Old world Jade finds new world style
Jade Roberts had little choice but to find her way into fashion design. Born into a family steeped in creative tradition, the East Sydney Fashion Design Studio graduate was still a pre-schooler when she first fell in love with her mother's "spunky" clothes and her auntie's "stylised" T-shirt illustrations. Now the time has come for Roberts to put her own talents on display.
Having cut her teeth at local label Marcs before completing stints at Zimmermann and Morrissey, Roberts has now launched her own line dubbed JadeMichelle.
Targeted at "stylish, refined, self-assured free spirits", Roberts said the label's key point of difference lies in its use of high quality fabrics and finishes.
Made primarily from natural fibres the inaugural range - dubbed 'The beautiful awakening' - features key pieces including a kimono-style mini dress, maxi dresses and preppy denim high-waisted shorts. Other pieces in the range, available in sizes small to large, include a sequined and beaded-cropped cape and a split front mini dress.
"I found that the traditional ways of defining a range were too rigid for my modern day lifestyle. I was [also] looking for something that was adaptable to the wide variety of occasions I face every day, along with the flexibility to attend a range of occasions in the same outfit," Roberts said.
Boasting a colour palette of silvers and nudes with lemon and raspberry highlights, the collection will retail for $190 for the silk tops and shorts to $500-plus for what Roberts termed "highlight occasion pieces".
"Aside from the heavily beaded styles in India, [most of the range] is manufactured in Sydney. Sydney-designed, Sydney-patterned, Sydney-cut, Sydney-sewn and Sydney-finished," she said.
Beautiful Awakenings spring/summer 2008/09 will be available from August with a limited edition party season capsule available from December. While the range has only recently begun wholesaling, confirmed stockists to date include Sydney's From St Xavier and the as-yet-unopened Style Junky, London's Austique and online shopping site GlamourPussPrincess have also picked up the range.
By Tracey Porter