The Miss Fisher Collection – Marion Boyce.

Can you hear it? Listen for it, after Marion’s laugh. It is the unique sound of beautiful sequinned lace, rustling as it moves, almost like soft rain on a tin roof.

It is a sound that Marion Boyce, award winning Costume designer of crime series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and feature film The Dressmaker is passionately keen to share with others. For Marion, the sound and feel of a garment is just as important as how it looks, creating a sensual feast of nostalgia, beauty and joy.

It is early evening and I have had the great pleasure of accompanying Erica of recycled-fashion.com to meet Marion and experience the new accessories designed for her Miss Fisher Collection – Marion Boyce. Even better, our meet and greet takes place at dusk in the beautiful grand Victorian National Trust owned Labassa Mansion.

Its not hard at all to comprehend that Marion has a great deal of love for both the fashions of the late 1920’s early 30’s and the 1950’s particularly Dior’s New Look. All fashion is representative of the time in which it evolved, and in this instance both periods were times of celebration, and new horizons coming out of the hardship of World Wars. This joy manifested in beautiful fabrics, innovative cutting, essentially clothing as art. Marion’s passion for these periods is evident in the meticulous and loving detail of the garments of the Miss Fisher series set in the 1920’s, The Dressmaker set in the 1950’s and now The Miss Fisher Collection.

It was such a pleasure to chat with Marion, and get to know a little of the person behind these beautiful creations. Marion describes herself as a collector. She spoke of her substantial collection from her world travels, India, Italy, her patient and resourceful husband, hunting down Fed Ex shops in all manner of places so that she can ship her treasures home. Oh what heaven it would be to get a peek and perhaps to stroke some of those treasures! Heaven for a textile lover like me!

With this collection Marion has been very careful to think about the wearability of each garment. Don’t be mistaken in thinking that they are only for limited use. Marion explains that when designing for Phryne (aka Miss Fisher, of said Murder Mysteries)  she keeps her evening wear quite simple, more naked… whilst goes to town for her daywear. Why? Because that is what Phryne would do, it is so much more exciting and decadent that way. She is bohemian, a free spirit, that wears whatever she wants, whenever she wants.

That said these accessories she has created are very wearable. The burgundy lace shrug you see me sporting in the photo’s below has been carefully cut and constructed so that it stays where you want it to, not ending up in the crease of your elbow. Perfect for those after coverage, or drama or both!

The fur stoles have been carefully cut and padded so that they prop on the shoulders framing the face for maximum effect. Great time and attention was paid to getting exactly the right shade of blue grey. In all the designs the number of garments produced is determined by the amount of material available. Sourcing textiles of this quality can take time and be a challenge in itself,  so the numbers of each item are strictly limited.

So here I am having a Phryne moment. Good golly it was lovely. I may not be Phryne Fisher but in garb like this I can sashay with the best of them.

Throughout the series Miss Phryne Fisher is seen sporting some spectacular jewellery which has provided the inspiration for the the pieces in this collection. Erica is instantly drawn to a marcasite and agate bee brooch. With delight Marion explains that bee’s are very important to her, and we have picked out her favourite piece. Marion, we learn, is also an avid gardener, and keeps bees supplying her family and friends with home produced honey. The current plight of the humble bee, its numbers diminishing, and their importance to our eco system is close to Marion’s heart. So this little bee is quite special.

A popular design from the series is the Phryne brooch. It apparently appears a number of times in season one, sometimes in quite unexpected places including adorning the hip of a dressing gown! The Phryne brooch can be seen below pinned to the blue grey feather stole.

And…everybody loves a cake, right? Marion know the costume crew do. In a nod to her team she has presented the accessories in take away cake boxes. So you can take a sweet treat home too.

So if you were ever after a touch of seductive, luxurious, decadent glamour of your very own… The Miss Phryne Fisher Collection – Marion Boyce is available through Every Cloud Productions.

Special thanks to Erica Louise of blog www.recycled-fashion.com and Nuffnang for this opportunity. It is amazing how two people in the same interview can take away different things from an experience. I really enjoyed reading Erica’s post on our interview with Marion. Read it here on her blog.