One of the most prestigious events on the Australian fashion calendar, BT Runway for Success continues to celebrate the best in emerging and established design talent.
Back for a seventh consecutive year, this year’s offering welcomed 600 esteemed guests to Sydney’s Hordern Pavillion, for an exclusive evening of fashion, entertainment and communal contribution.
A co-op between BT Financial, the Australian Fashion Council and Vogue Australia, BT Runway supports Dress for Success; a local not-for-profit that assists disadvantaged women with procuring employment, by providing necessary work attire, coaching and mentoring services.
Taking out the coveted BT Emerging Fashion Designer Award for 2019 was Melbourne talent Blair Archibald, who (along with fellow finalists Minhee Jo of Aaizél and Courtney Holm of A.BCH) presented his most recent offerings to a crowd of fashion insiders, media personnel and esteemed corporate guests.
Renowned for his effortless take on contemporary dressing and a penchant for seamless, genderless tailoring, Blair has fast established himself as a talent to watch, most recently making waves as part of MBFWA 2018/19 Resort schedule.
The young designer joins an inspired roster of past recipients including Maria Afornina of Albus Lumen, Kacey Devlin, Macgraw, Emma Mulholland, Michael Lo Sordo and Christopher Esber.
Finalists were selected by revered panel of industry experts including Edwina McCann (Vogue Australia Editorial Director and Co-Chair of the Australian Fashion Council), Jaana Quaintance-James (The Iconic’s Head of Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing), Rebecca Lim (Westpac Group’s Group Executive, Compliance, Legal and Secretariat) and design royal Bianca Spender.
This year’s prestigious runway also platformed eight of Australia’s most prolific fashion designers including Bianca Spender, CAMILLA AND MARC, Carla Zampatti, Dion Lee, Ginger & Smart, Manning Cartell, Rachel Gilbert and Toni Maticevski.
Leading the show’s hair direction was National Creative Director for label.m and TONI&GUY Australia, Katy Reeve, who once again guided a troupe of the brand’s stylists in fashioning two bespoke looks for each of the evening’s designer segments.
“As we were working with multiple designers, it was important that we created a look that worked back with each of their individual aesthetics,” said Katy.
“This year, we opted for 2 key looks; for the first it was all about creating soft, natural movement which we then transitioned into a polished low ponytail with a minimal feel for the second look.”
Rounding out the evening’s festivities as a performance set by musical guests Birds of Tokyo.
To find out how you can contribute to Dress for Success, visit: https://dressforsuccess.org