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Fashion Palette is only 1 DAY away today! I am beyond excited for the event of a lifetime to kick off at the Sydney Convention Centre. To help control my excitement I have put pen to paper and decided to share the festive joy with you. Each day until Friday I will blog a different reason to be excited about Fashion Palette 2009!

THURSDAY: THE FASHION PALETTE AFTER PARTY

Need I say more? The chance to mingle with the delegate speakers and fashion designers. Be treated to a glamorous evening at the GPO Building. Think champagne, beautiful garments and new friends.On the evening of Saturday 2nd May we will celebrate the close of the first ever Fashion Palette event. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to rub shoulders with the event VIPs, Media and other Fashion Palette attendees. Complimentary drinks on arrival, live band, live entertainment and runway show What a way to finish up your amazing weekend of influence.

I will see all of you lovely people tomorrow! Come say hello.

Signing off the last time.

Megan Aney (me in the photo )

WEDNESDAY: The HOTTEST speakers on the block

The speakers have not been chosen at random but better yet handpicked to suit Australia’s fashion climate today. With every angle of the industry covered no matter what your style or direction is there is a speaker that you will want to here. Be inspired by their trials and triumphs and learn through listening. s

TUESDAY: The Speakers New Inspiration

Palette organisers could not have picked a better weekend to host the conference. All the keynote speakers will be coming from a week of glitz and glamour as Rosemount Australian Fashion Week wraps up on Friday. The speakers will be filled with new season inspiration, new industry friends and a fresh love for all things fashion. They will be running to the harbour to share all their new found with YOU. The speakers at Fashion Palette are only the most professional and industry wise, most of them playing huge parts in the Australian Fashion Industry, the luck is on our side to be able to listen to these guru’s of fashion.

Fashion Palette is only 5 days away today! I am beyond excited for the event of a lifetime to kick off at the Sydney Convention Centre. To help control my excitement I have put pen to paper and decided to share the festive joy with you. Each day until Friday I will blog a different reason to be excited about Fashion Palette 2009!

Monday: The Beautiful Location

Darling Harbour is one of the most picturesque locations in Australia. The Convention Centre overlooks the harbour and The Opera House, what a fantastic way to set the tone of fashion and glamour. Sydney also boasts a multitude of shopping centres, strip shopping and stand alone stores. Sydney’s diverse culture creates an interesting and prominent shopping landscape. Many of fashion’s famous names hail originally from this diverse neighbourhood; Collette Dinnigan, Sass & Bide and Akira Isogawa to name a few. This rich fashion culture in Sydney makes it the perfect place for Fashion Palette.

Written by: Megan Aney

The prize pool up for grabs awarded to one lucky winner includes not only cash and prizes but incredible industry networking opportunities like the chance to meet with the head buyer for General Pants Co. General Pants Co. is an industry leader in street fashion for men and women. Stocking brands such as Ksubi, One Teaspoon, Lee and Insight creates fashionable credit for the stores nationwide.

I am having a hard time trying to choose who to vote for! I’ve taken a good look at all the contestants and they all have something to bring to the Australian fashion table. I particularly like Humility Couture. There was a great article on them in my local magazine Gold Coast Panache. Jimmy & his fiancé Em run Humility Couture not only as a major player in the Australian fashion scene but also to give something back to our world. The label support Effective Aid Relief check out the cause at www.effectiveaid.org. Fashion with conscience I feel is defiantly worthy of my vote.

Remember to make your vote count, who do you want to see strutting their stuff in the Fashion Palette runway show on Saturday 2nd May?

I’ve done my research and Sydney May weather ranges between 11-19C. This means Zimmermann bikinis and Camilla kaftans wont cut it on this trip. This presents me with a difficult equation: carry on suitcase + fashion conference + divine parties + the need for bulky warm items = POTENTIAL JETSET DISASTER!

I hit Stylehunter.com to find a few key items from this season to incorporate into my light packing. So many great items on the website with only 7kg to work with! I’ve narrowed my packing down to a few basic items; a white shirt, jeans, a little black dress & a blazer.  The key to making these items work is adding acessories & easy to pack layers. Think patterend leggings, long cardi’s and statement heels. Accesorise with Mimco’s great range of scarves, hair pieces and jewerly.  Problem also solved, but how do i fit all of these into 7kgs? Perfect packing is the key.

The advice packing advice I can offer is DON’T NOT FOLD! Folding takes up valuable space and also cause unsightly creases. Instead opt this easy three step technique.

1. Fold clothing item vertically and smooth out creases.
2. Cover the top layer in baking paper smoothly.
3. Roll into the shape of a cylinder (think rolling a sausage roll) and tie place elastic band around the middle to keep it all together.
To save even more room substitute the elastic band with a belt or scarf!

Now with the following in mind I am off to shop & pack for Fashion Palette with a bit more confidence!

by Megan Aney

From The AW09 Collection

When Bert & Aaron from Love Jungle decided to chuck into the business blender style, graphic design and music nobody could have anticipated just how great Love Jungle would taste. A smart witty tee shirt brand with an edge for the unexpected Love Jungle breaks menswear boundaries. When Love Jungle’s entry pack fell onto our Fashion Palette desks we were ecstatic to have such a fierce competitor in the Fashion Palette fashion design awards.

I caught up for a long distance cuppa earlier this week with Bert the artist behind the love. A web focused brand with an online store attached to their website and online stockists the brand is taking over online shopping and new media. The brand was established just over 18months ago in Australia’s fashion capital, Sydney. The Love Jungle boys just wanted to make shirts they wanted to wear and starting pumping out neutral coloured t-shirts with eye catching graphic prints; they soon were to discover other guys wanted to wear there shirts just as much as them, and a cult following was born.

With a 20 piece menswear collection in the works Love Jungle is full steam ahead. This season’s collection is the third from the label and is being lapped up by indie stores, music artists and Jo Blow. Love Jungle plans to take the brand and the current collection internationally in the second half of this year; despite this the brand is committed to Australia and plans to keep its roots here.

Love Jungle is so excited to be attending the Fashion Palette conference. Bert is pumped to listen to Arturo Elena and the boys from Insight. Bert has a theory that “Your bound to learn 20 new things a day” at the conference.

Aaron & Bert will be running a muck down at the conference, so make sure you catch up with them and prick their brains about Love Jungle and the future of Australian fashion.

www.lovejungle.com.au

by Megan Aney (www.anaustralianwintour.com)

Fashion Palette will be Jessie’s first large scale fashion conference. No amount of nerves can deter Jessie’s passion for the event. “It’s a good opportunity to learn from our trials and tribulations, to help you not have to make the same mistakes as we did”.  Jessie’s experience on an international scale will be a fantastic opportunity to draw irreplaceable wisdom this May.

Fashion Palette has organised the crème de la crème of industry mentors to shed light on the fashion industry in Australia. The wisdom that they hold and are willing to let you the student soak up has the ability to change your working life. Tips, tricks, do’s and don’t to help you, the next generation of fashion insiders on your way.

Read the biographies of people in the fashion industry the majority respect and love and see them share their own tales of learning through mentors; Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, Alexandre De Betak and so many more. For those who are to come, the smartest thing to learn is pen and paper work will only get you so far.