Paris Jade Burrows

IT'S REAL IF IT BLEEDS introduced Paris Jade Burrows through 30 looks staged at St Barnabas' Church in Ultimo. Organised across the movements War, Ashes and Oligarchy, the collection used late Victorian and 1920s silhouettes to frame contemporary political violence and bodily exploitation, with the church setting amplifying its Brechtian, confrontational presentation.

The clothes were built through scenic and tailoring techniques more commonly associated with costume departments: horsehair canvas became an exposed outer fabric, military jackets were fused, painted and waxed, tailcoats were airbrushed to resemble soot, and skirts were treated with mud and abrasion. Open backs, stuffed shoulders, frayed braiding and red-wine tulle turned historical dress into a damaged, unstable surface rather than a nostalgic quotation.