Designer example essay topic

30-year-old German born designer, Gwendolynne Burkin, is passionate about her craft. In an interview earlier this year, she labelled her contemporaries "lazy'. "Most are more interested in the whole idea of wearing clothes than hands-on making them,' 's he said. Burkin, an RMIT fashion graduate, is a designer, bordering on demi-couturist, who learnt her trade in the traditional sense. She cut her teeth as a designer with Katherine Hammett and Diva in London and Bettina Liano, Sports girl and Victoria Lofts in Melbourne before launching her own label in 1998. Her designs, inspired by feminine silhouettes and the demure dress codes of bygone eras are meticulously assembled, from pattern through to production, even if it means hand stitching them herself.

Delicate details such as draping, ruching and bustles and distinctive materials, including antique french lace and hand-beaded vintage fabrics are her trademark. Her style is unmistakable - beautifully tailored and timeless. Gwendolynne is stocked throughout Australia and Hong Kong. What's next? "This year, I decided to make money,' 's ays Burkin.

This means she is concentrating on ready-to-wear garments. The results are equally exquisite, more wearable and slightly more affordable. If the critics, who hailed her latest collection at MAF W a success, are right, she is on her way to her first fortune. Where to buy: Fat 272,272 Chapel Street; RPM, 350 Lyon Street.

Label: Toni Maticevski Toni Maticevski, 24, is as well known for knocking back a job with New York fashion guru Donna Karan as he is for his demi-couture designs. In 1997, fresh out of RMIT, Maticevski completed work experience with Karan as part of a scholarship prize. After two weeks he felt stifled by the lack of spontaneity and returned to Australia. The following year, the media-shy designer launched his label from the lounge room of his Laver ton home, where he still lives with his parents and sister.

Earlier this year he won the New Designer Award at the Melbourne Fashion Festival and an invitation to showcase his designs at Mercedes Australian Fashion Week where the pundits were impressed by his obsessive attention to detail, which included pleated silk chiffon dresses, pin-stitched trousers and elaborate rouleau x strapped tops. Unorthodox cutting and draping are the signature of his designs. What's Next? "I really want to break into Europe. There is a real market for couture designers over there. I'd like to become a global name.

' ' Where to buy: Ivy Hopes, 6/37 Swanston Street. Label: Sass & Bide They have no formal fashion training, but that hasn't stopped long-time best friends, Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton, from revolutionizing women's jeans. Ex-accountant, Clarke, and ad exec, Middleton, are the brains behind the low-slung jeans that groovy young things around the globe can't wait to squeeze into, including TV's influential clothes horse, Sarah Jessica Parker. The chance meeting with Parker on a New York street is now legendary. Clarke and Middleton literally bumped into the starlet who later ordered 90 per cent of their collection. The clothes will appear in upcoming episodes of Sex and the City.

While Clarke and Middleton are best known for their hipster jeans (they were the first to use the 5 cm zip), their Premiere line of customised pieces have been just as successful. Their style philosophy is a combination of their staple denim range, including jeans, jackets and mini-skirts and a limited edition line, including corsets and pill-box hats that are "a little bit left of field'. What's next? Having achieved such lofty heights in just two years, there's plenty of scope for the future. Where to buy: Fat 272,272 Chapel Street; Fat 52, 52 Johnston Street, Fitzroy; Cactus Jam, 729 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn.

Label: Claude Maus The man behind the whimsical designs of the Claude Maus label, is 29-year-old Melburnian Rob Maniscalco. With just two seasons under his belt, the fine arts graduate with a passion for arthouse movies is best known for his off-beat designs, which have included customised tops featuring European football club logos and a striped dress with a no 4 emblazoned on the back. Currently stocked in Sydney and Melbourne, the refreshing range (for men and women) of customised tops, shirting, tailored leather peasant wear, silk blouses and sports-inspired detailing is difficult to define. Some critics have coined it "construction meets deconstruction'. However you describe it, it is fresh, fun and original.

You won't see any rip-offs from the runways of Paris, New York or Milan in this collection. What's Next? Fingers crossed, Maniscalco serves up more weird and wonderful designs that will earn him further recognition here and overseas. Label: Ty & Melita Melburnians Ty Henschke and Melita Turcsan are the design duo behind Melbourne's label-of-the-moment, Ty & Melita. The pair combined forces in 2001 and between them have 25 years' experience. Previously, Henschke worked behind the scenes for Bettina Liano, Ell in A mbe and most recently, Roy.

Melita has worked in pattern making and production for Scanlan & Theodore, Jenny Bannister and Glen Rollason. The label is best described as slick and sexy. Spring / summer includes black harem pants with thigh-high splits and macrame-fringed mini-skirts, using jersey fabrics and well-cut silks and satin that hang beautifully on the body. Highlight pieces are trimmed with peep-show lace and lots of cutwork. What's Next? The duo will launch a feminine, sexy line of denim later in the year.

Keep an eye out for it!