Some Kind of Wonderful: The Eighties at Rockhampton Art Gallery

Oscar de la Renta and Mary McFadden dresses

'Some Kind of Wonderful' explores the artistic and perforative aspects of fashion from power-dressed glamour to body-con lines and re romantic club style to designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Christian Lacroix, Adolfo and Herve Leger and many more. Be transported back to the creative fashion explosion that was the 1980s. This is a new exhibition drawn from the Darnell Collection of International Couture. 3 May - 29 June 2014, Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton, Queensland

An stunning Zandra Rhodes dress with a pink Loris Azzaro in the background

Flamingo Park (Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson) long vest
Sweater by James Willis and skirt by Valentino

Studibaker Hawk party dress and a gold lame dress by an unknown designer

'Some Kind of Wonderful' at Rockhampton Art Gallery

Gerber Technology and The Darnell Collection bring fashion's past into the future

The Darnell Collection's new vision in 2015: "Vintage Meets Cutting Edge"

STOP PRESS!

How I use my collection has moved such a long way from my original concept of keeping it for storytelling alone. Eleven years on, I am now fascinated by the potential of taking it, a fashion collection showcasing 250 years of dress, and making it truly cutting edge in the 21st century. 

This is how an authentic 1960s cotton and silk organdie party dress becomes a computer generated dress for a 3-D avatar. The process was laborious, but the result was astounding. 

Watch this space for some exciting initiatives to evolve this year!

The original 1960s dress!

The 21st century computer generated dress!

Gerber Technology's annual Ideation Conference and The Darnell Collection bring fashion history to Caesar's Palace, Vegas

Past, Present, Future 

How 250 years of fashion history became 21st century inspiration and Vintage became Cutting-edge!

Gerber Technology hosted a bespoke and truly cutting-edge fashion parade bringing to life CAD software during its annual conference at Caesar's Palace on the 30th October. 

Students attending fashion schools across America, who are taught fashion design using   AccuMark software programs, were invited to draw inspiration from five vintage dresses,   representing five decades of fashion history, 1940 to 1980, all sourced from the Darnell   Collection, and submit their creations to a team of judges. One winning garment was selected for each decade from diverse and truly inspiring submissions. The five winning garments were modelled on the catwalk, along with the original vintage dress, in front of a 350 strong audience of industry experts and in the presence of Tim Gunn, host of Project Runway USA. It was exciting and thought provoking event for me, the students and the conference attendees!   

May this become a conference tradition and continue to grow and inspire the industry. 

                                                               

PAST: Balenciaga

PAST: Horrockses of London

PAST: Adolfo

PAST: Oscar de la Renta

PAST: Unlabelled

                                                                   

Dress by Balenciaga, late 1940s, modernised by Brittney Castillo (Art Institute of California - Hollywood)

Dress by Horrockses of London, 1950s modernised by Natalia Hendricks (University of the Incarnate Word)

Skirt and top by Adolfo, 1960s, modernised by Natalia Gilca (El Centro College)

Dress by Oscar de la Renta, 1970s, modernised by Kenneth Espinosa (El Centro College)

Unlabelled dress, 1980s, modernised by Mildred Aroche (Art Institute of California - Hollywood)

Young designers stand alongside their garments and I stand alongside Darnell vintage garments.
(Hair and makeup by students and educators at Aveda Institute of Beauty, Las Vegas
and models represented by Envy Models, Las Vegas)

I just love this photograph of the beautiful De Jay modelling Kenneth's chic jumpsuit