Urban Couture 2014

Urban Couture provides a platform for Western Australian fashion creatives and beyond to showcase works in a series of events throughout March. The mission of Urban Couture is to support home-grown talent in generating industry exposure.

Now in its fourth year, Urban Couture has become a leading program in the Perth fashion calendar. Urban Couture aims to transform unconventional spaces into places of popular fashion happenings.

The 2013 program was an overwhelming success, supporting over 50 designers and 30 artists in a program of 14 events attracting over 30,000 visitors. In collaboration with the Joondalup Festival, Urban Couture 2014 is set to put the spotlight on designers, artists, illustrators and photographers nationwide.

Expressions of interest for Urban Couture 2014 have closed, however if you are interested in being involved and would like more information please call 9400 4230.

Q&A with "A Story Of"

Tell us a bit about your business

Everything you buy has a story.  Whether it has come from a factory or handmade; if it's recycled or completely new; the people who have made it.  All these things make up the story of an item, and that's what A Story Of is about.  I create a little over half of the products on my website myself in WA, using things like vintage plates, recycled leather and local wool.  I also collaborate with some fair trade artisans in Thailand on designs and source yet more that have been designed and made by groups working with women at risk.  I try to make the stories of my products accessible and help people to feel the heart in what they are buying. 

What inspires you?

All sorts of things - a good book, movies, architecture... I get most inspired, though, when I travel and get to know different people, cultures, and the arts that are a part of them. 

What do you love most about selling at markets?

I love meeting new people - sellers and customers - finding out what they're upto and what they love about handmade items.  I also love to see the huge range of work on display.  WA has some amazing creativity to offer!!

What new products are you working on?

I'm just starting work on our first clothing collection, actually!! I want to collaborate with artisans in Thai hill tribes and use their traditional fabrics in modern designs.

Apart from that, I'm always working on new jewellery ideas, playing with different bits and pieces I can recycle. My most recent thing is using leather from belt offcuts, and I'm starting to get into cutting wood from naturally fallen branches.

What is your favourite product and why?

I do love working on my necklaces made from pieces of vintage plates. Finding the plates in op shops or receiving broken ones from friends which I can give new life to. They already have such a history, I can only imagine what their stories are!! I love being able to add my own paintings to make them into something new people can enjoy and feel good wearing. Each one is so unique with different pictures and character.

Business name/your name/website

Candice Tout from A Story Of

www.astoryof.com 

Farewell Unwrapped!

Unwrapped has always been one of Made On The Left’s favourite markets so it was a sad day when we learnt that their market on Sunday 24th March would be the last ever. MOTL caught up with founder Ebony Frost to find out all about her inspirational work helping designers sell their handmade work to the public through Unwrapped designer markets since 2006.

Ebony Frost

Do you and the rest of your team have any formal training/experience which helped you organise and manage an event?
I have a degree in Mass Communication and 10 years experience in large-scale event organisation, so I think the combination of the two has been very valuable. Team members along the journey have mostly been PR grads with lots of enthusiasm and a passion for locally designed products, which is always essential when you have to put in long hours!

Unwrapped are passionate about showcasing the best in designer handmade in an outdoor setting. Why did you consistently choose outdoor locations? 

Perth has a great climate and I felt we should make the most of that (though this has backfired on me several times!). Plus the atmosphere is much more relaxed if you have space to browse and wander down the street. 

Handmade has experienced such a huge surge in popularity over the past few years, why do you think this is? 

I think people are always looking for something new and quirky to help shape their personal style. Magazines like Frankie have helped promote the independent designer ethos in Australia over the past few years and I think it’s a philosophy that fits well with a lot of people and it made sense that eventually there would be a backlash against the mass-produced products we see everywhere. 

Does Unwrapped have any predictions for the future of handmade in the Western Australia; do you feel it will continue to grow in popularity? 

I think we need to be careful to nurture handmade as an industry. It’s too easy (and a lot cheaper) for designers to take production offshore to increase their profit margins. So we need to make sure we are prepared to pay a bit more for something that’s been handcrafted. 

What do you love most about putting on Unwrapped events and what do you find the most frustrating? 
I love the feedback I get from first time designers – they get such an enormous confidence boost from the event!
I guess it becomes frustrating when people are critical of things that I can’t control (like the weather) and perhaps don’t appreciate that good events don’t just ‘happen’, they require hundreds of hours of hard work and sacrifice.

Organising such huge events at great venues such as Forrest Chase must be very hard work; what inspired you to have it there? 

The City of Perth invited Unwrapped to be part of their Christmas events program.

What are you most proud of in terms of Unwrapped’s achievements and why? 

I wanted to change the cultural landscape in Perth when I started Unwrapped and I feel like we’ve done that. We started the ball rolling and allowed other events to establish themselves in the same vein. I think there are way more options out there for young designers now and that was always the main aim.

What can we look forward to from Unwrapped for the last market? 

The last event will hopefully be the best yet! It looks like being a perfect sunny Perth day… we’ll have 60 stalls of your favourite designers, plus a whole lot of new ones. The theme for this event is ‘vintage’ so expect to see ‘old meets’ new’ influences throughout the stalls, plus a Laneway Art Gallery with some fantastic photography and art!

 

The last Unwrapped will be held in South Perth. 
11:00am - 5:00pm, Sunday 24 March 2013
Angelo Street, South Perth. Don't miss it!

