The Campari Fashion Awards / by Anne Normoyle

If you were thinking that all the clothing out there was looking the same or that no-one was doing anything interesting, the Campari Fashion Awards, held on the eve of Spring at the Strand Arcade in Sydney, would have made you optimistic about Australia's fashion future.

The Awards, sponsored by Campari, were open to the graduating class of the Fashion Design Studio of the Sydney Institute of TAFE and showed evening designs inspired by the Vatican , although I must say that some were a little obscure. The Strand Arcade was transformed into a space that was part church part heavenly enclave providing the perfect background for the student designs.

As would be imagined, the style and quality of work was extremely diverse but a common thread of almost obsessive attention to detail made me think that we were seeing a lot of future value. I don't know whether it was out of a love of the craft of fashion or a result of declining locally available fashion resources but the real story coming through was about making or at least personalizing fabric.

The judges that included designers Akira Isogawa, Marnie Skillings, David Heimann from Orson & Blake, fashion journalist Patty Huntington and Mariela Demetrious from Australian Fashion Innovators were also impressed by those designs that explored unconventional approaches to evening wear fabrication.

First prize went to Micaela Ezra whose design was a rather complex and personal comment on the church. Her dress appeared to be built rather than simply cut and sewn. It was formed from hand crafted contemporary lace work scaled and shaped precisely to the body. The lace formed a skeletal frame on a fragile tulle base in colours and fabrics reminiscent of the clergy, a strong ecclesiastical feel that was emphasised by its dramatic silhouette. All of this was achieved whilst maintaining the dress' fashion relevance mainly through the translucency of the dress and the attention it gave to the body.

Michael Challita was awarded second prize for his renaissance inspired dress made from hand tooled metallic leather. The dress, primarily as a result of the leather, appeared much more Now than Vatican but the intricate renaissance floor tile patterned tooling, the controlled leather finishing and romantic accessorising ensured that the essence of the theme was not lost in this very contemporary dress.

The design awarded third prize challenges ideas about fabrication even further. Katya Peker's design included a moulded Perspex bodice that was formed by gently heating the Perspex over a plaster cast of the models torso and then colouring it to insinuate stained glass windows. The skirt was a weighty wool and crochet adorned with mirrors, capturing abstractly the pomp and ceremony in religious dress. The design was finished with a moulded leather neck and head piece reminiscent of a Nuns habit that in stark white against the dark tones of the dress created a powerful if eerie image.

Kathryn Burke, Karina Perez and Karla Spetic were highly commended for their designs that jointly included hand screen prints of text, mosaic prints that were cut up and re-pieced together and intricate white on white paneling and beading. If any of these students continue to pursue the ideas that they presented for the Campari Award after they graduate I think we can be assured that fashion won't look all the same and it certainly won't be dull.