Style Discovery

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Ellie Meyer to Melbourne Fashion Festival 2010

by songy on 21. Jan, 2010 in Perth Fashion Festival 2009, unwrapped 2009

What do you know about Ellie Meyer? Looking at this article from the West Australian we know that she is one of 12 students going to Melbourne Fashion Festival 2010 (LMFF) for the Student Showcase. That’s super cool. After reading that article yesterday, I quickly sent a congrats messgae to Ellie and started recalling what I have in my photo library for Ellie Meyer, the creator of Prufrock.

She just finished her graduation parade (although she hasn’t finished her study just yet). Ellie was one of three winners at the Perth Fashion Festival 2009 to secure a fashion studio for six months to showcase the work (with Andrea Wolf from Polytechnic west and Jane Kelsey from Central) at the 2010 Festival.

After admiring her bug collection at the Curtin Graduation Parade 09 exhibits outside of the venue, I finally got to meet Ellie and scored my own piece of Prufrock at Unwrapped 09 Leederville in December last year. I got a bug brooch and a vest which can be worn in multiple ways. Another special thing about it is that it’s pretty much one off as Ellie made it using vintage fabric off another garment.

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It’s all too exciting. LMFF is happening in March. Some people suggested that I should go to LMFF but with my day job I really can’t.

I hope Melbournites love Prufrock, Ellie’s design. Good luck, Ellie!!

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Lauren Meyer, T2 for me and maybe catwalk albums for you

by songy on 12. Dec, 2009 in Uncategorized

Someone made a comment today that I ‘appear everywhere+1′ – whatever that means. Yeah, I was at the Style Circle’s end of the year drinks as you saw in my last post and the X-Press drinks last night which I didn’t talk about here. I tend to be everywhere although I haven’t posted anything since Tuesday. I thought I wouldn’t have much to discover this time of the year but I was wrong. I could have easily gone out today to see a fashion parade at the Polo in the City event. However, I decided to break the cycle of ‘everywhere+1′ and stayed at home. How about that? Why? It was 37c outside. Too hot and the event was outside. When I was told that the show was held outside and it’s a public event I thought to myself – okay, I’m not going out. It’s funny. Probably at the same time last year, I would have gone straight out there without any hesitation. Nowadays, if I’m not invited (ahem) and it’s not a decent set up, I couldn’t be bothered. So that’s why I decided to give it a miss. It could have well been a fantastic show specially when I was told that Lauren Meyer was there. Lauren is the one to watch out in the modelling scene. She happens to be from Scene Models. She is tall, beautiful and charming. I’m sure we’ll see much more of her next year.

Actually, I did go out. I went to Garden City and visited two of my favourite stores. T2 is an amazing store. It’s a sensory heaven – smells nice and visually stunning. Only leaf tea I drank so far has been some Japanese Green tea. I thought it’s about time I had some more interesting stuff. T2 is the place for just that. I’m not dead against drinking bagged teas although some of my friends are. I certainly can afford to pay a little extra for nicer tea I suppose. I also needed a pot with a proper strainer since I was looking leaf tea. The one I picked out which didn’t have a price tag turned out to be the most expensive item in the entire store – all glass pot from Germany at $220. Yep, I didn’t think I could spend that much! I did ask the shop assistant to recommend something more affordable. I’m very happy with the white pot I bought today. It came with a high quality stainless steel strainer and a lid with a quality rubber seal that keeps all parts in place. Most important thing, however, is how well it pours. I’m very happy to report that it pours well without spilling everywhere. Green Rose is rose flavoured classic green tea. Monk Pear is black tea with delicate flavour. T2 Stack I got has three different kinds of Green tea. Drinking hot tea in 37c heat seems counter intuitive but it works out fine for me. Half way through the pot, I’ll transfer the tea into a jug and add some ice. Nice… ice tea with fresh fruit. How about that for a Summer survival drink?

