An exclusive gala event was held during the Pitti Immagine Uomo exhibition at the Palazzo Corsini in Florence on Thursday 10 January 2008, where Australian Merino wool was the highlight.

The glamorous event showcased one-off collections of five up and coming fashion designers from around the globe, who worked in collaboration with Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) to create collections using Australian Merino wool as the primary fibre.

The protégé collections

The one-off collections were the result of Project Protégé which was launched in early 2007 by AWI. Some of fashion’s most prominent figures were chosen to select and introduce an up coming designer protégé of their choice to mentor for the few months leading up to the event.

World renowned designers who mentored the protégé’s include:

* Donatella Versace

* Karl Lagerfeld

* Calvin Klein

* Paul Smith

* Franca Sozzani (Editor, Vogue Italia)

Catwalk featuring Australian Merino wool

The challenge presented to the protégés was to create a collection of garments made with Australian Merino wool.

Project Protégé was not only successful in showcasing some of the most luxurious Merino yarns and fabrics produced in Europe, but also paves the way for and supports young talent - a passion greatly shared by those who have put fleece or fashion at the heart of their lives and who understand the importance of ensuring a future for Merino wool in the fashion world.

While demonstrating the inherent luxury, quality and versatility that Merino wool offers, the gala event also offered a unique opportunity to see how one of Australia’s leading exports is used by the international fashion elite to appeal to the key apparel markets.

AWI partners with textile manufacturer’s to supply finest merino wool fabrics

AWI partnered with some of the world’s most illustrious textile manufacturers including, Cerruti, Ermenegildo Zegna, Loro Piana, Carlo Barbera, Botto Poala, Reda, Vitale Barberis Canonico, Chiavazza, Zegna Baruffa, Filature Tollegno and Lora e Festa, to supply fabrics and yarns in the finest Australian Merino wool for the protégés’ collections.

The Protégé Program sees AWI achieve a fundamental milestone in the world of fashion and celebrate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first bale of Merino wool to Europe from Australia, commemorating two centuries of quality, luxury and fashion leadership.

Catwalk featuring Australian Merino wool

KRISTIAN AADNEVIK -Chosen by DONATELLA VERSACE

A Norwegian who moved to England to attend London’s Royal College of Art, Kristian Aadnevik began working for companies of the caliber of Harrods International in London and Charles Jourdan in Japan after completing his studies.

In 2004 he made his own signature debut, presenting his collection during London Fashion Week. Acclaimed in the British press as “one of the most interesting young talents on the London scene”, he counts the Princess of Norway Mette-Marit among his fans on the home front.

Donatella Versace, who chose Kristian for his rock attitude, is enthusiastic about the collection her protégé designed with Australian Merino wool.

A virago with a metal soul yet also a supremely sensual grace is what Kristian Aadnevik has in mind, imprinting his Fall/Winter 2009 collection with a narrative stream as he talks about the adventures of his woman, his muse.

Her journey begins in northern Europe, ever rich in Gothic mystery, and after passing through a languid Belle Epoque Paris ends in today’s avant-garde East London clubs.

The collection features mostly ultra feminine dresses where easy wrap fit and sense of movement come from volumes and drapings defined by an expert choice of gorgeous Australian Merino wool fabrics.

Gold and silver glints, iridescent feathers and ostrich applications give the creations a bright touch.

SANDRA BACKLUND -Chosen by FRANCA SOZZANI

A 2004 graduate of Stockholm’s Beckmans School of Design, Sandra Backlund is a tricot artist who assembles her knits by hand in three-dimensional collages, sculpture mode.

Her style of working and the magic of her creations – authentic works of art – have both earned her major awards (e.g. at the Hyeres Festival International De Mode & De Photographie) and attracted the attention of the international press.

Sandra was chosen by Franca Sozzani, editor in chief of Italian Vogue, for the Protégé Project:an ideal showcase for signaling, through Sandra’s talent, the newest direction in knitwear.

The human form as the starting point - to reinvent, underline, camouflage. Through various artisanal techniques, Sandra Backlund takes knits to unknown heights, enveloping the body in supersoft Merino wools.

For Fall/Winter 2009, she envisions a surreal, magical, magnificent total look in tricot.

