Target Australia is not shy of a designer collaboration – partnering for collections with Stella McCartney, Josh Goot, and Missoni to name a few – but now, they’re turning their eye to fresh, undiscovered talent. 12 amazingly talented student designers will showcase their breakthrough collections on the runway at the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, competing for a $25,000 grant and the opportunity to design a one-off Target capsule collection.

As presenting partner of the 2015 National Graduate Showcase at the Festival, Target announced the 12 finalists – 3 from Victoria and 9 from NSW – and unveiled their successful designs with Festival CEO, Graeme Lewsey  and Target’s Womenswear General Manager, Gillian Ridley Whittle this week in North Melbourne.

The finalists include Alexandra Louise Champion Hackett (A.L.C.H.), Natalie Kieleithner, Lauren Acciarito, April Yap, Donald Chung, Erica Deluchi, Felicity Gleeson, Megan McGrath (meg&n), Monique Duggan (OPTIC), Rachael Zheng, Sofie Teh, and Vanessa Emirian.

“This prestigious program is a launching pad for young designers and gives them an incredible opportunity to showcase what they can do in front of consumers, fashion decision-makers and industry experts at the Festival,” said  Gillian.

“Each year, the National Graduate Showcase runway is a sell-out, because everyone just loves the energy and excitement the student designers bring to the Festival…At Target, we are thrilled to be involved in the program and mentoring our next generation designers on the road to success.”

Festival CEO, Graeme Lewsey, said over 130 students across the country applied for the program, and twelve finalists were selected.

“We were inundated with students wanting to be part of the National Graduate Showcase this year and we have selected twelve talented finalists,” Mr Lewsey said.

“We are thrilled by the calibre of this year’s graduate’s and excited to share their creativity with Festival attendees. The National Graduate Showcase provides students with a platform to gain valuable industry experience. It’s important that we continue to support emerging talent to ensure the steady growth of Australian fashion.”

A judging panel including Ms Ridley Whittle, Mr Lewsey, designer Yeojin Bae, stylist Kate Gaskin and Head of Designers for Target Anthony Pecora chose this year’s finalists, who will be showing six key looks at VAMFF this March, and will be the same judges that choose the recipient of the prize.

Tickets for the 2015 National Graduate Showcase Runway Show at 9:30pm on March 19 are available at www.ticketek.com.au/vamff or via the Festival website, www.vamff.com.au. If you don’t want to wait until March, you can meet the finalists and get a sneak peek of their work below!

 

About The Author

Paige Richards

Paige's nitpicking of misspelt menu items led her to find her love of editing. Living in her adopted city of Melbourne, she is ever in pursuit of the perfect coffee, and the perfect little black everything. And like the wise Carrie Bradshaw once said, she keeps her money where she can see it - hanging in her closet.

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