Contract music to designer's ears
ADELAIDE: Liza Emanuele has had a lot to sing about of late.Having recently given birth to her first child, the South Australian designer's business has also undergone its own transformation after she being chosen to dress the female members of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (AS0).
Emanuele who learnt of her appointment while staging a show at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week last May, said the ASO contract was particularly significant given this was her first foray into uniforms.
"I adore music and theatre and am very much inspired by it. The ASO is regarded as one of the elite orchestras of Australia. The range of music and demographics it performs too is highly regarded and for my brand which is reaching out to a wider audience more and more [it proved] a wonderful and exciting union."
Having established a reputation for the use of pleating, ruffles knits and quilting, Emanuele applied the same approach to the ASO uniform designer through subtle ruffled neck lines, sleeve details, pleating in skirts and hand-made pin-on flowers.
The collection, which features a colour palette of black, white and ivory, has nine pieces in total with a full length flowing dress, elegant full length jersey skirt, a tuxedo shirt, a knit sleeve with diamante buttons, wide-legged pants with a high-waist satin belt, a tunic top and cowl neck top.
Emanuele undertook a lot of research before beginning the design process with fabric choice - polished cotton, silk/satin and velvet mixed with stretch suiting fabric - proving a crucial part of her brief.
"Violinists make a lot of arm movements, some players get hot during performances and some get cool so there's a lot of variation in what they need. The sizing range was six to 18, which at first I was a little nervous about. However once I sat down and listened to the needs and concerns of the female players I realised they were similar concerns to mine when I work day to day."
ASO chief executive Rainer Jozeps said Emanuele was the obvious choice for a contract of this nature. "Liza has a fabulous reputation for stylish fashion. Her designs last longer than a season or two and she understands what it is in apparel that makes women feel good. And Liza especially has style and taste that match the values of the ASO; we're classic on the one hand and yet every so often we like to break out and say 'look at me'."
By Tracey McEldowney