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It was golden hour—a blissful dusk when everything is basked in gilded light—on Day 1 of Afterpay Australian Fashion Week as Bondi’s newest resident, New Zealand-born Maggie Hewitt prepares to host her first-ever runway show for her B-Corp-certified sustainable fashion brand, Maggie Marilyn.
The stage is a shanty-esque sea shack on the water’s edge at Rushcutters Bay—a café nestled so far into the shoreline that it almost feels like the models may emerge from the azure blue water in lieu of a traditional backstage. The location is a converted sailing club complete with all the maritime claddings including salt-stained tin roofs and water-washed timber.
The show was nostalgia-fulled to the nth degree, with Hewitt explaining to the audience in a pre-show speech that all the elements of the show (the collection, the models’ beauty notes —which were courtesy of Emma Lewisham—and the location) was inspired by “the affirming goodness of sailing clubs, and those brave enough to believe our best days are ahead of us.” For those who search for summertime bravado, consider your mission complete.
“I wanted to pay tribute to the affirming goodness of sailing clubs and those who frequent them – people who understand what it means to make the most of their days and aren’t deterred by a change in forecast,” Hewitt revealed to GRAZIA.
“I think one of the most powerful human emotions, second to love, is hope – it’s what buoys the human spirit and keeps us moving forward in challenging times. Maggie Marilyn has always been unapologetically hopeful about the future, and this collection reflects that joy and optimism.”
Whether it was the nautical stripes fashioned into lust-worth 80s bubble skirts, a navy blue redeux explored through yaucht-club woolen blazers or the waves crashing around us, but it felt like we were transcended in time and transported to Hewitt’s very own world.
One that was a proponent of revelling in the minutia of life: stealing your partner’s slightly-oversized argyle sweater when the wind chills your skin after a long day at the beach, finding the perfect pair of blue denim with your best friend that becomes the ‘it’ item of the season, or the ritual of sharing clothing with your family, an experience Maggie tells us served as a starting point for the collection.
“The windbreaker I designed is particularly nostalgic for me,” Hewitt noted.
“Growing up in the Bay of Islands, we always had Dad’s old windbreakers stored in the boat – they always smelt a little fishy from his fishing expeditions and had faded through decades spent in the sun and salt – but they were my sister and mine’s favourite. When we’d been in the water so long we were starting to shiver and turn blue, they were what we pulled on to cut out the wind and warm up again.”
Since this collection marks Hewitt’s first foray into the brave new world of in real life presentations, this flirty, feminine and effervescent collection has set the bar high for her next. A runway show the style set are surely already counting down to, as well as marking their calendars until this capsule hits Maggie Marilyn’s store floors. I, for one, would’ve taken our Toyota RAV4 GXL straight to Maggie Marilyn’s Paddington store directly after the runway show the presentation was that influential over my shopping habits, but alas there’s no time to shop during fashion week.
Ultimately the collection is an ode to the Maggie Marilyn woman: “For the absolute love and thrill of getting dressed each day!”
“Someone who dresses like she gives a damn. She doesn’t care much for having perfect hair or wearing makeup, but she’ll spend as long as it takes to find the right shoes to match her favourite mini or jeans.”
Also the type of girl who doesn’t mind getting grease from the fish and chips she downs after spending a scorching day in the sun on her latest MM purchase, or slightly spilling the contents of her gin cocktail if it means an unmissable conversation with friends.
An apt collection befitting for its title; The Best Of It. Thoroughly modern Maggie, indeed.
This year, the GRAZIA Australia team travelled between AAFW shows in the refined style of Toyota’s new RAV4 GXL. With its modern and spacious interior, privacy glass, and fast charging portals for our phones, it was the perfect mode of travel for zipping across Sydney. To find out more, visit toyota.com.au
