Being in Sydney is an experience that is rather unlike any other. It’s a cosmopolitan city for sure, but there’s a sense of calm about it that puts you in a stop-to-smell-the-flowers kind of mood. The people we’ve met thus far – whether at the shows or the Vietnamese place just around the corner – have been wonderfully friendly, but not in the intrusive sort of way. Is this the all-famous Australian brand of laid-back cool that people talk about? If it is, it’s infectious.

This relaxed attitude naturally sprung up in the collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, and even more so, considering that the season in question was Resort 2017. Even when corsets came into the picture, like at Dion Lee and Misha Collection, for example, they were accompanied with movement and fluidity. Intentionally unzipped shirts and slit skirts and swim lycra at the former, silky throw-overs, lace and tassels at the latter. The black boudoir number on Bella Hadid, who made a guest appearance at Misha, summed up the juxtaposition perfectly. (You should see the number of iPhones that went up the moment Hadid entered the room. It looked almost choreographed. Ladies and gents, I present the “Hadid Effect”.) At Aje, there was no question that the girls were free-spirited. Ripped T-shirts, billowy dresses and boho blouses were mixed in with plenty of denim and I-woke-up-like-this hair.

Like Dion Lee, who stuck with a predominately white palette and his signature clean aesthetic, Georgia Currie of Georgia Alice, too, kept things pared down. Crisp shirts with covetable configurations of sleeves and straps were paired with pressed bubble skirts, shorts and simple black sandals.

Things were far from minimal at Zhivago. It seems like it’s always a party there. Sequinned and metallic dresses that showed plenty of leg ruled, though it was the make-up – nylon thread and rhinestones were involved, FYI – that added that final touch of drama. Icing on a super sparkly cake. Ultimately, it was Toni Maticevski who had the most dramatic and theatrical collection of them all. The beautiful and impeccably well-tailored dresses were the belles of the ball, but man, the jewellery. The metal handcuffs, chokers and ball gags actually looked dangerous. With them in the picture alongside his big princess-type eveningwear, Maticevski introduced a whole new dimension to his collection. It’s elegant and ultra-feminine, but it’s also sexy, dangerous, and – dare we say – kinky?

What do you think of the collections so far at MBFWA?