Press Release: Adelaide shines bright in the city that never sleeps
TWO ADELAIDE WOMEN TAKE ON NEW YORK CITY IN A PERFECT COLLABORATION
They say a perfect collaboration is when great minds come together to create something extraordinarily beautiful and that is what happened when Evie met Nikki.
Evie Foster is a woman on a mission and when taking on the epic project of producing a magazine for DeVoe Signature Event’s Full Figured Fashion Week in New York, earlier this year, she began her search for an amazing designer that could create the ‘perfect dress’. Her search was global but she didn’t expect that she would find them in her own hometown of Adelaide.
Foster has been in the plus size fashion industry for the past 15 years, first as a plus model with Vivien’s Model Management and then a designer herself and now as a publisher and editor for DeVoe. DeVoe Magazine is committed to delivering a sophisticated and inspirational fashion magazine for all women, around the globe. DeVoe promises to inspire women in fashion and life and ultimately to embrace themselves fully. Devoe Magazine is for today's woman!
Her hopes of obtaining the perfect dress were becoming slim as she tried to source designs from all over the World. Then through the joys of networking, Foster was recommended to Nikki Atkinson from Liv Sienne Designs and so, with Foster’s vision and Atkinson’s talent and expertise they created the perfect dress and Atkinson calls it the ‘Evie Foster’ dress.
Foster’s vision was so strong for what she wanted, that she was not satisfied to just choose designs that were on offer, she had something very specific in mind. Liv Sienne is a South Australian women’s fashion label that showcase designs that are unique in their own right because of the very small quantities available for purchase, and as the range is limited to 12 exclusive styles. The garments are made from luxurious fabrics with stylish patterns that create an elegant sophisticated and fashionable look. Liv Sienne is made locally and Atkinson is proud to say “Australian Made”!
Her collaboration with Foster has been her latest project but it was a Grace Kelly Exhibition in Bendigo last year that reignited her spark to take the plunge and develop her own range based on her fashion principles of ageless garments that are stylish and classic at the same time as being quirky and edgy. Perhaps Atkinson’s greatest fashion principle is supporting Australian Made. Her range is designed, sampled and finished entirely in Australia and although that invariably means the end product is more expensive than imported fashion, she believes that keeping skills, jobs and quality in Australia is completely worth it.
Foster’s style is also ageless with simple and clean lines and the ‘Evie Foster’ dress was perfect for the events of Full Figured Fashion Week. She said, “I wore this stunning dress with so much pride and more than a few times. It is so fabulously classic that I was able to accessorise it differently for the different events. I took the petticoat out and wore it to interview Chris Gardner (author of The Pursuit of Happyness) in Chicago, I wore it to the DeVoe Magazine launch in New York and to the finale event of Full Figured Fashion Week and I felt like an absolute princess every time.” Atkinson also made the dress in white and Foster wore it to the famous Curves at Sea event – an amazing night on the Hudson River. Foster said “there is something so surreal about standing on the deck of such a beautiful boat, surrounded by mostly women who are mostly confident and supportive of the event and each other and cruising by the Statue of Liberty. It is one of those moments that you really need to stop and take in all that you have and are doing.”
The plus industry in general has definitely grown over the years but there is plenty of room for more designers and more choices for plus women, especially for red carpet choices. Foster says “Gwen DeVoe is the co-founder and namesake of DeVoe and is also the creator of Full Figured Fashion Week and 2015 marked seven successful years of bringing this fabulous event to not only New York but to the World. Designers, retailers and fashion fans travel from all over the World to be a part of this much needed event.”
The future is bright for both of these Adelaide women as they continue along their own paths but also there is a suggestion that this may be the beginning of something bigger than the ‘perfect dress’.