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<\/p>\nMEET the talented Geelong designer who has been crowned a rising star of the fashion industry.<\/p>\n
Ali Raif wowed judges of the Myer Fashions on Your Front Lawn competition with his beautiful, bold entry in the emerging designer award.<\/p>\n
Now the Bell Park creative is preparing to feature in Vogue Magazine\u2019s February issue which was part of his prize package.<\/p>\n
The co-founder of fashion house Bird Skin admitted to being over the moon when his name was called out as the winner on Melbourne Cup Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has always been a dream of mine to win this prestigious competition,\u201d Raif said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they announced the winner it was quite unbelievable \u2013 I had no idea that they had picked my entry and it was truly surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the fourth time Raif has been a finalist in the award which this year went digital due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
His winning design was a striking sculptural piece featuring bright spring colours, colour blocking and vertical pleating.<\/p>\n
Raif, a trained embroiderer who studied at Cambridge University and Deakin University, said he was inspired to use pleats after undertaking a workshop at a Speciality Pleaters in Williamstown which is the only remaining couture pleater in the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n
His winning design was a striking sculptural piece featuring bright spring colours, colour blocking and vertical pleating.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Raif, who learned his sewing skills from his mother, said the design was challenging to make as it left little room for error.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you are doing something with pleating you have to go simple with the graphic so you don\u2019t distort it,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I knew I had to go with bold colours, colour blocking and keep it simple so it had that impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raif said it was also important to him to produce a sustainable design using a no waste pattern he engineered and create a dress that was versatile in terms of who could wear it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the aims was to create something that would suit all bodies shapes and proportions,\u201d he said<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea was to do a free style that would mould to different bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raif and fellow creative, Luke Perkins, started Bird Skin as passion project born out of a desire to create beautiful clothing for photo shoots.<\/p>\n
It has since evolved into an exclusive design house specialising in memorable, one-off statement pieces including extravagant couture garments, head-turning millinery and culturally-flavoured jewellery pieces.<\/p>\n
While still coming down from the high of his win, a humble Raif said it was wonderful to have years of hard work and perserverance pay off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe win also belongs to the many people who have helped us along the way and to our loyal supporters \u2013 we can\u2019t thank them all enough for everything they\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Find Bird Skin on Instagram @birdskinau or visit the Etsy store www.etsy.com\/au\/shop\/BIRDSKINAU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEET the talented Geelong designer who has been crowned a rising star of the fashion industry. Ali Raif wowed judges of the Myer Fashions on Your Front Lawn competition with his beautiful, bold entry in the emerging designer award. Now the Bell Park creative is preparing to feature in Vogue Magazine\u2019s February issue which was […]<\/p>\n