Zimmermann

All show photographs taken by Talisa and I, handwriting, illustration and collages by Talisa, words by me.

Image credits: Collage 1 - Images from Tomboy Style, Movie Advocate, Zimmermann Tumblr, RUSSH magazine, Talisa's instagram, MNZ store
Collage 2 - Images by Joseph Szabo. Acrylic swatch by Talisa.

If you didn't already want to be a Zimmermann girl before you walked into Koskela that crisp morning on day 2 of MBFWA believe us, you certainly left desperate to be part of their 'Clique, Clique'. Florals and lace and prettiness - oh my! - but this season there was a youthful, eyebrow-raising, tongue-in-cheek edge to the whole thing. Sporty bomber jackets over tankinis and bloomer bottoms in a pastel harmony, laser cut sweaters and an ankle-length baby-blue knitted hoodie dress. If that's not painfully, desperately cool then we don't know what is. If that's not the kind of girl you want to be - leaning against her boyfriend's cadillac, blowing bubbles with her sugar-pink gum and popping them with her teeth - then we can't help you. And Zimmermann certainly can't either.

From the minute those models emerged to a 1980s teen-film soundtrack we wanted to be part of their gang. Hair scraped back, ghetto-fabulous twists of metals dangling from each ear, and stomping down the catwalk like they had classes to cut and boys to french kiss and cigarettes to smoke out the window of the bathrooms, which, let's be honest, they all probably did, they looked like they had walked fresh out of a John Hughes movie, or Heathers. But they were clad in next season Zimmermann and oh, how it made all the difference. Although the designer Nicky referenced the surety of being young, that sense of being invincible and not giving a damn, it was a youthfulness that moved seamlessly from the late 1970s through the 80s, into the 90s and ending firmly yet so squarely in the now. Where else would you witness those ballooning strapless midi-dresses, all chintz-y floral print, descending dramatically into laser-cut dot cut-outs? Where else would you see those slashed one-shouldered one-pieces, forming the shape of a giant, emblazoned floral Z on the model's stomach? The models owned every single look, from the wearable (oversized peek-a-boo sweaters and floral midi skirts) to the, well, slightly more wacky, (sleeveless tuxedo-cut mini-short romper, anyone?). They had attitude and sass and high-school hair-flipping bitchiness oozing from every pore, and we simply couldn't look away.

But, let's be honest, that's the job of youth, and that's really what Nicky Zimmermann was saying. Just the sheer fact of being young - the reality of perfect skin and pursed lips and endless limbs - is enough to render teenage girls with buckets of attitude the coolest kids of the block. They don't have to have a boyfriend with a car, or a skateboard or a packet of gum in their pocket. They can wear whatever they like and with just one wink they capture the attention of everyone in the room. They can even wear pretty-as-you-like florals and flirty dresses and ribbons in their hair. It doesn't matter. As the historic peddlers of beach-ware, now one of the country's most successful ready-to-wear conglomerates (and, in our retail environment, if Zimmermann's isn't a conglomerate, with its multi-store international empire, then what is?), Zimmermann has always known this. For years they have spun stories out of broderie anglaise and lace and sheer silk-chiffon and all of that good, pretty, smile-at-me stuff you want to wear to the beach. It's just that normally it all works best with tousled honey-hued locks and golden tans and a mojito by your side. But, you know what? We think the best way to do pretty is with a bit of an 'up yours' edge. It's my show, and I'm going to be pretty if I want to.

Check out our other MBFWA coverage of Romance was Born, Gary Bigeni and Gail Sorronda

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