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There’s a sense of nostalgia that only those who have grown up near the beach will know. Forgive us in advance for the envy you might feel, but allow us to paint a picture for our landlocked readers.
It’s peak summer. Sweltering, sticky skin is kissed brown by the beating sun. Buses are boarded and paths are walked after school, and mandatory on weekends, as you rush to sink your toes into the sizzling sand. Diving into the crisp, livening water, you don’t know where your sweat ends and the sea begins. Over your swimsuits, you haphazardly throw on whatever bits and bobs you’ve littered in the sand in your frenzy to get amongst the waves: an old hoodie, your P.E polo, track pants and bikinis, a towel tied around your waist and rash shirt on top. This is the very essence of Australiana—well at least for 87% of our country’s total population that dwells by the coast.
For Ingrid Verner’s eponymous emerging label, this is also the sentimentality she strives to capture in her designs. Fitting then, that her sophomore collection presentation is staged during Australian Fashion Week, presented this year by Pandora. As designers are called to showcase their resort offerings, Verner’s consecutive appearance on the schedule is one constantly underscored by nostalgia. But with her latest, titled ‘Beach House’, the Melbourne-based designer has cemented her voice as one of the strongest on our shores.
“The inspiration from this collection is from memories of those long Australian summers by the sea, the salt on your skin, the smell of sunscreen, mixed in with the kitsch decor of suburban homes of the 80s and 90s,” Verner told GRAZIA. Like the source of her inspiration, Verner continues to swell as her ideas become more refined and mature. Last year, surrealism and literal embodiments of “beach” came through in the deflated beach ball handbags and a blue sky wrap dress.
Here, these pieces feel more commercially included yet still edgy, something we’ve seen fellow emerging label Wynn Hamlyn perfect over his time showing at AFW. Mesh was a key fabric this season, patterned with a plaid-inspired criss-cross pattern in Banana Paddle Pop yellow and midnight blue. This was draped across models, serving as a sheer sarong that could be layered over some of the skinny floral-print lycra swim pants or a breezy dress thrown over beachwear.
Stripes were also prominent—on zinc green polo shirts with contrasting navy collars, black-to-red ombre trousers styled with an upcycled Harley Davidson t-shirt, Roman Roy-approved crewnecks or an oversized button-down emblazoned with a star made from contrasting coloured panels.
Some pieces—like the inverted halterneck top or the deconstructed jeans featuring a Frankenstein mix of part denim and part boardshorts and tied with a literal maritime rope—would’ve instantly been stocked at Billabong or Surf Dive ‘n’ Ski, providing the collection with a noughties mall feel. This extended to a body-conscious shirt reading ‘Verner’ in a very Word-Art-meets-laundry-detergent-packaging font, adding a supermarket feel to the collection. As a writer, some of my fondest memories were made in those aisles, flicking through magazines as I waited for my mother to finish grocery shopping. It’s a very honourable skill to be able to transport adults back to their childhood, but something Verner is proving rather good at.
“I like to use the mundane aspects of our Australian culture and elevate them into more polished and refined styles,” she said of this mode. “I explore the lines between the discarded and the cherished, the tasteful and the kitsch.” How you distinguish between the two is a matter of your own tastes, but there’s no denying the charm behind this vision.
