Ultimate beauty contest a branding win

NATIONAL: Australian brands look set to win out over the global competition thanks to an impressive alliance with the Miss World Australia Competition.
Miss World Australia 2006 contender Sabrina Houssami has "The Miss World website gets three million hits a day, so this amounts to very good exposure for the brand," confirmed MaraJoara designer Leesa Fogarty, who also works as a fashion stylist and runs her own publicity agency BluePedal.
"It all happened because Sabrina and I use the same photographer, Tito Antonio. She was chatting to him one day and said she'd seen these really nice swimsuits and did he know where she could get hold of them. Well, the swimsuits were MaraJoara."
MaraJoara launched last year with MaraJoara Exclusives at Sportsgirl - to be worn by Sabrina Houssami for Miss World Australia - and had also launched a younger label MaraJoara Meninas, which looked set to take the surfer girl market by storm.
Through a joint partnership with Brazilian manufacturers the label had gained access to the best swimwear fabrics available, she added.
"We set the trend and we are also set up to 'fast fashion' it globally through our white label business," she said.
Designed to be "exclusive but attainable", with price points for bikinis averaging around $229, MaraJoara Exclusives was available through value-added retailer International Lifestyles, which had one store in Manly NSW and one in Washington USA, she confirmed.
Meanwhile how.u.c.me handbags' combination of exclusive embossed skins and creative trims had also made a hit with Houssami, who planned to represent Australia carrying the label's handbags, carry bags and travel pieces.
World peace aside, the addition of Bamboo Chutney jewellery, Tristan Blair heels, and Celine Victoria hats to Houssami's wardrobe for the competition run-up, was doubtless more than any Miss World contestant could wish for; as well as being an enviable product placement opportunity for labels themselves.