Australia fashion week: Christopher Esber, Karla Spetic and Michael Lo Sordo Photograph wear isabel marant wedge sneaker. This year, the Sydney-based fashion jamboree will showcase the work of Australia's potential designing superstars. So which three should we be keeping an eye out for? Thought Australia fashion week was probably all about surfer chic, board shorts and bikinis? Well, where have you been? Since 1995, AFW has been nurturing fashion talent in the form of Sass & Bide, Akira, Collette Dinnigan and Alice McCall and more, with future fashion superstars such as Dion Lee and Josh Goot wear isabel marant sneaker getting floor time too. Taking place in Sydney each spring the event has seen more than its fair share of slightly odd PR stunts in the past – we're thinking Ksubi releasing rats on to the catwalk in 2001 and a model draped in an enormous, writhing snake the same year – but with an increasingly talented array of designers, AFW is now poised to take a serious place in the fashion show calendar. Croatian-born Spetic came to Sydney at the age of 10 and after graduating from the Sydney Fashion Design Studio, launched her eponymous label at Australia fashion week 2008 wear isabel marant bekket sneaker. A genius at creating modern it-pieces that women really want to wear, Spetic merges a sense of nostalgia with sharp lines to create collections that are intrinsically cool and effortlessly laid-back. Previous pieces have included dungarees, relaxed suiting, lace dresses, floor-length tanks and silk shirting. Spetic also has a knack for poppy, interesting colour palettes (acid tangerine and bubblegum pink, anyone?) and often takes inspiration from the art world, collaborating with illustrators and artists to create unique prints: in autumn/winter she made use of Lichtenstein comic strips; her most recent collection was inspired by the work of William Eggleston. Špetic let it slip to the Guardian that her forthcoming spring/summer 2014 show will draw on her roots with references to Croatian national costume. Esber is talented and, at 26, a bit of a wunderkind wear isabel marant bobby sneaker. This coming season will see his fifth collection. Another Fashion Design Studio grad, Esber also made his Australian fashion week debut in 2008 and last September he hit the runways at NYFW for the first time in a joint on-schedule show with fellow rising star Kym Ellery (who got rave reviews). Esber's aesthetic is that elusive thing – cool, contemporary femininity. There's a minimal, precise feel to his clean lines and deceptively simple tailoring, but with some thoughtful surprises thrown in. Esber wear isabel marant bayley sneaker adroitness for all things technical comes out in experimental shapes, raw edges and dresses that are unexpectedly slit at the back. Known for his stark colour palette (strictly monochrome with a splash of blue and/or grey), Esber likes to really let it rip in with texture, working with textile weaving specialists to create futuristic fabric mash-ups (see the invisible mesh panelling on his A/W13 collection) or mixing bonded tweed and reversible knits or silk with velvet devoré to thrilling effect. He originally trained as a chef, but Sydney native Lo Sordo ditched cooking for fashion after eight months and has been showing his sophisticated brand of pared-down luxe at Australia fashion week for the past five years wear isabel marant betty sneaker. In 2012 he won the Qantas Spirit of Youth award, and a year-long mentorship with Zimmerman. Lo Sordo is good at the thing we like to call grown-up mysterious-sexy, mixing plush textiles in rich colours and creating innovative digital prints. Construction is key to this confident designer, who favours precision pleats and panelled skirts, tailored suits with a masculine cut and streamlined silhouettes that hug the female form wear isabel marant willow sneaker. Most recently for his autumn/winter 2013 collection, Lo Sordo got creative in the fabric department by inventing a unique print effect by marble-dyeing silk and wool.