features

	11/6/2003
	Katrina Schwarz

Unmoved by the call to action issued by this season's "must have" combat pant? Bored with Boho and endless variations on the Little Black Dress? Sick of Sportsgirl endorsed punk?

An expressed dissatisfaction with current fashion trends might turn you into a dedicated op-shopper, reconcile you to a life of belligerent tracksuit wearing (if you can't be stylish, may as well be comfortable) or it might just make a fashion designer of you.

Millie Fairhall , visual artist and burgeoning fashion-plate, began her own clothing label ELLIM in 2001; she cites as her inspirations travelling, surf-and-skate culture and an inability to find appealing clothing "on the racks".

Now in a trashed up studio in a small Queensland town Millie uses "handcut stencils and handscreen everything" to produce a raw, graphic and defiantly original  fashion range -  t-shirts emblazoned with images drawn from street and surf life, man style pants for girls,  deconstructed denim and accessories.

A featured artist in the 2001 noise festival, Millie reached a large national audience through coverage on ABC TV, on  Triple J  and in the pages of "Chick" magazine.

"I got some really great exposure through noise", Millie reflects, "people got in contact with me who wouldn't have otherwise found me"

noise 01' also shone a spotlight upon the design daring of  Newcastle based sisters - and founders of Spare-parts Industries -  Rowena, Juliana and Angela Foong.
The sisterly trio, whose early fashion forays included the making of each other's formal dresses, transformed a flailing second-hand clothing store into a thriving "retail-clothing-workshop-gallery", launching their own fashion label with a small series of white garments onto which nutrition panels and 'no frills' logos were printed.

"Our 'No Frills' range was a response to consumerism and to the fact that since we were just starting out, we too were a no-name brand"  explains youngest sibling and appointed spokesperson Angela.

Anonymity was, however, not to last. Subsequent fashion ranges such as the nattily titled "Aunty Woo Goes West" and "Blue Murder", a collection for male-folk featuring faux blood stains and unconcealed, graphically rendered weapons, drew press and punters to their Newcastle shop/studio.

The current Spare-parts Industries range, including a series of reversible jackets and dresses which Angela describes as "edgy but also flexible - flamboyant on one side and more somber on the other"  as well as a salute to Spanish style in the form of vivid red bolero jackets "to bring a bit of fun and colour into winter" are now stocked in 6 boutiques Australia wide.

Because each garment is produced in its entirety by the Spare parts sisters -  a laborious process which comprises the selection of material, cutting, sewing and embroidery - they find that they cannot always meet the keen demand of their stockists . With one jacket requiring up to 5 hours work, Angela concedes "we don't have much of a life".

What the Foong sisters and Millie Fairhall do have, however, is a lively passion for fashion. Borne of frustration and determined to make a unique impact on an increasingly uniform fashion field, these Noisy young designers�s are no transient trend-chasers.
High impact, revolutionary clothing, it would seem, has surprisingly little to do with a mall full of combat pants.

Tune into noise across the media this October see the latest fabrics and patterns by young Australian designers!