Editor's Note: Does this cappuccino taste funny to you?

It was the fashion industry’s equivalent of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot. Only it was less about wobbly bits and more about wobbly expectations.

Earlier this month, I had the privelege of judging the 2009 Dylon Colour Awards. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, it is a joint venture between fabric dye powerhouse Dylon and the Sydney TAFE Fashion Design Studio.

Each year, students at the studio are required to create garments using a blank piece of fabric and a range of Dylon colour dyes. This time around, they were challenged to blend two or more cultures together to create fusion pieces of couture: geisha meets Egyptian nomad, African warrior meets Braveheart, Russian princess meets Jamaican royalty, that sort of thing.

Judges arrived at Sydney’s Carriageworks precinct to view the students’ catwalk parade at roughly 11.30am. By 11.31am, I was convinced someone had spiked my coffee.

I didn’t care if the studio had produced the likes of Alex Perry, Akira Isogawa, Lisa Ho or Michelle Jank. I simply couldn’t believe my eyes: these were first-year fashion students!

Turn to page 15 and you’ll witness their limitless vision, pure talent and unbridled energy.
Consider this the ‘before’ shot.

Later on that day, I spoke with a very talented graduate of the studio about life on the other side. We’ll call him/her Braveheart. Upon graduation, Braveheart tapped into that bottomless pit of brilliance and launched a fashion label.

Naïve about sponorship opportunities available to designers at trade showcase Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, Braveheart pumped $45,000 in personal finances to stage his/her own show there.

“I started getting these orders from boutiques I admired – I was so excited,” Braveheart said. But in the wake of those orders, Braveheart was left with a $60,000 production bill.
Uh-oh.

“I’ve just spent all this money on the show, now I have to find the money to actually make the clothes!”

Through a lot of hard work (and no doubt equal amounts of grovelling), the designer managed to scrape together $30,000 to kick-start production and ultimately deliver the ordered garments on time.

Today, Braveheart has an enviable list of cutting-edge stockists and boasts a great relationship with buyers and fashion media alike.

“Even still, I think maybe I’ve grown too fast,” Braveheart said. “Being a one-man band is pretty exhausting.”

Realistic. Perseverant. Mature. Sleep-deprived.

That’s the ‘after’ shot. How many have really got what it takes to get there?