The ‘creative industry’ encompasses a lot – art, fashion, photography, film, dance, music… Even in our little Brisbane, the industry is continually growing and changing. In an attempt to culminate all of the above into one collaborative showcase, RAW hosts a bi-monthly event at The Arena in Brisbane. On April 11th, we visited their most recent show Spectrum, which was headlined by one of Triple J’s Unearthed winners Fire & Whistle Theory, and recicleGem, a fashion designer visiting from Queens.
Our main draw card was of course fashion, but we enjoyed the jam-packed venue and all the mixed media and creative goodness it had to offer. After all, the music industry is entwined with fashion, the online fashion world is almost solely dependent on photography, and without illustration and art, the journey from concept to creation is void. So for us, covering and exploring RAW was more than just the fashion on the runway.
One of our favourite designers/hair stylists/make-up artists of the night was Summa Shing. Not only did she design and make her garments, she styled the hair and make-up as well – talk about talented. Probably the closest thing that Brisbane has seen to Haute Couture all year, she is a stand out in the local industry and is definitely one to watch. Summa’s style is distinct, eclectic and refreshingly different, built on talent that is of an international standard.
We were too busy actually watching the back to back collections from Summa and recicleGem to capture our own shots, so we’ve borrowed a few from some of our friendly bloggers. Designer Tamara Leacock of RecicleGem hails from Queens, and bought her New York-esque style and flair with her. Tamara designs her collections around her strong views on the issues with fast-fashion and empty trends. Using recycled textiles, earth dyes and repurposed clothing, she is on a mission to reconstruct the fashion industry and fight the issue of overconsumption.
Her collection was also complimented by the make-up artistry of Cole Williams. Cole recently collaborated on a fun little film to promote vegan friendly and cruelty free make-up and was one third of the MUA team for the production of Zebralution.
Although the actual fashion section of the evening was short and sweet, the melting pot of creative cultures and the ambience of a live music gig made for fun night. We’re not supposed to mention (and definitely not show) anything of the performing arts section (entailing a very bare burlesque dancer) but it was a jaw dropping 5 minutes.
The Fashion Advocate x
