By Seth Khouri
There is an ongoing argument surrounding fashion (and creative industries more broadly) existing in a vacuum. The sentiment only intensifies amidst the spectacle of fashion weeks and global galas, where fantasy often eclipses lived reality. Yet Katie-Louise and Lilian Nicol-Ford offered something far more intimate this season: a collection centred on the often overlooked queer Australian artist Adrian Feint, grounding fantasy within a deeply personal artistic lineage.
Held at Elizabeth Bay House, guests filtered through the sandstone halls as late afternoon light spilled across the grand staircase. Surrealism became a living touchstone for the duo this season, with Feint’s fascination with botanicals woven delicately throughout the collection. “Still life was actually a veneer for this beautiful surrealist world: his imagination, his relationships, his sexuality. All of the flowers he painted were grown by his partner in their garden down the south coast. So really, it was a love story,” shared Nicol & Ford post-show.
The collection opened with a pale yellow “Tulip” gown, blooming softly beneath the lights, adorned with hand-painted oils and hibiscus feather earrings that swayed with every step. “We often work in chapters,” shared Katie-Louise. The first, The Collectors, orbited around the glamorous Eastern Suburbs women Feint frequently moved amongst. Cocktail dresses evocative of the ’50s and ’60s descended the spiral staircase in sweeping silks and sculptural tailoring, each look carrying the quiet theatricality of old Sydney society. The second instalment, Artists in Their Midst, captured the liminal space Feint occupied: embraced by Sydney’s elite yet never fully absorbed into it. Models moved through the rooms with a certain restraint, as though caught between worlds.
By the third chapter, The Language of Flowers, Nicol & Ford leaned fully into Feint’s botanical fixation—not simply through florals themselves, but through the coded language historically weaponised against queer communities. “Pansy” and “lavender” were reclaimed here, transformed into something soft, romantic and defiantly visible, outworked through one-shoulder dresses and petalled bralettes. The final chapter paid homage to Feint’s surrealist works, drawing from the ribbons and fabric forms “whipping in the wind” that appeared throughout his paintings. Silk streamed behind models as they moved through the house, the garments carrying the same dreamlike motion that made the collection feel less like a runway presentation and more like stepping briefly into Feint’s inner world.
As for the clothes; satin, organza, jacquard and taffeta appeared throughout the collection, each fabric cut and sculpted through the label’s distinct codes. Vibrant yellows, soft pinks and rich blues echoed the vividness of Feint’s botanicals, bringing warmth and exuberance to the hallowed rooms of Elizabeth Bay House. Accessories carried equal presence; oversized feathered hats and sculptural floral earrings accompanied nearly all twenty-four looks, heightening the collection’s sense of theatrical romance. Look 12, titled Les Girls and worn by Mana Mackay, paired a hot pink bodysuit beneath a velvet silk petal skirt that moved with a soft fluidity across the runway. Resting above it was an elaborate ostrich and coque feather millinery adorned with hand-moulded brass hibiscus leaves. Earlier, Look 6, titled Painters Rags and worn by Janet Anderson, presented a draped bias-cut gown in polished silk satin, finished with teal goose-feather chandelier millinery.
As the final look disappeared back up the spiral grand staircase of Elizabeth Bay House, what lingered was not simply the memory of the garments, but the feeling of having briefly stepped inside Feint’s surreal and deeply romantic world. Here, the duo provided a looking glass into a queer intimacy so often omitted from Australia’s cultural history.