ONE TO WATCH: FRESH CREATIVE

So it’s a Tuesday night and I’m scrolling through my Facebook feed (instead of studying because like come on, who hasn’t?) and I get this notification for this snazzy fashion gig in a couple of weeks from my good friend Mal of M.K.O. The Label.

Fresh Creative? Who/what is this? To be honest I didn’t know but I’m always down for anything that looks to be on the come up.

I basically hit “Interested” and forget about it. A week before the event I start seeing promo in my feed and I’m like: “well okay then, HELLOOO!” and this dope video comes through, screaming for my attention:

"What's FRESH?! You and me, of course.That's right, our community! We are a collective of creatives that would love to share our work with you. This is going to be our first of many projects where all creatives collaborate to give you a runway show.

Video/Shoot by Millie Murfit.

I don’t think I’ve ever changed my event status so fast because literally within minutes of me clicking the “going” Lyana (Lem) slid into my DM’s and we decided to go together.

Fast forward to event day and my girl Lem and I pull up right in front of Late Night Valentine’s in Mt Lawley. I’ve never been there before and honestly I was stressed because street signs are hard to understand and I just could not afford to get a fine from the city of Vincent.

We walk through this alley-esk/hallway hybrid and we are still outside. It’s this epic amphitheatre like space with fairy lights framing, an open bar food, fresh tunes and all good creative tings.

What a beautiful night for it; the sky had just gotten dark and there were no clouds in sight and it was literally just as Perth weather decided that it wanted to have some chill for once (because the weather reporter kept telling me “Oh, it’ll be around 18-20 degrees” but Perth was like “nah boo, grab yourself a green smoothie because we’re going to the Bahamas”).

With drinks in hand we head down the stairs to take our seats, it was amazing to be able to see all of the art installations and work that creatives had on display on the night.

Lem and I are chilling, chatting to people around us, drinking our drinks, we got our photo taken:

and things were lit. Black and white visuals were projected onto the curtains stage as designers, influencers, creatives and a crowd of incredibly supportive people filled the space to the point where it was standing room only towards the back of the venue.

Things get dark, everyone goes quiet. And we wait. And guys let me tell you something. Honestly like I’ve got to set the scene for you so you can appreciate how well thought out and choreographed this walk was.

This song just started playing and it was so clean and minimal and it just had this beat to it – not something you could necessarily dance to but something that you could put a mean set of movements to. The models came out one by one in outfits from various local Perth designers (of which included M.K.O! #SupportLocal). The designs were so vastly different, yet beautiful and unique to each of the designer’s aesthetic, although the front was limited in space, Late Night’s amphitheatre really allowed you to get up close and personal to the garments but still well out of reach. Like not close enough to touch but to be able to see and appreciate and admire.

Three elements held everything together. Okay well possibly four.

1. The models wore black wide-brimmed hats – and I definitely felt a strong nod to Beyoncé’s Lemonade. The part of the video where she’s standing in “Formation” and all you have is that beat that just gets stuck in your head but when it comes on it’s time to nod.

2. The models all wore black slides - again, enhancing cohesiveness between all of the different design elements going on without taking away from styling.

3. All models carried tote bags with the name of the designer hand-painted for all to see. Iconic. I found myself looking at pieces and thinking “Dang I which I knew who this was!” – To then have taken that extra step to ensure that labels were identifiable was a damn good move on Fresh Creative’s end.

4. The. Beat. To. The. Songs. I don’t even think I can stress this enough because you really had to be there to see it but the models only made movements in time with the beat of the songs, whether that was leaving the stage or turning so that we could see them from another perspective. It really gave you that time to be able to appreciate the details even more.

Featuring creativesand artists alike, with 20 different styles by 10 designers it was definitely one for the books and I commend the entire gang at Fresh Creative.

Focusing on building creative community here in Perth and beyond, Fresh Creative is definitely on my list of people to watch in 2017 and beyond and I CANNOT WAIT for what they have up their sleeves next.

- Mide

To find out more info/follow/contact - check out Fresh Creative here.

Creatives involved:

1. Matangi

3. Sen Designs