The show opened in deep blue light. Then came the slow descent of a fluorescent square lowered from the rafters above the audience, like something borrowed from a Kubrick set. The atmosphere carried the charged energy of a nightclub with the thumping bass coming from the DJ in the corner, transforming the otherwise blank warehouse into a club floor. Sydney may never produce the mythology of Berlin nightlife, but Afonina understood the seduction of spectacle all the same.

Titled Inter Duo, the collection explored the collision of two ideas—the chic minimalism of the nineties against a sharper futuristic sensibility. Narrow silhouettes, technical nylons and disciplined tailoring sat alongside sculptural proportions that pushed otherwise simple garments into pieces both fierce and striking.

Afonina cited Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and the brooding atmosphere of David Lynch as her touchstone. Citing those influences was a complete joy (especially for a cinema lover)! All the looks felt like characters, sleek and unshakable, moving through Afonina’s distant future. But the collection held further intelligence, in what it drew from the fashion archive: the austere precision of Helmut Lang in his late-nineties prime, the architectural severity of Claude Montana, the smouldering eroticism of Tom Ford’s Gucci years.

What made the collection significant was the way it pushed against the prevailing mood of Australian fashion, one exemplified over fashion week. For years, local minimalism has been tied to ideas of coastal ease and wellness-coded luxury. Linens, soft tailoring, sun-faded palettes, the fantasy of a European summer filtered through Byron Bay. Albus Lumen proposed a different world, one where minimalism didn’t have to be driven by softness. The palette sharpened that idea with ivory, black and deep navy, pulling focus on silhouettes, like a retro-inspired black, nylon blazer tightly cinched at the waist. Or a double silk organza ivory coat buttoned high at the neck that floated lightly over black tights.