STYLEAID BLOG

It all began with bump in at midday yesterday and the setting up of the photographs and ended at about 9.30pm last night with everything returned to the board room of the WA AIDS Council.

The sponsors thank you party returned to StyleAID this year and seemed to be appreciated by all who attended.

After a break of a couple of years it was decided this year that it would be a good idea to hold an event to say thank you to our sponsors for their continued support of the event and to welcome our newest sponsors into the fold.

In the past 9 years StyleAID has been growing and addind sponsors each year and this year is no exception.

With the 22 fantastic photographs from 20 talented photographers on display this was going to be a wonderful night.  Each of the photographers created a vision using the Heaven theme and interpreted this with the assistance of an outfit from one of 20 designers.

This formed the backdrop for last nights event and created an amazing vista in the Swan Room of the Parmelia Hilton Perth, along with some stunning lighting, draping and a plasma screen showing all our sponsors logos from the talented guys at LUX, OMG Events and Power Music.

With the support of Veuve Clicquot (served to all our guests) along with Chalice Bridge Wines, Gage Roads Beer and San Pellegrino this was a night to begin the building of the hype that surrounds StyleAID each year.

A menu of cocktail food was specially created by the chefs at the Hilton for this night and the guests all loved the food and the exceptional service as well!

With a specially designed centrepiece of hand made chocolates featuring StyleAID signs to compliment the stunning food and the Veuve this was a night to remember.

Media mingled with sponsors, photographers, designers and the board of the AIDS Council to fill the Swan Room with a really up vibe.

The only formalities on the night were a sensational speech given by Trish Langdon the Executive Director of the WA AIDS Council, which was really well received by all in attendance.  Thanking our sponsors and encouraging people to enjoy the photographs, Trish also announced the inclusion of a new sponsor for the night - Stefan The Diamond Centre who are providing a $10000 1 carat diamond for our exclusive treasure chest on the night for one lucky guest to win.

So more drinking and eating followed and the night ended with a few last stragglers taking one last look at the stunning photography before heading out into the wet Perth evening.

This was a great beginning to the lead up to the best fashion fundraising event in Perth.

Just realised it is only 6 weeks til StyleAid “Heaven”!!

Second time round though it’s not too bad as know what to expect and also have the advantage of having just done the RTW Show at Mercedes Australian Fashion Week earlier in the year so everything’s kind of done… music, hair and make-up, props, styling..plus the StyleAid team are ultra organised and helpful, they make it a breeze (compared to last minute preps for Mercedes!!) as they’ve been organising and planning for months ahead.

All we designer’s need to do is turn up with our frocks and do the fittings!! fabulous! should get Mercedes to hire the StyleAid team, at least we’d all be a little less stressed out.

Have a few finishing touches to do for the guys outfits though… most of the girls are done and ready to go. The only thing a little different though from the Fashion Week show is incorporating the guys in with the girls as did the women’s show instead of the combined show.

Thought at that stage was too tricky to organise given the time frames back then and too much pressure…but we get to have more fun at the StyleAid show which makes everything easier, so doing guys and girls will be cool.

I’ve got some ideas as to how it’s all going to look, will run it by Aly though or will wait for fittings to find out what the run-order will be.

StyleAid is quite a unique group show in that we have LOTS of wonderful models (all generously donating their time), rather than just a few models which makes the outfit changes a bit easier for everyone (models, dressers, organisers) as they get more time… it’s quite amazing backstage when everyone’s about to start.

So many people back there organising everything, plus dressers, hair and make-up people and a sea of models in amazing outfits, all different styles, looks….and everyone’s buzzing with excitement.  

Can’t wait!!!!

Pat from Preacher

Here it is Sunday night and it has been one of those weekends that you do not soon forget!

I had the great privilege of being a volunteer at the adultshop.com Boobalicious Ball, raising funds for breast cancer awareness and reasearch.

I worked mainly backstage with the wonderful Aly May (who I know you all know is the stylist supremo for StyleAID) and her amazing daughter Holly.

This was a great experience for me as I am usually involved in the overall management of the event and whilst I have been known in the past to pick up an iron, sort out some props or put out chairs it was great to be in a position to just get in their and assist to do whatever was needed.

Working with the dressers and sorting out the props for the parade and being able to see the rehearsals was great fun!

When I arrived just after 1pm I immediately went to work on the steaming of clothing - or so I thought - until I plugged in the steamer and filled it up with water and found that it did not want to steam for me…oh well we still had 7 hours until the parade but really needed to get all the outfits steamed and ready to go…so Aly to the rescue…in to Perth she went and got another steamer - she had just bought the first one that day so she rang the department store and they very nicely checked out another one to make sure it worked…

In the meantime, make up teams arrived and so did the models.  The dancers had been rehearsing for a couple of hours by this stage.  So the first team of models went straight into make up and then the second team arrived and so on…

And before I knew it Aly was back and the pressing and steaming began…it was great fun working with the costumes and getting things ready for the parade.

Then into the ballroom to assist with putting out the gift bags, another fun thing I like to do as you really get to enjoy the feeling in the room before the guests arrive.

Onto model run through, prop checking, a quick bite to eat and it was show time…

It was all outfits, jewellery, boobs and frantic fun backstage as the models went on and then came off as we dressed them, assisted in changes, made sure they had the right jewellery on, props attached and were ready for their next section.

And before I knew what was happening, Aly, Holly, Georgia and I were sitting outside having a breather before pack up began and the parade was over.

What a great experience it was and I am so greatful to Aly for allowing me to be a helping hand on the night and to the wonderful girls at adultshop.com  Larrissa, Amanda and Peta for welcoming me as a volunteer.

And then it was nearly 10 and I was heading home, with sore feet but feeling really good about being able to assist in an event that was raising money for another important cause.

So now I head into a big week in terms of StyleAID with the sponsor thank you party on Tuesday night.

Before I get to that I have a new potential major sponsor to meet with Monday morning and also have to chase up a couple of final prints so that our exhibition unveiling on Tuesday night is complete.

So as they say watch this space…I hope to keep you up to date with all that goes on this week…wish me luck for Tuesday night!

How fantastic!  Just got word today that vmoto are returning to StyleAID in 2006.

After being involved with the donation of a scooter and gifts for VIP’s last year they have again joined StyleAID with the donation of a scooter!

This year the scooter will be given away on the night to one lucky guest as our fantastic door prize!  So if you needed yet another incentive to be a part of the party of the year, as if there wasn’t already so much on offer, then this is it!

A big thank you to vmoto for again joining the party that is StyleAID 2006 - Heaven.

Dear Diary………..Ha!!! The fun of pre production , patterns, fabrics going missing , stroking egos and datelines….such a dirty word!!!!!!!!!!!