I have been meaning to do this blog post for quite a long time. Remember when they crowned the wrong Miss World and it was all over the news.... it reminded me of when I was in my final year at Fashion College and I was selected to be the student to represent my college at the Australia Industry Fashion Awards. I worked very hard to put together the collection to dress 5 models in resort wear on the runway, whilst still attending classes and working all weekend at a Department Store selling mens business shirts, to help pay for fabrics and accessories. I dyed & hand printed my own fabrics, sourced brightly colored leather to make the belts, and even made the hats. I had help from the most amazing lecturer ever, Wendy Armstrong, who would even take home some of the hand sewing on the weekends.
So finally all the work was done and I had to send the whole collection away to Sydney to be judged and wait to hear. Weeks later I was in the school canteen and got a call from the Fashion Lecturers that I had been selected as one of the Top 3 finalists from all the fashion colleges in Australia. I called my mum and cried. Here are some photos of the collection.
Months later off I went to Sydney for an all expenses paid trip to attend the glittering fashion show which was telecast LIVE all around Australia. I was just 21 and had just graduated. It was a big deal, with all the biggest Fashion Designers in Australia at the time in attendance. Us students were tabled in the back corner, where we couldn't hear what was being said on stage. It was amazing to watch our garments float down the catwalk. When they announced the winner though, we couldnt hear who they said, we just saw which set of models came back down the runway.... they weren't my models, so it wasn't me. One of the other 2 students rushed up on stage to accept her trophy and make her speech. Halfway through her speech she looked down at her trophy and saw someone else's name, she stammered but carried on. YES the wrong set of models had come down the catwalk and thus the wrong designer accepted the award. I felt sorry for them both, but I was glad I was left out of it. Here is a copy of my gold embossed certificate.
So a few months ago I dug out the old VHS video tape of the event and sent it off to be put onto DVD. Such an amazing blast back in time to early 90's Australia (the TV adverts are hilarious) but the highlight of it all, was that a very young Hugh Jackman was the presenter that night..... so he said MY NAME as my collection came onstage and floated down the catwalk in true 90's style. How exciting. I wonder if he still remembers me? Here is the link
Here are a few of the newspaper clippings from the lead up to the awards....
Isn't it ironic that I ended up still designing resort wear all these years later... and I still have a "thing" for bright colors. Look at what has just arrived for 2017.
