Pearls, taffeta and the empire waist: Couture week brings romance back

Not unlike the society costume balls that were all the rage in Coco Chanel’s 1930’s Paris, the collection was a romantic picture of the past. A line can be drawn between two very ‘intense’ periods of history and a common desire to escape with exquisite otherworldly fashion made for parties that suspend reality.

This thirst for glorious excesses of the 19th-century high-society doesn’t seem at risk of abating anytime soon, given our recent obsession with Netflix’s Bridgerton.

The movement even has a name; Regencycore.

“It’s a term given to account for the appropriation of styles and silhouettes from the Regency era,” says Karla Anne Clarke, stylist and co-founder of Side-Note.com.

More than just a yearning for frilled collars, bows and pearls, Regencycore stands for a larger cultural shift in how fashion serves society.

In Regency Britain, the introduction of the empire line was ground-breaking for women who were suddenly freed from “the heavily boned structured bodice and heavy bustled skirts, and the beginning some say of a more practical approach to women’s attire.”

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While the fashion seen at couture fashion week may not scream practicality, they do speak to freedom. A moment of release after a universal experience of physical and emotional compression. The clothing has been colourful, fun and dripping with optimism.

“There’s a certain decadence people are craving and have gone without for the last 18 months,” says Clarke. “An artisanal quality that can’t be matched by black leggings and oversized sweatshirts.”

On a local stage, Jordan Dalah turned Australian fashion week on its head with his own otherworldly couture ready-to-wear collection. A dramatic departure from the highly wearable separates usually shown, Jordan presented 43 looks which suspended belief with gravity defying hems and sky-high bouffants.

“Yes, I referenced historical modes of dressing, but my clothes are not costume… they are clothes made to be worn,” says Dalah.

“Typically, fashion is quite fast. If you’ve got the space to show, you can’t lose that momentum. But Covid meant that sense of deadline wasn’t there, and it really allowed designers such as myself who aren’t huge in scale to be able to assess what imagery we needed to put out there.

Rather than reflecting the apocalyptic reality of the pandemic, Jordan provided a vision. “It was about giving people beautiful imagery to be inspired and show that creativity is still alive,” Dalah says.

Beyond fashion, Regencycore is permeating the lifestyle market. Dinner party hosts are looking to an etiquette code long since forgotten, with commissioned floral centrepieces, hand drawn place cards (by calligrapher Sam Pauletto no less) and multi-tiered cakes previously reserved for wedding parties.

If you’re looking for an eatable embodiment of Regencycore, Stacy Brewer’s “Fuck Covid” cakes are it. A colour palette of pastel blue and dusty rose, layers of vanilla sponge and buttercream icing piped into ruffles and topped with glazed cherries.

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Rumour has it the Duke of Hastings is due to return for a second season, so until then, let us eat cake.

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