Thirty years ago, as a baby curator, Katie Somerville bought an outfit by a young Melbourne designer mixing in artistic circles in the CBD.
This week Somerville wore it to the launch of the Martin Grant retrospective at the Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria.
The grey flared jacket and long sculpted skirt might look dated in the tube top and baggy pants era. But it has a distinct silhouette and was probably stitched by the designer himself, Martin Grant, before he went to Paris.
Somerville is the curator of this rags to riches story of a Blackburn boy taken up by American Vogue after opening up his own couturier house in the home of fashion.
From the age of four, Grant was designing frocks, at 16 he wanted his own label and was soon mixing with an artistic crowd, including painter Jenny Watson, before shifting from sculpture to fashion design.
Australia needs its own bad boy designer but Grant says he was nurtured by the artistic community near Blackburn Lake and his mum still lives there in a Robin Boyd house.
According to legend, Grant swapped a garment for a painting by Watson and used the colours of the work for his next range.
“The more you look, the more you see,” Somerville says of the 140 garments on display, many of them classics rather than flamboyant, such as the Autumn/Winter range of 2005-06.
Grant’s signature pieces are based on the Empire cut and over-sized collar. Look One in this collection is in camel wool with leather buttons. A range might include 35 pieces and they are numbered in order of presentation on the catwalk.
Look 26 will be the finale such as the three tulip and bubble cocktail dresses with voluminous tailoring and cutaway cocooning skirts from the 2007-08 range.
Grant set up his own boutique in the Marais in the ‘90s and his first Parisian show was in the street outside in 1994. “He was known for his tiny details and stitching,” she said.
This is the third major fashion show at the NGV in the last four years and it has been a busy time for curators bringing out the differences.
“We’ve followed Martin’s lead,” Somerville says. He has a certain look with limited colour, minimal fabric patterns, sculptural shapes and concise silhouettes.
Wearers include Kate Blanchett, Lady Ga Ga, Jacky Kennedy’s sister Lee Radziwill, who became a friend, and photographers such as Polly Borland who was a “partner in crime”.
This show, like most recent displays, is eminently photographic with pointy-elbowed mannequins and plenty of poses to capture attention, including some one-offs that demand attention.
Fashion is big at the NGV at the moment with the summer show to be announced, following Chanel, McQueen and Grant.
Martin Grant
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square, Melbourne
Exhibition continues to 26 January 2026
Entry fees apply
For more information, visit: www.ngv.vic.gov.au for details.
Images: Martin Grant with the Look 26 Collection – photo by Rhonda Dredge | Curator Katie Somerville poses in front of Look One and the winter classics of 2005-06 – photo by Rhonda Dredge
Words: Rhonda Dredge