By Paula Joye
The soaring glass ceilings of Hotel D'Evreux cast soft, grey shadows across the runway as designer Kym Ellery made her debut at Paris Fashion Week.
The Perth native, known for exaggerated shapes and sculptural tailoring, presented a considered spring-summer collection full of flared pants, ruffles and sheer, metallic dresses.
An Australian in Paris: Kym Ellery.
''I worked incredibly hard and slept very little,'' said Ellery, whose show received immediate attention from international buyers and press. ''It wasn't until the a few days later that I realised what I'd achieved. Paris has been a lifelong dream''.
The road to the world's fashion capital has not been smooth. The designer spent much of this year embroiled in a legal stoush with Myer after defecting to rival retailer David Jones. The department store successfully enforced its contract, resulting in the label being stocked in both stores until 2016.
Her designs on the catwalk.Credit: Darren McDonald
''I'm relieved we survived and that we're still trading,'' Ms Ellery said. ''Dual distribution makes us an anomaly in the local market and the litigation, perhaps ironically, gave the brand unprecedented publicity.''
Ellery joins Qantas uniform design chief Martin Grant and Collette Dinnigan as the third Australian to show in Paris, the realm of fashion giants such as Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs.
While the allure is unquestionable, Paris remains a difficult city for antipodeans to crack. The cost of producing twice-yearly runway shows is prohibitive for most designers but some our players including Toni Maticevski, Josh Goot and Dion Lee are gaining momentum using Paris buying agents who specialise in international markets.
For Ellery, the test is yet to come as she juggles the geography and expense of showing in two continents: ''While Australia will always be home, success in Paris is what every fashion designer dreams of.''