Finally freeing knits of a classic mannish connotation, the Swedish designer revisits the genre with a spiritual, intimist collection making use of the most precious Australian Merino wool yarns.

Key colours in her palette: a warm powder pink and an intense dark red.

JEAN-PIERRE BRAGANZA - Chosen by KARL LAGERFELD

Born in London of an Irish mother and an Asian father, Jean-Pierre Braganza attended the prestigious St. Martin’s School. Upon graduating, he got the chance to work alongside Roland Mouret, from whom he learned the art of ultra feminine cuts.

On the calendar of London Fashion Week since 2004, he presents men’s and women’s collections that always capture the imagination of international buyers and media.

This is his golden opportunity. Chosen by Mr. Lagerfeld for the Protégé Project, he explores the potential of Australian Merino wool through his distinctly structured style.

A tribute to the female form celebrated through a keen use of sartorial geometry.

Braganza takes a complex route in fashioning his designs, rethinking the body through unprecedented proportions, luscious layers, an interplay of Merino wool fabrics and wool crepe inserts giving extra depth to the clothes.

On hour-glass dresses and suits, grey and black hues intersect with warm notes of bordeaux.

The collection, which also includes some items for men, is an exquisitely elegant synthesis of the ideal wardrobe.

A few basic pieces, contemporary of cut, classic of inspiration, where mixes follow precise rules and all variations capture the idea of a modern uniform. Very very today.

IOANNIS CHOLIDIS - Chosen by PAUL SMITH

A graduate of St. Martin’s School, Ioannis Cholidis is a Greek menswear designer who inflects fine tailoring with activewear and sportswear accents. In 2006, he designed a line of Puma sneakers presented during London Fashion Week. In the same year he worked with Stella McCartney creating clothes for the English band Coldplay.

Thanks to his eclectic approach to fashion and his inventive take on colour for men, he’s the one that Sir Paul Smith - the best loved of English designers - chose in 2007 to find a new way for men to enjoy Australian Merino wool.

Frame by frame, Ioannis Cholidis’s collection depicts the everyday life of a stylish young man who shifts easily between business and casual looks.

Comfortably proportioned pants and shorts contrast nicely with slimfit shirts, pullovers and twinsets. Pants make quite a fashion statement, as in the wool denims for leisure occasions, or the sleeker models with exclusive detailing like copper hardware and the lastest in padding and fringe. The colour spectrum ranges from the softest pastels to deep anthracite grey and navy blue hues.

Strongpoint of the Cholidis collection is a bent for reinventing the all-time classics of men’s casuals (usually denims or leathers) in Australian Merino wool. Result: soft five-pocket jeans, peacoat, bomber and biker jacket all in a wool fabric offering innovative ease and surprising tech performance.

JULIAN LOUIE -Chosen by FRANCISCO COSTA for CALVIN KLEIN

A young Julian Louie left California to study architecture at Cooper Union University in New York. Two years later he discovered a passion for fashion, which he believed had the same imaginative force as architecture in defining the contexts of modern living.

In 2005, with an internship at Imitation of Christ, Julian got to enter the field firsthand. Subsequently, the young architect - now in love with fashion - joined the Calvin Klein style office headed by Francisco Costa. This makes the latter's choice of Julian as his protégé for the ambitious Australian Merino wool initiative all the more significant.

Characterised by contrasts, the collection Julian Louie designed for the Protégé Project merges opulence and austerity, full forms and clean lines, structured silhouettes and lavish details. The mood is young, audacious and sophisticated.

Proportions capture a new concept in volume: darts, puffs, pleats and gatherings redesign the figure. Perfectly offset by rich embroideries inspired by Robert Motherwell and Gustav Klimt paintings.

The palette presents variations on metallic grey, from pewter to graphite, lead to silver. Adding warmth to these tones is an intense shade of gold, as well as inserts and applications in primary colours (red, yellow, blue) interspersed with white.

Exalting Merino wool’s versatility, Julian Louie constructs precious balloon dresses, preppie-style pants cut off at ankles, coats and jackets in ultra simple lines. This is a truly New York interpretation, at once bold and elegant, of the Australian fibre. More....