Going goth: It’s ‘Wednesday’ at Fashion Week

With gothcore having made its presence felt at the autumn 2023 collections in New York at Rodarte and already rearing its head at Australian Fashion Week in Michael Lo Sordo’s boxy Balenciaga trenches, trailing Morticia Addams lace gowns and swooping silk satin dresses, Sorronda’s competition is growing. Having built a strong business, operating a store on Brisbane’s fashionable James Street for 11 years, she is unfazed by other designers’ flirtation with the dark side.

“I have clients that have walked the path of the label,” she says. “I have the daughter, the granddaughter, the mother. It is an exchange of energy.”

At times Sorronda has felt the attraction of Europe’s energy and the potential to offer an Australian alternative to Zimmermann’s prettier approach to femininity. In 2010, she was part of Vogue Italy’s Who Is On Next talent program and had a capsule collection stocked in one of Dolce & Gabbana’s Milan boutiques.

“What’s interesting is that no matter where I go, I’ve stayed true to where I am. Even in London, Paris or sunny Queensland. I feel like my creative practice can still flourish and grow strong within my garden space, here at home in Brisbane.”

Part of Sorronda’s truth is her commitment to her aesthetic in sheer black net dresses, high collared shirts and chunky accessories. It’s difficult to imagine her in jeans and a white T-shirt.

“It’s almost self-preservation,” she says. “Being creative and putting yourself out there requires a strong exoskeleton. I dress to be a strong woman.”

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Sorronda also derives strength from more mysterious sources but like a good magician, she’s keeping her Cupid’s bow pursed.

“I would like to talk about it more but sometimes that magic needs to be kept in a special place where it can alchemise, transmute and you can draw something creative from it,” she says. For the time being, that place is Brisbane.

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