If you're liable to getting bad cases of fashion-envy please take caution when reading this post, because you're just about to meet one of the coolest kids on the block...
A walking, breathing canvas mottled with color, bling, tattoos and flowers, Zoe Brown personifies all the greatest aspects of design. With a sweet crown of flowers, vibrant, edgy and playful tattoos and dark purple lipstick, she sat confidently at Koko Black turning the heads of nearly every passer-by. Wistfully, I listened to the stories behind the tattoos and trinkets... The crown of flowers came from Chapel Street Bazaar, her lipstick was from MAC, and her stunning watch was by Michael Korsfrom Bloomingdales. My favorite piece, her antique gold heart necklace (neatly engraved "Fuck off"), was from LenkoBoutique and was Zoe in a nutshell... sweet, with a hint of tongue-in-cheek rebellion.
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Zoe Brown - Designer / Stylist, Canberra Fashion Festival 2012
| Zoe Brown by Annabelle of "Bellzie" Photography, 2012 |
| Snapshots from the interview, taken by Me! |
Zoe designed the concepts behind her tattoos, but gave the creative licence to the various tattoo artists she has seen at studios such as Third Eye, Hunter & Fox and Mimsy's Trailer Trash Tattoos. Exclusively tattooed by ladies, Zoe will sit through 6-hour sessions - and let's be real, anyone who can sit through 6 hours of tattoo-ing pain (which I can only imagine) has my utmost respect.
Thankfully, Zoe doesn't just keep her design and styling talents to her own personal canvas. The collection from her graduating year at Canberra Institute of Technology has been highly sought after by photographers, venues and stylists - all wanting to capitalise on her edgy, striking and original concepts. You may have seen these designs plastered on the walls at Knightsbridge, and through Daddy Issues and La De Da... Or maybe you heard of the CIT fashion graduate who notoriously tattooed a model with "Fuck CIT" at the graduating parade? Well it should come as no surprise, that graduate was Zoe... and I'm proud to say the model was yours truly! (NOTE: Mum if you're reading this, relax, the tattoo was only temporary).
Thankfully, Zoe doesn't just keep her design and styling talents to her own personal canvas. The collection from her graduating year at Canberra Institute of Technology has been highly sought after by photographers, venues and stylists - all wanting to capitalise on her edgy, striking and original concepts. You may have seen these designs plastered on the walls at Knightsbridge, and through Daddy Issues and La De Da... Or maybe you heard of the CIT fashion graduate who notoriously tattooed a model with "Fuck CIT" at the graduating parade? Well it should come as no surprise, that graduate was Zoe... and I'm proud to say the model was yours truly! (NOTE: Mum if you're reading this, relax, the tattoo was only temporary).
| Zoe's (notorious) Graduating Collection at [re-align] 2011, photography by D-Eye Aus |
Needless to say Zoe remains grateful for the skills she learnt at CIT but is very happy to have graduated, finding a much needed sense of freedom in her life post-study. Nurturing her creative passions, Zoe has been working an internship at Lover in Sydney, where she has built up an understanding and experience of the realities of design, production and commercial sale of fashion. When approached by Canberra Fashion Festival, Zoe was ecstatic... she had finally been given an excuse to get back behind those sewing machines and put some time into her own designs. Zoe describes her new collection as "a little bit street-y", which she feels keeps the collection grounded and perhaps more accessible to a commercial market than her past designs. Honored, we are told this yet to be named collection was inspired by, and will reflect, our concept for 2012 - 'Avant Garden'. (I think the words "600 plastic roses" might have been uttered)!
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| Styling by Zoe Brown, photogrpahy by Daniele Francesca Martinie |
Above is some of her styling work, a collaboration with local talents; MUA Hayley Boyle, model Nastia Zaric, and photographer Daniele Martinie.
It's quite clear that Zoe is completely invested and dedicated to the fashion industry, spending hours upon hours, and dollars upon dollars on each new collection or styling job. Working with her you're guaranteed a professional and unique outcome... It's her passion and it shows.
So let us all prepare to be enchanted and captivated by Zoe Brown's new collection, launching at Canberra Fashion Festival 2012. Oh, and try to keep that fashion-envy under control when you see her at the show!
Love Elle and The CFF Team xx
Love Elle and The CFF Team xx
Original Post: http://avantgarden2012.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/a-moment-with-zoe-brown.html
At the moment Zoe is taking a mini break from designing to work and save for the launch of her own label. Within the next year the aim is to release a new collection or extend on ‘The Collector’ to make it more commercial. Eventually she would like to move to Melbourne and intern with an established designer though she says “Canberra has an easy connection base and is a really good place to make a start for yourself.”
