Cybele - FashioNZ

Virtue
Autumn/Winter 2010 collection

For Winter 2010, designer Cybèle Wiren finds her inspiration in the juxtaposition of the regiment and formality of the Victorian era with the pure sculptural qualities of flowers and insects.

Flexing her formidable pattern cutting skills, Wiren has created a series of dresses, coats and jackets as her take on the key elements of prim and proper Victorian dressing: oversized ruffles and frills appear to seamlessly fan from the neck, hem and bust to create a feminine, dramatic and unmistakably Cybèle look.

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That the Victorians were also travelers and sailors off discovering the brave new world is not lost on Wiren. The flora and fauna discoveries of voyagers, such as botanist Joseph Banks, alongside the Victorian tradition of collecting exotic insects has lead her to the symbols of the lily and the moth.

The sculptural forms of the lily - a flower that symbolises purity and beauty - appears as paneled organic fluted shapes at the hem, necklines and sleeve.

The lily is also strongly found in the collection’s prints, as an opulent bouquet, and also in a languid silk, where multiple blooms drip in inky blues to thickly clustering at the hems of flowing dresses and tops.

The moth wing can be found depicted as a dispersion of dots, the dusty sprinkle of cut outs and print patterns evoke what could be lace or animal print. A subtle floral design, made from wing shapes, repeats to create a latticework over sheers, and soft drapey knit.

As always art and literature play a part in the back-story to the collection, this season pairs photographer Sarah Moon’s dreamy imagery with the more unsettling beauty of Yvonne Todd, and draws from the darkly playful tales of Virginia Woolf and gothic horror of Edgar Allen Poe.

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A new addition to the collection is precious jewellery: long multiple strands of charms: lilies and dainty hands with lace cuffs in silver and patinaed bronze take inspiration from Victorian memento mori – worn by widows as tokens of affection for their love lost.

Virtue is Cybèle’s 15th collection to date.

Click here to view Virtue runway images from ANZFW '09.

Renowned for highly original fabric print and superlative skill in patternmaking and construction, the label can be found stocked in New Zealand, Australia, Dubai, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the USA.

View the Cybèle Autumn/Winter 2010 Look book here

WatchCybèle on FashioNZ TV here

ANZFW '09 Cybèle review here.