Albus Lumen is rising up and rebelling. This season Marina Afonina approached creating a collection - and showing at Australian Fashion Week - in a different way, in the shadow of the geopolitical climate and how it has affected her. How does a designer put on a show right now without considering the horrors happening around the world? Marina went into the nine year old Albus Lumen archive, looking to the past to make something with good intentions in extreme circumstances.

As we waited, the sinister strings of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake’s Op. 20 played before transitioning into Johann Strauss II’s sweet English waltz The Blue Danube, madly interrupted by the hectic, ominous techno of Boddika and Joy Orbison’s Mercy. Here came the rebels. The entire collection was based on past collections, reinvented and remixed in new ways with colour dying, decorated and deconstructing. The emphasis was on up cycling and sustainability, and “bringing new life to what is old”. Silk dresses were re-cut, shirts were subtly tie-dyed, pearls and rhinestones were embellished onto skirts and flowy, sheer shirts, speckled denim was dip dyed in an acid wash, and leather jackets were spray painted. This was history rewritten for now. A revolt for those of us ready to revolutionise and roar.

Photo direction by Joel Lumbroso
Stills by Aidan Ouma-Machio

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