Stolen Girlfriends Club co-designer Marc Moore, left, with model Georgia Fowler wearing the artwork of Karl Maughan, right, in Sydney last night.

A model showcases designs by Stolen Girlfriends Club on the catwalk during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney last night.

A model showcases designs by Stolen Girlfriends Club on the catwalk during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney last night.

A model showcases designs by Stolen Girlfriends Club on the catwalk during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney last night.

A model showcases designs by Stolen Girlfriends Club on the catwalk during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney last night.

The work of Wellington-born artist Karl Maughan was transformed into walking pieces of art at Stolen Girlfriends Club in Sydney last night.

The art collaboration was a first for the Auckland label which approached Maughan for permission to use his hyper-real paintings of lush gardens, super-bright flowers and sunlight dappled fauna to digitally adorn garments of its spring/summer 2011/12 range.

It was also a first for Maughan, who was in Sydney to see his art walking on the catwalk. Maughan has done collaborations in the past with a graffiti artist and sculptor but never a fashion designer.

“It’s an interesting concept and fun doing something slightly off-beat,” Maughan said.

Maughan described his work as part Monet’s garden in Giverny and part New Zealand garden.

He enjoyed seeing his work on fabric. “I particularly like it on the light fabrics. It’s also interesting in negative. They’ve changed it around and transformed it into something else,” he said.

Stolen Girlfriends Club co-designer Marc Moore said it was also the first time the label had used as much colour in the range. “Australia loves colour,” Moore said. “It’s our main market right now. We are really building and focusing on that.”

The label also drew inspiration from the film Blue Valentine for the collection, entitled The Big Comedown.

“The film charts a couple’s journey from being in love and falling out of love,” Moore said. “We’re playing with those two themes.”

The show started with fair-haired models dressed in Maughan’s bright garden greens, blues, pinks, oranges, yellow and purple walking to a dreamy soundtrack.

Half-way through the mood changed with an army of brunettes dressed in a darker colour palette walking to the backdrop of spooky music.

The make-up also reflected the contrasting moods, and was designed by internationally renowned British MAC makeup artist Terry Barber, whose clients include Vivienne Westwood, Dita Von Teese and Grace Jones.

Barber has dedicated his time at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week to the New Zealand designers, designing the make-up looks for Kate Sylvester’s show on Tuesday and Stolen Girlfriends Club.

“We’ve gone for something that’s quite tough but introduced the glam rock into it,” Barber said.

“A bit of David Bowie inspired but not too luxe. It’s not a suntanned Kim Kardashian thing at all.”

SYDNEY DIARY

What’s hot: Sydney designer Dion Lee. His show yesterday was the most anticipated of the week and the most difficult to get into. Lee didn’t disappoint. Fabrics for his ‘Composure’ collection were developed to create a textural chaos. Synthetic treatments were applied to natural fibres; wool and silk coated, printed and stenciled with silicone inks and thermal film, to mimic the visual elements of packaging. Three-dimensional textures such as clear plastic and metal were photographed and re-applied to create false depth. Seamless edge bonding was used to finish the edges of garments.

What’s not: Being GA (general admission) at Camilla & Marc. GAs were made to queue on the street for an hour before being hustled, herded and yelled at by security staff.