Did you know that my catwalk photographs are available for purchase? In case you didn’t know, check out the Gallery page in Base East. Anyhow, now I have happy customers. Interestingly, the site, Base East started out as an experiment but it’s generating income albeit small. I always thought it would be good to have albums from each show I attended. I went to another one of my favourite stores, kikki.k, and bought two cloth covered albums. I’m never good with my own memorabilia and travel photos. However, I’m very enthusiastic about my catwalk photos. I wonder if other people are as well. so I’ll start with STYLEAID 09 and Perth Fashion Festival 2009. Maybe, I’ll show off once these are all filled in. It will be interesting to do the ‘editing’ work – picking what to print and sequencing printed photos. Hope you’re excited to see the final result. I know I am.

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Challenger TAFE 2009 Graduate show – sustainable design and RTW

by songy on 17. Nov, 2009 in Architextile

I’m nervously posting this as my laptop started playing up. It could well get stuck in the midway to give me the dreadful spinning wheel of death. While the technology is letting me down I have a fashion talk to cover tomorrow and three shows to shoot next week.

Talking about shows, I have all the photos from Architextile – Challenger TAFE 2009 Graduate Show loaded in Facebook and Flickr. While I looked through what really grabbed me was a couple of outfits from the sustainable and eco design. The last piece is designed by Louise McMahon and it was also shown at the Perth Fashion Festival as part of the Student Runway.

The sustainable design is more of the ‘op-shop shopping turned into a new outfit’. It must have been fun. It’s not just about creating new garments from old. It’s a total restyling which I find so exciting. I wish I could buy those two outfits ha ha..

There were, of course 13, graduates presenting four garments each. I’d like to pick my favourites soon and show them to you. By the way, have you picked out a pair of shoes for me yet? See the previous post…

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Betts shoes

by songy on 16. Nov, 2009 in Uncategorized

Betts shoes are everywhere. Did you notice? Maybe not but I sure did. The marketing team at the Betts Group has been busy. They supplied pretty much all the shoes for the Perth Fashion Festival 2009. Every goodie bag from each show had Betts gift cards. It makes sense as Betts is WA owned business. I even gave away about five cards to my friends. Then I saw Betts at Zara Bryson’s show last week. It’s gotta work. If all tall and pretty girls walk down the catwalk wearing sky high heels from Betts it will make any girl want to buy those beauties? I wear flats all the time these days. That said, sexy heels are always tempting and I do need to wear something less casual for work.

Evidence of Betts shoes everywhere.. Lin Pin, Zara Bryson and Leanne Lim parades

Here I am browsing for a new pair of shoes. I’ve been offered a free pair from Betts – just because I took literally hundreds of photos of models wearing Betts for many weeks? Is that a good enough to reason to receive a free gift? Whatever, I can never say no to free shoes. Have you seen a necklace with a charm saying ‘will f*^*k for shoes‘? Enough said.

You know I do complain about crappy websites. Betts has done a really good job with their online store. Much better than what Wittner shoes did with their website. Their flash based website bugs me no end and I gave up going there. Betts’ website is easy to use. It’s conventional. It shows you what you want to buy and it doesn’t get in the way of all the more important buying experience. I’m all for easy to use online stores. Enf of my website review now.

Here’s my selection of shoes. I got attracted to strapy sandals. I haven’t quite decided what to get though. I just need to pick a pair and Gino, the national marketing manager from Betts Group will ship them over for me. Why don’t you tell me what I should get? This could well be the start of another ‘Dressing Songy‘ season. How about that as an incentive?

1. Bondage $109.99

2. Galaxy $119.99

3. Law $89.99

4. Enslave $119.99

Heck, I could just get myself one of these instead – completely suitable for carrying a 15kg camera gear in my white tee and a pair of jeans.

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Architextile – Challenger TAFE 2009 Graduation Parade at Deckchair

by songy on 12. Nov, 2009 in Architextile

It is a fashion and textile graduation show season – see the Style Calendar. Just like I was totally shattered in September due to the Fashion Festival, November is one of those months when I get totally no rest. At least during the festival, I had a week off work. Tonight, after work, I rushed off to Fremantle (yep once again) to see the graduation parade by Challenge TAFE. I must tell you. It wasn’t that hard to get the media access but it took ages to get it organised. The venue was big enough but there was virtually no room and no consideration was given for media guys with cameras. Duh. Some of us had to resort to standing on chairs (once again but this time I didn’t break anything). After a little jostling along with silent and not so silent negotiations, all of us got our spots sorted.

