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JORDAN DALAH: SS23

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Jordan Dalah has claimed his space. The Central Saint Martins graduate has come back to Sydney from the International Woolmark Prize whirlwind in London, where he created a new wool version of his signature door-stopper hems. “It’s a microcosm for being a designer in Australia - what do I have and how can I make it work?” Jordan told us a few days before the show. His strength is his creativity and imagination, he lives outside the box. “You really find in fashion you can be limited to haberdasheries,” he said. So this season, he went to Bunnings. “The references never die, if I have an image I love, I love it beyond a season but this season I started looking at utilitarian objects. Like the chairs we are sitting on, coat hangers, laundry lines, pegs. I want you to be part of my world, this world I’m creating through the fashion that you know me to create. The big bustle dresses are here without the bustles but still with the volume.” The Jordan Dalah evolution is clear, his play on volume has been further refined and his perspective of what fashion can be has expanded. It all adds up to the ease of a wearable cream singlet, with the codes of Jordan’s world on a subtle trim that relaxes perfectly with a black rosette-covered skirt, wired hem bouncing with each step.

“I think luxury doesn’t have the be so obvious and polished,” he said. “I want to show that luxury can be what a designer makes of nothing… The thought behind it all and the time it took to actualise it, these silhouettes took time. Time is luxury, not how expensive it is and I think a lot of people assume luxury has to be gold and gilded. Luxury is a code you build for your brand and people know that is a piece by that designer. To me that’s luxury, because it’s the luxury of being able to have a place at the table, which I’m still working on.”  And yes, this collection felt extremely luxurious. From our camping chairs we watched disc skirts bring the drama, that electric blue dress glided gracefully and took up serious space (as it should) and metallic silver slinked onto a dress and a bedding-padded high-neck top, their new armour, feeling very heavy metal and reflective. A pistachio green, shoulder-padded silk gown embodied the brilliant opulence, that new luxury of Jordan’s world. The collaboration with Glenfiddich continued, with the epic body-hugging 'doorstopper' filigree dress inspired by the new Glenfiddich Grande Couronne. "There’s no limit to what I’m able todo with them," Jordan said of the collaboration. "It’s about what I do, not who I am."

ROSALIA, Peaches and SOPHIE were on blast, the perfect soundtrack to this season. “My taste in music is as eclectic as the music in the show. I wanted the music to destroy people’s ears and be super jarring but also work. There’s a fine line. I don’t want it to be easy. Heavy, fast and sometimes contradict that ethereal nature of the clothing.” Our kind of drama. SS23 marks Jordan’s third collection in six months, next he will go to Europe and meet with buyers and then begin designing the next collection. “Being a fashion designer, you can’t really stop the wheels. You have to claim your space. I’m very lucky people are interested in what I do. I do it because I love it.”

jordandalahstudio.com