Locals Matter at Perth Fashion Festival

By Taylor Hunt The 2014 Perth Fashion Festival is underway again bringing designers from all over the globe to Perth to provide eye candy for the fashion conscious among us. The week long festival kicked off Wednesday night in a star-studded extravaganza with designers and fashion bloggers from all over the world checking out what Perth has to offer. But with all the glitz and glamour surrounding names such as Jimmy Choo and Michael Cinco the festival still aims to inspire designers right here in Perth says fashion blogger Ambra Fossati. “It gives such a good initial platform for designers to showcase their works and then create interest from the global audience,” she said. Local designer Maeve Mitchell, who runs the label Peppermint Milk, says the festival is important to give local designers inspiration to show that good work is being made locally. “It’s inspiring because you see all the local talent and I think that for me is the biggest thing that gets me going, seeing people who aren’t creating for export, it’s just things that are being made locally,” she said. Ms Fossati says having designers come from all over the world gives her a massive sense of pride in the work being done by WA designers. “You hear all the time that there must be something in the water here in Perth…there’s just a lot of people with raw talent and there’s a lot of pride I think that comes from that,” she said. But Ms Mitchell hopes that as the Perth Fashion Festival continues to grow over the coming years, they don’t forget small local designers. “This year they are showcasing a lot of well known designers and companies that are well established, and not really showing the younger break ins… I’m just worried they aren’t supporting local designers and just doing whatever will bring the money in,” she said. For more information on the events check the Perth Fashion Festival’s website.