A taste of what's to come .......

I always love to see what Australian fashion design talent is emerging from the fashion schools, so I was very excited to get a sneak peek at what the creative kids here in Sydney have been up to this year.


At the end of this month, the ground floor of the beautiful and historic Strand Arcade in Sydney will be converted into a little Italy for the night to host The Sydney Institute of Fashion Design Studio's annual competition.

Each year, the blossoming third year designers’ challenge is to design and construct one original, cutting-edge garment that adheres to a theme. This year the theme is ‘Night of the Witches’, a dark, moody aesthetic, with the objective being, above all, for the students to showcase an original garment which exhibits the best of their individual signature style.

In an interesting twist to the brief, each student has been instructed that their dress must not consist of any typical evening-wear fabrics, such as satin, silk or chiffon. instead students have come up with a series of original evening gowns made of industrial fabrications such as rubber, reflector and latex.

The competition will be judged by a panel of celebrity adjudicators, including designer Marnie Skillings and Tracey Porter, Editor of Ragtrader Magazine.

Below is an exclusive look at some of the innovative finished gowns before they hit the catwalk.