Of course, I did pay all the more important visit to backstage. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there early enough to catch the girls getting their hair and make up done. It was frantic as usual, though. I made some snaps with the designers and models.

It’s always great to see familiar faces. Anna Excell was in a gorgeous off-cut ruffle dress. She seemed to have had a ‘peach’ phase (maybe she is in love…) this season. Her spring and summer collection as part of the grad parade was all in pinky peach. I absolutely loved her jumpsuits, great big dress with a huge train and a ruffle vest with suede shorts. Yum.

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Big hair and fierce make up – sign of a dramatic show. Well, Aly May was once again in charge so it was going to be one of those spectacular evenings. It helps to have great designs too. Architextile was fantastic although the venue was way too hot. So much so that I had a cramp in my leg due to dehydration. I just finished downloading photos (1.5K). This is just a sneak peek post. Actual parade photos to come tomorrow and over the weekend unless there are more fun things to do… you know how it is.

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Couture Friday by Fashion WA at Bistro Felix

by songy on 08. Nov, 2009 in Uncategorized

Fashion WA guys, Jacqui and Chelsey always seem to be doing interesting stuff for WA fashion supporting fantastically talented local designers. Couture Friday at Bistro Felix was one of those events. Fine dinning at Bistro Felix then pretty models from Scene walking around the table showing lovely garments. I later found out that the models even got paid. Yes, fashion models don’t always get paid for what they do, you know…

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Although I was feeling rather crook, I did pay a visit to see the crew before the show. Petticoat Minx’s fasciantors fascinated me. I hear that they are all individually handmade. Cool? Don’t you love the crazy brow make up by Penny?

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Ah, I was thrilled to see Paper Skye’s new design (second row)! The venue, Bistro Felix, was cool although it wasn’t that parade friendly. I could see that the food was quite sumptuous. I loved their vintage style prints on the wall.

It was also great to see some familiar faces and getting to actually know names of some of the faces (as well). I finally got to meet Greg from the West. I see him in most events I attend but I never knew his name although he is rather famous in his own right taking photos from the biggest paper in WA. I was also approached by Emma Bergmeier, Fashion and Art editor from X-press magazine. She was asking me if I could ‘shoot’ for X-press at all graduation shows. Yeah, why not. I don’t know exactly what’s involved but I’m sure that means processing photos as soon as the shows are over… more sleep deprivation is in order it seems. I also saw Teagan (one of the project managers from the Perth Fashion Festival 2009 and Fremantle High Street Collective 2008) who is preparing to launch her own jewellery label. I hear that her stuff will be stocked at the famous Varga Girl. The flagship store was relocated from King St. to Oxford st. in Leederville recently. There will be an official opening of the store. It’s going to be big. I’m so excited about it… probably there will be a personal tour of the store by Teagan herself before then! Hurrah.

Back to Couture Friday, fortunately, I didn’t get to see the entire show. Regardless, I like the idea of lunching and fashion show. Will they be next time, Jacqui? Please count me in.. I might even get to sit down next time for a change?!

Fashion WA’s store is selling all you see in the photos (of course, not the girls or the wine…)

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Songy’s Makeover by Taryn at Head Studio

by songy on 22. Oct, 2009 in Uncategorized

After my first major hair cut early this year, I’ve been suffering from the ‘staleness’ of my hair style of late, specially since the Perth Fashion Festival 09. I’ve had enough to time to really take care of myself. Until now I’ve been a loyal customer of Skatt Northbridge. Just after the festival, however, Mark from Head Studio emailed me offering a complementary hair cut and style. As I posted a few weeks ago, I rarely get anything for free and when I do I worry about possibly sad consequences of mediocre service which I have nothing good to say about.

