZFW for the first time – and designer Ryan Turner is no exception to this. As a young man who is almost entirely self taught, his afternoon show in The Studio was one that many were watching with interest.
Turner’s clothing is foremost informed by his love of layering, and this was obvious from the outset. The garments have their volume turned right up, and everything is oversized. The first garments out were in the much expected black with long shirts, over pants, and elongated tailored jackets with a big dose of deconstruction. The immediate detail to jump out was the addition of zips stitched together and patched onto the dresses, together with over large buttons, and raw edges. The collection is androgynous and trans seasonal – with pretty much any of the pieces being able to be plucked off the runway and worn home, by anyone…
The first colour to come down the runway was, to be honest, a surprise. I have seen Ryan’s work in the past and have only seen him work with black. The colour was a pleasant visual surprise. With beautifully coppery peach tones, and layered, raw edged frilled dresses. The elongated bomber jacket in the same colour was a standout piece, and this was followed by forest green pants and jackets. He also used pure, clean white, an emerald green and an soft seafoam grey. All of these were mixed and matched with an assurance that belies this being his first NZFW showing.
The fabrics used inform the collection itself with Turner sourcing a bamboo satin that moves beautifully and has a soft, matte finish to it almost like a sandwashed silk. He has also used light woven tercels, rayon with both organic cotton and Hacci knits to turn the texture volume way up.
The collection had touches of humour – with accessories of bags made out of hats (brilliant) and necklaces made from dried magnolia leaves. Scarves were given sweatshirt trim, leather was wrapped around arms. Boots had the toes cut out of them to make a custom made shoe that fitted the collection perfectly.
From my point of view it was a well edited, assured (I wrote this in my notes to myself not once but twice) and wearable collection. The standout pieces were the jackets for me – both the Afflicted Bomber Jacket (oversized bomber jacket) and particularly the Isolation Jacket (oversized, elongated suit jacket) which I have already put on my own list of must haves for next season. For those of us deeply committed to black, here is a designer whose use of colour would comfortably fit with that aesthetic.
Soundtrack: Music before the show was by Max Elto (various) with the runway soundtrack by Polo and Pan (various).
Beauty Notes: Leading the makeup look from Ryan Turner was Yin Shi from M.A.C. This eclectic look consisted of a whited out face with harsh contouring and highlighting around the eyes, darkened eyebrows and a slight smoky eye with asymmetrical black lines around one eye, finished off with a nude, glossy lip. The hair team was lead by Sid Bahree from Servilles Academy and complemented the makeup look with an equally eccentric style of six braids, two at the front and four at the back, bound together by thin rope, with a more ethereal look at the front with brushed down strands, sitting delicately on the model’s foreheads. (Beauty notes by Nina Franklin).
Hot Item: Those stunning jackets.
Images by James Yang Photography.