SYDNEY: RMIT fashion design graduate Laura Wade has scooped a prestigious prize, comprising a fully sponsored six-month internship in New York.
The Melbourne-based designer was announced as the 2010/11 Australians in New York Fashion Foundation (AINYFF) scholarship. The prize includes US $25,000 to cover living expenses for six-months in New York, a placement as an intern with a design house and return airfares.
Wade will fly to New York early next year to begin the post, however the company is yet to be confirmed.
A runner-up prize was granted to Sydney-based fashion author and journalist Mitchell Oakley Smith, who received return airfares and help with a magazine placement.
Smith said he expects to depart for New York in April 2011 and will stay for around six months, depending on internship opportunities.
“I hope to obtain a place at the New York Times or V Magazine,” he said. “A placement should be locked in shortly.”
Smith is the author of Fashion: Australia and New Zealand Designers, published by Thames & Hudson Australia. He also writes for a number of Australian fashion magazines including GQ and Russh.
The pair were selected from a group of ten finalists in the competition, who had been narrowed down from a large pool of applicants.
The purpose of the competition is to help young Australians gain quality experience in the New York fashion industry. Judges included Calvin Klein executive vice president of global communications Malcolm Carfrae and Harper’s Bazaar USA editor at large Brana Wolf.
ALL SMILES: Laura Wade and Mitchell Oakley Smith.
