Media Release
International Protégé’s Showcase Merino Wool at RAFW
30 April 2008
One of Australia’s rising fashion talents has joined the world’s best young designers to showcase Australian Merino wool at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW).
Ben Pollitt, designer of Friedrich Gray, has been announced as the Australian Protégé at the Protégé collection showing in Sydney today.
Project Protégé was created in Italy through the vision of Franca Sozzani, Editor of Vogue Italia; an idea that saw some of fashion’s most prominent figures identify and mentor promising, talented protégés over the months leading up to the launch of their collections in Europe. They are:
- Jean Pierre Braganza, selected by Karl Lagerfeld
- Kristian Aadnevik, selected by Donatella Versace
- Ioannis Cholidis, selected by Sir Paul Smith
- Julian Louie, selected by Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein
- Sandra Backlund, selected by Franca Sozzani, Editor Vogue Italia
Editor of Vogue Australia, Kirstie Clements, announced that Ben Pollitt would stand alongside the world’s best young designers as the Australian Protégé.
Ben’s collection, made from Australian Merino wool jersey knits and wovens, was showcased as part of the Protégé collection at RAFW.
Ben was also recently awarded the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival designer of the year presented by Woolmark.
Paolo Zegna, President of Ermenegildo Zegna, was a guest of honour at the event. Ermenegildo Zegna has been a key partner of Project Protégé since its launch in July 2007. Many of the high quality Merino wool woven fabrics used by the Protégés were woven at Zegna’s world class mills.
Mr Craig Welsh, AWI CEO explains, “Working with such stellar names in the global fashion industry reinforces the strong position Australian Merino wool holds as the fibre of choice for the luxury end of the global apparel industry. It cements Australian Merino wool’s position on the lucrative international fashion stage.
“While demonstrating the inherent luxury, quality and versatility that Merino wool offers, international events such as this offer a unique opportunity to see how one of Australia’s leading exports is used by the international fashion elite to appeal to the key apparel markets.”
KRISTIAN AADNEVIK selected by DONATELLA VERSACE
A Norwegian who moved to England to attend London’s Royal College of Art, Kristian Aadnevik began working for companies of the calibre of Harrods International in London and Charles Jourdan in Japan after completing his studies.
In 2004 he made his own signature debut, presenting his collection during London Fashion Week. Acclaimed in the British press as “one of the most interesting young talents on the London scene”, he counts the Princess of Norway Mette-Marit among his fans on the home front. Donatella Versace, who chose Kristian for his rock attitude, is enthusiastic about the collection her protégé designed with Australian Merino wool.
Kristian Aadnevik’s collection for the Protégé Project
A virago with a metal soul yet also a supremely sensual grace is what Kristian Aadnevik has in mind, imprinting this collection with a narrative stream as he talks about the adventures of his woman, his muse.
Her journey begins in northern Europe, ever rich in Gothic mystery, and after passing through a languid Belle Epoque Paris ends in today’s avant-garde East London clubs.
The collection features mostly ultra feminine dresses where easy wrap fit and sense of movement come from volumes and drapings defined by an expert choice of gorgeous Australian Merino wool fabrics.
Gold and silver glints, iridescent feathers and ostrich applications give the creations a bright touch.
SANDRA BACKLUND selected by FRANCA SOZZANI
A 2004 graduate of Stockholm’s Beckmans School of Design, Sandra Backlund is a tricot artist who assembles her knits by hand in three-dimensional collages, sculpture mode. Her style of working and the magic of her creations – authentic works of art – have both earned her major awards (e.g. at the Hyeres Festival International De Mode & De Photographie) and attracted the attention of the international press.
Sandra was chosen by Franca Sozzani, editor in chief of Italian Vogue, for the Protégé Project, an ideal showcase for signalling, through Sandra’s talent, the newest direction in knitwear.
Sandra Backlund’s collection for the Protégé Project
The human form as the starting point – to reinvent, underline, camouflage. Through various artisanal techniques, Sandra Backlund takes knits to unknown heights, enveloping the body in supersoft Merino wools. For this collection, she envisions a surreal, magical, magnificent total look in tricot.
