Fashion grads give fresh perspective
Audiences at the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival got a taste of Perth's best new design talent at tonight's Future Runway parade, with 60 graduates from WA's various fashion programs showcasing their wares.
It was a wild and woolly night outside and the tent at Fashion Paramount seemed to shake and wobble with the wind, eliciting a few nervous comments before the show started.
But once the lights went up and the first model stepped out, all eyes were on the clothes.
Designers from Edith Cowan University, Curtin University, the WA Academy of Performing Arts, Polytechnic West and Central Institute were represented across six separate categories.
WAAPA graduate Sheridan Savage won the Ready to Wear Women's category with a striking black and white coat.
GALLERY: Future Runway ready to wear women's
Design from the Future Runway ready to wear women's category. Picture: Robert Duncan
Rini Teng from Central Institute took out the Ready to Wear Men's award with an edgy jacket and drop-crotch pant combination.
Design from the Future Runway ready to wear men's category. Picture: Robert Duncan
But it was Curtin University students that dominated the rest of the categories, with Jessica Moro winning both the Eveningwear and Costume category - a rare double in the history of the festival's student design awards.
GALLERY: Future Runway eveningwear
Moro presented a semi-sheer jumpsuit with flared pants for the eveningwear category and a dress with an Armadillo-like tiered top.
Design from the Future Runway costume design category. Picture: Robert Duncan/WA News
Moro also won the Top Student 2014 Award for her eveningwear design, taking away a $20,000 custom Snaptch mobile app designed to provide online portfolios for creative brands.
Moro's winning eveningwear piece. Picture: Robert Duncan/WA News
GALLERY: Future Runway costume design
Curtin University's Cordelia Gibbs won the Eco Design category and Alexandra Xu was the winner of a new category called Hi Vis Fashion.
The Hi Vis category provided an unusual challenge - to create garments using the neon -bright vests normally worn by Telstra technicians.
The idea also tied in with Western Australia's fly-in fly-out community, known for their fluoro yellow work wear.
A design from the Future Runway Hi-Vis category. Picture: Robert Duncan/WA News
"I was really impressed by what the students came up with in this category," said Wild Horses designer and Future Runway judge Natalie Donovan, who showed her own collection on Saturday night as part of the WA Designer Runway.
"It was something a little quirky and they did such a good job. One designer even incorporated the Telstra logo into their designs, which was quite clever."
Donovan, who was a finalist in the Eveningwear category in 2009, said it was a tough choice to decide this year's winners, which ranged from commercially wearable clothes to the fantastical and avant-garde.
"There was definitely an interesting mix of submissions," Donovan said.
"There were ready-to-wear outfits that were influenced by everyday trends and the commercial market, but we also had some pretty cool and out-there pieces that were more like pieces of art."
Design from the Eco category. Picture: Robert Duncan/WA News
The Telstra Perth Fashion Festival closes Monday night with a much-anticipated show by local label Zhivago.
Design from the Future Runway Eco category. Picture: Robert Duncan/WA News
