Maree Therese Menzel (1949-2004) was an Australian artist and costume designer known for her innovative and creative designs for theatre, fashion and interiors. Her work spanned pastel, oils, fabric and textiles.
Maree Therese Menzel (1949-2004) was an Australian artist and costume designer known for her innovative and creative designs for theatre, fashion and interiors. Her work spanned pastel, oils, fabric and textiles.
Maree Menzel was born on 9 November 1949 in Dimboola, Victoria, Australia. [1] She developed an interest in design and modelling from a young age and commenced a Diploma of Art and Design at Prahran Technical School in 1967. After her first year Maree was awarded a Commonwealth Advanced Education Scholarship, based ‘on results obtained in first-year examinations’. [2] During her time at Prahran, she was mentored by Rowena Clark, a distinguished designer and educator. [3] In 1983-5 Menzel studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts, focusing on printmaking. [4]
From 1972, Menzel was both modelling and writing for the first Australian pop music newspaper Go-Set. Her titles included ‘A guide to tarting your face on the cheap’, [5] ‘Happy hats’, [6] and ‘Excessorising’. [7]
In the late 1970s, Menzel designed for the Melbourne Theatre Company including touring productions:
At the age of 28, Menzel was described as the ‘brilliant young Maree Menzel’, joining Kenneth Rowell to form a duo of designers for The Victoria Opera. [8]
Menzel’s career as a fashion designer took off in the 1980s when she began working with Prue Acton, a prominent Australian fashion designer. As principal designer for Acton’s Melbourne Cup outfits, Menzel showcased Australian fashion on a world stage. [9] Her designs included the Titanium outfit (1983), [10] Mock Croc (1986), [11] and an embroidered navy linen suit for Derby Day 1987 [12] . Menzel also designed Fantasy Head. a mask for a charity auction at the Metro Nightclub in the late 1980s, using green and gold fabric scraps to evoke sea and bush themes. [13]
Menzel's eye for colour and sense of humour led to several interior designs and window dressing commissions. Her Port Melbourne home, with a deep orange Moroccan-inspired lounge room and hand painted mandala ceiling rose, is featured in Places, a photographic book by Earl Carter and Jean Wright. [14]
Menzel’s work continues to be appreciated for its artistic value and innovative approach to costume design. Her designs are preserved in collections such as Museums Victoria. [13]
Menzel married jewellery designer and musician Marcos Davidson in a colourful ceremony in 1989. [15] They divorced in the 1990s. After many years with cancer, Menzel died on 27 December 2004, and is buried at Dimboola Cemetery. [1]
Akira Isogawa is an Australian contemporary fashion designer.
Go-Set was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. Widely described as a pop music "bible", it became an influential publication, introduced the first national pop record charts and featured many notable contributors including fashion designer Prue Acton, journalist Lily Brett, rock writer / band manager Vince Lovegrove, music commentator Ian "Molly" Meldrum, rock writer / music historian Ed Nimmervoll and radio DJ Stan Rofe. It spawned the original Australian edition of Rolling Stone magazine in late 1972.
Josephine Mitchell sometimes credited as Jo Mitchell is an Australian actress and playwright with a lengthy career in theatre and television soap operas and serials.
Nina Ricci is a fashion house founded by Maria "Nina" Ricci and her son Robert in Paris in 1932, and owned by the Spanish beauty and fashion group Puig since 1998.
Prue Acton, is an Australian fashion designer, often referred to as "Australia's golden girl of fashion" during the 1960s.
Project Runway Australia is a reality television show based on the American program Project Runway, wherein fashion designers residing in Australia compete by making specific garments for weekly challenges. The show features Megan Gale as the host, and Peter Morrissey and Claudia Navone as judges. Alex Perry acts as a mentor to the contestants, as Tim Gunn does in the American version. Production began in May 2008, and the show premiered on Arena 8.30 p.m. (AEST) Monday 7 July 2008. The show ended after 4 seasons, with the final season airing on 17 December 2012.
Jenny Bannister is an Australian fashion designer, based in Melbourne.
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The first season of Project Runway Australia began production in May, and the season premiered on Arena 8.30pm (AEST) Monday 7 July 2008. The host was Australian model Kristy Hinze and the judges were Sarah Gale and Jayson Brunsdon. Henry Roth was the designer's mentor. The season concluded on 15 September 2008, with Juli Grbac being announced the winner.
Project Runway Australia was picked up for a second season by the Arena channel. The season premiered on 8 July 2009. The season concluded on 15 September 2009, with Anthony Capon being announced the winner of the second season of Project Runway.
RMIT's School of Architecture and Urban Design is an Australian tertiary education school within the College of Design and Social Context at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, located in Melbourne, Victoria.
Linda Jackson is an Australian fashion designer, fashion retailer and artist.
Thelma May Afford was an Australian costume designer, theatre performer, and fashion journalist who worked in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Peter Russell (1886–1966) was a London-based English fashion designer and a founder member of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers. Running a major couture house from the 1930s to the early 1950s, he has been described as a: "designer of beautiful, jauntily sophisticated women's suits".
The Prahran College of Advanced Education, formerly Prahran College of Technology, was a late-secondary and tertiary institution with a business school, a trade school, and a multi-disciplinary art school that dated back to the 1860s, populated by instructors and students who were among Australia’s significant artists, designers and performers.
Ituen Bassey trading as Ituen Basi is a Nigerian fashion designer. She has created costume designs for musical theatre as well as creating catwalk shows. She has worked in the UK and in Nigeria.
Lisa Gorman is an Australian fashion designer. She established the women’s fashion label Gorman, developed the brand for 22 years, retiring as its creative director in 2021.
Frances Mary Burke was an Australian artist. She holds a significant place in the development of Australian design and evolution of printed textile design in Australia. She is recognised not only as a textile designer, but also as a design activist, homeware retailer, manufacturer and business woman.
The fashion industry in Nigeria plays an important cultural role and contributes significantly to the country's economy. Clothing incorporates a variety of colours, fabrics, and embellishments. Many of the component cultures of Nigeria wear styles that are characteristic of their tribal society and customs. Nigeria produces fashionable textiles and finished garments and has designers who have achieved international recognition.
Suzie Zuzek (1920–2011) was an American artist and textile designer whose work was mainly seen in Lilly Pulitzer dresses, textiles and furnishings from the 1960s to the 1980s, and became exclusively associated with the brand until its closure in 1984. In the early 21st century, she was eventually acknowledged as the creator of some of the most widely recognized textiles of the 1960s and 1970s. A retrospective exhibition of her designs, curated in 2019 and shown in 2021 at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, both recognized the impact of her work, and brought her out of obscurity.
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