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This installment:

| Gianni Versace in Sydney |

| A Young Designer From Madrid Wins Smirnoff's Spanish Fashion Awards |

Sydney (Australia) – Sydney is not only preparing for the September Olympic Games, it is also active in the fashion arena. The world-renowned fashion exhibition Gianni Versace: The Reinvention of Materials can now be visited in the Australian city.

The Sydney Gianni Versace Exhibition is the most extensive undertaken so far and incorporates most of the 180 garments assembled for the retrospective. In 1997, during its short season at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, it attracted a record crowd of 410,000 people. It was later shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Florida (1999) as well as the designer’s home town near Lake Como in Italy.

Gianni Versace was, without a doubt, one of the twentieth century’s most influential designers and his distinctive style and inventive use of materials has made a lasting impression on the fashion world.

The exhibition, which explores Versace’s stylistic development, features more than 120 of the legendary designer’s greatest works including clothing, fabrics and accessories. It also includes photographs of Versace’s creations by such notable names as Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber and Helmut Newton.

Among the exhibition’s highlights is the revealing "safety pin" dress so famously worn by Elizabeth Hurley in 1994. Other landmark pieces include Versace’s corset and lingerie dresses, asymmetrically draped day and evening wear and fabulous designs featuring animal prints, studs and metal mesh.

Throughout his career Versace maintained a close relationship with the materials from which his creations were made. His thorough knowledge of the technical aspects, cultural heritage and history of textiles enabled him to draw from tradition, yet at the same time take risks and disavow  established rules. Whether it was the draping of a tweed fabric not normally suited for draping, his experimentation with vinyl plastic, or a bold combination of leather and silk, Versace constantly reinvented materials in provocative ways.

The designer was heavily influenced by art and he held an enormous regard for modernist painting and twentieth century masters such as Gustav Klimt, Vassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró and Alexander Calder.

The Klimt evening gown (1984 - 85) provides a shimmering abstract metal mesh canvas for the designer and his strapless Alexander Calder dress (1997) features hand-painted and appliquéd silk chiffon that recreates the fragile world of an Alexander Calder mobile.

His passion for Andy Warhol is displayed in a sleeveless silk crepe evening gown (1991) printed with Andy Warhol - inspired images of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean.

The exhibition also explores how Versace was influenced by history and includes his innovative fashion interpretations of classical tunics created in jersey and leather as well as his Byzantine, Neo-rococo and Neo-classical collections.

Gianni Versace: The Reinvention of Materials will be open to the public at 343 George Street, Sydney, Australia until October.

Madrid (Spain) - The Spanish final of the XII Smirnoff Fashion Awards took place on July 5th at the Sala Riviera in Madrid. 16 young designers presented their creations inspired on the phrase: Liberate Your Mind.

A jury made up of a handful of well-known Spanish designers including Elio Berhanyer, Pedro Morago, Angela Arregui and Juan Duyos, amongst others, chose the design "Something new is born in you" by 22 year-old Madrid native, Raquel Clap, as this year's most original and innovative. It consists of a beige gauze dress with large flower raffia appliqués and a spectacular black raffia cape. "I still can't believe it. I am really surprised of how well my design has been received. I have worked many long days and it is incredible to be able to see it on such an impressive catwalk," said the winner upon receiving the news.

Second place went to Catalina Vicens, who based her proposal on fabric experimentation, and the third to Ruth Fernández who showed a design in latex entitled "Liberate your mind, liberate your inner self."

All the members of the jury coincided in highlighting "the great quality present in this year's designs and the special interest among young designers to experiment with materials, obtaining very surprising results and fashion-forward fabric combinations."

Spanish dancer Nacho Duato and television presenter Jennifer Rope hosted the event. On hand for the occasion were well-known Spanish personalities from the worlds of design and fashion alongside a large number of celebrities such as Mexican pop group Maná, singer/dancer Norma Duval, ex Miss Spain Inés Sainz and Catalonian hairstylist Llongueras.

The three winners will create collections to be presented at Barcelona's Salón Gaudí Moda, and the winner will represent Spain at the International Smirnoff Fashion Awards Final to take place next autumn in New York.  

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