By Kat George, 28 April 2011
Maniamania is Melanie Kamsler and Tamila Purvis—an art director and stylist duo that have been dubbed by the New York Times as having “that golden touch.” But I think that would be selling them short, given that since launching in 2009 the label has come to not only define the face of Australian jewellery design, but has picked up cult status the world over. And now, with international supermodel Abbey Lee Kershaw as the face of their latest campaign, Melanie and Tamila—as Maniamania—are ascending new heights of style and covetability.
Drawing on the mystical, the sublime and the otherworldly, Maniamania’s new collection, ‘Reve,’ picks up where ‘Dust’ left off with impeccable gypsy styling and earth-goddess sex appeal. With talismanic pendants in Aztec-esque symbols and precious rocks balanced in skeletal bronze rings that seem to be grasping at the rare gems set inside them, Reve is an exercise in the heady art of magic and enigma. Chunky bracelets and excessive layering characterise Maniamania’s unique retro-cum-future aesthetic, with Abbey Lee’s haunting blue eyes simply adding to the allure.