If you've ever seen, a fashion show, you've probably had this thought: "The clothes are pretty but you could never actually wear them in real life."
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But could you?
With Canberra's big red carpet fashion event Fashfest only a week away, we decided to give it a try.
The first thing to know - if you wear a ridiculously oversized bright red tulle skirt out in public during the daylight hours, people are going to stare at you. All of the people.
Local designer Karen Lee was generous enough to lend us the outfit. The top, a fitted black blazer with horizontal mesh cutouts along the arms, was created for the Fashfest runway a few seasons ago. The aforementioned skirt was made from leftover scraps, but representative of the sort of thing you're more likely to see on the catwalk than in your wardrobe.
First of all I set out in Braddon, because if anywhere is going to be open to outrageous fashion, it's surely Lonsdale Street. With a skirt circumference of about three metres, everything proved difficult, from getting through doorways, to getting caught on anything and everything as I walked around, and even the lift door not closing because some unruly pieces of tulle were in the way of the door sensor.
I popped into coffee shop Barrio for my morning cuppa, grabbed a flat white, and managed to somehow get on top of a high stool, in a movement that was incredibly unladylike and required both arms to scoop up the tulle.
Both sitting in the coffee shop, and walking along the street to get there, attracts a whole lot of attention. Luckily I have a photographer walking beside me which is enough of a visual explanation for most. If you were doing it by yourself, you'd be raising a few eyebrows.
It seems overall, Canberra isn't quite ready for haute couture on the streets. Although one delightful lady did walk up and say, "you look fabulous!"
From there, we head back to the office, but have to stop to grab some petrol on the way. While it was certainly comical and made for a good photo, the tulle and blazer get up worked surprisingly well at the petrol bowser (although the lady running the service station spent the whole time not-so-subtly taking photos of me out the window).
Then it was straight back to the office. It turns out workstations aren't made for a skirt that's the size of a small couch. The tulle spilled over my keyboard, my landline cord got caught up in it, and the constant streams of, 'what are you doing?' from colleagues didn't make for a productive afternoon.
Verdict: To be fair, there is a lot that goes down fashion runways that would work, and you will find a lot of completely wearable fashion on the catwalk at Fashfest this year, but that wouldn't have made as good a story, would it? Wearing an oversized tutu was a lot of fun, but probably not ideal for everyday life. Although if you're trying to meet new people, it's certainly the conversation starter.
Details: Fashfest is on at the Convention Centre September 28-30, with two shows per night at 7pm and 9pm. Tickets start from $49 at fashfest.com.au.