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Oh boy am I glad that I accepted that kind offer from Mark Jnr. Anyway, there were more than a few reasons I took the offer gladly in the first place. I really liked the photos Mark sent to me. They were interior photos of his salon(s). I also remembered seeing some girl carrying a shopping bag from Head Studio and it was quite striking. You know me. I’m all for good marketing and good aesthetics.

I got a reminder call from Head Studio the other day and there I was in front of the King street branch of Head Studio. What a location! It’s located in the newly revamped end of King Street -a fashion mecca in the CBD. What a space! Head Studio is a true family business which began 21 years ago by Rose and Mark Cain Snr in Rockingham and Success. They are still running these salons and Rose recently celebrated 30 years of hairdressing! Mark Cain Jnr and his sister Marie opened the King St Salon in 2008. The space was personally designed and renovated by Mark and his brother and it’s to-die-for. He kept old (brick work, copper pipes and steel structures) and added new (funky drawings on the wall, rustic wooden structures, sleek modern furniture together with retro charm). Interestingly, that’s exactly how I would like to decorate my own home in the future if I ever get a chance.

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You know what I thought immediately.. fashion events! Little parade and product launches for styles that may not suit say, Skatt. Skatt is a wonderful space, don’t get me wrong but not suitable for everything. I thought Head Studio could be used for more high end stuff as the location suggests.

Taryn, my stylist for the day has been working for Head Studio for the past seven years. Good grief.. she is very young you know although I wouldn’t want to disclose her age here. She started early and she loves what she does. I love it when I meet people like her. Happy vibe is infectious. Interestingly, she and other other senior stylists serve a lot of famous people in Perth, namely, Lisa Scaffidi, Perth very own stylish Lord Mayor.

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So finally on to my hair, my hair was a little too long and became shapeless and boring. Ashely, the apprentice started the session with a gentle aroma therapy head massage and shampoo. Then Taryn came over to have a little chat about what I was hoping to get out of the session. With her clever styling I look much better. Wouldn’t you say? I wish I had a little lippy and powder on my face..GRRR.

I’ll be seeing Taryn again in four weeks to keep up the funk. That time I’ll be a paying customer. Actually, I didn’t just walk out empty handed. Could you ever? Well, no one pushed me into buying anything but I had to as the ‘product’ Taryn used to shape my fringe was so cool. It’s called Gritty Business by Kevin Murphy. I have to warn you though I haven’t been very loyal to my stylists. I moved around a lot for the past 10 years. I may well go back to Patrick sometime when my hair is a little longer, maybe? Who knows who will tempt me again with more of funk and beauty.

Unfortunately, I never got to Meet Mark as he was busy helping the other salons but I’d love to catch up with him over a tea. I like the sound of him, good and considerate boss with incredible sense of style. I hear that he may well get trained as a stylist himself. Imagine the boss being an apprentice!

Update on October 29: It turned out got quite a few facts wrong as I was getting some second hand information not directly from Mark Jnr himself on the day so I had to re-write a few bits as I got some corrections from Mark. Sorry folks.

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The Future Modelling of Sudan by Sarah Ayor

by songy on 15. Oct, 2009 in Uncategorized

Meet Sarah Ayor. She was born in Ethiopia and spent some time in Sudan where she lost her father at the age of two. Her mother and five kids had to do their time in a refugee camp in Kenya before arriving in Australia . She is one of very few lucky people who were able to have a new life. I guess this isn’t anything new. I’d think that there would be still hundreds and thousands of other African girls dreaming of the kind of life Sarah has – safe place for family, food and regular life. Sarah is lucky enough to have more…She has signed up with Scene – one of the premiere modelling agencies in Perth. We saw her at the Betty Sugar launch, Perth Fashion Festival 2009 and Styleaid 09.

Mother of two year old boy, Sarah isn’t just enjoying her success as a leading fashion model in Perth alone. She decided to help other African girls specially those from Sudan by teaching them how to be models.

