World fashion leader looks to the future

It was "a once-in-a-lifetime experience" when editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia Franca Sozzani visited UTS yesterday to speak to fashion and textile design students and review graduate work.

Ms Sozzani, a UN Goodwill Ambassador and one of the top five most influential people in fashion, has always had a keen interest in young aspiring designers.

She believes in the importance of nurturing young talent, specifically requesting to visit students on her Australian itinerary in support of the new edition of L'Uomo Vogue magazine and her partnership with Woolmark.

Six UTS graduate students were selected to present their pieces to Ms Sozzani with a showcase of models.

Ms Sozzani also spoke to a small group of current fashion students saying, "I always like to see young people, because I believe you are the future."

As an avid campaigner for a sustainable future in fashion, Ms Sozzani encouraged students to develop a broader sense of beauty that extends beyond colour and kilo, as seen in her issues focused on black beauty and curvy women.

"Beauty is not just blue eyes, long hair, long legs and blonde," she said.

Kacey Devlin, a 2011 graduate fashion student of UTS, described the event as "surreal and extremely overwhelming."

Kacey was moved by Ms Sozzani's comments about fashion's ability to raise awareness of social issues, such as body image and racism.

"Today was reassuring and optimistic, there's always such negative conversation about the fashion industry but hearing Franca talk about the depth of fashion was really inspiring."

Picture by Terry Clinton

With her own line being launched in May, Kacey had the privilege of presenting a gift to Ms Sozzani, giving the fashion icon one of the pieces from her own collection as a thank you present for her time.

Staff looked on as Ms Sozzani inspected the garments one by one and taking photos on her iPhone as she chatted with the designers.

Senior Lecturer from the UTS School of Design, Armando Chant said, "They presented their collection to someone who is one of the most influential people in fashion world-wide. To present their work and get her opinion is a once-in-a-life-time experience."

Lillian Chan, who graduated in 2011, spoke to Ms Sozzani about launching her own fashion line in London.

"It was an excellent experience that you can't buy or seek out and Franca seems very nurturing of emerging talent," Lillian said. "I'm hoping maybe in the future she might remember my name."

Ms Sozzani took copies of each of the graduates' portfolios and business cards and plans to keep in touch with the university and its students in the future. 

Here to forge an even stronger alliance between Italian and Australian fashion and the Australian wool industry, Ms Sozzani has dedicated the March issue of L’Uomo Vogue to Australia.