Generally, when I think about Australian designers I think bright colours and playful, trendy silhouettes, which I admit is kind of silly since I’ve featured plenty of Aussie designers who don’t really fit that mold. I am not going to lie though when I say I was surprised by the relaxed maturity of the brother/sister duo designed Alpha60. Maybe it’s my age, but I find myself increasingly looking for clothing that doesn’t make me feel like some sort of youth trend victim. This label appeals to my old lady ( ha ha ) sensibilities with a lovely balance of structure, draping, and clever prints. Bear with the annoying flash based website to check out their collections, and you can buy their pleated scarves off their online shop

I came across this painting on ffffound a few days back and was disappointed to not be able to find out who the artist is. It looks like something that might have been posted on but does it float, but when I did a brief search through that blog’s archives I could find nothing. It’s very possible I just didn’t go back far enough. Regardless, I find it quite beautiful (definitely click this image to see it full size)

Kamilla Richter and Katrin Switala of Richter – Switala combine soft draping with printed geometric shapes in their most recent collection (or at least the most recent collection posted on their website!) to pleasant effect (you know the drill-click the image to enlarge). Since I don’t know German, I was only able to pick up a little information about the pair, and it doesn’t appear that they regularly produce collections, but really I have no idea. Definitely some interesting work and I’m curious to see where they end up