That’s how The Future Modeling of Sudan came about. I visited the gang last Sunday during their practice session. How fun it was! Making them pose for photos was fun. Giving them some advice on how to ‘walk’ for photos on catwalk was interesting. I’m dying to see them on November 6 for the show. Interested in seeing them all transformed into catwalk models? Ticket is going for $30. It’s all in the spirit of supporting the Sudanese community!

For further enquiries and tickets, contact Jacqui (Scene Model Management) 0431 115 370 or 9486 9994

The Future Modeling of Sudan
Friday, 06 November 2009 at 17:00
Location: Morley Recreation Centre
Street: Cnr Wellington Road & Mangini Street

Featuring Fashion Catwalk with designs by:
Celestial Tenielle
Betty Sugar Collection
Ribbon of Africa

Lots more pictures in Facebook and in Flickr.

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EP Bar Northbridge – Paradise found

by songy on 14. Oct, 2009 in Uncategorized

This is a totally random post. I go out to Northbridge pretty much every week for cheap and cheerful meals. All this time, I didn’t know a place like EP Bar even existed. I only found it out from going through the Outskirts map provided as part of the Perth Fashion Festival 09.

EP Bar, as I know it, is an interesting place. It’s not visible from the busy William Street. I barely noticed the William Lane where the bar is situated. When I first walked in I was so surprised by the ‘tranquility’. Maybe it was the time of the day?

There’s distinctive retro charm with modern quirkiness. It will be just the place for Friday afternoon chill-out. I wonder how busy it will get at night. It will have a totally different feel to the place after dark I’d imagine. The clientele was an interesting mixture as well – young and old. I’d want to go back there for a drink after a hard day at work. This week is out but maybe next week or the week after?

View Style Discovery – Eating and drinking in a larger map

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Fashion Paramount and WA Designer Collection Backstage

by songy on 24. Sep, 2009 in Perth Fashion Festival 2009

Just wondered if anyone who didn’t get a chance to see any of the shows at the fashion festival might like to have a peek at Fashion Paramount. It was the place where all the major collection shows were held. Fashion Central was the one in the heart of the city but that has been dismantled soon after the festival was ended. Fashion Paramount, however, was set up in the old Gasworks Building. I don’t know what else will be using that space but it was magical in a way and it was somewhat ‘hazardous’ in other ways. The seats were placed on scaffoldings, a lot of the structure squeaked a little. I’m sure it was safe to walk around in flats but certainly not in super high heels. After all, it’s an old building and the whole fashion show set up was just a temporary arrangement.

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What you also see here are some shots from the Kurv bar. This was where VIP gathered and sipped drinks prior to each show. I didn’t have a chance mingle with anyone as I had to guard my spot for the shoot. Pity isn’t it? I did get to take some photos before the Student Runway though as you’ve seen.

I’ve been planning on showing you the WA Designer Collections for days. The conundrum I’ve been having is how much to show you. There were two collections. In Collection 1 we have 12 new and emerging designers and Collection 2 had 16 somewhat more established designers. Should I show you each designer? That will last weeks. Should I just pick a couple each out of each designer and do a couple of posts with lots and lots of images? I just couldn’t decide. After a rigorous culling I have 14 collages just for Collection 2. Well, let me have more of a thinking before I bombard you with massive amount of photos. That’s why I started with some backstage images. You may wonder what the bloody big deal is. Well it is a big deal because this is one of the WA government funded shows. How many times do we get to appreciate and congratulate what our government does? WA Designer Collections have traditionally been funded and supported by Department of Culture and the Arts.

By the way, the feather eye lashes were an interesting concept for the WA Designer Collection. There were fun to watch being applied to models’ eyes at backstage. I wondered how they would look on the catwalk. I guess you’ll soon find out when I finally release my images unless you’ve seen them somewhere else already.

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Rebecca Paterson’s 33 Poets and Panache

by songy on 23. Sep, 2009 in Perth Fashion Festival 2009, styleaid 2009

Panache is from India designed by Rebecca Paterson. Rebecca also has an ‘obscure’ label called 33 Poets. I don’t know why it’s described as such. At the moment, 33 Poets is only available at Libertine (by Amanda McKenna & Co) in Mt. Lawley. I haven’t yet had a chance to visit Libertine although I had an extensive visit of its sister store, Hustle, in Fremantle – Review of Hustle to come soon.

