This year PFF steps up and out as it expands across formats and embraces new bodies to assist in creating a week long event that is divine, detailed and directional… just like good fashion should be. In 2009, PFF have Perth’s Lord Mayor on board not only as a supporter, but a style icon. Elsewhere, and the OUTinPerth crew will join forces with The Court to present Tilted on September 8, an evening of couture and glamour (and some of the most amazing male models you’ll see this side of Milan). And over in Northbridge our city will bear witness to the first ever fringe fashion festival, Outskirts, a one day only event filled with 40 moments of fashion fun.
‘PFF provides a platform for WA designers, models and creatives to showcase their talents on a local and national stage,’ explained festival event organiser Lauren Elliott. ‘This year, we have FashionTV and more national fashion journalists attending than ever before. We (also) have several new initiatives which will invite up-and-coming designers to showcase their wares.
‘Student Runway is a brand new runway event which will showcase Perth’s top fashion and textiles students on the catwalk as they compete for coveted places at the Mercedes-Benz WA Fashion Awards. Our new market day – Sunday Best by Unwrapped – will showcase accessories, fashion, jewellery, art, skin care and home wares from emerging designers. But I am especially looking forward to the Mercedes-Benz WA Fashion Awards, the WA Designer Collections, Student Runway, Wheels & Dollbaby, (and the return of) Popsicle!’
The program is literally bursting at the seams. It might seem a strange metaphor to use in this context, but PFF 2009 is a feast of fashion, one you can safely gorge yourself on with no fear of calories or heartburn. And on Saturday September 5, the OnWilliam Collective will be opening up a veritable box of candy when they unleash Outskirts, Perth’s first ever fashion fringe festival.
In true OnWilliam fashion, Outskirts will see punters navigate Northbridge with the assistance of a map. ‘Outskirts adds another layer to the Fashion Festival, and recognises that our creatives need various types of support,’ explained OnWilliam’s Aimee Johns. ‘The program allows for designers to manage their own event that is relevant to them and plug it into a bigger program. Outskirts particularly focuses on the emerging – providing opportunities for designers to test the market and help raise their public profile.’
Of course, that’s just one day in seven, and the week long festivities are marked by many other surprises. Make sure you always put your best fashion foot forward whichever event you attend, because PFF has its own online fashion blog. Yes, in the vein of FaceHunter and The Sartorialist comes Style Voyeur (www.stylevoyeur.com), now in its second year and still going strong. And the lady responsible for snapping some of Perth’s most fashion savvy for Style Voyeur is stylist Marcia Ball, who doubles as the Lord Mayor’s own personal stylist.
‘Style Voyeur is all about behind-the-scenes action and AAA access,’ Ball told OUTinPerth. ‘Most imagery on SV is completely exclusive and I really think life is a lot more interesting from backstage. There are no criteria for a person to appear on Style Voyeur whatsoever. The whole process is completely organic. I could take someone’s photograph for SV based on the fold of their sleeve. The hardest part is that even to this day, almost one year since SV was born, I still get nervous asking.’
Ball even goes so far as to say that she believed her highest profile client and PFF’s poster pin-up fashion icon, Perth’s Lord Mayor, may have even possibly been a model in a former life. ‘I wasn’t a model in a “former life” but I had been asked to give it a go during my “hay days”!’ confided Ms Scaffidi via her Blackberry as she shuttled across Europe by train… no doubt on her way to a photo shoot in Paris or Milan. ‘I’m so proud of the WA fashion scene and its amazing people. It is an industry worthy of praise and (it’s) my honour to champion its values.’
You too can become a champion of fashion. You don’t need tights, just tickets. And there are no hotter tickets in town than those that will get you into any one of Perth Fashion Festival hot events. So go on… indulge. It’s calorie free.
Perth Fashion Festival runs from September 4 to 10 with a full schedule of events available either in the PFF Handbook or online at www.perthfashionfestival.com.au. Visit our Blogs online at www.www.outinperth.com to get all the behind the scenes gossip on our upcoming fashion parade, Tilted, held in conjunction with The Court Hotel.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
