Perth: Fashion designer Aurelio Costarella is officially back in the driving seat. The fashion industry veteran has regained 100 per cent ownership of his eponymous fashion label and returned it to a private business after nearly three years as a public entity.
The company said it expects Costarella Design Limited (CDL) will be removed from the Australian Securities Exchange by the end of the month.
Costarella, who founded the nine-year-old business from scratch, made fashion history when he became the first Australian fashion designer to list on the stock exchange. The design company first went public in 2007, but directors of the group later agreed to purchase the Asian Centre for Liver Diseases and Transplantation healthcare business.
CDL will now focus on this development, parting ways with Costarella, who paid $220,000 to gain back control of the company’s wholesale fashion arm.
Speaking to Ragtrader last week, Costarella said he was “feeling great” about the privatisation as it would give him much greater creative freedom.
“I was getting very preoccupied with the corporate side of business and as a creative it’s draining,” he said. “I am now where I was three years ago but the business has built up and is in a good place.”
The former West Australian designer of the year said the public experience had enabled him to take the label to a broader international audience, but he was now keen to focus on building the label on home soil.
Having forged a name for himself designing glamorous eveningwear, Costarella recently signed with department store Myer, which will stock his high-end and ready-to-wear looks from spring/summer 2009/10.
“We never pursued department store business, but this came at a very good time,” he said.
He also intends building his accessories offering with a forthcoming handbag collection, while plans are also underway for a footwear collaboration with shoe designer Terry Biviano.
As has become something of a tradition, Costarella said he intended showing his label at New York Fashion Week next February.
In addition to Australian boutiques, the Aurelio Costarella brand is currently stocked in Italy, Canada, New Zealand, the US, Middle East and Asia.