Brisbane festival secures TV coverage
Organisers of the state's biggest spring/summer fashion showing - Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival Brisbane - have convinced sponsor Network Ten to provide a film crew to document preparations for the event and broadcast them to a national audience.
Festival director Lindsay Bennett said the crew began filming mid-May, covering an advisory panel meeting to decide on designer applications as well as the festival's star-studded launch night.
Bennett said the documentary, expected to air on October 26, will be a fly-on-the-wall type film tracking the preparations for and staging of the annual festival with Brisbane-based labels Easton Pearson and Paul Hunt among those being tracked.
"The crew will also follow us as we discuss seating lists and follow the antics both backstage and front-of-house. It's a lot to get into a one hour program but I am sure it will make for entertaining viewing," Bennett said.
The filming is one of several new additions to the August 26 to 31 event with highlights including a new student of the year program, dubbed the 'battle of the colleges', which will pit Queensland University of Technology students against those from Metropolitan South, RIMT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney Institute of TAFE and The Whitehouse Institute of Design. Up for grabs is the chance to launch their career at the festival and a cash prize of $5000.
The six day festival's line up will showcase the works of more than 28 local designers, six national designers and eight local retail centres with 11 group shows listed on the schedule alongside a series of beauty and fashion workshops.
Bennett said the consumer-driven festival provided a great platform for local, national established and emerging designers to launch their new season collections.
While in the past Queensland was considered the poor cousin when it came to fashion, this was no longer the case, he said.
"The main difference we have is that all the major media outlets are based in either Victoria or New South Wales so it is difficult for our designers to get the same sort of exposure. We train a lot of young design talent through our colleges here but they leave to go south as they believe that's where they need to be to get noticed. This festival now gives them that exposure."
Labels showing at the festival include Collette Dinnigan, Willow, Nicola Finetti, Jayson Brunsdon, Red Cordial, Katie Moubarak and Malene Birger.