Australians in New York Fashion Foundation, the sophomore edition

ainyff

Congrats to Sydney designer Dion Lee who won the fashion category of the 2010 Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards last night in Sydney. And congrats are also due to 10 other Australians who frockwriter can reveal are the 2010 Australians in New York Fashion Foundation finalists: Mitchell Oakley Smith, Laura Wade, Bronwyn O’Brien, Katherine Watson, Jacqueline Tyrrell, Natalia Catherine Muller, Ned Rogers, Darren McDonald, Saskia Wilson and Alice McConnell. The winner, to be announced at a function in Sydney on December 20th, will receive financial support to live in New York for one year, in addition to introductions to the cream of the New York fashion business from the AINYFF founders, Australians who have worked their way to the top there (without work experience or mentorship programs, it’s worth noting). UPDATE 21/12/10: Congratulations are due to Laura Wade, who has been awarded the AINYFF's 2011 grant, with Mitchell Oakley-Smith named runnerup.

The latter include Malcolm Carfrae, Executive Vice President of Global Communications at Calvin Klein Inc, Laura Brown, the features/special projects director at Harpers Bazaar US and Colac Pictures president Julie Anne Quay, the former studio manager for Steven Meisel and executive editor of V Magazine. 

The initiative was launched in 2009 to assist young Australians gain footholds in the most competitive fashion media market in the world. The inaugural inductee, Melbourne fashion designer Georgia Lazzarro (pictured above, with Calvin Klein Collection womenswear director Francisco Costa in New York and below, at the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival in March this year) is currently completing an internship at the Calvin Klein headquarters, following a stint at Narciso Rodriguez. 

But just getting to the AINYFF finalist stage can apparently be a career booster. Frockwriter has heard stories of foundation members also making industry introductions for finalists.



 

Gail Sorronda gets the Dolce e Gabbana treatment

Who needs Roberto Cavalli when you’re being mentored by Dolce e Gabbana? Overnight, Brisbane native Gail Reid popped up in this video interview on Dolce e Gabbana’s Swide website. Reid's five year-old Gail Sorronda label is one of 21 labels that were hand-picked by the Italian luxury titans for their brand new fashion incubator retail concept in Milan, Spiga2. “I love Gail Sorronda. It’s my taste” Stefano Gabbana told The Wall Street Journal last month. It has been a very big year for Reid. In March, she told frockwriter that she was being considered for a freelance consulting gig at Roberto Cavalli’s studio. By July, that had yet to transpire, but that month Reid was one of seven finalists in the 2010 edition of Who Is On Next, an emerging talent showcase in Italy that is jointly organised by Alta Roma and Vogue Italia. Great to see major fashion names supporting newbies although that said, it’s a little odd to see included in the Spiga2 lineup Paris-based Australian expat Martin Grant, who has been showing on schedule in Paris for a number of years. Grant established his label in Melbourne in 1982, when he was just 15.