FASHION!

AUSTRALIA’S first dual degree students in fashion design and business are cel- ebrating the end of their university studies with a pop-up fashion store in Brisbane’s premier fashion shopping centre.QUT students opened The Fleet Store in the Wintergarden in the Queen Street Mall last month and will continue to sell their hand-made garments at the prestige location until the end of October.The Fleet Store features the work of current QUT students, as well as up-and-coming designers being mentored and supported by QUT Creative Enter- prise Australia (QUT CEA) - the coun- try’s only dedicated creative industries “incubator”.The brains behind the crea- tive venture are 10 students studying a four-year dual degree in business and fi ne arts (fashion) - the only degree of its type in Australia and possibly the world.

QUT fashion lecturer Kay McMahon said the young women were the university’s first graduating cohort of business/fashion students - giving them a huge advantage when it came to making a living in the fi ckle fashion world.“The traditional fashion design role is very important for the Australian fashion in- dustry but there are fewer of these jobs around - there’s a decreasing manu- facturing base in Australia and less design apprentice jobs,” Ms McMahon said.“The only way that Australia will maintain a real presence on the inter- national stage will be to have designers who understand how to run their own business and can handle jobs in market- ing, fi nances, company procedures and the like.“These young women are very switched on and have been high achiev- ers throughout their dual degree - both on the fashion and business sides.“It’s a course that everyone loves, including the parents - they feel like their chil- dren are getting a good back-up by also doing a business degree.

The students tell their friends they’re studying fashion and the parents tell their friends their kids are studying business!”Of the 28 final-year students enrolled in QUT’s Bachelor of Fine Arts (Fashion), 10 are combining it with a Bachelor of Business in FASHION
a four-year dual degree for- mat. Fellow fi rst-year student Bianca Batson also has her own label - Batson - up and running, and second-year stu- dent Allanah Sarafi an has launched her debut collection exclusively with and opens Tuesday to Sunday. QUT CEA, the commercial arm of QUT’s Creative Industries Precinct, provided financial commitment, infrastructure and sup- port to bring the student project to reality and continue its commitment to growing fashion businesses and to- morrow’s international designers, and provide real world learning experiences for creative students.The store has also been supported by Brisbane Marketing, the Wintergarden and Artichoke maga- zine.- Mechelle McMahon