2015 TELSTRA PERTH FASHION FESTIVAL

USPA NEWS - TELSTRA PERTH FASHION FESTIVAL
Now in it´s 17th year, Telstra Perth Fashion Festival is one of Australia´s premier fashion events. TPFF has cultivated an international reputation for fostering some of Australia´s most sought after creative talent and showcasing Western Australian Fashion designers.

PERTH LIGHTS UP WITH THE 2015 TELSTRA PERTH FASHION FESTIVAL PROGRAM LAUNCH Festival founder and director, Mariella Harvey-Hanrahan on Tuesday, July 21, unveiled the highly anticipated program for Perth´s fashion event of 2015, the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival. The festival, now in its 17th year is bigger and better than ever and will bring a range of Perth City venues to life with a series of stunning runway, fashion and community events. The festival runs from September 15 to 20, promising six exhilarating days of fashion, including some of the most sought after talent on the local, national and international stage. From the opening night with Perth model, presenter and writer Tiah Eckhardt at the Dilettante Show to the closing night with international Burlesque star, designer and model, Dita Von Teese hitting the runway for Wheels and Dollbaby the program is filled with excitement.

It will also feature runway shows from the likes of Jaime Lee and Akira; international talent with Vietnamese designer Phuong My debuting a new collection and internationally revered and celebrated fashion illustrator David Downton travelling from the UK to attend events and to act as a Telstra Perth Fashion Festival International Ambassador. Free public fashion shows will be held at Fashion Central in Forrest Place presented by Alcohol, Think Again with shows from fashion retailers Target, enex100 and Brookfield. “I am really excited by the ground-breaking nature of the fashion we will be showing at this year´s Telstra Perth Fashion Festival,“ said Ms Harvey-Hanrahan. “And heartened by the way the event has developed over the past 17 years.“

SAB FIVE FIVE- Raw, vivacious and passionate! This is the essence of Sab five five ““ fashion that clothes the soul. Established in 2005 with the opening of her flagship boutique in Claremont Western Australia, Designer Sabrina Wong has crafted a collection of tran-seasonal, beautifully intricate pieces that brings life to the wearer and joy to the beholder! Sab´s range is extremely diverse yet thoughtfully drawn together, representing her eclectic sense of individualism and style, challenging the catwalks of Tokyo and Paris with a no-rules approach to design and an unbridled energy unique to Sab55. Cultivated through endless hours of refinement at her studio in Brunei where she lives with her husband and two sons, each Sab55 piece draws on a combination of beautiful and quality fabrics, uniquely engineered and hand crafted garments, and bold prints and motifs inspired by the collision of new and old, past and present. Sab55 prints are inspired by art such as antiques, statues, skulls, crosses and roses are collaged into abstract designs. . "There is no right or wrong ways when it comes to fashion and it is just this inconsistency that the beauty of the effects are well demonstrated on the garments, truly a label for women who dare to be different by daring to be themselves," said Sabrina. I was lucky enough to spend many hours with this remarkable designer , her heart and passion is evident in every piece of fashion she touches and she will be a head turner at this years TPFF.

Catini Designs debuted on the WA Designer Collections runway at Perth Fashion Festival 2011 with her very first Spring/Summer collection Precipice, again in 2012 with her Take Form collection and just recently gracing the Perth Fashion Festival 2013 runway with her Spring/Summer collection Hidden Space, launching the label into the Australian fashion industry with her elegantly unique pieces gaining recognition both within Australia and internationally. With collections embracing and complimenting the female silhouette, Catini designs are inspired by both contemporary and historical architecture and sculpture. With a focus on the shoulders, waist and hips, Mancini creates shapes that are translated onto the body in structural, voluminous, three-dimensional forms. International celebrities will again focus on her new collection to be showcased at the TPFF.

Named after a 1967 episode of Get Smart, Wheels & Dollbaby, has evolved from its initial roots of Iconic Australian flagship boutique, to an international cult brand that indulges rock luxury, decadence of luxurious fabrics against playful construction. Designer Melanie Greensmith was born in the United Kingdom to a Cricketer Father and Showgirl mother, inspiring the theatrics behind the label's aesthetic. Greensmith opened her first boutique in 1987 on a very bohemian Crown street in Sydney when her first customer Michael Jackson bestowed the "Outfitters To The Stars" trademark onto the label. Greensmith's partner Mark McEntee of The Divinyls has also remained the source rock-n-roll inspiration to the luxury label. This year the TPFF has announced a special guest "Dita Von Teese" who Melanie will bring to the closing ceremony and treat those lucky enough to have tickets to Dita's first Catwalk for Wheels and Dollbaby. I will be there will you?

WA boutique Dilettante will present three of their contemporary Australian designers at the TPFF 2015 Opening Night; representing the very best in local, national and international fashion. The combination of 33 Poets´ experimental pieces, Yang Li´s sharp, monochromatic designs and Maticevski´s mastery of feminine silhouettes through his expert construction will capture the artistic imagination of fashion design in a single runway event. - With international fashion success stories including Wheels & Dollbaby, Gemma Ward, Skye Stracke, Nicole Trunfio, Aurelio Costarella, Megan Gale, Bridget Malcolm, E L L E R Y, Russell James and Zhivago all hailing from Perth the scene is set for the most exhilarating week of fashion Australia will see in 2015. Taking place between 15-20 September, TPFF 2015 will present the most electrifying and dynamic calendar of free to public and ticketed fashion events.