Urban Couture 2013 Expression of Interest

Urban Couture is a month long program of events that provide a platform for Western Australian fashion creatives and beyond. Urban Couture is about transforming unconventional spaces into popular fashion happenings. Now in its third year, Urban Couture is a key feature of the Joondalup Festival. 

The City is looking for fashion designers, textile artists, fashion photographers, runway models, hair and makeup stylists and backstage stylists to join forces in the 2013 event. The scope encompasses a month long program of satellite events with a finale over the Joondalup Festival weekend, 23 – 24 March 2013 Participants are invited to get involved in the following:

• Aperture & Lace combined wearable art and fashion photography exhibition 
• Pop up Runways transforming unconventional spaces into guerrilla catwalks
• Restyle Marketplace chic open air shopping precinct featuring boutique designers

If you are interested in being part of the event, please download the Urban Couture 2013 Expression of Interest Pack and follow the links to the online expression of interest forms.

Expressions of interest including support materials must be received by 30 November 2012 and places are limited. For further information please contact the City on 9400 4926 or via email.

Evolution @ Jull Street Markets - call out for youth stallholders

Armadale is having its first festival and you can be a part of this amazing event!

Armadale Youth Resources has teamed up with Made on the Left to enable young artists, fashion designers and craftspeople to be a part of the Evolution @ Jull Street event as part of the National Youth Week celebrations.

There will be a big youth arts, fashion and music festival in the Jull Street Mall precinct of Armadale, spilling out into the Armadale Train Station and Minnawarra park. It’s set to be a great night and will attract a huge crowd.

If you are an artist, craftsperson or fashionista under 30 years of age, you are invited to come and sell your goods.

You will get a marquee, a table for your products and a chair - all you need to do is bring your amazing creations!

Best of all, there's no stallholder fee, simply a $30 deposit which will be refunded on the night.

To book a stall, fill in the application form on the Made on the Left website. For additional information please contact Armadale Youth Resources on 9497 1722 or lindy@youthresources.com.au

Call for Designers and Artisans

Eco Faeries is a company that bridges diverse community through celebration to promote positive sustainable lifestyles. Below are two events coming up that you may be interested in.

Saturday 26th February is an adults faeries party with a sustainable clothing fashion parade. Organisers are inviting local designers who use sustainable materials, upcycle or recycle clothing to participate. There is no fee to designers who want to participate in this event as organisers want to promote local sustainable clothing, however you will need to organise your own models, choreos, makeup etc. This is an 'outside the box' fashion parade that will be paraded among performance artists, DJ's, live VJ's, special effects and theatre. Some designers have used dancers as models, as well as body painting designs to go with the theme of the event.

Sunday 27th March is the Eco Faerie festival including local artisans, fair trade and local growers market.

Both events are held at Cityfarm in east Perth. For more information on eco faeries head to www.ecofaeries.com or call or email Faerie Cara on 0415 174 115 and faeriecara@hotmail.com.

Swap O Rama coming to Perth!! Artist Open Call

Swap-O-Rama-Rama - Artist Open Call

DATE: 5th December 2009
TIME: 10:00 -4:00
LOCATION: City Farm, East Perth
CONTACT: Sandra Bryans
sewanista@iprimus.com.au
0437 176 629

"There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness." Gandhi

Join in the communal process of reuse and celebrate our collective creativity! You are invited to participate in Swap-O-Rama-Rama as staff. Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a giant clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing. At Swap-ORama-Rama consumers are taught to be creators and this transformation takes place through the local talent in the community. Swap-O-Rama-Rama is seeking artists of all calibers, recyclers and creatives of all kinds for the following roles:
publicity, artist taught DIY workshops, designer run sewing stations, silk screening, fashion show production, reuse designers for a recycled fashion show, sorters (get first dibs on clothes) and general help.

Publicity: If you can help with print and other media publicity, we'd love your help promoting this exciting event.

DIY Workshops: If you have a unique skill that transforms would be trash into a wearable item (clothing/jewelry/handbag etc.) please consider bringing this to Swap-O-Rama-Rama in the form of a DIY workshop.

Sewing Station/Fashion Show: If you're a whiz behind a sewing machine and work with reuse, consider being a Swap-O-Rama-Rama designer helping people learn how to mod the used clothing they find at the swap. And join the Swap-O-Rama-Rama fashion show and show off your creations.

Fashion Show production: If you can co-ordinate and manage a dynamic, freestyle fashion show, we'd love your ideas and input.

Silk Screen Crew: If you're a silk screener and would like to join the silk screening crew, offering your fresh designs to bring used clothes back to life, please get in touch!

Music: What's a party without music? If you are a DJ or have a band, we'd love to hear from you.

Example: Previous workshops - http://gaiatreehouse.com/makerfaire07.htm
Previous Swap Images: http://gaiatreehouse.com/makerfaire/luizaleite/luizaleite.html
Previous Fashion Show Images: http://gaiatreehouse.com/makerfaire/luizaleitefs/luizaleitefs.html
About Swap-O-Rama-Rama: http://swaporamarama.org
Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a Creative Commons Project: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Treehugger Pod Cast: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/treehugger_tv_t_1.php

"This Swap-O-Rama-Rama event is part of an international network of non-profit events created by Wendy Tremayne and protected under a Creative Commons License."