2019-04-01_Harpers_Bazaar_Australia

JAMES NELSON; SASKIA WILSON

NY FASHION JUNKIE worththeir salt knows about the supposed

rivalry between Yves Saint Laurent and the late Karl Lagerfeld. Not so

many would know that apparently, this all began in 1954, when the

pair, Saint Laurent, then 18, and Lagerfeld, 21, were up against each

other for a prestigious design award in Paris. Rather than crown one a

winner, the vote was split — Lagerfeld for best coat, Saint Laurent for

so the legend goes, the conflict was born. This prize was an early incar-

nation of the International Woolmark Prize (IWP), with alumni that includes Valentino

and Ralph Lauren, as well as modern brands such as Altuzarra and Gabriela Hearst.

This is the legacy Marina Afonina stepped into as a nominee for this year’s Prize —

her label, Albus Lumen (which means white light in Latin), nabbed a nomination in the

highly competitive womenswear category. Is she flattered to join such illustrious

company? “This year has been so hectic and crazy,” she admits. “Sometimes it’s over-

whelming and feels like it’s almost too good to be true. But I don’t see the success yet

— I don’t ever feel like,Oh yeah, I’ve made it.”

Afonina was born in St Petersburg, Russia, into what she calls a “very creative house-

hold”. The cultural climate of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, however, was still recov-

ering from the state’s socialist past, which had long opposed Western fashion’s intrinsic

WHITE LIGHT

Albus Lumen is

representing a new

global force in Australian

fashion.GRACEO’NEILL

gets acquainted

with the designer and

recent International

Woolmark Prize nominee,

MARINAAFONINA

A look from the Albus

Lumen International

Woolmark Prize entry.

Left: Marina Afonina.

56 HARPERSBAZAAR.COM.AU April 2019

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