MAKING OF | KALEIDOSCOPE
Combining beauty and tranquillity, Kaleidoscope is a collection inspired by illusion and light-bending transformations. It’s a sprinkling of retro fun and geometric details, with technicolour prints and magical moments creating a vivid, kaleidoscopic effect.
Join the Sylvia P dreamers and makers—working right here in Brisbane, Australia—while we take a sneak peek inside the Kaleidoscope Collection in the first part of our new ‘Making Of’ series.
Before the design work, production runs, samples, and print-making, there’s ideation. Every collection for Sylvia P has a central idea to tie it all together. From this idea, threads form themes, and a collection takes shape—geometric shapes, colour clashes, light, linework and retro flair, all combined in beautiful forms.
Incorporating current runway trends from the fashion world, sequin ideas like fluid, cascading linework and shapes begin to form. The fluid edges of the sequin work melt into soft and whimsical palm outlines with the Paradise Leotard. Or the sequins flow, curve and bend, contrasting the straight lines of the straps with the Magic Makers Leotard. The cascading lines and fluidity meet together with the New Formation Leotard, the sequins rising up in a waterfall effect towards the neck.
Sequins and linework lead to the introduction of colour (and there’s a lot of it!) in wild and fantastic tones, melding together. The Fast Lane and Fantasy Leotards start to resemble actual kaleidoscopes—the front and back linework and triangle shapes giving the tell-tale kaleidoscope structure we all remember as kids, colours cascading through.
Inspired by Art Deco elegance with a modern feel, the intricate straps—a showcase of this collection—mimics that time where crazy shapes and confident lines weren’t afraid to co-exist together. The Paradise and Let’s Groove Leotards show how intricate these straps can get; the space around the linework again highlights the geometric shapes and forms within the collection.
Wrapped up in a timeless black and white colour palette, we were able to mix some retro flair and elegance together and bring it into the 21st century. Layered looks from the Risk Takers T-shirt to the neoprene-lined block colours of the Spliced Angelica Crop and Let’s Groove Leotard, Shorts, and Crop are perfect examples of signature kaleidoscopic effects, with ombre and marble prints as the final splash added to this collection.
Knowing we’d be releasing Kaleidoscope towards the end of the year, we wanted to keep a festive spirit to the collection, without veering too close to cliched red and green decorative embellishments. The Shooting Stars Separates and Leotard fit perfectly with that festive feel, while staying true to the elegant form and feel of the collection.
Australian-made gymnastics wear takes hard work and skill to pull off successfully, but above all, it needs a framework to build from. Ideation is the process that starts the spark—the end results are beautiful forms. Kaleidoscopes even.
Shop the new Kaleidoscope collection here. Limited edition styles.
Available exclusively online at sylviap.net and sylviap.com.au.
And if you haven't already, check out our Kaleidoscope Collection post here.
