Melbourne-based shoemaker Matea Gluščević – the woman who made those gravity-defying heels Julia Fox wore to the NGV last year – made her fashion debut on Wednesday night, launching her new label Cakey Sportsman with an intimate runway. Held at Magdalen Laundry in Abbotsford Convent, the show was part of PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s Independent Program, running this week.
In Matea’s land of misfit toys, Cakey Sportsman champions the whimsy and the wonderful. From mermaid space cowboys to marionette woman warriors, the designer’s creativity and feminine joy made her debut runway an event to remember.
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Having had the pleasure to model for her debut collection, I was eager to learn more about the world of Cakey Sportsman, and what the multi-disciplinary artist had in mind for the label. The collection was made over the course of two months, whereby Matea made the clothing, accessories and shoes.
“Usually, I make one pair of custom shoes in three months,” the designer said, “but I realised it’s Melbourne Fashion Festival, and I was like, if I don’t do this now, I’m never gonna do it.” Volume I of Cakey Sportsman was a channel for Matea to demonstrate what she has going on creatively within her, and what she’s capable of as a designer beyond being a talented shoemaker.
Matea’s handcrafted footwear.
Cakey Sportsman accessories.
“When I did my last collection ‘Ocean Girl 3000’, to me it’s like a whole world, but then all I made was shoes… it’s hard for somebody to comprehend my creative vision and world when I’m only presenting one part of the outfit,” she says. “For people to understand the world that my shoes live in, I need to show them the whole world, like what that aesthetic looks like as a whole.”
Cakey Sportsman emerged from Matea’s mind as the full body of her creativity”. The collection has 15 looks, each telling a unique overall story of the designer’s creative journey and artistry.
“The first look is silver, it’s cold… it’s somewhat inaccessible, but still interesting. The last look is joyous, flourishing and happy. The story is of the psyche and my experience of being a person in the world.”
The opening silver look, left, and closing floral look.
The collection is relevant to the future development of Cakey Sportsman as a label, because it’s what allowed the Matea to emerge into the world as a creative – the process of metamorphosing into an artist with an entirely fresh take on fashion and craft in a famously inaccessible industry.
Drawing inspiration from her development as an artist, Matea also imbues small elements of her Croatian heritage into the collection, with Glagolitic script on some pieces in the collection. “My parents are Croatian migrants and for a long time living in Australia, I didn’t realise that I felt invisible in a particular way because my culture wasn’t visible,” she tells me.
Writer Jackie, right, modelling Cakey Sportsman.
Cakey, Matea’s muse, getting ready for the runway.
“If half of my life is speaking Croatian, eating particular types of foods, doing particular types of cultural things, but everyone I interact with outside of my home doesn’t know that exists, you can see how I can feel I’m not truly seen. The collection really is about me integrating the Croatian-ness more into myself.”
When I ask her to describe her aesthetic, Matea highlights the core features of the collection: “elegant clown, space princess, space cowboy and craft project,” all of which were showcased on the runway. “There’s a much higher level of play… and it has, to be honest, been harder to be taken seriously as someone who engages in playful creativity.”
In Matea’s words, her debut collection is “that foot in the door of ‘hey, this may not be perfect, it may not be heaps [good], it may not be finished super well, but I’m just letting you know this is my vibe and I’m gonna keep working on it’.”
Discover more about Cakey Sportsman here.
This article Backstage at Cakey Sportsman, the runway debut by Matea Gluščević appeared first on Fashion Journal.
2025-02-28 07:29:00
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