Kym Ellery's Parisian Debut

"I've definitely been lengthening things," says Sydney-based designer Kym Ellery. She's trying to sum up the design tweaks she's made to her namesake line of silk organza frocks—go-tos Down Under for such leggy beauties as Catherine McNeil and Cate Blanchett—since deciding to show her spring/summer 2014 collection, her first outside Australia, on the grand international stage of a hôtel particulier on the Place Vendôme during Paris Fashion Week.

"I wanted this collection to embody the brand DNA so someone who had never seen the label before would understand what it is," says the 30-year-old, who founded Ellery in 2007 while working as a market editor at Aussie indie mag Russh. "And also to move forward—sometimes you need more than party dresses."

The '70s-interiors-inspired lineup that Ellery, a self-described "design-history obsessive," presented ticks the box on abbreviated hemlines—and makes use of playful embellishment and radical experimentation with form.

She collaborated with contemporary artist Ben Barretto on a series of boned corsets woven from such hardware-store materials as bricklayer's line and abseiling cord that look like vibrantly textured wall hangings. "For quite a few years, I've had a fixation with flares, and I like the idea of tying my interest in architecture to architectural fashion," she says.

Here the designer's favorite retro pants' silhouette is reworked as the bell sleeves on a crop top and, at reductio ad absurdum, as extreme bell-bottoms. "I wanted the leg openings to extend at least a meter away from the feet," she reveals. Styled under strapless dresses, these flowing trousers look like hypermodern gowns. The spring/summer 2014 collection retails for $400 to $5,500 and is sold at Curve in New York City, Satine in Los Angeles, and Forty Five Ten in Dallas.

"The hardest part of every collection is choosing the color palette."

"Here I am with my trusty Pantone book deciding what artful palette we'll explore this season."

"The time has arrived! I can finally wear on one of my finished pieces! Here I am wearing the existential shift dress in collage printed silk organza from my spring collection."