Bali break for talented young fashion designer

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Bali break for talented young fashion designer


It was a bit of luck worthy of Hollywood rags-to-riches tale. Student designer Melissa Whidjaya had made it into this year's Bali Fashion Week, but in a fairly low-profile timeslot. Then one of the choreographers saw her work at a fitting and next thing she was on in the same session as the major designers. It's been a big year that isn't over yet for Melissa, who will be premiering a new resort wear collection in the 2005 graduate design exhibition at the University of Technology, Sydney, opening on Tuesday 6 December. The road to Bali began in Hornsby in April, when Melissa talked the organisers of a youth week fashion parade at her local Westfield shopping centre into giving her a spot in the show. "I created three looks for the Hornsby show, which gave me some images to send to the organiser of Bali Fashion Week, prominent Asian designer Ika Butoni, and I was accepted," Melissa said. "I'm half Indonesian which is why Bali Fashion Week had captured my interest in the first place, but actually getting in meant I only had about a month in which to create the required amount of looks - 12 in total. "It seemed like an impossible deadline, but it was such an exciting opportunity I couldn't pass it up. I felt it was now or never! So for the next four weeks I worked flat out - even at the airport and at the hotel I was sewing on beads - and somehow managed to pull it all together in time." Then, at the insistence of the choreographer, she was bumped up to a spot on the main night in front of more than 800 buyers from Asia, the US, Europe and the Middle East. "It was a great experience. I learned so much about what it's like to put on a show, how many people are involved and the high expectations you've got to meet. I also got a lot of positive feedback from a variety of people who were involved. I feel much more prepared than I ever was, and much more confident." For the UTS graduate show Melissa is creating a colourful women's resort wear range based on Indonesian batiks. Her post-UTS ambition is to start her own swimwear label. The boundary-crossing UTS graduate design exhibition - the only exhibition of its kind in Australia - will focus both industry and public attention on the University's City campus for five days early in December. The popular catwalk fashion parades on opening night are a magnet for industry. Last year's collections got the attention of cosmetics giant Lancome, which approached UTS Fashion and Textile Design to be the Australian representative of the inaugural Lancome Colour Design Award. Friday 4 November 2005