A few short months ago Melbourne My Style posted an article with great celebration in which we congratulated Alin Le’ Kal for showcasing his couture collection at Paris Fashion Week. An internationally acclaimed Melbourne Bridal and Couture designer, Alin Le’ Kal came to the realisation that his path was to create a sumptuous fusion of art and fashion at the age of ten. Inspired by the opulent designs worn by women around him as a child, he later went on to study couture here in Melbourne.
Alin is known for his signature expression of femininity, romance and elegance; he has captivated the fashion world with his visionary design and his atelier couture statement pieces. This particular collection is currently being admired and widely discussed by academics within both the fashion and art industries.
Earlier this month, Melbourne’s fashion and art elite where treated to a static showcase of the Alin Le’ Kal collection, after its return from Paris. The event was held at The George Ballroom; an architecturally cohesive choice which created the perfect back drop to curate such an ostentatious collection.
The event was hosted by Lana Wilkinson, looking more beautiful than I have seen her, wearing an elegant black, off the shoulder to the knee, full circle skirt, textured with pinched ostrich feathers. Guests sipped Perrier whilst listening to the speeches, all silent as their eyes darted across the room from one extravagant gown to the next.
The collection is a mixture of both form fitting and off the body silhouettes. These shapes are used as the architectural scaffolding that support effortless and lavish atelier workmanship. These hand crafted garments incorporating glass beads, feathers and crystals, arranged in a way that looked as though Mother Nature herself had grown these embellishments over the body like moss on wet rocks.
Taking centre stage in The George Ballroom was Alin Le’ Kal’s master piece, a 150 kilogram crystal gown that defies all laws of physics. It’s as though it had been extracted directly from the dreams of his 10 year old self, this palatial gown existing in its three dimensional form. A surreal experience, once one understands the weight and engineering required to achieve such a feat, evoking a similar sensation when viewing a Salvador Dali.
Alin Le’ Kal creates an organic sensibility to his designs through focusing on his key element of choice, texture. Each garment consists of multiple layers of textures to assist the viewer’s eye in a continual rotation around the body.
It is with the understanding of gradation and proportion within design that allows Alin Le’ Kal to successfully build on silhouette with multiple embellishment techniques. His sophisticated yet effortless collection incorporates textures both, hard and soft, warm and cool. Alin has achieved a complex consolidation of design theories that most who try would fail to achieve.
The overall colour theme for this collection was of nude and neutral hues, heavily embellished in metallic with the inclusion of fairly floss pinks and smacks of black tone.
The team at Melbourne My Style along with our readers raise a glass to you and your success Alin Le’ Kal. We are looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us next.
You can find Alin Le’ Kal at 133 Gipps Street, Collingwood, Victoria.
Todd Anthony Senior Fashion Editor
