By the time we got to Cynthia Rowley’s show on Thursday night, we’d already been to more than a dozen others, so you can’t blame us for getting just a teensy bit tired of it all. Perhaps Rowley, who was showing in Australia for the first time, got a sense of the fashion week fatigue that loomed over her audience and that they were in desperate need of a pick-me-up. You already get the sense of happy vibes backstage, where the American designer talked candidly and animatedly with the press. There were also Jamaican drummers who did their thing with so much gusto you couldn’t help feeling a little more energised. And finally, the topless Bondi surfers who were responsible for carrying the models – and later Rowley herself – on surfboards during the show, Cleopatra style. That was a sight for sore and tired eyes. As the models made their final walk in colourful scuba suits with the drummers following behind, most of the audience were smiling and tapping their feet. We even heard several show goers going, “Now, how fun was that?”

Photo: Candice Chua