Stepping Out
Assia Benmedjdoub talks to a current and former student from Fashion Design Studio TAFE NSW about good old elbow grease.
Jonathon Toh seems to be a fan of unexpected surprises.
Take, for example, an inconspicuous Sunday morning late last year: Toh was casually flipping through an issue of Sydney weekend newspaper The Sun Herald when he came across an article he clearly wasn't expecting.
"I lost my mind! I reached the style section and I saw one of the first designs I had made earlier in the year."
He went even more gah gah when the design - a kilt skirt for men with a tailored shirt and an argyle patchwork leather vest - was described as "daring" and the "standout" of his end of year parade. Remember, his fashion academy is the same one responsible for Alex Perry, Akira Isogawa, Wayne Cooper, Lisa Ho and Nicky Zimmerman's proficiency with needle and thread.
"To be selected out of so many amazing designs from our whole school was a real honour," Toh acknowledges. "Working hard and being commended on a job well done is for me, one of the most rewarding things I have experienced in this course."
Despite only being in his second year of an Advanced Diploma in Fashion Design, those commendations have come hard and fast. Toh was also a finalist at the Dylon Colour Awards in 2006 after he, drawing on the theme of fairytales, produced a dress made from over 15 metres of silk and hand-painted over a broken, 50-hour session.
Sound exhausting? It was (and, work-wise, still is).
A regular contributor for streetwear label Bones and Buddha, Toh designs quirky t-shirts which are distributed to nine stores throughout NSW and Queensland. Targeting men aged 14 to 35, the label soon plans to expand into womenswear and broach into the New Zealand market.
"The hardest thing I face is having enough time to do everything," Toh says. "We have a pretty heavy work load so juggling all our assignments as well as work and trying to have a life is definitely the hardest thing about studying."
There aren't too many students who can claim they dropped out of fashion school (or any school for that matter) after receiving sound, professional advice.
But that's exactly what happened to one of Australia's most prolific designers, Bowie Wong. After just one year of study at the Fashion Design Studio - then and often still referred to as East Sydney TAFE - a teacher advised Wong that he no longer needed any further training.
By that stage the Hong-Kong born designer had already undertaken several arts, theatre and costume degrees and worked on various projects throughout the world; including a Canadian production of Phantom of the Opera and Madonna's European Girlie Show.
"As I'm not Australian born, [my] first two years [here] I really needed to research the Australian market so it wasn't about working, it was about research. It was bloody hard."
Needless to say, his sacrifices have paid off. Now boasting his own store at Sydney shopping destination The Strand, Wong also supplies national boutique retailers and has American and Japanese distributors for his Cashmere collection. He produces high-end seasonal collections for both men and women which are targetted at the young and middle-age market.
Even he has difficulty summing up his greatest achievements.
"How much time do you have?" he jests. "I really have so much fun in the fashion industry. I have dressed a vast majority of successful national and international singers and socialites including [Australian singer] Delta Goodrem, [American band] Good Charlotte and [Australian socialite] Erika Baxter."
Wong says it's important for students like Toh to study fashion business and marketing without losing their creative edge. The designer manages to balance both, using his PR agency Tailor Made Communications to handle his marketing strategy - including regular stints at Australian Fashion Week - and his own solid background in arts to influence his design.
T
hat said, he admits he wishes this wouldn't always the case.
"[I want] to become a brand that never has to worry about finances so I can do whatever I want [but] once you commit to the industry you can't complain too much."
By Assia Benmedjdoub