"Did this used to be the Fun Factory?" "I think this was a games arcade. With dodgem cars." " Is the floor magnetic?" "My mum never let me come here, this used to be awesome" - these are just a few of the comments buzzing around the excitable and well-dressed crowd at the Penthouse Mouse opening party on Friday night at The Capitol, South Yarra.
The temporary independent fashion event kicked off 16 days of programs with plenty of Asahi and Agwa. The crowd had a more engaged feel than your regular free-beer opening event, with most of the guests genuinely there to see what the designers had done in the new PHM space, rather than just pose.
Designers chatted to guests including Karen Webster, director of the LMFF, explaining how they used the space to create their installations. Trimapee attached movable mannequin arms to the magnetic floor - a relic of the dodgem car track - in an installation that induced many giggles. Queues formed to have a ride on Joseph Griffiths' interactive cycling machine. Pencils attached by strings drew etch-a-sketch-style circles on the wall. Naughty.
The dedicated organisers from Moth Design even managed to take a little time out to enjoy their hard work. All looked impressively buff, if a little tired. They call the look "event butt" or "event arms" - a direct result of all the physical labour that goes into pulling apart an old space and installing every designer's work.
Tonight, visit Penhthouse Mouse at the corner of Chapel Street and Toorak Road South Yarra for the launch of label Su-Wen Leong. We're told to expect a scene from the future, where conversation is made via horns of plenty and bug sprays.
Photos by Hubert van Doorn