Finally freeing knits of a classic mannish connotation, the Swedish designer revisits the genre with a spiritual, intimate collection making use of the most precious Australian Merino wool yarns. Key colours in her palette: a warm powder pink and an intense dark red.
JEAN-PIERRE BRAGANZA selected by KARL LAGERFELD
Born in London of an Irish mother and an Asian father, Jean-Pierre Braganza attended the prestigious St. Martin’s School. Upon graduating, he got the chance to work alongside Roland Mouret, from whom he learned the art of ultra feminine cuts.
On the calendar of London Fashion Week since 2004, he presents men’s and women’s collections that always capture the imagination of international buyers and media.
This is his golden opportunity. Chosen by Mr. Lagerfeld for the Protégé Project, he explores the potential of Australian Merino wool through his distinctly structured style.
Jean-Pierre Braganza’s collection for The Protégé Project
A tribute to the female form celebrated through a keen use of sartorial geometry.
Braganza takes a complex route in fashioning his designs, rethinking the body through unprecedented proportions, luscious layers, an interplay of Merino wool fabrics and wool crepe inserts giving extra depth to the clothes.
On hour-glass dresses and suits, grey and black hues intersect with warm notes of bordeaux. The collection, which also includes some items for men, is an exquisitely elegant synthesis of the ideal wardrobe. A few basic pieces, contemporary of cut, classic of inspiration, where mixes follow precise rules and all variations capture the idea of a modern uniform.
IOANNIS CHOLIDIS selected by PAUL SMITH
A graduate of St. Martin’s School, Ioannis Cholidis is a Greek menswear designer who inflects fine tailoring with activewear and sportswear accents. In 2006, he designed a line of Puma sneakers presented during London Fashion Week. In the same year he worked with Stella McCartney creating clothes for the English band Coldplay.
Thanks to his eclectic approach to fashion and his inventive take on colour for men, he’s the one that Sir Paul Smith – the best loved of English designers – chose in 2007 to find a new way for men to enjoy Australian Merino wool.
Ioannis Cholidis’s collection for the Protégé Project
Frame by frame, Ioannis Cholidis’s collection depicts the everyday life of a stylish young man who shifts easily between business and casual looks.
Comfortably proportioned pants and shorts contrast nicely with slimfit shirts, pullovers and twinsets. Pants make quite a fashion statement, as in the wool denims for leisure occasions, or the sleeker models with exclusive detailing like copper hardware and the latest in padding and fringe. The colour spectrum ranges from the softest pastels to deep anthracite grey and navy blue hues.
The strongpoint of the Cholidis collection is a bent for reinventing the all-time classics of men’s casuals (usually denims or leathers) in Australian Merino wool. Result: soft five-pocket jeans, peacoat, bomber and biker jacket all in a wool fabric offering innovative ease and surprising tech performance.
JULIAN LOUIE selected by FRANCISCO COSTA for CALVIN KLEIN
A young Julian Louie left California to study architecture at Cooper Union University in New York. Two years later he discovered a passion for fashion, which he believed had the same imaginative force as architecture in defining the contexts of modern living.
In 2005, with an internship at Imitation of Christ, Julian got to enter the field firsthand. Subsequently, the young architect fell in love with fashion and joined the Calvin Klein style office headed by Francisco Costa. More recently he is working as a freelance designer in New York.
Julian Louie’s collection for the Protégé Project
Characterised by contrasts, the collection Julian Louie designed for the Protégé Project merges opulence and austerity, full forms and clean lines, structured silhouettes and lavish details. The mood is young, audacious and sophisticated.
Proportions capture a new concept in volume: darts, puffs, pleats, gatherings redesign the figure. Perfectly offset by rich embroideries inspired by Robert Motherwell and Gustav Klimt paintings.
The palette presents variations on metallic grey, from pewter to graphite, lead to silver. Adding warmth to these tones is an intense shade of gold, as well as inserts and applications in primary colours (red, yellow, blue) interspersed with white.
Exalting Merino wool’s versatility, Julian Louie constructs precious balloon dresses, preppie-style pants cut off at ankles, coats and jackets in ultra simple lines. This is a truly New York interpretation, at once bold and elegant, of the Australian fibre.
Released by:
AWI Corporate Affairs. For more information contact media@woolinnovation.com