Highlights from the 2008 Modaitalia Scholarship Finals, Old Museum Building, Brisbane.

Brides Desire by Airs & Graces – QEvents Bridal Award Winner

Emily Black – Moreton Institute of TAFE (MSIT) -
Student Designs presented by Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre Award Winner

Dimitria Bridal Couture – Bose Couture Award Winner

Zoo Ski – NRA Fashion Design Rising Star Award

Darb Couture -Cabcharge Australia Fashions on the Field Award Winner

Karen Neilsen – Conrad Jupiters Gold Coast Swim-Surf Award Winner

Little Workers – Pacific Fair Shopping Centre Kids Award Winner
Bose Viewer’s Choice Awards

Bridal – Ja Delle Designs

Kids – Little Workers

Special Awards presented this year included:

Soul by Juniper Award for Fashion Excellence -
Collette Dinnigan

Australian Fashion Design Awards Rising Star presented by Business GC -
Zoo-Ski

Chic Management New York Model Search
Hayley Fitzpatrick

Public launch of the NRA Australian Fashion Design Festival presented by Pacific Fair Shopping Centre

Eva Milic hosted the public launch together with NRA Australian Fashion Design Award judges Michael Pherous (Chair), Trelise Cooper and Jonathan Ward, to introduce the Festival to the shopping public.

The inaugural and limited-edition Variety Chari-Tees, designed by some of Australia and New Zealand’s leading fashion designers, will be paraded on the catwalk along with a short parade of Pacific Fair’s chic winter collections.

Exclusive interview of Erin Cash with Christian Bowman.

In this clip, Erin shares thoughts on her experience in starting a fashion label in Brisbane from scratch (Sweat Diva). Erin also talks about her Sweat Depot fitness centre.

This is the first clip of a series of clips posted daily this week.

Filmed and Interview by Christian Bowman on January 13, 2008 in Brisbane.

UPDATE: Brad Webb of Darb Couture took out the Supreme Award for the night as Best Fashion Designer in Australia, the second year runnning. Eeni Meeni Miini Moh won the Kids and Innovation awards. Mark Valenton of Metropolitan Institute of TAFE won the student award and if you remember from my shoot at modaitalia, he was the winner from that event this year.

Today I attended the full dress rehearsal at the NRA Australian Fashion Awards Finals on the Gold Coast. This is the 26th year that the awards have been held and is now known for being the longest-running, continously televised fashion event on Australian television. I had the opportunity to shoot at the dress rehearsal and you can view the Fashion Photography photos I took here.

Moved to the new month of December, the final parade will be broadcast on Channel 9 with hosts Richard Wilkins and Deborah Hutton.

The awards are part of the 2006 NRA Fashion Festival which is held on the Gold Coast, various events have been held such as local performances and opportunities to meet stars like Katie Fischer who is also the face of AMP Capital Shopping Centres. The fashion awards showcases the best student and label designers in Australia. The Queensland Government is the other major sponsor for this event and has been a major part in Fashion development in Australia.

There were some extra highlights to the final parade including dance performances and visual displays such as the one below where the female dancer would appear in a new outfut in a matter of seconds underneath the flicker of a sheet of cloth. Almost a magical act, this would have been a treat for guest during the main event.