Panache at STYLEAID 2009

Panache at the Perth Fashion Festival 2009

Panache has very obvious feel of India from the colour palettes to motif. It’s cuts are not necessarily Indian. Oh having said that the designer is somewhat mixing Indian men and women’s wear in the cutting. So I guess there’s nothing so obscure about Panache. That becomes more obvious in the WA Designer Collection for Perth Fashion Festival 2009.

33 Poets at STYLEAID 2009

As for 33 Poets, maybe it’s obscure because the designer isn’t necessarily marketing it hard under her name? Or is it because it’s usually all in black? It could be said that it’s a little more experimental in it’s approach.

33 Poets at the Perth Fashion Festival 2009

As far as I can tell, Rebecca is having a lot more fun. She not only tries out something that isn’t so conventional but also she literally plays with words with her designs. Whether we would like to call 33 Poets Rock & Roll chic or old school charm it’s obvious (not obscure at all) to me that she gets to keep her fun side along with just designing for decorative Panache. My dream at the moment is visiting her Mumbai workshop for Panache.

I seriously wonder what kind of creative space she’d have there. Would she have a 33 poets’ dedicated space or is it more of a case of her switching back and forth just in her mind.. intriguing.

One last note, there was a bit of debacle getting photos at STYLEAID for Panache and 33 poets. I’ll have to make a special request to our beloved creative director Aly May so that we can avoid it in the future but what happened was that four models for each collection just walked out without any break between them so it was next to impossible get decent photos. So if you think the shots are so so now you know why….

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a touch of wool II by curtin university and DAFWA

by songy on 21. Sep, 2009 in Perth Fashion Festival 2009

a touch of wool II was, as the name suggests, all about garments made with wool and its comfort. The show actually kicked off with a dancer dancing around wearing a wool dress by Sooyung Yang. Making a point I suppose? It was an interesting show for me as I haven’t been to a show featuring only one type of fabric before. I was mainly interested simply because I noticed Amanda’s name in a little ad I saw in the Perth Fashion Festival 2009 program. Then I saw the design duo for A=mc2, Amanda and Amy at the Popsicle Launch. I tend to follow talented people around and that was possibly the only reason for me to attend the show at the time during the festival. Just as well, the show was fantastic.

The show was a result of the collaboration between Curtin university and the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA – what a mouthful!). Curtin being the only university offering a fashion design course and DAFWA supporting local wool industry with scientific research it makes sense to put on a show such as this. Making sense and putting a good show, however, is a different thing altogether, right? I say it was really well done.

I wish I could share the booklet from the show with you. There were eight designers featuring 7 different labels or concepts. The booklet shows stories behind the design processes and the usage of wool as the only fabric. For some, it would have been a challenge as they have mainly used synthetic materials with their wok in the past. But for Amy and Amanda it is their job as they are actually employed by DAFWA. Talking about an interesting day job. Anyway, it was a highly educational experience for me to read intellectual concept and process behind each section of the show. Also, knowing the support behind making wool as the most comfortable ‘second skin’ I’m now a full supporter of wool.

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It was also interesting to find a Korean woman, Sooyung Yang, being hailed as a design ‘interpreter’. She is an expert of Shima Seiki Wholegarment knitting machine. This means her designs are translated and manufactured completely by the machine and there are no seams in her garments! Interesting… I would love to see that machine myself one day just to see how the ‘interpretation’ works. Would you be interested?

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Here’s the collection by Amy Clarke and Amanda Murphy. I know how to spot talents. Would you agree? Don’t get me wrong. I liked all those I saw but since I know these two I have more to talk about them, naturally. Sporty, futuristic and dynamic are the words I’d use to describe their work. I quite like the very first dress.

West Australian Government does quite a few wonderful things for the fashion industry and this has been the most interesting and intriguing one. I hope to see more of ‘a touch of wool’ and my report on the show should be better next year. Well done, guys and thanks for inviting me to experience WA wool.