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Grey sleeveless top on the mannequin, seven fine pin-tucks running from a round neckline down to the waist seam. Structured and quiet, like a shirt that decided to become something else.
Back view of the top, a single centre seam and a welted pocket sitting low on each hip. Nothing decorative here, just good tailoring.
The back waist seam in close-up, two flat welt pockets stitched with the same precision as the front pin-tucks.
Side angle showing the pin-tucks sitting just off-centre against the plain panel and welt pocket below. Technical, considered, a little severe.
The front opening up close, hidden poppers running beneath a facing while the pin-tucks fan out beside them toward the shoulder.
Where the pin-tucks meet the shoulder seam, each fold pressed along the same exacting line.
The hem in close-up, pin-tucks running out into a plain band with a welt pocket just visible at the side seam.
The concealed popper closure up close, black snaps set into a facing with the pale lining showing beneath.
The empire rose label at the neck, size 14, sitting just above the first hidden popper.
The inside fibre tag, printed Prada, made in Australia. 72% rayon, 22% nylon, 6% lycra, with care instructions below.
The top worn on the body, its slight sheen and pin-tucks holding their line in movement.
Another worn shot, the pin-tucks catching light down the sternum as the top moves.
The side seam meeting the hem, pin-tucks stopping cleanly at the waist band.

Fault Line · Empire Rose 1990s-2000s Technical Pin-Tuck Top

A$70.00



Rayon, nylon and lycra blend · pin-tuck front pleating · hidden plastic popper placket · Empire Rose · 1990s-2000s · 64cm long, 52cm bust · tagged a vintage 14

Six fine pin-tucks run the length of the front, pressed sharp enough to hold their own line even with stretch built into the cloth underneath, and right beside them a placket hides its closure entirely, poppers doing the work a row of buttons would normally get credit for.

The stretch comes from a rayon, nylon and lycra blend, technical rather than romantic, the kind of fabric built to hold a pleat and still move with a body. Empire Rose is a Western Australian label, founded in Perth in 1998 by designer Kathryn Cizeika, better known for technicolour retro prints and a mash-up of high glamour and street style; this piece is a rarer, quieter departure into black and precision.

The designer nicknamed this piece 'Prada', entirely unofficial, earned by the hidden closures and utility-minded restraint that put her closer to Prada's late 1990s and 2000s technical minimalism than to Empire Rose's usual colour. Nothing here is dressed up for the sake of it. Every seam is doing a job.

The placket closes with plastic poppers, hidden from view once fastened, and the whole front is built around that quiet mechanism rather than a visible row of buttons. The armhole runs 20cm and the neckline drops 11cm from the shoulder, both cut close and clean rather than loose.

Material

Rayon, nylon and lycra blend

Care

Hand wash cold or use a gentle machine cycle, and hang to dry to protect the stretch. Cool iron only if needed, avoiding the popper placket.

More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.

Size

Measured flat: Measured flat with some stretch accounted for, she runs 64cm long with a 52cm bust, a 49cm waist and a 55cm hip. The armhole measures 20cm and the neckline drops 11cm from the shoulder. Tagged a vintage 14, shown here on a size 10 mannequin as well as a modern AU 12, and comfortable up to a modern AU 14 given the stretch in the fabric. International size M to L.

Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.

Condition

Excellent. There is some bubbling to the inner facing where steam has affected the facing glue, visible only from the inside and not from the front. No other flaws: the poppers all function, the pin-tucks hold their press, and the fabric shows no pilling or marking.

Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.

Before it reaches you

Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.

Everything true about her lives just out of sight: the poppers hidden under their own placket, the pockets angled so they barely announce themselves, a small bubble in the facing that only exists if you turn her inside out and go looking for it. She was built to be read from a distance, all clean lines and no decoration, and up close she turns out to be full of small private mechanics nobody was ever meant to notice. She does her most interesting work exactly where you cannot see it.