By Patrick Avenell
SYDNEY, NSW: Sunbeam yesterday basked in the reflected glory of one of Australia’s hippest designers as it helped to launch 2010 Australian Fashion Week in Sydney.
The ubercool kaftan designs of Bondi Beach irregular Camilla Franks were the headline act on Monday, as a crowd including makeup impresario Napoleon, gossip queen Ros Reines and legitimate businessman John Ibrahim celebrated Ms Franks' imaginative and daring new designs for summer 2011.
Camilla Franks is a big supporter of Sunbeam: personally endorsing the brand’s new range of premium irons. Kaftan material is notoriously delicate, so the sight of Franks preparing her pieces for the models by using a Sunbeam iron is particularly telling.
Underneath a banner declaring that irons protect your investment in fashion, Franks’ models prowled the catwalk in a range of themes, including Pandora, Lost Islands, Lost Garden, Chimera, L’Etrange and Atlantis. Current.com.au was in the third row for this parade, and despite our best efforts, could not spot a single crease on the fabric.
The highlights of Franks’ summer collection was the Atlantis range, which blends soothing blue tones with crisp bone whites to create an ambitious nautical kaftan that rejects pretension and encourages adventure.
After the show, Sunbeam CEO David Jackson told Current.com.au that he was mightily impressed by Franks’ new designs, and that he is proud to have this association. He also spoke of the value to retailers of integrated marketing campaigns, which complement traditional above the line investments by targeting consumers and their wider interests. Another example of this is Sunbeam’s small appliance partnership with MasterChef Australia.
For more information on Camilla Franks’ range of kaftans, visit this website.