The Gaze

The Australians really seem to enjoy letting it all hang out if Rosemount Australian Fashion Week's Spring/Summer 2008 collections are any indication. If you want a little peek a boo there is plenty to see on the runway from bare tits poking out from see through tops at Manning Cartell and Silence is Golden to tamer bare midriffs at Camilla. And of course the Aussies love their bikinis.

Despite all of the bare skin, big boobs, and tan hides, we are most fascinated by a subtle cover up from Stretsis. The designer Pim Sukhahuta showed a haunting collection of barely there dresses with delicate fabrics like charmeuse and chiffon. But the most fascinating element of her collection was the styling choice of a chiffon cat mask. The cat mask perfectly hovers over the models upper face, sheer enough to see out of but clearly obscuring the natural face leaving the viewer in an uncomfortable middle ground between seeing and being seen that leaves many questions about the power of the gaze unanswered. The fact that the cover up was paired with a very sheer top doubled the fascination quotient for us. It was a most unexpected intellectual quandary in the midst of overdone visceral stimulation.