watson x watson summer 13/ 14.

 Backstage as captured by Christine Ai.

The first thing you should know about Watson x Watson is that they never steer far away from their roots. With all the success the brand has achieved in two short years, sisters Liberty and Somer remain extremely grounded, never forgetting where they've come from. Their debut fashion week collection in 2012 was inspired by the bush raves of their teen years. Back for their sophomore follow up, the Watson sisters went through a 90's surf culture revival with their grunge-gone-luxe inspired collection. Growing up on the Coffs Coast probably had a lot to do with it.

The Watson x Watson girl wasn't a surfer herself. I imagine her sitting on the sand, watching her boy catching a wave while she herself preferred to catch rays. It was somewhat reminiscent of 3.1 Phillip Lim's neo grunge collection last September, but the laid back elements of the Australian surf landscape made it uniquely theirs. A modern take on Puberty Blues perhaps? There were feminine plaids with pink accents, jacket-tied-around-the-waist draping, thigh high splits and high wetsuit neckline contrasted with metallics and sequin accents emulating the ocean glistening in the sunlight. But no signs of neoprene here. No she doesn't like to get wet. Immersing herself in the surfie subculture she at the very least dressed the part. She was damn cool. She knew it and everyone else knew it.

The second thing you should know about the duo is that they're big on prints. I remember their very first collection featured a darker, more sophisticated take on the silk pajama print trend (to this day I am still beating myself up for not purchasing that print). Last year it was a hypercolour fluro interpretation of feminine florals and this time around they took the abstract swirls, textures and ripples of the ocean and turned it into one standout print. And to top it all off a bright matte pink lip, killer thick frame Sunday Somewhere shades and lightly teased hair with a half tuck. You could almost feel the salty sea breeze. 

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