1- 3 - my images, 4 - Valentina styled by me in Zimmermann A/W 2013-2014, photographed by Holly Blake
Zimmermann always have the best presentations. You might remember that last season's badgals of the 80s show at Koskela was Talisa's and my favourite of all of MBFWA (and not just because they plied us with freshly squeezed orange juice and bacon and egg rolls before the show, though that did help). I think it has to do with the way that the Zimmermann team approach the new season; they think about references (last year it was Susan Ford washing her car, this year the girls of St Trinians in their short skirts and hockey sticks), they pick the right accessories (Tamila Purvis' crest-emblazoned oversized pendant necklaces) and they understand their customer, who next season will be embracing lacey bra-lets under sheer shirts and double-breasted blazers. Then they curate an atmosphere to show it to the world; they shoot the lookbook at Sydney's answer to Hogwarts (my old school!), they set up with little bottles of champagne (the naughty kind you might have smuggled into school on muck up day), they call in a gorgeous model and a talented photographer and then they let you run wild and play. I ended up choosing the navy pleat-front trousers and a beautiful orange one-shouldered crop top (the colour of Chanel's June), but it wasn't easy to bypass leopard-print jumpsuits, lace embellished shirt dresses and Zimmermann's signature finesse with prints (this season a pencil-illustrated crest and bow print, emblazoned in black and white across silky shirts and skirts).
This wasn't a literal translation of going 'back to school'. I definitely didn't wear jacquard and brocade on my days off when I was a grubby knee-ed thirteen year old. But seeing the collection (and the lookbook, which brings back so many memories!) reminded me of the classes we took in year eleven. It was a heritage year at my school, and to celebrate they ran a few specialty, novelty classes for seniors, classes that formed part of the original curriculum when the school first opened in 1882. One of these was 'life lessons for ladies'. We learnt how to sit properly on a chair when on stage (legs crossed at the ankles and tucked to the side, never over the knee), how to exit a sportscar without losing one's dignity, how to dance the waltz. It was the mid 2000s and it was tongue-in-cheek, but looking at Zimmermann's new collection brought some of those tips flooding back. Those lessons just might come in handy when you're getting up to no good - as schoolgirls are wont to do - when you don Zimmermann's new collection when it drops into stores later this year.
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