Zhivago steps out on national stage
The designer duo behind acclaimed label Zhivago have their eyes set on the national stage - and they are taking a collection of *WA *brands along with them for the ride.
Little over two years since their launch at Perth Fashion Festival, *Lydia Tsvetnenko *and *Lara Kovacevic *have already grabbed the attention of industry watchers both in Australia and overseas after their edgy creations were spotted on a long list of celebrities, from *Lady Gaga *to *Mel B *.
It was also only last year that they made their Eastern States debut at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia in an emerging designer show but already the duo have been invited back again - this time to make their national stand-alone show debut at Australia's biggest fashion event on April 10.
Kovacevic said it was a grant from the Department of Culture and the Arts and support from fellow *Perth *brands Savoir Faire cosmetics, Atlas Pearls and Aussie Bombshell tanning that allowed them to take the boldest step in their careers to date.
"We wanted to do a solo show but we didn't think it was possible," she admitted to _AAA _.
"Then these amazing WA people have come forward and gotten on board . . . we couldn't do it without them. This show costs so much money and there is no way we could have afforded to do this without them. It's going to be a really major WA show."
Rather than being held in MBFWA's main space in the Sydney Carriageworks complex, the Zhivago show will instead be built from the ground up in a heritage-listed warehouse, with styling from former Madison magazine fashion editor *Nathalie Agussol *and production by Perth's *Jacqui Brown *adding to the mix.
But even before they take on Sydney, the designers revealed they had already been approached to show at several international fashion weeks later this year. Tsvetnenko said they were weighing up whether they were ready to go global.
"There are two sides: you have to grow when you can grow but then you can't grow too fast that you can't fulfil things," she explained.
"It's a fine line but I think we are OK to go ahead with (an international show). We will wait to see how Sydney goes."
JESSIE PAPAIN
'This show
costs so much
money and there is
no way we could have afforded to do this without them. It's going to be a really major WA
show.'
