Iconic Australian fashion designer Collette Dinnigan has wowed Paris crowds with her AW13 collection titled “The Incredible Darkness of Being.” As the first and only Australian designer to have been invited by the Chambre Syndicale du Pret a Porter des Couturiers et des Createurs de Mode to show on the prestigious Paris schedule, Dinnigan has the unenviable task of representing Australia at the renowned Paris Fashion Week.

According to Dinnigan, “The Incredible Darkness of Being” tells the story of a woman who to the world in general lived what would be considered a reasonably quite ablest stylish life. Never outwardly flamboyant she secretly got a thrill out of being studied. She liked to sit. She liked being painted. She loved to be depicted in dark oils, as her wardrobe was as brooding as her thoughts: all olive, inky blues, midnight pitchy black and her only concession to colour was with touches of sky blue and early sunrise red.

“For her new series of portraits for the coming winter she prepared all her colours in her favoured boiled wools but added small effects of leather, French lace woven with thick threads and she also added some oblong sequins for ornament and luminosity. The shapes were rigorous yet still there was an undeniable undertow of deep sexuality to it all, a promise of piety laced with passion. The painter was happy. He captured her modesty, her incredible plainness and rightness religiously.”

Click the slideshow to see images from Collette Dinnigan's 2013 Paris Fashion Week AW13 runway show