Designer DETAIL - Therese Rawsthorne
Described as one of the most progressive and fresh Australian Designers to emerge in recent years, meet Therese Rawsthorne
Her collections are consistently filled with modern classics that are not only true to her style, but have won her fans around the globe in just five applauded seasons.
After graduating from UTS with a Bachelor of Design in 1999, Rawsthorne headed to London and landed on her feet where she worked in sales and visual merchandising for Issey Miyake and window concepts and design for Oswald Boateng.
When Rawsthorne returned to our sunny shores in 2004, she fulfilled her ambition to start her own label. Designing under the moniker Youth World for her first three seasons, Rawsthorne re-branded due to a naming rights issue in the US for Autumn Winter ‘08 and is now designing under her own name.
The Rawsthorne look is quite androgynous, but this is not to say the garments can’t be sexy. Loose fitting dresses with drop waists and ruffled, tiered hems have become a staple in a Rawsthorne collection. Raw edges and tucked or pinched folds of fabric adorn everything from loose tees to cleverly draped skirt pockets - the look is clean and unstructured, but well thought out, original and edgy.
“I think imperfections are important, [it creates] a fragility”.
Her muse has consistently been a young, fresh faced thing with a bold attitude and a sweet scowl on her face. For Summer ‘07 she was having a cake-fight and seemed secretly happy at the delightfully creamy mess that was smudged on her face and all over her sassy little dress.
This season she slouches and pouts her way through the look book with clean but messy hair, a slash of pink lipstick and a furrowed brow. The aptly named Autumn Winter ‘08 collection ‘Bows and Arrows’ (pictured) features large bows on everything from tee–shirts and dresses to the ‘big bow’ belt which can be used to cinch in the waist of even the most unstructured pieces in the collection.
Metallic fabrications have been a consistent theme throughout the seasons. A foil printed cotton in black or gold features along side the stand out white 'finger painting' screen print on silk, with laser cut fringing. Other fabrics include washed silk, shiny cotton, washed cotton and velvet.
Rawsthorne’s colour pallet always features a muted base with pops of colour. This seasons array of blacks include licorice, soot, deep black and cracked black along with cracked gold, stardust, clay, milky way, tea, snow and highlight colours of cerise and chartreuse.
In May Rawsthorne made her Australian Fashion week debut with her Summer 08/09 collection ‘Undone’. Featuring the iconic Australian designer Linda Jackson’s ‘Warratah’ print the collection confirmed her consistently subtle nod to the 80s along with her ability to turn out collections that fly off the rails season after season.
The Autumn Winter 2008 collection ‘Bows and Arrows’ is available in selected boutiques Australia wide and in the UK, US, Japan and Russia now and is also available to buy online.
For stockist details and to see the entire collection, visit www.thereserawsthorne.com.
FEATURES
