Womenswear label OHARA and fashion design graduate Jacquelyn Wellington were among the big winners at the 2011 Australian Wool Fashion Awards.
Held annually and sponsored by wool marketing, research and development body Australian Wool Innovation, the awards aim to raise awareness of the fibre among both consumers and those in the fashion trade.
Walking away with the program's top prize, the 2011 Supreme Award, was 2010 University of Technology, Sydney graduate Jacquelyn Wellington. Her collection of six pieces also earned Wellington the 2011 Young Designer Award.
In the women's ready-to-wear category, the winners for 2011 were sisters Kash and Clare O'Hara of four-year-old womenswear label OHARA. The designers entered three looks from their autumn/winter 2011 collection, 'Moonlight'.
"We have a lot of friends whose families are in the farming industry, in particular in sheep farming, and we've seen first hand how hard they work. We like to support the Australian wool market for this reason, but also because they produce a superior product and Australians are very good at what they do," Clare O'Hara said.
The OHARA designers added they plan to use wool in spring/summer collections as well as winter ones in the future.
Other winners at the Australian Wool Fashion Awards were designers Pam and Sam Stolhand from Young in NSW, who took out awards in the Knitwear, Woven & Stretch and Wearable Art categories.
Susan Thompson from Port Macquarie in NSW won first place in Menswear and Eveningwear.
Winner of a half fee three year degree at Raffles College of Design and Commerce in NSW was Port Macquarie student Tessa Simpson.
2011 marks the 30th year the Australian Wool Fashion Awards have been held. The judges this year were R.M. Williams executive designer Jonathan Ward, editor of The Land magazine Emma Downey, and principal at Et Cetera Marketing, Karyn Westren.