Sharp cooking MELBOURNE: Hawthorn designer Megan Bird has launched a debut collection of kitchen apparel.

QUEENSLAND: Sportswear and lifestyle brand Canterbury is set to dramatically ramp up it its domestic presence in anticipation of this year's Rugby World Cup.

What happens when you take a six foot five Jamaican Englishman, train him in fashion design and let him loose in Australia?

David Jones has announced sales growth of $607.3 million for the second quarter of the 2007 financial year (October 29, 2006 to January 27 2007) representing 8.9 per cent growth on the previous corresponding period, with womenswear, menswear, accessories, footwear and cosmetics proving the star performers.

LeSportsac goes Stella FRANCE: Hot on the heels of her collaborations with department store H&M and sportswear brand Adidas, London-based designer Stella McCartney has signed up to do another collaboration.

NATIONAL: Lisa Ebbing is proof good ideas are born out of necessity.

MELBOURNE: Visiting relatives is something of a chore for many, but for three Melbourne Fashion Incubator (MFI) designers it could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

MELBOURNE: Organisers of the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival have sidestepped demands made by the Victorian Government that super-thin models be dropped from this year's event.

SYDNEY: Sports supremo Layne Beachley is set to tread new waters.

Gary Breit reckons people just don?t make things the way they used to.

Australian department store Myer is finally tapping into the old ? and lucrative - rhetoric, "the bigger the better".

Fresh from Hong Kong Fashion Week and preparing for departure to India, Nerina Battaglia doesn't stand still for long.

MELBOURNE: Having taken a little French chic under its wing, Optimel has every intention of helping it fly, buoyed by Australia's high-end kidswear boom.

QUEENSLAND: Robyn Alp's lifelong dream to become a designer of contemporary women's clothing is finally taking shape.

The much-publicised deal between UK design star Stella McCartney and Target will help boost the Australian department store's international fashion credibility, it has admitted.

CANBERRA: Hopes for the future of onshore textile and fashion manufacturing have been reignited following a House of Representatives hearing earlier this month.